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Hello all once again, unfortunately this entry is going to be slightly more concise than usual as we're very short on time. who would have guessed rural mountain villages weren't the best place to find a reliable, fast and open internet connection?
So since we last blogged we took the bus to tacna on the peru-chile border and then took a colectivo across to arica on the other side. It was with a fond farewell that we left peru, connie especially was sad to leave as shes had so much time to know the country and its people. We also didn't immedietly fall in love with chile as arica is not the most charming place and everything seemed to be closed. Oh and we got ouur first gringo shout of the whole trip. We also struggled to find a hostel and then the following morning got severly messed around trying to get a local bus to putre. So yes not the best introduction.
Since then however chile has rapidly gained ground on peru thanks entirely to the few days we've spent up in the chilean altiplano. Putre is just below the altiplano (a desert like expanse exceedingly high up
in te andes) and is a sleepy little town with an army garrison pinned on. it's an incredibly relaxed place and we found some excellent cakes too. After spending one night in putre we walked up to the main road with a cou'ple of days clothes and supplies with the intention of exploring the altiplano on our own (tours are so touristy man).
We waited for about an hour in a small hut waiting for a bus travelling in the right direction (of course when one did stop that was not full, another stopped right behhind it) and we rode along to the refuge cabin by lake chungara where we intended to stay the night. but thanks to absolutely none of the park warden centres being open that we looked for we were not privy to the fact that the refuge was closed ando so faced a very long, cold walk to the nearest village. luckily though we managed to pinch a lift from a tour group stopping off for photos that was heading towards the next village: parinacota. we planned to stay here anyway the following night so it wasnt so bad.
parinacota is a tiny tiny
hamlet of about 30 crumbling white-wash buildings around a small square and church in the middle of the altiplano plain. it was practically depopulated a few years ago, but now some families are returning due to a small boost in tourist interest, though most only pass through on tours.
What we'd forgotten however is that may 3 was cruz de mayo - a major celebration for the aymarac people of the altiplano - and we were invited as we were stayin the night to join the celebreations. we watched the only 20 or so villagers carry a pink cross up a small slope nxt to the village where they preceded to crack open some beers, pray a little and throw coca leaves at the cross, before erecting the cross in a stone set. we then ate the most delicious rustic meal cooked in the traditional style - a earth pit filled wit white hot stones and then covered for hours - drank a little wine and listened to hilariously out of tune, ancient guitars played by two, possibly a bit frazzled, old men. it was a really lovely experience and the locals didn´t even blink about inviting us to
join in their traditions. we then retired to an extremely cold night (parinacota is over 4500m above sea level) wearing all our clothes and about 8 blankets.
the following day we went off on a minor expedition around the surrounding area for about 3 hours, just walking around and taking in the immenseness of the country around us. we then shopped a little at the artesans stalls and drank tea. the owner of our hostel had very kindly offered to give us a lift back to putre as he needed to go himself and so we left around 4 for putre.
the journey took longer than expected however as on the way he and his friend stopped to argue with some other men about somekind of property dispute and stop in another village to pick up some paperwork or something. we also had to backtrack to parinacota when ourr driver also picked up some french hitch-hikers who had also tried to stay at the refuge by lake chungara and had been walkimg for 7 hours with their full packs. we were relieved we got off so lightly in the end.
so we're currently in putre planning a
slight change in plan. we hope to travel to bolivia from here (chile is so thin your always near another country) where we hope to spend about 5 to 7 days travelling south visiting some amazing sights (the largest salt flat in south america amongst others) before popping back into chile and into the driest place on earth - the atacama desert.
woo hoo.
PS - sorry about the lack of photos added to this and some of the previous blogs. it seems the plugs are different here so our cameras can't be charged. we'll do our bbest to get more on as soon as possible
love connie and tom
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The Ryan
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Don't dry up and disintegrate in Atacama desert!!!