February 13th, 2010

So it's been a while, but I guess it's better late than never.
In the pictures you see the northern and southern hemispheres on each side of the "official" equatorial line. People often say they would like ot be in two places at once, I guess I had my shot as I was in both the southern and northern hemispheres at the same time! Also some desrert cactus, the Tahoe going into the container in Panama and the busy and pretty large Balboa Port in Panama City.

To recap the last 10 days. So on February 4th we got the car back and had a great evening out on the town, as a matter of fact, the evening lasted until about 5:00a.m. the next day Bob and I headed south again for the city of Loja, near the Peruvian border. The idea was to see a few of the cities in the southern part of Ecaudor and then be ready to hit Peru and run the next day. Misfortune on our side, as we were driving in the mountains at about 10,000ft. we hit a constuction site where the road turned to one lane and we had to wait. There were roadside food vendors selling questionable plates of chicken and pork, water, etc. Within a few moments a large line had formed and a man was knocking on the window and pointing with his finger.

In my post "super late, over excessive" evening state of mind I was mostly in a daze as it was only 9:30 a.m. just 4.5 hours since my night had ended and Bob took the man at the window for a begger or hawker. Finally the man pointed again and Bob opened the door to look back and find we had a flat tire. "I heard him say, "we got a flat tire!" and my heart sank as I knew what was in store. Without so much as a word, we both got out and started to get at it. With a crowd just slightly smaller than a NASCAR race, and semis, busses, and not so NASCAR like Ecaudorian drivers racing by, we changed the tire in a little more than 10 minutes and didn't lose a second of driving time as we were waiting for construction. The onlookers dispersed, I got some "questionable" food from the roadside stand and a badly needed Diet Coke and we were on our way witout incident (minus almost gettin run over a few times).

We stopped at the next town at a "Vulcanizadora" or tire-man to get the tire fixed and changed around. We stopped in and I asked the two men working if they could fix our tire right away and they said of course. We had an extra tire in the back of the Tahoe so we opted to have it changed out for the punctured tire and put the spare tire/rim back under the car. It took only twenty minutes, two tires changed on and off the rim, swapped tire/rim on the car itself, the punctured tire patched, and checked all the air in all four tires. When we asked the man how much the bill was, our jaws dropped as he said, "$2 por favor." We looked at each other in disbelief and when we gave the man a $10 bill and said, "No Change," HE was in shock!! We just couldn't believe it, amazing service, immediate response, and only $2!!!! I'll never forget that.

From Ecaudor we hit Peru and we basically drove for 8 days strait, 8-12 hours per day. Both Bob and I had seen alot of Peru two years before and the northern 1500 miles in Chile is absolutely barren. It was actually a very tough week for both of us as it was frustrating to see nothing but sand. From Chiclayo, Peru to Vina del Mar, Chile it was nothing but desert. At the very least we are now just south of Santiago, Chile and should be in Osorno tommorrow and Barlioche, Argentina the next day. Looks as though we could be to the end of the road in 7 days.

A few more stories from along the way...

In Arequipa, Peru I was returning from dinner out on the town as Bob had gone to bed early. It was about 11:00p.m. and I was walking through the central park and I saw two hippie type guys playing a guitar and harmonica. They sounded quite good, so I sat just a few feet down the stairs from them to sit and listen. When they ended, the one looked at me and said, "Do you like Muddy Waters?" I didn't know it was a Muddy Waters tune, but had actually been listening to them earlier that day on the Ipod! From there, the rest is history. I found out that the guys were actually from Chile and Brazil, just on vacation and travleling for few months together. A few moments later, five more Chilean guys walked up, friends of the musicians. For the next five hours I trounced around with this group of Chilenos, a Brazlian, a Peruvian, somehow an Italian, and myself. We would walk from one one park to the next playing music, chatting about our countries and travels, waiting for the police to ask us to move on. It one point, there was a peruvian flute, guitar, harmonica, and hands slapping and it sounded fantastic. Of course, everthing sounds a little better after a few Pisco Sours, the national drink of Peru/Chile, each country claiming it as thier own. Again, sometime around the dawn of morning I said thank you and good bye to the new friends I had made and that was it.

