Cataratas Iguazu

        I was sad to leave Buenos Aires, but excited to see one of the 7 natural wonders of the world: Iguazu Falls (Cataratas Iguazu). We took a 15ish hour overnight bus ride to Puerto Iguazu. We still had some good travel karma with us and got our bus seats upgraded for free to the bus equivalent of first-class. We had seats that reclined all the way down to 180 degrees, hot dinner, AND wine, beer, or champagne to wash the meal down with! We even had personal TV screens and a pillow & blanket. It was great. The best unexpected bus experience I've ever had, and trust me I've had a lot of those.

       As for Iguazu Falls, words can't even begin to describe. I'll let the pictures do the talking. Even the pictures don't do them justice.

 

La Garganta del Diablo

(The Devil's Throat)

 

 

 The widest shot I could get on my little camera. 

Isla San Martin between the falls

       The best part of the day was doing the Aventura Nautica. We got to ride a boat and see the falls up close and personal. We were practically right under them. It was so cool, but we couldn't see a thing. So much water! Needless to say we were drenched. No, drenched was an understatement.

Travel tips:
- Cheaper to book bus to Puerto Iguazu, or anywhere in Argentina, day of. You might even get a free upgrade if those seats are available.
- Hostel: Marco Polo Inn (Hostelling International) 70 pesos per night 6 bed dorm.
- Parque Iguazu entrance 170 pesos. Aventura Nautical 110 pesos. Important tip: strip to just your bathing suit for the boat ride.

It Takes Two to Tango

FYI: I´ve been a couple cities behind in my blogging. Luckily, I have time to play catch up right now.

      From El Calafate we FLEW to Buenos Aires. So nice after being on a 28 hour bus. We got lucky and bought our flights for $160 each while we were in Bariloche, just a few days before take-off. Buenos Aires was a lively, colorful, tango-filled whirlwind. We stayed 4 whole days there. That´s a record for us since we´ve been traveling so fast. We arrived on a Sunday afternoon, just in time to check out the Sunday antique markets in San Telmo. San Telmo is one of the oldest barrios in Buenos Aires. It is a very historical neighborhood, known for its antique shops, restaurants, cafes, and bars. This is where our hostel was.

One of the first buildings we saw upon arriving: the Catedral. It´s under construction

so what you see is actually a screen. Realistic, no? 

This catedral is where the new Pope used to call home.

     Our first goal was to change our American dollars into Argentinian pesos to get the ¨blue dollar rate¨. I mentioned this in my previous post while we were in Mendoza, although I think I misunderstood what it meant. The ¨blue dollar rate¨is what the Argentinian peso is actually worth in dollars. The Argentinian peso has recently experienced 30% inflation and its value is ridiculously unstable. The government has put a limit on how much it can be exchanged for. At all the official money exchange houses, the rate is about 5.2 pesos per US dollar. The ¨blue dollar rate¨, however, is at least 7 pesos per US dollar. We had no problems in Mendoza or Bariloche exchanging our dollars for pesos under the ¨blue dollar rate¨at the official money exchange houses. However, in Buenos Aires, that was not the case. The exchange houses offered us 5.08 pesos per dollar! This is how our money exchanging little adventure started. After doing some research online and asking fellow hostellers how they got the blue dollar rate, we learned that the only way to get our money´s worth was to change our money from the street exchangers at Calle Florida. We were told that these exchangers shouldn´t change our money right there on the street, but are supposed to take you inside to their hidden office to change the money. If that doesn´t sound sketchy, I don´t know what does. The reason why they´re so secretive about changing the money is because it´s an underground business. It´s silly because they blatantly exchange at the blue dollar rate at proper exchange houses in other Argentinian cities. The other silly thing about this whole operation is that Calle Florida is a really nice commercial street lined with banks, high-end shopping stores, and official exchange houses. These street exchangers yell, ¨dolares, dolares, dolares, cambia dolares!¨, right next to the police officers standing at the street corners. So we picked a dude, one that didn´t look too young or too ridiculous, and followed him into a building (out of sight from the police) to an office fronting as a tour agency. Upon entering the office, there were a few locals in line to buy dollars. The reason behind this ¨blue dollar rate¨ secret exchange is that Argentinians buy dollars because it´s a much more stable currency than their pesos. That way, they don´t lose the value of the money they earn and save. For example, in order to buy real estate property in Buenos Aires, you have to pay in US dollars. The inflation is so bad that a couple weeks ago while we were in Mendoza, the blue dollar rate jumped up from 7:$1 to 9.2: $1. Anyways, we got a decent rate for our dollars, 8.2: $1.

      One of the things we were really looking forward to in Buenos Aires was to do another walking tour. We´re such history/culture nerds. We did a tour through Buenos Aires Free Tours on Monday morning of downtown B.A. We had a small group of 7, which was nice because I got to ask our guide, and co-founder of the company, as many questions as I wanted. We started at the Congreso, where the senators and congressmen work. The Argentinian political system, like Chile´s, is modeled after the United States´. 3 branches of checks and balances, 2 term presidencies with 4 year terms. The giant, black front doors of the Congreso are only opened one day per year in March when the president enters to work with the Congress to pass legislation. The current president is Cristina Kirchner. She is a socialist, part of the Peronista party. There are two main political parties: the Perónistas are the socialists, named for former President Perón (Evita´s husband) who was ousted during Argentina´s military coup in 1978; the other party is the Radicales, which I think is kind of an ironic name because they´re the conservative party. 

