Beach Beer Bargaining

Just one of them lazy beach days. Almost felt like I was on vacation in the Outer Banks again... minus being with family, of course. But we still had a good crew!

Kickin' It In Lima

Such a beautiful coastline.

Climbing gym in Lima. I really need to get myself back into climbing shape. Too much beer and food, not enough exercise. 

Definitely the tallest gym wall I've seen in South America. 

A new craft beer pub opened up last week. A bit pricey, but excellent selection of Peruvian brews.

My new Aussie friend Ben brought a slack line with him. Twas a great way to pass the time and enjoy the nice weather. 

Stacking rocks on the beach during sunset. Quite nice.

Cozy little rooftop lounge with a bar.

I've met some great people in Lima in the last couple days. Spent plenty of time talking about beer with Cammy, whose been volunteering at various breweries in South America. Interesting to get a sort of inside perspective on the industry down here. Also yesterday I spent the day chilling with Ben who brought his slack line and had really interesting perspectives on traveling and the greater society in which we live. Then last night we had a big crew hanging out on the roof playing random drinking games. Also, the climbing gym in Lima is pretty nice. I should have plenty to distract me from my excitement of flying back to the states on Friday. 

The End Is Near...

Connie has been in the desert too long. She may have completely lost her mind.

Gathering 100,000 pesos worth of food for another hostel BBQ

Had 4 hours to kill in Tacna Peru. Found a HUGE market. This is maybe 1/10 of the market. Great time waster.

An entire section of the market full of dead birds? You can imagine the smell coming through your screen right now. 

The best part of the 20 hour bus ride to Lima was the incredible sunset of the Pacific Ocean. 

Wow... Haven't updated this thing in a while. My apologies friends. The last week in San Pedro has been full of hammock naps, drinking Micheladas and watching soccer matches, BBQing and some more camping in Toconao. Just trying to relax and enjoy the slow pace of San Pedro before beginning my trip back to the states. This Easter weekend was spent on a record setting 31 hours of buses to get me from Chile back to Lima Peru. I have a flight booked for April 1st to get me back to Vegas and back to my beautiful Saturn. I'm very much looking forward to sleeping in it again. Also looking forward to good beer, peanut butter, sharp cheddar cheese, being able to flush toilet paper and oh so many other things that I've been deprived of in the last 2 months. Let's see what I can do to entertain myself for the last 4 days in South America! 

Hostal BBQ

Sebastian and I repping the great USA.

Connie's handmade lentil veggie burger for me. It's been 16 hours since I ate it and I'm still so full.

BBQ for almost 30 guests at the hostal. Somehow it worked out perfectly.

Party at "La Playa" which isn't actually a beach. It's a spot in the desert outside of town where people go to drink after midnight "quiet hours".

Lately I've been just laying around the hostal all day enjoying the nice weather and the crappy beer. With the springtime snow falling back home, I'm finding it even more pleasurable to hang around in the desert. Last night we had a huge BBQ for everyone at the hostal. The food and the atmosphere were fantastic. We finished the night partying in the desert outside of town for a few hours. I really ought to leave today to start heading back towards Lima but hanging here sounds far better than 2-3 days of bus travel. 

Desert Parties

Sometimes we try to find after parties in the desert and end up going until 5 AM. The adventures had worn out Eric a bit. 

The moon rising over my favorite volcano.

A woman expertly herding goats through the desert.

The moon is borderline spiritual here and the richness of colors (especially around sunset) will never cease to bewilder me.

Some more fun adventures in San Pedro. There's a plethora of treks and tours available but they're all between $50 and $150. We've had great success going on our own treks and experiencing the beauty of San Pedro on a budget. Don't want to leave but I should probably start making my way back to Peru soon...

Camping and Aucanquilcha Volcano

Our stroll through the river during our camping trip.

Our "camping" spot for the night as we waited for sunrise. The road was too sketchy to drive at night.

The worst section of the road. Took some shoveling and a few good efforts to get through this part. 

The top of the sulfur mine. I believe this is the highest mine in the world.

The summit!

