Chile Update

I haven´t been to inspired to write lately. Not that I haven´t been having a good time or that nothing has happened. On the contrary, plenty has happened, but they have all been just the little things. The kind of little things that fade in and out of memory and probably will fade away in the end. That´s fine with me though. Trying to capture every little thing that happens is not the best use of your time travelling. Besides, they can randomly be sparked later by something and provide a pleasant little reminder. Or, they may be forgotten forever. Then, the next time you visit one of these places it will be an uninfluenced brand new experience all over again; no expectations...

Final Peru Post - Cusco and Arequipa

Hello from what was sunny Iquique, Chile.

Today was my first day in Chile. Since my last post, I have been in Cusco, Colca Canyon, and Arequipa.
While Cusco is quite a nice city with stone churches and colonial building all over the city, there isn´t much to report. I spent 3 days there, which consisted mostly of a couple parties and walking around, enjoying the city. I did make a few friends there, two of which I will probably stay with a night or two in Santiago. The only real touristy thing I did was make an attempt on the only sunny day to go to Saquishuan (sp?). However, the price was 40 Soles for students and 70 Soles for tourists. However, I had forgoten my ISIC card. I tried to walk down a road that paralleled the ruins to see if it was worth paying the full price, but the guards wouldn´t allow me. I decided I didn´t want to pay the extra $10. That´s about the jist of Cusco, fun town and late nights.

Machu Picchu for $210

That number isn´t bragging. In fact, I got ripped off.

I arrived in Cusco at 5AM and because I was at my weakest moment (running on 5 hours of sleep), I did something I try never to do. That is, I was approached by a tour opperator and booked a tour on the spot after only 5 min of negotiation. There are many, many ways to do Machu Picchu. You can take the Inca trail hike, which is supposed to be the thing to do, but you can´t do it in Feb. cause the trail is closed. It also requires about 6 months advance notice (not exactly true, it is possible, though slim chance, to do it on the spot in Cusco, but it's a big risk if you don't have a lot of time in your corner) and costs a shit load; I heard $500ish. You can also do alternative multi-day hikes, which are becoming more popular. Don't know the prices; they're less $, but still high. You can take a train,

2 Book Reviews

Hey all,
Just a quick couple book reviews.
I read Eat, Pray, Love. Yes, that´s super gay of me. I did it because I have been toying with the idea of writing a book about my travels and what led up to them. So, I picked it up at a book swap for research.
First, let me say this. If you are a dude, and aren´t gay, you will hate this book. If you are a chick, or a gay dude, you will probably like this book. Without spoiling to much, the book follows Liz (the author) through Italy where she eats, India where she prays, and Bali where she loves. Clever title, huh? The problem that I had with this book is that she is a total nut job. I like the fact that she goes travelling and like to read about what she does, but she is really fucking preachy. The authors voice is authoritative, masked by what seems to be humility, on the matters of eating, praying, and loving; esp. on the matters of praying. This voice also doesn´t seem to notice glaring contradictions in itself, nor does it leave room for her being wrong about anything (even though she feigns this). Then, by the end of the book, she seems to have most of her act together. However, if the dude she ended up with were to dump her, she´d be exactly back where she started cause she never really gets her head straight.
It was really hard for me to read after her eating phase, cause all I could say "you don´t have a fucking clue what you´re talking about. Stop pretending to have your shit together."

Second book: The Anthologist: A Novel. This book is about a poet who has to write an anthology and struggles with it. I loved this book. Besides learning a ton about poetry that I´ll never remember, I loved the simplicity. The author isn´t trying to accomplish too much; it´s just an interesting guy, who you can relate to, doing normal shit, while trying to write a book. Oh yeah, and woo his girl friend back. It´s a quick read, and great. Get it.

Very Short Peru Update, Puno and Floating Islands

I arrived in Puno on the 5th. It is quite a bit bigger and nicer than Copacabana. They too have a big festival going on called Virgen de la Candeleria, in which they have a costume and dance competition in the form of an unorganised parade. They have all sorts of crazy costumes, some of which seemed a bit Asian. I spent some time walking about the city and watching the parrade, that is until a thunderstorm rolled through and I needed cover. Eventually, I made my way to a tent at the main area where I was invited to drink with some Peruvians from Tacna. For the most part we talked in Spanish, but occasionally one of the more drunk ones would repeat that it´s cold here but very hot in Tacna and at the beach. After a while, I got pretty drunk too and I needed to eat dinner, so we went our seperate ways.

Super Long Bolivia Post La Paz - Sorata - Copacabana - Isla del Sol

Hey all, this is going to be a long post because the internet outside La Paz is pretty shitty and I haven´t had a chance to post some stuff. However, there were some pretty cool things worth reading about that happened, particularly in Sorata.