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We decided to break up our bus time to Cusco by stopping for a night in Arequipa, Peru. We both really enjoyed this city the first time around and it was comforting to return to a place where we knew our way around and didn’t have to seek out food. We already knew where we wanted to eat as soon as we got off the bus (Lunch at Gopal, fill your gut with a 3 course lunch of fake meat and veggies for about $1).

We did see something new this time, though. We took a little walk to the suburb of Yanahuara, which felt like a richer section of town. There was a nice mirador and shady park to enjoy, but the view was limited due to smog or fog or something. No volcanoes visible this day. There was a church built from the white volcanic rock in the main plaza, which had a nice fachada. Fijaos!

Chile was breaking our budget. We were not used to paying more for a meal than we do in the US, and I’m not talking McDonald’s, folks. We paid $14 to camp in a dusty, noisy campground in San Pedro de Atacama. We hurried back to Arequipa, Peru, where we had a room with 2 beds and a private bathroom for $8. BIG difference.

We took a night bus to Arica, which was only a Semi-Cama but we slept okay on it (Frontera Del Norte). Once we arrived in Arica at dawn, we hopped in a shared taxi to cross the border and head to Tacna, Peru. The buses weren’t working that early in the morning, so we had no choice but to pay $6 a person instead of $3 a person for the journey. After being in Chile, we didn’t care as much.

Border formalities were pretty quick and efficient, and in Tacna we hopped on the next local Flores bus to Arequipa. This bus wasn’t too noisy, but it was HOT. We were the only tourists on the bus and there were at least 3 aduana stops where officials got on the bus and seized bags of clothing off the bus. We figured there were about 4 women involved, sitting on piles of clothes, stuffed under their seats. A number of people on the bus were sitting on piles of clothes as well. We didn’t understand what the deal was. I asked a guy nearby and he told me that they were carrying used clothes to sell. I don’t see what’s wrong with that, unless the clothes are made of cocaine or something. Maybe there’s a law against ugly secondhand clothes. I estimate at least a pickup bed truckful of clothes was confiscated by customs officials. When we arrived in Arequipa, the women started organizing their hidden stashes of clothes and I don’t understand how they got it all to fit in the first place. They started throwing out 50lb rice bags filled with clothes out the windows. I think they had more luggage than everyone else combined. They must have lost only 1/4 of their inventory, because there was a lot left. I’m still confused, and I don’t care about them carrying clothes on a bus…except that all the aduana stops increased our travel time to Arequipa…I estimate our travel time from San Pedro to Arequipa to be about 20 hours. Time for a day off from buses!

We took a day bus from Salta to San Pedro in Chile (if you’ve seen the desert scenery, it’s pretty repetitive). Once again, we were shocked at how expensive Chile is. Most of the tourists we’ve met in Chile are from the UK. Perhaps they are the only ones who can afford it. San Pedro is a tourist town, which means better food but everything is soo expensive. I think the food we had here costs more than most food in the US.

We spent half of a day trying to book some tours. Some places were full and we found one that took credit cards to only find out that their line was not working. Typical drama. We ended up having to go to the ATM (which for some reason does not work for 4 random hours during the day) and booked the sunrise geyser trip through Desert Adventures and the Valle de la Luna tour through Atacama Connections. Both seemed to be about mid-range in price.

So, on my birthday there was no cake or sleeping in. We woke up somewhere around 3am to be ready for the 4am pickup and a 2 hour ride to the geyser field. It was about 10 below 0 celsius and dark. The sun doesn’t rise until 8am and sets about 8pm as well. We got to the ticket entrance spot and our bus broke down! We had to wait a bit, but another bus came to get us and bring us to the field, which was really cool.

We saw a lot of steaming vents, some noisy gaseous things, some throwing up water everywhere. Our tour guide, Juan, brought eggs and cooked them in one of the boiling holes in the ground. He also gave us cheese sandwiches, hot tea and cookies. Juan was a great guide, but he was worried about the bus situation making us miss our evening tour, so he passed us off onto another tour group (Terra Extreme) with another fun guide, Antonio. The new group was mostly South Americans, with a few rowdy older Brazilian men, who kept everyone in the bus laughing the whole time. We went to a hot springs and soaked for a bit. The hardest part was getting out of the water because the elevation was over 4,000m and it was COLD.

Antonio took us to a local village in the barren highlands that seems run by tourism now, they grilled up alpaca kebabs and made fresh goat cheese empanadas. On the drive back we learned about local folklore and saw flamingos, llamas and one sole ostrich, running about and looking silly.