El Congreso

      Argentinian politics is very complicated and like most countries has its own corruption. Since Buenos Aires has always been a wealthy city, most of the ¨Porteños¨(citizens of Buenos Aires, named so because of the ports) are politically conservative. The majority of Argentina is poor and most of these people will never see Buenos Aires. It was really interesting to see the political/cultural history through the eyes of the conservatives (our guide was a Porteño), as opposed to through the eyes of the young socialist activists like our guides in Santiago, Chile. President Cristina Kirchner has bipartisan approval ratings. The poor love her. She has done a lot to serve the people, like any good socialist would. However, the conservatives, especially in B.A. don´t like her because the economy is out of whack. Hence, the instability of the peso. It´s a fine line to walk in order to balance social service and the budget. 

Plaza de Mayo

      Then we walked to the Plaza de Mayo (pronounced ¨Masho¨. Argentinians pronounce the ¨ll¨or ¨ya¨sound like ¨sh¨, which is very confusing) and the Casa Rosada. La Casa Rosada is the equivalent to the White House, except it´s pink and the president doesn´t actually live there. La Casa Rosada is where the president works Mon-Fri. She actually lives farther away and comes to work via helicopter. Ridiculous, much? Plaza de Mayo is pretty much dedicated in memory of los Disparacidos (the young men and women who ¨disappeared¨) during the  military dictatorship, 1978-1983. Another military dictatorship sponsored by the United States´CIA during Operation Condor. Everyday for the last 30 years, Las Madres de Plaza de Mayo march around the plaza in their white head scarves to remind people about their lost children and to never forget about Argentina´s dirty past. The original objective of Las Madres was to find their children who had disappeared. Their bodies were never returned, so they can´t really find closure and continue to be tortured by the hope that their children will return. 30,000 Argentinos suspected of being against the dictatorship or socialists were detained, tortured in concentration camps, and then killed. Many were killed by the ¨Flying Death¨, where they would be taken by plane and dumped into the ocean alive for them to die by impact or drowning. Others were killed and buried in mass graves. Today, however, the public support of Las Madres has decreased these mothers are now politically affiliated with whichever party gives them financial support. Now Las Madres has a political agenda in addition to remembering and finding los Disparacidos. 

La Casa Rosada from the Plaza de Mayo

      A sub-group of Las Madres are Las Abuelas de Plaza de Mayo. Their sole objective is to find their lost grandchildren. During the dictatorship, the pregnant women who were detained were killed after giving birth. The soldiers didn´t know what to do with the babies, so they either sold them, put them up for adoption at proper adoption agencies, gave them away, or adopted the babies themselves. Las Abuelas advertise: If you were adopted between 1973-1980´s or were born during that time and are questioning your biological lineage, come to us and take a DNA test; You might be our lost grandchild. Las Abuelas have found 107 of their lost grandchildren. The most recent one was discovered last week. The worst part is that she discovered that her adoptive parents had killed her biological parents during the dictatorship. Everyday Las Madres and Las Abuelas march together at 3pm at the Plaza de Mayo in memory of los Disparacidos, then part ways like they don´t know each other. 

Las Madres de Plaza de Mayo head scarves graffiti

     Then we walked to Avenida 9 de Julio, the ¨widest street in the world¨! ...Not. That statistic has not been updated. Culturally, Argentinians love to boast the ¨-est in the World!¨, which explains why I´ve been running  into a lot of the ¨(blank) best in the World¨! Currently, the widest street in the world is in Brasilia, Brasil. From this street you can see the mural of Evita, a funny house built on the roof of a high rise building (the only single-home in central B.A.), and the Obelisk. Rio de Janeiro has the Christ the Redeemer, the U.S. has the Statue of Liberty, and Buenos Aires has the Obelisk. On AIDS awareness day, the city covered the phallic obelisk with the largest condom in the world! Haha.

The Obelisk at Avenida 9 Julio

Funny house on the rooftop

Mural of Evita and some public displays of affection (very common in South America)

      So what´s up with streets and plazas named for the months of May and July? In May, many South American countried declared their independence from Spain. In Buenos Aires, the people marched to what is now the Plaza de Mayo to oust the Spanish viceroy and then elected nine presidents to rule. Then there was the war against Spain. These same South American countries have one man in common for their victories: General Jose San Martin. The Spanish Armada were coming in from the north via the Caribbean. General San Martin wanted to follow a surprise strategy by crossing the Andes and attacking the Spanish from the north in Colombia where they would least expect them. The people in Buenos Aires thought this was a crazy idea and didn´t support him. So Gen. San Martin went to Mendoza where they did support him. San Martin and his soldiers crossed the Andes into Chile, then Peru, Ecuador, and Colombia where he helped rally all of their troops against Spain. At last, Gen. San Martin surprise-attacked Spain and won Argentina´s freedom on 9 de Julio. I think the war against Spain lasted for 7 years. 

General José San Martin

      The evening ¨Aristocratic Tour¨through Buenos Aires Free Tours was more of a look into Buenos Aires´ culture. We walked around the wealthier neighborhoods of Recoleta and Retiro. Back in its hey day, Buenos Aires was a super wealthy city. It´s still called the ¨Paris of South America.¨There were no monarchies like in Europe, but Buenos Aires did have several wealthy, aristocratic families who built huge palaces as their homes. These families made their wealth off of the estancias (ranches) they owned outside the city, or the port as merchants, or by owning big businesses. There used to be 108 palaces. Unfortunately, most of them were torn down to expand the city infrastructure. A few still stand today, but are now used as official government or embassy buildings, or as hotels. Back in its day, B.A. was so rich that it imported building materials from France to build the city buildings because French architecture (during la Belle Epoque) was in style. Hence, Buenos Aires looks like such a European city because, construction-wise, it is. 

One of Buenos Aires´palaces. Now a fancy hotel.

     An interesting fact about current culture: Buenos Aires provides the most and the cheapest plastic surgeries. In fact, if you have private health insurance here, you get a free plastic surgery every two years! The wealthy are vain enough to get their plastic surgery, but not buy extravagant cars. You don´t see lamborghini´s or ferrari´s here because that kind of display of wealth is considered tacky. Such an interesting sense of humility. 

