Peru - Chile (and food poisoning) - Argentina

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I left Cusco and headed for Puno (the Peruvian side of Lake Titicaca). We arrived in Puno after a really bumpy 6 hour bus ride. The town of Puno itself was really dumpy, poor and dirty. We went down to see Lake Titicaca which was pretty anticlimactic as well. I was expecting some beautiful bright blue lake with mountains shooting up behind it… instead I saw a regular lake (although I do have to note it's the highest navigable lake in the world which was cool) with touristy boats that can take you for a trip to some manmade floating islands, but not much else really to do. I'm not sure what I was expecting, but oh well. Instead of staying overnight we decided to get something to eat and then continue bussing it south.

The next 12 hour bus ride was probably the shadiest I've been on. From Puno to Tacna (border of Peru/Chile). The bathroom didn't work on the bus; the door was actually nailed shut (which is inconvenient for a 12 hour bus ride). I think I was the only one on the bus without a potato sack for luggage, seriously. People were sleeping in the aisles and there were little kids and babies everywhere. The bus had to stop twice for 20 minute repairs (not sure what kind of duct tape they were using to fix what). Then at one point I thought we lost our brakes, we must have been going at least 85 MPH down this mountian side in the middle of the night. The towns we went through were all very primitive, with ox and cart farming and very simple broken down housing. Very interesting to see...amazing how some people can live so happily with so little...makes you think if you really need all the stuff we have, and does it make us happier, or is it just convenience.

After surviving the bus ride we had to take a cab across the border to Chile and then hop on another bus from Arica (Chilean side of Chile/Peru border) to Iquique. 4 hours later I felt like I was getting a little closer to civilization. Iquique is a beachy town that's trying to gain popularity but it's still pretty dumpy. I enjoyed an afternoon relaxing on the beach and planning how to get further south to San Pedro De Atacama (driest desert in the world) in Chile.

Little did I know the empanadas I had eaten in Iquique would come back to haunt me for the following week. I made it to San Pedro de Atacama and never left the hostel for 3 days. I don't think I've never been as sick in my life. I couldn't move, I was going to the bathroom and/or throwing up every hour around the clock and couldn't hold down ANY food. I had had a slight case of food poisoning the week prior in Cusco after eating grilled cow heart, but nothing like this. Terese (my travel partner for the past week) helped me to some make-shift doctor in the tiny town and they gave me some medicine that seemed to only make it worse. I bought a plane ticket to Mendoza, Argentina so I would be closer to a hospital and have hot water and a heated room. Finally...6 days later I think I've kicked it and am able to eat food. How quickly we take our health for granted. Needless to say I didn't get to see much of the desert besides on the bus on the way out. Mendoza seems like a really cool city. Mendoza produces 80% of Argentina's wine so I went and checked out a few of the bodegas (wineries) which were interesting. Argentina is most famous for their malbec grape which is similar to a Cabernet, but a little lighter with a different kick to it....quite nice actually.

Well, next stop is Bariloche (19 hour bus ride to the south in Argentina) to do some skiing in the famous Andes mtn range in Patagonia. Since I didn't get to celebrate the 4th of July I'm looking forward to seeing how the Argentineans celebrate their independence day (9 de Julio) this Saturday.

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