That evening, we did the classic Valle de la Luna tour with tour guide Stefan. He was not a very good guide, his microphone on the bus made him sound like Charlie Brown’s teacher. He would start his talk before the whole group gathered and spoke very softly. I’m sure he’s a nice guy, but he was weird and not a very informative or articulate guide compared to the other two we had in the morning.

Anyhoo, the tour itself was neat. The whole area reminded me of the 4 corners region in New Mexico and Arizona. Striped mountains, vast expanses of desert, etc. We went to the Valle de la Muerte and enjoyed dry, barren landscapes with lots of geology that we wish Larry was there to explain it better than Stefan. Basically, volcanoes in the distance and old mountains and canyons with visible stratified layers showing their age and composition. The rock formations were beautiful and best explained through photos…for now you can look at the Wiki link until we get our pics uploaded to Flickr.

We had a few vista point stops to admire the rocks and horizons full of volcanoes, then we went to the Valle de la Luna for sunset. We saw some rock formations that were carved mostly by wind (reminded me of the hoodoos in Bryce Canyon Nat’l Park). We hiked up a cool sand dune and out onto a plateau to watch the sunset. The sunset wasn’t anything spectacular, maybe they need more air pollution for a more colorful sunset. But I’m not complaining, watching the light change on the sand dunes and the volcanoes turn purple in the distance was a nice way to end a birthday. It may be my first birthday I woke up for the sunrise and saw the sunset as well.

We took another night bus (MicroPlusUltra) from Córdoba to Salta. The buses in Argentina have all been pretty comfortable at night with cozy reclining seats. No one has been able to accomodate a vegetarian dinner (except CATA our first bus in Argentina, but we forgot to ask), but we haven’t been eating much for dinner lately so it hasn’t mattered to us. By the time they serve their typical 10pm dinner on the bus, I’ve already got my earplugs in and am ready to sleep.

Salta is not as hot as Córdoba and the city itself is much more with it. Decent food, happening plazas and pedestrian streets galore. We stayed at a campground that was 15 minutes away by bus and it was sort of a car-camp feeling. It was so nice to sleep in the tent again! It rained really hard at night and our tent is still water repellent, so that’s good news. The cool thing about Salta is not really the town, but the proximity of fun activities. We spent an afternoon paragliding (parapente) with the birds and riding the thermals and it was amazing. I was so scared and the whole experience felt safe and smooth. The ride only lasted about 10 minutes, but that was long enough because after awhile it’s like being on a constant rollercoaster. But it was so beautiful and I’m glad I did it.

The bungee jumping, on the other hand, I opted NOT to experience. There’s rapids to raft as well, but it’s only a Class III and we heard from other travellers that it was pretty tame. We price checked a bunch of tourist agencies (there’s a LOT, and we basically realized that they all use 1 of 2 rafting companies and I think there’s only 1 paragliding company). So, you can’t seem to go wrong and the prices don’t vary too much. We booked our tours through A Las Nubes and they were helpful but didn’t take credit cards.

Our other adventure we did was a day tour following the path of the Tren a las Nubes and visiting a few small towns, ruins and crossing a 4,800 meter pass (my highest yet). We also got to visit the Salar Grande, a huge salt flat that is in use for excavation. Our driver brought us (our group was just us plus two cute young lady doctors from Buenos Aires) to the salt flat and basically set us loose. It rained heavily the day before, so it was like walking in slush except it’s salt water and the slush is corse salt. It was bright and our shoes are still stiff and crusted with salt. After the salt flat our driver brought us to a touristy town that has hills of 7 colors. We ate some local goat cheese and headed back to Salta. The day trip was a nice change of pace. It’s not really our thing to hire a guide and do a tour like this, but the agency offered us a decent discount and we got to see a big ole salt flat. No need to pay $100 for Bolivia anymore!

We took a night bus from Buenos Aires to Córdoba, considered the cultural capital of the Americas or something along those lines. Not really sure why. Neither of us were too impressed and we only spent 2 days there, mostly walking around the city. Nothing really stood out to us as wow or fun or unique. It’s got a plaza, an old church and lots of stores and pedestrian streets with more stores. It was HOT, so we saw a few movies to escape the heat and sat by the litter-strewn river north of town and got bit by ants. We had a good pizza with wild mushrooms that were criminis (I think any mushroom not from a can in this continent is considered wild) and drank some half bottles of local red wine. Other than that, nothing exciting to report. We were ready to leave this town within hours of arriving.