Mar 19
f you are planning to visit the sacred valley and want an ideal place to base yourself, look no further than Llama pack backpacker hostel in Urubamba. I recommend stopping in this town for a few nights. Cusco has some nice things to see & is worth your time too but the sacred valley is absolutely gorgeous. If you are debating about spending some time here, stop wondering and hop on a bus to Urubamba.
Normally we are fans of budget accommodation, preferring to spend our money on food but once in a while we like to splurge. Especially if it's a special occasion. For Laurent's birthday in November, I booked us at the Villa Jazmin hotel in Ica, Peru. We took a taxi (5 Soles) to the hotel from the bus station because it's located on the outskirts in a residential neighborhood. First things first. This was such a blessing.
Okay, here is where I am going to rave. This place has been one of our favorite of all the ones we stayed in over the course of a years travel in South America. It's not fancy nor is it an amazing value. So how can it be our favorite? The answer is simple. It's home. If you are feeling slightly homesick or craving the feeling of returning to a home (instead of just a bed), this place is the place to go!
We stayed at Casa Cecilia four years ago on our first trip to Patagonia. Back then, our impression was of a clean, comfortable place with friendly service. Fortunately, this time around our experience matched. The place is neither a B&B or a hostel but instead a simple guesthouse.
If any of you remember, we walked into Chile way back on January 28! Since then, we have had a great love affair with this country. Chile has some of the friendliest, most interesting people. People who are innately curious and who offer much in terms of their culture and of course their food! Let's take a walk down Chilean food memory lane.
It's just barely dawn. You are up almost 14,000 ft (4,200 m) at the highest geysers in the world. The sun is barely a sliver and already the light starts pouring into the vapor filled landscape where mud pools noisily bubble & everywhere you walk, the earth hisses at you. It's a scene straight out of the dawn of time. During the day, pink flamingos crowd altiplano lakes while volcanoes look menacingly on.
After trekking in El Chalten, we took a bus back to El Calafate. El Calafate kind of sucks but unfortunately it's a major hub in Patagonia and is a gateway to the southern part of Parque Nacional Los Glaciares (El Chalten serves the northern and free part of the park) and you usually have to go there to transfer to other places you want to travel to.
Did you ever have the feeling the universe was conspiring against you? No matter what you do, things just keep going wrong like some spirit of all the bad karma in the world was suddenly in control of everything that was happening. Is this what being in mercury's retrograde felt like? If so, it described our first days in Esquel perfectly.
I was looking forward to going to El Bolson. I heard it was a beautiful town surrounded by majestic mountains, colorful flowers, homemade beer, artsy stuff, fresh organic berries and had a general laid-back vibe. Yeah, it was kind of a hippy place. But honestly, deep down, I must be one too. I'll come clean. I love this stuff. And I loved El Bolson.
Doesn't every country need it's own Switzerland? Snow capped alpine vistas surrounded by striking azure lakes and greenery, wooden chalets with wood burning stoves and delicious chocolate. Did we somehow fly to Europe? No, we are just in San Carlos de Bariloche, Argentina. I have no idea why it looks like Switzerland here but it does. It's like you stepped into the fifth parallel or something.
Infused exposures 