      The Porteños come from a mix of Spanish and Italian descent. That´s why they look so European and speak Spanish with an Italian flare. There was a mass immigration of Europeans to Buenos Aires before the World War because they knew things were looking for the worse in their mother-countries in Europe. I also learned what ¨Ché¨means. I heard it all over Argentina. ¨Ché¨ is the equivalent to ¨Oyé¨ in Peru, or ¨Hey!¨ in English. 

      Finally, we ended the tour at Cementerio Recoleta where many prominent figures are buried, most famously, Evita Perón. Evita was the illegitimate child of some important Porteño named Duarte. She grew up poor outside the city. When she decided she wanted to become and actress, she moved to Buenos Aires as a young adult. Here she met her husband and future president Perón. As first lady, Argentina adored Evita. She was beautiful, charming and compassionate. Evita did a lot to help the poor because she was one of them. Sadly she died of cancer at a young age. Her funeral lasted for 2 weeks in Buenos Aires. Her body was embalmed and her casket publicly dispayed. Argeninians from all over the country came to Buenos Aires to see her. 

Evita´s grave at Cemeterio Recoleta

        Then we learned about the infamous, horribly creepy story about Evita´s body. For some reason her body wasn´t buried right away. It was stolen by the man who had embalmed her. He was obsessively in love with Evita. He was a freak, really. He kept her body in his house and talked to her, watched TV with her, eat dinner with her, and sleep with her body! Eventually her body was found and the military took her body back. Things just got worse. These soldiers mutilated and raped her body. Eventually her body was shipped to Italy where her widowed husband, Perón, and his third wife were living. At last her body was safe. The Argentinians loved Evita so much that a group of them uprised, kidnapped the president at the time and demanded for Evita´s body. They gave the president a life or death ultimatum for her body´s return. Since Evita´s body was in Italy, the president couldn´t give them her body, so they killed the president! Qué loco! When Perón passed away, his wife didn´t know what to do with Evita´s body, so she shipped her back to Buenos Aires where here father, Duarte, finally claimed her (after becoming a prominent figure, of course) and buried her under the Duarte family mosoleum in Cemeterio Recoleta. 

       Neither of these tours talked that much about the military dictatorship. A lot of the information I received about the dictatorship was solely from visiting the Plaza de Mayo and the questions I asked. I don´t even know who led the coup or how it happened. All I know is that the military dictatorship fizzled out and ended with the loss of the Malvinas (aka Faulkland Islands) against the British. Elections were held after losing the war over the Malvinas and the Argentinians voted against the military dictatorship. The end. Besides las Madres de Plaza de Mayo, it didn´t seem like Argentina keeps the memory of this ugly past alive, unlike in Chile where the Chilenos own their ugly history and continue to remember their past so it is not repeated.

     On to more fun things: there is so much cool stuff to see and do in Buenos Aires. We didn´t even get to see all of its most popular neighborhoods! It´s a good thing we had such a limited amount of time to spend there because just those 4 days pretty much drained my bank account. Ugh. On Monday night we went to this awesome drum show called ¨La Bomba¨at the Konex. La Bomba is on every Monday night and entrance is only 60 pesos (under $8). So many percussionists, such lively beats, and such liberating rhythms. The drummers looked like they were having so much fun and they looked so free. The beat was contagious and you couldn´t help but dance through the whole show. 

La Bomba

      On Tuesday night we went to a Milonga. There are two ways to do tango. You can either pay a lot of money for a fancy dinner and professional tango show. Or you can go to a local Milonga, which is essentially a dance club/resto-bar with a dance floor. We opted for a Milonga at a local place in San Telmo. The group of us from our hostel pretty much got our own private tango dance lesson. It was awesome. We learned the basic 8 steps and a couple nifty moves. Tango is definitely different fom anything I have ever danced before. I danced a lot of salsa in Cusco, and tango is a lot slower and really sensual. Neither of which I am good at being, haha. After our dance lesson, acoustic guitar players and singers performed. Right when I was thinking about how Peru seemed more like a ¨spicy¨ latino country than Argentina, and especially compared to Chile, the singers started singing. So much passion. They sang from deep within their souls. It was amazing. This is how I came to believe my tour guides when they said that Argentinians are very passionate people. 

With our tango instructors at the Milonga

        On Wednesday we went to the port barrio of La Boca (the mouth). I really enjoyed how colorful this neighborhood is. El Caminato de la Boca (the walkway) is lined with cafes and restaurants with outdoor seating and stages for watching tango dancers. At lunch we got to sit right in front of the stage. First, an acoustic guitar duo were playing. Again, so much passion as they played, no felt, their songs. Then a couple professional tango dancers performed. The way they expressed the tango was so enchanting. After their dance, they invited us to take photos with them. I was practically pushed on stage first to take my photo with the male dancer. Then he asked me, ¨Quiere una foto o quiere bailar?¨(Do you want a photo or do you want to dance?) I was surprised at the question and kind of just stuttered. So he made the decision for me: ¨Pienso que quiere bailar¨ (I think you want to dance), and he started the music. Haha, so there I was dancing tango on stage in Buenos Aires. So much fun! Obviously this man is a professional so he was a very good leader. I just had to relax and follow. The steps I learned at our tango lesson the night before were pretty much useless because he kept twirling and turning me. It was all I could do to keep up! That was definitely my favorite part of my Buenos Aires experience.