Well I have a couple updates for you since we last spoke. A few nights ago Sebastian, Eric and I went camping in Toconao. We camped out in the valley where all of the rock climbing is. Twas a beautiful location to watch the sunset and then the moon set and eventually star gaze. The sky out here is definitely the best night sky I've ever seen. I wish I took more pictures but I was too busy enjoying the camping. Then the next day Eric, Kris, Connie and myself rented a car and headed off to Ollagüe to hike the Aucanquilcha Volcano. At 20,262 feet, it would by far be the highest hike I've ever done. By 4 AM we arrived at the start of the mining road and setup camp, which meant laying our sleeping bags on the ground and sleeping till sunrise. Once we had light, we made the treacherous hour drive over the worst road I've ever seen to get to the start of the hike. Only got stuck a couple of times and miraculously didn't break the car. The hike to the top took about 4 hours and was definitely the hardest hike I've ever done. At 20,000 feet, every single step is an exhausting effort. We finally made it to the top and essentially ran back down since we had to return the rental car by 9 PM. With pounding headaches and exhausted bodies we celebrated our victory. Beating Denali by about 8 meters, it was higher than anything in North America. Pretty excited about that. That night I slept better than I've slept in a very long time.

Valle De La Luna

The start of our ride to the Valle. Lookin' fresh eh?

Dunes!

That volcano never gets any less gorgeous. 

Beautiful sunset over the Valle.

After lounging around the hostel for a few days, I needed to get out and see something. Sebastian and I rented some bikes and pedaled to Valle de la Luna. It's a popular destination for watching the sunset and there were many busloads of people there. We managed to find our own paths and found a sweet spot for sunset. The landscape reminded me of a cool blend of Death Valley, Bryce Canyon and The Badlands. Solid trip.

San Pedro Por Favor

She was hilarious. Even with a slight language barrier, we shared some good laughs.

Such a wonderful and friendly woman.

Why are you giving me that look?

37 km walk to San Pedro would have been rough.

The sign reads "San Pedro Por Favor".

Today's adventure was a trek to a nearby town and back with Sebastian and Eric. The town, Toconao  (where I climbed the other day), is completely void of tourists and tourism influence. We took a bus there, shared beers with some locals and bought a bunch of cacti. Then the 6:00 bus never showed up and we needed to figure out how to get back. After several attempts to get private tour buses to pick us up, we resorted to a sign and the main road. Thankfully within a half hour we were picked up by a couple from Calama and we made our way back to San Pedro. Then a night around a bonfire with about 10 others from the hostel was a perfect way to end the day. 

Climbing In Toconao

Dorm room the first night.

"Downtown" San Pedro

I want to climb that majestic volcano before I leave.

Lautaro cleaning the anchors.

Such a beautiful crag in the desert. 

Lautaro, the legend of Toconao.

The front yard of my new hostel. Much better.

I'm warming up to San Pedro. Especially after a rad day of climbing and meeting up with Sebastian again who is here volunteering at a hostel. Climbing was just me and my guide, Lautaro. We got on some awesome 10s and 11s ranging from short bouldery routes to long technical slabs. Even got to climb a beautiful finger crack. It wasn't until the end of our session that he mentioned he had bolted/established 90% of the routes in Toconao. Super nice and rad guy. Hopefully in a few days I'll be climbing again with him and some of his friends (without having to pay  $50). Then after, I checked into a new hostel. Sebastian, who I had met in Baños is now volunteering here. The hostel offers camping for 5,000 Chilean Pesos which is a lot cheaper than most of the beds in San Pedro. Starting to settle in now.

Delusional And Slightly Disappointed

Nice little happenstance in the middle of the desert.

No, seriously. The middle of nowhere. 

All the men standing and watching. Waiting for a chance to step in and show off.

The Chilean border.

Sooo many night buses.

Third border crossing now and they all seem to take around 22 hours. Gets pretty exhausting. The flat tire didn't help but luckily they had a spare and we were back up and running in maybe a half hour. Each bus station transfer I made seemed to be super last minute, just barely catching the next bus. The last leg from Arica to San Pedro didn't have any direct routes left that night so I ended up getting dumped out in some random town on the way. At 4 AM, with no Chilean currency and no idea where I was, my nerves were certainly tested. Thankfully after a short spurt of aimless wandering, I found a hotel with an ATM and wifi and was able to get my bearings. I'm now in San Pedro and thinking it's not as awesome as travelers made it out to be. Definitely a tourist trap in my opinion. Nothing but the world's driest desert and the most expensive treks I've seen so far. Determined to actually do something here, I shelled out $50 (the cheapest trek I found) to do 4 hours of top-rope climbing nearby. Hopefully the rock is good!