warming up

Oh, what one can do with 40 hours. From the 11th to the 13th Sam and I took 4 different vehicles from Salta, into Chile, to the Peruvian southern boarder, and a long haul back through the Andes North to Lake Titicaca en la ciudad de Puno. I will tell you, for this next 10 hour journey, we chose the expensive bus, costing 48$, which was not the case before.

With this said, one can see that we did not make it into Brazil or Paraguay. I have strong feelings that if I do indeed return to SA one day, Bolivia and Brazil will be the places for me to go.

I loved Argentina, though as I stated, the language was very challenging. Cafayate would be said ´cah-fie-schya-tay´ leaving me with the understanding of very very little. The views were fantastically not desert, as Sam and I had been getting a bit bored with the endless sand views of southern Peru. We had our fix of the charmed-Argentinian-food, steak! It was 3x as expensive as any meal we hade ever gotten down here, Sam ordering a proper thick steak, and myself ordering the ´personal grill´…not really knowing what would come. I got about 6 favietied of grilled meat, some this, some round, some thick and fatty. My stomach was so loaded with Vino (its wine country in San Pedro!) steak portions, Sam took a stab at the remaining dark, thick link on my personal grill…..it was blood sausage. I feel strongly that this should not exist, and I feel a bit naucious thinking about it and the bits that fluffed up the inside. So gross.

I was happy that we were able to take a colectivo across the Chilean boarder this time around, 5 of us in one prívate car, a sweet lady who took care of ½ the business, only costing us $6usd for the 90 minute trip! We have enjoyed getting to know the Lake Titicaca town of Puno, and are re-enjoying the vast amountas of street vendors and weekend markets of this town. There isn´t much of a beauty-view from the cement walkways which we have access to, just next to the lake (burnt tall grass between, with of course scattered rubbish). Fortunately whilst taking the 4 hour trip to some local ruins, we had a wonderful birds eye view of Puno and the Lake.
Today we visit a bit of a favorite town, arriving at 19pm, Huacachina! I love this lagoon surrounded by massive mounds of sand dunes, lots of sun, and charming places toe at. Lima, see you in 3 days.