La Boca

Our lunch time tango show

Impromptu tango performance, haha

      After all the ladies in our group got to dance tango on stage at this restaurant, Mallory and I went to La Bombonera. The stadium home to the Boca Juniors futból club. The home club of one of the best futból players of all time, Diego Maradona. We went through its museum and took a tour of the stadium. La Bombonera is a perfect example of the passion Argentinians have. In fact, the museum is named ¨Museo de la Pasion Boquense¨ (Museum of the Boca Passion). It was a really well-done museum. It was cute to see the little boys there with their dads. You could see the absolute joy on their faces, their dads´ too! For them it was like going to Disneyland... but way better. Their dreams, their heroes, were in this museum, play or played in this stadium. The other way I can explain the passion of the Porteños in La Boca for their beloved futból team is by relating it to Portland, Oregon and its Trailblazers... to the power of 10. Although we couldn´t see a futból match there, I´m glad we got to see La Bombonera and la Pasion!

Statue of the legendary Diego Maradona

Inside el Museo de la Pasion Boquense

La Bombonera stadium

Locker room throne

Locker room showers ;-P

      After all this time we had already spent in Argentina, we still hadn´t eaten Argentinian steak. So on our last night in Buenos Aires, we went out and split a butterfly steak, accompanied with some good Argentinian Malbec wine at a local restaurant recommended to us by locals and our hostel reception called, Desnivel. It was a really good cut of meat. Honestly, though I thought it was a little bland. Probably just because my American taste buds were longing for more salt. Nonetheless, it was of excellent quality. 

      Next time I come back to South America, I definitely want to come back to Buenos Aires, with a little more time on my hands and a little more money in my pocket. There is tango to be danced, steak to be eaten, and wine to be drunk. What a great city. 

Travel tips: (I forgot about this my last posts. Oops.)

Hostal America del Sur (in El Calafate and Buenos Aires)- 70-85 pesos per night 4 bed dorm with 10% Get South discount

La Bomba- 60 pesos entrance Mondays at 8pm at the Konex

Desnivel Argentinean steak restaurant: our butterfly steak with potatoes cost 140 pesos, good enough to fill two people, half bottle of Malbec 38 pesos

La Bombonera stadium tour and museum entrace 60 pesos

Must go to Sunday Markets on Calle Defense in San Telmo

Must go to el Caminato in La Boca

Ice, Ice, Baby

      From Chiloé, we crossed into Argentina to Bariloche. Bariloche is located in the Argentinian lake district, situated within Parque Nacional Nahuel Huapi, on the shore of Lake Nahuel Huapi. This town is the tourist hub for the Patagonia. I have been really excited to go to Bariloche, but because of our awkward timing with the weather, I was a little disappointed to not be able to hike around the lakes and mountains. It was the end of Autumn while we were there. The worst kind of Autumn weather: cold and rainy. I think to be able to really enjoy all that Bariloche has to offer, the weather either needs to be clear or snow. Clear enough to hike and enjoy the lakes, or snow in order to ski. We still managed to enjoy ourselves. How could you not when there´s chocolate to be eaten and Argentinian wine to be drunk? The best thing about downtown Bariloche is that it is lined with chocolate factories.

      One day we decided that we would brave the weather and hike up Cerro Campanaria and then rent bicycles to ride the short circuit around a couple small lakes, rain or shine. No more wasting time indoors. Cerro Campanaria is known for its beautiful 360 degree view of the lakes. National Geographic even rated the vista as the best view in the world. (I feel like I keep coming across things ranked as ¨best in the WORLD¨). Hiking up was alright. It was only sprinkling and we had good tree coverage. When we reached the top and stood at the vista point of the Best View in the World, we saw... fog. So anti-climactic. Then the light rain up there started to feel more like light snow. It was cold. We gave up on our bicycle plans as we didn´t want to be miserable bicycling through snow-like rain and the cold. We managed to console ourselves with the best hot chocolate I have ever had at one of the chocolate factories downtown. I think the chocolate alone made up for our poor weather in Bariloche.

So much fog

      Next, we took the longest bus ride we have ever taken (28 hours!) to El Calafate. I´m talking deep into the Patagonia. Snow everywhere! Our hostel looked like a cabin and even had heated floors. Ironically enough, the coldest place we went to was the warmest I had felt indoors because our hostel was so cozy. The highlight of El Calafate is the Parque Nacional Los Glaciares, and of course, the glacier, Perito Moreno. We arrived just in time to book the last day of the season to do the ¨mini-trek¨of Perito Moreno. We bussed to the national park, took a ferry across the Brazo Rico of Lago Argentina, and hiked through a little bit of forest, strapped on some crampons, and climbed onto this incredible glacier and hiked like a group of penguins in single-file behind our guide.

We love crampons

       The Perito Moreno glacier is so blue. Everything else seemed gray that morning, except the glacier. I don´t understand how it is so blue. The Patagonia ice field is the 3rd largest ice field in the world, behind the Arctic ice field in Greenland, and the Antarctic ice field in Antarctica. Perito Moreno is the third largest glacier in the Patagonia ice field. It is certainly the most accessible. Perito Moreno is a very unique glacier. First of all, unlike the majority of glaciers in the world that are receding, Perito Moreno is stable. The rate at which it is melting is the same rate at which it is growing. Every year it grows towards the Magellan Peninsula, creating a dam in the Rico Brazo of Lago Argentino. The water erosion creates a tunnel in this dam. As the weather gets warmer, the phenomenon called, the rupture, occurs and this natural bridge of ice collapses, leaving a giant block of ice at the tip of the peninsula. This block of ice is so big that it doesn´t melt all the way. The one standing there today was from the rupture last season. The center of the glacier is 700 meters thick. The edge on which we were hiking is 200 meters thick.