A group of people from a mixture of countries walking around town laughing, drinking, playing music, and on some level potentially learning something or experiencing something worth remembering. It was another great traveling moment and although it might have been a little wierd to join up with a group of likely "street people," it was an adventure, fun, and totally memorable in my frame of mind. Maybe the next time your downtown walking through the skyway, sit down and strike up a conversation, you never know where it might lead!! HA HA HA (ok, this was a little different as these guys were just travelers who liked playing music in the street, but at the very least, the point is, enjoy street music, strike up a convo, and see where it takes you!!

Finally, yesterday we stayed in a beach town called Vina del Mar in Chile. It is right next door and a short taxi ride away from a town called Valparaiso. Two years ago, a friend and I stayed in a hostel in Valparaiso for the New Year's celebration. In Chile, Valparaiso is the place to be for New Year's. 500,000 people, fireworks for almost 10 miles along the beach, and an overall amazing vibe. As irresponible travelers, my friend and I traveled to Valpo (nickname for the town) with no reservations and decided that if we couldn't find a room, we'd just sleep on the beach, something not neccesarrily advised, but OK in a pinch. Typically, New Year celebrators make reservations years in advance, we decided to go only one day in advance. At any rate, we located a hostel with a great garden, lots of people from all over, and a good bar. They had no rooms, but the hostel manager Ricardo, a late 40's something, board short wearing, nice guy said if we didn't mind, he didn't mind if we slept on the couch for the night and it would be half price. We ended up staying for four days and slept on the couch the whole time. We got to know Ricardo more and had a fantastic time at the hostal meeting people and celebrating the new year. Just an amazing experience!

When Bob and I arrived in Vina del Mar, I thought I would go to this hostel in Valpo and say hi to Ricardo and Pedro, the guys who had been so generous to my friend and I two years earlier. I was also curious to see if they might remember me, but thought it impossible as hostal workers see thousands of people each year.

I took a bus over to town and walked up the streets directly to the hostel. I was surprised that without even seeing a map, I walked maybe 10 blocks, with 4 or 5 turns and made it directly to the hostel (it could be that I remember this place very well, in all my travels and maybe over 100 hostels, this is in the top five for me). I rang the door bell and sure enough, Ricardo popped his head over the gate and let me in. I was surprised to find that the hostel was quite empty, only 5 people staying that night. The end of February is the end of the tourist season in Valpo so that explains the lack of people, but it was such a dramatic difference from the 50+ people that were there on my first stay.

I explained the situation to Ricardo, that I was just saying hi, and had stayed on the couch two years before during New Year's when he said, "OH YES!! You and a friend stayed with no reservations!" I asked if he remembered my face and he honestly said no, but he did remember us staying on the couch and having a great time.

I found out that being the hostel was so quiet, Ricardo had invited a group of friends and family from Santiago to come visit for a barbeque. We visited together about life in Valpo and Chile while Ricardo and a young boy named Mario made the fire for the Barbeque or "Asado". I mentioned that I was only visiting and didn't want to intrude and Ricardo said, "No, No, you must stay and enjoy the food!" So for the next few hours I visited with 10 or so people from Santiago and Valpo with only me as an outsider, what a treat! It was quite fun to drink and eat and answer questions for the family like, "Where did you learn spanish? Why are you here? Do you like Chile? etc" My spanish isn't perfect, but I was able to hold a conversation with the entire group and understand everything for three hours or more! It was a great time and not to mention the food was fantastic! It is very common for barbeques to only have meat, so we had beef, pork, Chorizo sausages, and turkey! With a large amount of salt and a wood/charcoal mix flame, the flavors were fantastic! I gave a cheers to Ricardo, the "Asado Master!" and his family and then left for my hotel in Vina! We made plans for our meeting again in two years, but this time again for New Year's! So anyone interested, I'm going to Valpo for New Year's 2012, you're invited!

There seems to be a trend in my blogs and it seems that I am usually writing about the experiences I am having with people along the way. As it is great to see places like the Eifel Tower or Machu Pichu, the places you see in books or magazines, for me after seeing so many, it loses the luster! Seeing tourist attractions is exactly what is sounds like, seeing tourist attractions. However, the interactions with the people, maybe even people AT the tourist attractions is really what I enjoy. You never know what you are going to get with people and it is always amazing to me how happy and excited I can be after simply talking with people over beer and food or maybe even galavanting across the city playing music right on the street! You never know what stories you will hear, what you might learn, or how other people will affect your memories and experiencs. As of now, this trip has been no different, many places you can see in a book or on a map, but so much more in the way of experiences and people that you can only get by being in that place at that specific time!

What I Learned: Apparently I am going to New Year's in Chile 2012!!