Atacama Desert, Arequipa, and Bad Luck

I had a really great time in the Atacama Desert. Did a 3 hour bike ride over to a little mountain called Quitor. Then I proceeded to hike up this mountain in my TOMS to watch the sunset. It was amazing! I met a Chilean man who worked at the mountain who said I could just follow him down a "mas rapido" way. So I figured...why not. I immediately regretted this decision as I was climbing down huge rocks and basically trying not to die sliding down this mountain. I was clutching this little Chilean man's hand so tight in fear of my life....but somehow we made it! I then to a night bus to Arica...which is  a small town at the Chilean/Peruvian border. I arrived in Arica and there was a time change...so it was now 4 AM. I then piled into a colectivo with a girl from California who I met, and three other random Peruvians. The colectivo driver takes you through the border to the city of Tacna, in Peru. So in the colectivo, the driver had already taken our passports and filled out all of our border crossing papers, which was nice. He then drove 50 kilometers over the speed limit to get us to Tacna as fast as possible...always fun. From Tacna I took a 7 hour bus to Arequipa. I then arrived at my couchsurfer Fernando's house. We have had a great time these past few days...got traditional Peruvian food, saw the sights, and everything. The fun stopped Friday when I fell down two stairs and hurt my foot. It seemed to be ok....until I woke up at 7 AM yesterday and couldn't walk. My foot was extremely swollen so Fernando took me to the clinic/hospital. They did x-rays and thankfully it is just a sprain...but it still spoiled my plans to go to Cusco and hike the Incan trail. Meanwhile for the past three days I have seem to come down with some sort of stomach bug...maybe parasite. My stomach has never been so bad in my life. So if I am not better by tomorrow, I'm going back to the clinic to get checked for parasites. FUN WEEK! Hopefully I am better and can leave to Cusco on Thursday. We will see! I am so grateful to Fernando, and Johannes and Marcela...two people couchsurfing with Fernando as well. Fernando has been making me ice packs for my foot, and even made me homemade chicken soup....he goes to the store for me and puts on movies and everything. I pretty much lucked out with the best couchsurfing host in history! Johannes is from Austria....he is like my Austrian nurse. Marcela is Colombian but she lives in Orlando! So it's been fun reminiscing about various American things with her. But I am going to use this time to apply for grad school and try to figure out my life. I can say that Peru is my favorite country yet, despite what happened to me. For now here are some pics from the Atacama Desert and from Arequipa, Peru.

On the way from Salta to the Atacama Desert.

Some of the Salt Flats on the way to Atacama.

On the way up Quitor.

Volcanoes in the distance.

Cross at the top of Quitor.

Right before the sunset.

It was really windy....

Climbing down the mountain and seeing the sunset.

Chilean man who drug me down the mountain.

In Arequipa...cloudy but nice.

Lookout point in Arequipa.

An eagle...freaking out on my arm.

Me and Johannesburg...

Johannesburg and Fernando...my great couchsurfing friends/nurses!

Traditional Peruvian dish that Fernando made...potatoes, guacamole, tuna, and tomatoes and onions.

Me and Marcela! My new friend in Orlando.

My sad foot....oh and Inca Kola.

Iguazu Falls and Salta

Arrived in Iguazu last week to see the falls. Probably one of the best things I've done since I've been here. Stayed for a couple of days in Puerto Iguazu...just a little tourist town. The second day that I went to the falls, I met a guy named Clay from New Mexico living in a small town called Parana. He paints swimming pools and is the only "gringo" in the town. He was fun. We went together to the park and took a boat ride that literally drives you right up to the falls. It was great! We got soaked. Opted not to buy the video of the trip, which was 150 pesos (about 35 dollars) which was more than it cost to get on the boat. On Tuesday night I took a 23 hour bus ride to Salta which is west of Iguazu. A nice little city. I arrived at about 10:30 in the morning, and then proceeded to climb Cerro San Bernardo...a hill with a great view of the city. Had free dinner at my hostel....first night was empanadas...second night the worst pizza of my life. But free is free!!! Friday morning I woke up at 6 AM to go on a tour of Las Salinas Grande...the salt flats in Argentina. Rode a tiny little shuttle bus around for 14 hours...but the scenery was amazing! Mountains, salt flats, llamas. We were supposed to get back at 7 PM...but in Argentina you just add 2 hours to the time they tell you and that's actually the time that they mean. No one is in a rush. Yesterday morning took the 9 hour bus across the border back to Chile. I'm currently in San Pedro de Atacama...the driest desert in the world. Renting a bike to watch the sunset tonight...should be amazing! Have to post pictures of that later.

Gargantua del Diablo....biggest falls.

Another picture of the "Big Devil" Falls.

Me

River in between the falls.

Self-explanatory.

Monkey...and Israeli guys IPhone taking a picture of it.

Me again..

Rainblow at another area of the falls.

The upper circuit.

Dos hermanas....or two sisters falls.

In front of one of the bigger falls.

Took a boat ride with my new friend Clay from New Mexico...we literally went under the falls and got soaked.

View from the boat.

On the boat.

Church in Salta.

View from Cerro San Bernardo.

San Bernardo monument.

Me on the Teleferico.

Being a gaucho in Salta.

On the horse riding journey!

Scenery.

My horse was hungry.

A gaucho herding his horses.

Bridge for the Train to the Clouds outside of Salta.

In front of the 7 Colored Mountains.

Llamas!

First look of the salt flats.

Las Salinas Grande.

So strange but so cool.

Jumping!

Some really cool mountains on the way back to Salta.

Mountains in Purmamarca.