Where the glacier dam ruptured at the tip of the Magellan Peninsula

     There were a couple pleasant surprises during our ¨Mini-trek¨. First of all, it was our guide´s last day of work so he was especially happy and goofy that day. The first surprise was getting to drink fresh glacier water out of a water hole in the glacier. He said the water in that little hole was 45 meters deep. As the surface of the glacier melts the water collects in all the nooks and crannies, or crevices, within the glacier. These crevices, most noticeably the surface ones, are created because of the uneven growth of the glacier. Towards the lake the glacier grows at 2 meters per week while towards the peninsula it grows at 20 cm per week. So, the glacier cracks. Anyways, the water that fills up the spaces creates a network of interglacier rivers! The water was delicious, btw. The second surprise was getting to slide down a slope of the glacier. It was really carved out like a slide, with snow at the bottom to stop us. It was vital to keep your feet up so that your crampons wouldn´t get caught and break your ankles. For the third surprise, our guide picked one of us to be the leader (he chose me), and said just follow the trail, we´ll meet you up at the top of this rise for a surprise, and don´t forget to lead in Spanish, too. We walked the trail for not even 5 minutes, haha, and at the top there was a table with glasses and a couple bottles of scotch whiskey and a basket of alfajores (amazing shortbread cookie sandwiches with dulce de leche in the middle, covered in chocolate). My job as leader was over after I passed out the alfajores, lol. The guides used their ice picks to chop up some glacier ice to put in our glasses of scotch. I can´t say I like scotch, but it warmed us up, and it wasn´t as bad with the chocolatey alfajor to chase it with.

Scotch on the rocks, glacier rocks.

     After the trek, we got back on the ferry where we got to take photos up closer to the glacier. Then we went to the balconies where you could see the south and north faces of the glacier. From the ferry we could only see the south face. I have never taken so many pictures of one place in my life. I took 155 photos. That´s a record for me.

More chunks of ice from the ¨rupcion¨, and the north face of the glacier.

It´s a big glacier

So BLUE!

    Mission accomplished: we reached the south of South America! We decided to cut Ushuaia (aka ¨the End of the World¨) out of our route because winter that close to antarctica is too cold to try to bus through or for us to hang out in, not to mention the money we´ll save. Adios, Patagonia! Next time, I´m definitely going to explore the Patagonia during summer.

Winter is coming

       I think I can say I have done the coolest thing in my life at Pucón, Chile. Pucón claims to be the extreme adventures destination in Chile´s lake district. It´s a small town surrounded by mountains, lakes, volcanoes, waterfalls, and rivers. It reminded me of Sisters, Oregon. Small town in the middle of forested mountains and snow. In Pucón you can hydro...something, when you wear a wetsuit and body board down river rapids, go white water rafting, hike, climb the volcano, horseback ride, and zipline.

Volcán Villarica standing over Pucón

       We didn´t do much on our first day since the weather was bad. Our main goal for Pucón was to climb Volcan Villarica, an active volcano that stands overlooking the town. If you´re lucky when you get to the summit and look down into its crater, you can see lava! The weather is really unpredictable and the trek is completely dependent on the weather conditions. We decided to stay an extra night than originally planned so we could climb this beast on a Wednesday. Even then, it was still just a possibility. *Fingers crossed*

       Our second day, it stopped raining, so we took a bus to Parque Nacional Huereque to hike around and see the lakes and waterfalls. This place is literally dotted with waterfalls. I felt like I was in Oregon again, amongst green trees and post-rain, muddy hiking trails.

The waterfall is actually taller than it looks here in this oddly wide photo

        That evening our trek guide met with us to give us our briefing. Good news! Weather forcast for Wednesday was clear. All trek groups were going to try to climb the volcano. I was so excited, and also really scared. I heard the last bit of the climb up is a steep glacier and you have to wear crampons (spikes) and use an ice pick. I was imagining climbing vertically up a wall of ice. I have never done a trek through ice or snow before. But our friend did the climb the previous week and she was fine...so we would be fine, too, right? If she can do it, we can do it... right?

Our trek guide is the owner of his tour company. He provided us with hard shell snow pants and jacket, snow boots, crampons, ice pick, backpack, helmet, and gloves. We also had a second trek guide. I found that reassuring because the other groups only had one guide. I also found it really reassuring that our guide climbs this volcano nearly everyday during busy season (Jan-Mar). The longest consecutive time he has climbed this 2800 meter volcano was 28 days! During off-season, he works up in northern Chile at the mines to control avalanches there, as well as at ski resorts. What a badass. Also, that day was his birthday! All he wanted to do for his birthday was climb Villarica and then go have an asado (barbecue). He was so happy and his cheerfulness was contagious and it was just the best day ever.

Rocking the crampons

        We were picked up at 6:45am from our hostel and arrived at the base of the volcano at around 7:45. During the drive my blood was pumping with adrenaline. I was so excited! We started hiking up at 8:00. I think living in Cusco at close to 4000 meters and doing the treks there has turned me into a bit of a mountain snob. I looked up at the volcano, turned to Mallory and said, ¨You know, this really doesn´t look that bad.¨ About a third of the way up, the ice and snow got thick and we stopped to put on our crampons and learn how to use them and the ice pick. We practiced sliding down the mountain and braking ourselves with the ice pick. Then we continued on up, stomping through the ice, higher and higher, and steeper and steeper. Towards the top, we were climbing up a 45 degree angle... on glacier ice. This is the part I was scared of. I really had nothing to be scared of. We weren´t scaling up a wall. We zig-zagged our way up, stomping with the crampons, and using the ice pick for support. I really enjoyed the crampons. They made me feel invincible, like I was defying gravity, haha. Don´t get me wrong, if you don´t stomp hard with the crampons and you slip, you will slide down FAST.

