We’ve made it to Chile! Get excited for posts to come about Bolivia; the internet there was atrocious so we need to catch up. For now, enjoy our month three observations! In the last month we have traveled to nine cities in three countries: Lima, Ica, Arequipa, and Puno in Peru; Copacabana, La Paz, Sucre, Uyuni and the salt flats in Bolivia; and San Pedro de Atacama in Chile.
Food & Beer
- Milk comes in bags or boxes and usually isn’t refrigerated.
- Eggs are never refrigerated.
- When ordering an IPA, you don’t spell out “I-P-A” but rather say “eee-pah.”
- On our exploration of breweries, we’ve found out after the fact that the ones we like the best are usually run by an American or at least have an American as their brewmaster.
Exercise/Health
- We don’t usually see people out for runs, unless it’s a touristy area (and then it’s usually tourists running) or if there’s a big park.
- We go in exercise spurts. If we’re in an area that seems ok to run in, we might go for a few runs and then do yoga and/or body-strength exercises back at the hostel. Then we’ll forget about exercise for the next several days until we feel too lethargic and repeat the process.
- Although we have not had an opportunity to weight ourselves, we both seem to have lost weight.
Cars
- We have heard more car alarms in the past three months than probably the rest of our lives combined. Apparently cars still come with these? Although they prove just as ineffective as you would expect since there’s one going off every five minutes.
- Yielding to pedestrians in crosswalks seems entirely optional.
- Traffic laws in general also seem optional when you’re in countries that can’t/don’t enforce them since bribery is commonplace.
Other things
- Clothes wear through a lot faster when you’re wearing the same things every single day.
- If I had a dollar every time a man serenaded me with “Laura se fue…” from this song, I could probably fund our entire stint in South America.
- Also regarding names: “Laura” in Spanish is pronounced Lao (like Lao Tsu) - ruh (with a flipped r). (The internet literally has everything.) Vesper’s name is usually “Besper” since b and v are often the same sound in Spanish.
- The variety of cellphones in use here is pretty extensive, ranging from the latest iPhone or Android to the chunky “dumb” phones from back in the day when cellphones were still a new thing.
- Internet cafes are pretty big in South America since a lot of people either don’t have access at home and/or connections aren’t necessarily reliable or fast.
- Similarly, pay phones are very common here and are frequently in use - unlike at home where it seems like they’re basically being phased out and it’s often hard to find one.
Fast facts
- Longest bus ride: Ica to Arequipa (12 hours)
- Best beer bar: Chelawasi Public House in Arequipa
- Best food: Ceviche at El Muelle in Lima
- Favorite city? Lima
- Best experience? Colca Canyon