I don´t have a protractor, but it sure felt like climbing up a 45 degree angle of ice

        Since the weather conditions can change at any second, our guides have to check the weather at every break  to make sure it´s safe to continue on. The previous climb up the volcano the week earlier, the groups were nearly at the summit, but the conditions worsened, so they had to turn around and climb down. Luckily for us, we had the most incredibly perfect weather conditions imaginable! The view from up there was beyond breathtaking. It was surreal. You could see the other snowy volcanoes and mountains, the blue lakes, the green and orange autumn colors of the forests. We reached the summit close to 2:00 pm. We walked up to the edge of the active volcano´s crater and could see smoke rising from its depths... and... smell the rotten-egg odor of the sulfur. Unfortunately, no lava. I didn´t particularly want to dive in to see it, either. Smoke and sulfur smell was good enough for me.

The crater at the summit. The photo didn´t quite capture the smoke, unfortunately.

     The descent was so BEAUTIFUL. I have already described the picturesque view. Just imagine facing that while hiking down about 1500 meters. Normally when I´m trekking, I have to remind myself to look up and appreciate the surroundings because I´m so focused on watching where I´m stepping. The best part about crampons and ice is that there are no rocks, poop, or tree roots to avoid. All you need to do is stomp into the ice and enjoy the view. It was AWESOME. Best $80 I have ever spent. We arrived back at the base at 3:30 pm. We made really good time. We were told that groups usually finish the trek at 5:00 pm.

The summit of Volcán Villarica!

     Later that evening, we went to Los Poscones, natural thermal baths a 45 minute drive away. The nice thing about being surrounded by volcanoes, is having thermal baths or hot springs nearby. It was a great way to relax our tired muscles and end an incredible day.

Coolest thing ever

       Next we bussed further south, but back to the Pacific, to Chiloé. Chiloé is the big island of Chiloé archipelago. It is well known for its seafood and indigenous folklore. The chilotes (the people of Chiloé) have thrived on rural fishing. Salmon farming has been recently introduced and now the economy has turned to industrial fishing. It´s really unfortunate because these newly introduced salmon are not native to the area and are causing disastrous ecological consequences. The mythology of these islands is really interesting. The indigenous chilotes believed that the serpent twins, Ten-Ten and Coi-Coi created the archipelago in a battle with each other. Ten-Ten is creator of earth and raised the hills. Coi-Coi is creator of the sea and raised the waves. Their mythology involves superstitions like brujos and brujas (wizards and witches), and Trauco, an evil spirit that hides in the forest and preys on unborn babies within their mothers´ womb. La Pincoya is the goddess of the sea and is married to El Pincoyo, god of the sea who seduces her with his singing. We checked out the towns of Ancud and Castro. Both are cute sea-side towns. Los palafitos (houses on sticks) built over the water and painted bright colors are iconic in these towns.

Los Palafitos

The brightly painted Iglesia de San Francisco in Castro

Chile has been good to us this past month, but it´s time for Argentina (granted, we´ve already popped in its borders when we went to Mendoza) and its side of the Patagonia. Onward south! Winter is coming!

Pisco is from PERU!

      I heard mixed reviews about Santiago, Chile from other travelers. Oh, it's not built for tourists. It's just another big city. There's nothing to do there. OR It's a great time! Bella Vista is awesome. You have to go to the museums and Pablo Neruda's house! I, in fact, really enjoyed Santiago. I learned LOADS about Chile's history. My favorite thing that I learned from my walking tour guides (one a sociolgist and the other a political science university student) is that Pisco (a national liquor claimed by both Peru and Chile) is truly from Peru! Naturally, I have a special place in my heart for Peru so I was excited to finally hear the truth about Pisco, especially since it was the answer I was hoping for.

     First we took the "off-beat" walking tour with Tours for Tips with our sociologist guide. First thing we learned is that Chile is ridiculously seismically active. I'm from California, so that really means something when I say it. There is a BIG earthquake every decade. In fact, there was a 5-pointer the week before we arrived in Santiago, one while we left Santiago, and the most famous one was the big one that hit just outside Santiago in 2010. The 2010 earth quake (or torremoto) was ranked the 5th largest earthquake recorded on the Richter scale. This walking tour involved learning about the Lachimbo (sp?) side of Santiago. Since the Spanish colonization, Santiago has been a very class-based society. It still is. Lachimbo is a Quechua word for the equivalent of the "undesirables." It is the poorer part of town where the impoverished and the immigrants live. It is separated by the Rio Mapoche from the classier side of the city. Judge Corregidor built the first bridge, Puente Cal y Canto, to connect the two sides of the city, uniting the upper class with the lower class.

Market with the swapped building with Uruguay

      Immediately after crossing over the Rio Mapoche, we checked out a couple markets. The first one has a funny story. The beautiful structure that housed the produce area of this market was actually built for a market in Uruguay. There was an accidental switcheroo. The architect built two market structures that were pretty identical and swapped them. The twin markets still stand today in the wrong locations. The second market is La Vega. A huge produce market with 16,000 clients that shop there everyday, 900 vendors, and 10,000 employees! There is even an aisle for Peruvian vendors. You can differentiate between the Chilean and Peruvian vendors because Chilean food is bland. According to our Chilena guide, garlic and onion is too much. Peruvian food has more peppers and spices. Another win for Peru: my guide said "The best food in Chile is Peruvian. Peruvians make better food and better Pisco." Viva el Peru! Btw, Peruvians constitute the largest community of immigrants in Santiago. Other minority groups include Palestinians (most are 3rd or 4th generation; their great-grandparents immigrated to Chile when the Ottoman Empire fell), and North Koreans.

La Vega market

        Next we took the very impressive metro to the Cementario General de Santiago. It is a huge cemetery with a lot of history and important historical/political figures buried there. I didn't realize how much about history and culture you can learn about a place at a cemetery. This cemetery was very interesting because of the way people were buried. People liked to be buried with their families or fellow workers in mosoleums (sp?). For example, there are mosoleums for the military, the carabineros (police), and even the shoemakers and insurance companies. This represents the society's emphasis on class.

      An interesting tidbit about Chilean culture is the belief in "Animitas." An animita is a revered person that the people annoint as an unofficial saint. Through stories spread my word of mouth (like the game telephone), these animitas become legendary and the people pray to them for help. The most popular animita is Carmencita. Her legend has two very different stories. The most common one is that she was a 9 year old girl who got very sick and died. The other one was that she was a 37-year old prostitute who died of disease. Nonetheless, she is adored and people pray to her for miracles. The people love the animitas and adore their graves with flowers, presents, and plaques.

The grave of Carmencita, the animita

     The most important grave we visited was former President Salvador Allende. Warning: seriously ugly history ahead. If you're politically conservative and very patriotic about Amerrrrica, you may not like what I have to say in the following paragraphs. True, there are two sides to every story. Chile was in a socioeconomic crisis before and after Allende's time. His presidency is probably romanticized because of the horrible way the military coup of 1973 ousted him and followed with Pinochet's 17 year brutal dictatorship. Salvador Allende was a medical doctor and ran for presidency as the head of the socialist party. He was Chile's first socialist, democratically-elected president. Before his term, the very few upper class had all the wealth and power. During his term, he did a lot of land reform and social changes. Naturally, the upper class wasn't too happy about this. Today Allende is celebrated at Chile's most loved president. However, the Chilenos back then and today are politically divided. I think Chile is more extremely bipartisan than the United States.

Salvador Allende's grave

       On September 11, 1973 (9/11 is not a good date for many countries, apparently. This was the same day the USSR fell, too. Coincidence?), the Junto Militar, led by General Pinochet, commenced the military coup. I can't remember the names of the other generals, but they appointed themselves as chief of the air force, navy, and police. The coup started when the navy (armada) took over Valparaiso. Then, the coup took over Santiago beginning at 6am and ending at 6pm (the first night of the forced military curfew). The Junto Militar started by taking La Moneda (the equivalent of the Capital Building) hostage and threatening President Allende to leave. Allende had his chance to flee the country into exile, but that was not his style. He stayed in La Moneda until its violent end. The coup shut down all radio towers, except for one, Radio Magallenes. Through Radio Magallenes, President Allende gave his final speech to his beloved Chilenos, "los trabajadores" (the workers), through flying shrapnel and bullets during the coup's attack on La Moneda. It was a beautiful speech (I listened to it at the Museo de Memoria y Derechos Humanos: the Memory and Human Rights Museum). Allende's last speech inspired the Chilenos enough to carry them through the dictatorship and finally overthrow Pinochet 17 years later in 1988. Shortly after his speech, Allende supposedly shot himself. The Junto Militar bombed La Moneda and took all of his aides under detention and torture. At the time, Allende didn't want to rally the people to La Moneda to fight against the coup when they were up against bombs. The deaths would be in vain. So he sacrificed his life, hoping he could stop any more bombings and deaths. Originally, Allende's body was buried in Valparaiso. After Pinochet's reign, the people brought his remains to Cementario General so he could be properly buried in Santiago with his people. A beautiful memorial stands where he is buried with a plaque with an inscription of his last words to his people.

Cervezas for the dead

      It was impressive to see how well kept the graves were. Not just of the country's heroes, but of normal people. Chilenos believe in animism (hence, "animitas'). To honor their dead loved ones, they not only bring them flowers, but also earthly things they might want, such as cigarettes, food, cervezas, birthday party decorations and invitations on their birthday. At the end of this tour, we walked across the street from the cemetery entrance to a local bar called, "Quita Pena" (leave/drink your sorrows). We got to try the famous Chileno drink, called "Torremoto" or earthquake, because when you drink it, it makes your world shake lol.

     The next day we took a tour of Pablo Neruda's house, La Chascona. Pablo Neruda is a famous writer who has won the Nobel Prize for Literature, among many other distinguished awards for his poetry. His house was located in the same neighborhood our hostel was, Bella Vista, the artsy/bohemian barrio. Neruda built La Chascona for his third and last wife, Mathilde Urrutia. He had three houses: La Sebastien in Valparaiso, one on Isla Negra, and La Chascona in Santiago. His first wife was from Holland and 20 years his senior. Sadly, he was widowed by her. His second wife was an Argentinian woman. After their separation, Pablo and Mathilde fell in love after knowing each other for many years as friends. Because divorce only became legal in Chile in 2004, Pablo & Mathilde had to hide their relationship for a long time. Eventually, they found a loophole: because Pablo and his Argentinian wife weren't married in Chile, it was not a legitimate marriage under Chileno law. Together, Pablo and Mathilde built La Chascona, hidden against a hill in barrio Bella Vista in Santiago where they could live together in secret. The couple had many close friends who were prominent figures and artists who helped keep their secret. Eventually they were married.

One of the bars in La Chascona

     Neruda was a marinero (in the navy) and was fascinated by the sea. However, he was never actually deployed out to sea. He did travel the world frequently by ship. His obsession with all things naval is why he built his houses with a naval theme and were decorated with furniture and works of art from the countries he had visited. He was an internationally acclaimed poet and a prominent socialist. Pablo Neruda died of "natural causes" on September 23, 1973 (less than a week after the military coup. Coincidence?)

    After touring La Chascona, we went on the other Tours for Tips walking tour of the basic touristic areas in central Santiago. A significant fact I learned about Chileno politics is that the dominating Catholic order in Chile is the Opus Dei. Heard of the name before? You may have if you've read the Da Vinci Code. Scary. The Opus Dei are very rich and powerful amongst all the other Catholic orders. I think they are also very prominent in Spain. This order has a lot of power in the Chileno government, which is why divorce has only been passed recently in 2004 and obviously abortion is illegal without any medical exceptions.

    One of the most important sites we visited was Londres (London) street. During Pinochet's dictatorship, 94 young people were detained, tortured, and killed here. Just at this one site. I hate to think about small that number is compared to the total number of people killed in this political genocide. These people are known as "Los Disparacidos" (the "disappeared" because they did disappear). In memory of them, there are bricks among the cobblestones of the street with their names, political affiliation, and age. Most of them are my age or younger. Such brave youth. Among the bricks and cobblestones are pieces of floor tile from the inside floor of the building because the floor inside was the last thing they saw before being publicly executed.

Bricks on Londres Street with the names of those publicly executed at the site

    On our last day, we visited the Museo de la Memoria y Direchos Humanos (Memory and Human Rights Museum). It was one of the best and definitely the most intense museum I have ever been to. It was build by former President Michelle Bachelet so that Chile will never forget its history and so that it will not be repeated. The museum is huge and very modern, and it's free to the public. You only need to pay for the audiophone. The museum also displayed the human rights violations in countries worldwide. Because the museum was so big, we only got through half of it! It was very detailed and informative. It displayed original media documents and radio/television new footage, and real video testimonies of survivors and victims and photos. I listened to the original radio recording of Salvador Allende's final speech and watched the original television footage of the Junto Militar and General Pinochet's speech shortly after the coup. We watched video testimonies from survivors of detention and torture by DINA (the dictatorship's central intelligence agency whose sole objective was to irradicate socialists). About 40,000 Chilenos "disappeared" during Pinochet's dictatorship. It was political genocide.
  

Museo de la Memoria y Derechos Humanos

     Despite how terrible the dictatorship was, the country was still divided, close to 50/50, in its political views. Despite the 6pm curfew and public executions and detentions, the pro-capitalists (the upper class) supported Pinochet. Families are still divided today. In 1980 the Junto Militar changed the constitution. In order to legitimize it, they held elections. Curiously enough, the electronic voting registry was not used... People had to vote Si or No. Si to support Pinochet's government. No to overthrow Pinochet. The Si vote won by 64% to 46%, although with suspicion. In 1988, there was another election: same thing Si or No. This is when the NO propaganda took full force. The first Chileno film ever to be nominated for an Oscar (earlier this year!) is about this propaganda. It is appropriately called, NO. Spoiler alert: the NO vote won this time, finally overthrowing Pinochet.

    It is astounding to me how 40,000 people were detained, tortured, and or murdered during Pinochet's dictatorship. The majority of whom were my age. Yet they kept fighting on fearlessly. Even high school and elementary students demonstrated. The Chilena women even had their Women's Rights movement during this chaotic time and demonstrated against the dictatorship. Now their are hundreds of memorial sites up and down Chile, honoring Los Disparacidos. These sites are built over former detention centers, socialist headquarters, and mass graves. The most infamous mass grave site was Plot 29 in Cemetario General. The anonymous grave cross is on display at the museum. The Organization for Truth and Justice is still working on identifying the remains at Plot 29. At the museum you can even look up people who had disappeared on their touch screen computers.

   The most powerful thing about this museum is seeing the reactions of the adult Chilenos visiting the displays or looking up names of their loved ones. They had lived during this time. It was so recent! That blows my mind. Although Chile is a well-developed country with a strong economy, thanks to the open capitalism of the dictatorship, the country had to pay a terrible price to get to where it is today. Was it worth it?

   My first guide, told us that Chile is a business entrepreneur's Disneyland. There are no government regulations and no workers' unions. Employees are easily exploited. 1% of the population has all the wealth while the 99% stay where they're at socioeconomically and can't move. Education absurdly expensive. Public education is a joke. Economically, the country does not invest for the long term. The Chileno economy will eventually collapse and will have nothing to fall back on. Hence, lots of social movements are on the rise now.
  
   Now I'm going to talk about the United States' role in Chile's ugly history, not to mention in South America's history in general. Operation Condor, enacted from 1975-1978 and restarted in 1981, under Presidents Ford and Reagan, was a CIA operation to support, fund, and supply military dictatorships in Chile, Brazil, Uruguay and Paraguay in assassinating socialist leaders and eliminating the communist party. For example, the military coup led by Pinochet here in Chile. The Cold War was a crazy time. I cannot comprehend the lack of ethics in this operation. U.S. ideals such as Freedom and Democracy is such bullshit when you think about it in the scope of this operation. What the U.S. wanted to and still wants to spread is Capitalism, so that it can reap the rewards of profit. Freedom and Democracy is just a beard. The Chilenos were free when they democratically elected Allende, a socialist. Freedom means being free to be socialist of you want to be. They were oppressed by the capitalist dictatorship of Pinochet. Capitalist dictatorship does not equal Democracy. I wasn't alive back then. I don't know what it was like during the Cold War with the McCarthyism and Red Scare, I realize this. I remember learning about it in history and thinking it was stupid, like people being scared of the boogie man. But this kind of political puppeteering by the U.S. makes me sick. The U.S. government funded a political genocide and is still funding war through the School of the Americas... just look that up I can't handle typing anymore.

    Thank you, Santiago, for giving me my South America history fill. I truly hope we learn from this ugly history.

Citations: everything I have learned and created my opinions on were based on my walking tour guides' knowledge and the Museo de la Memoria y Derechos Humanos

Travel tips in Santiago:
Hostal Bella 269- 9,000 pesos per night for dorm plus 10% discount with Get South
La Chascona - 4,000 pesos for a 45 minute tour of Pablo Neruda's house
Tours for Tips- free walking tour. Meets at Museo Bellas Artes. 10am for the off-beat tour. 3pm for the normal tour
La Emporio Rosa ice cream parlor- ranked 20th best ice cream in the WORLD
Puente Allemena- really good sandwiches, even visited by Anthony Bourdain
Museo de la Memoria y Derechos Humanos - free to enter. 1,000 pesos for the audiophone