Delightful Arequipa

After 10 hours of travelling from Ica, we reached Arequipa. The bus terminal was outside of the main city. It took us only 0.60 soles per person to get to the town center in a shared combi. The square was very vibrant with a lot of tourism agencies. After visiting a couple of hostels we decided to stay at El Caminante in a matrimonial room for 40 soles. It was a relief to have a place to stretch and take a hot shower. We decided not to hit the bed but to explore the plaza. Before leaving the hostel we booked a tour to Colca Canyon for 60 soles per person at the reception. The tour bus would pick us up at the hostel in the morning.



The plaza was dominated by the grandeous church. There was a celebratory spirit in the square with newly married couples, children and local vacationers. We went to the side streets where there were lots of stores, shopping malls and small vendors. I bought a cheap watch that we desperately needed.

We decided to head to Lakshmivan per recommendation from Lonely Planet for dinner. Unfortunately we were too hungry and the wait was very long for what it was worth ( average pizza and soy and potato chips).

Onwards to Arequipa

It took us about 5 hours to reach Ica from Lima. The area around bus terminal was buzinng with traffic and pollution. Quite a contrast from Lima. The bus journey had been pretty comfortable so decided to continue onwards towards Arequipa rather than spend a night in Ica where we did not believe we had much to see.
Spent an hour trying to figure out a bus company that goes to Arequipa. Kept going around the square and got redirected in another direction. Eventually found out Ormenia would leave at a time convenient for us. It would cost 60 soles per person for economy seats.
The bus stop was very basic and in the open with a table for reception and couple of chairs for waiting passengers. Bus was scheduled to leave in an hour so decidede to get some dinner. Had to look around for some veggie options, eventually found a chinese place where we ate noodles, vegetable rice, salad and chips( some kind of a combo meal that they served).
Waited at the bus terminal and met a Hare Krishna follower (seen in pic here reading Gita). Very surprised at this encounter. He was a Columbian chap and was going down south doing a pilgrimage of HareKrishna temples.
Bus did not leave on time but were happy to get a front row seat( which usually is a little more leg space). Also met a priest who had been to Boston and was going South to visit a church. Lot of coincidences in a small place like Ica!

Beautiful Andes and the bus journey down South

Going towards Ica on the Pan Americana, there were mountains of sand on one side and the Pacific Ocean on the other. Passed by villages with small huts, rows of chicken coops, and lot of street vendors. At every traffic light had vendors reaching out at the window to sell their wares. Living in the US, we had completely forgotten how accessible things were, especially food and one did not need to stock up a lot while traveling. Sugar cane juice, coke (that tasted exactly like Thumbs-Up), corn and much more. Here's a picture of the corn we bought from near the bus terminal. It was being sold by a roadside vendor ( piping hot, taken out from her pot of boiling water) and served with some delicious spicy salsa.

Day 3, Lima and Decisions

Passport is not stamped yet and the weekend is approaching. We have changed out plans now and instead of leaving for Cusco with our bags, we will be going to Ica, Pisco and Nazca for the weekend. We will need to come back to get our passports and so it was quite stressful since we had not expected this twist early on in the trip. Hoping this will not create time issues further along. We pack our smaller back pack with essential clothes and items and leave the rest in the hostel. We were recommended to take the Soyuz bus from La Victoria ( which should be reached by a taxi since it was an unsafe neighborhood per the hostel staff). On the contrary we saw no issues with the neighborhood and felt the 8 sole taxi ride to be an unnecessary expense. Soyuz did not got to Nazca and charged 27 soles for one way to Ica. We decided to shop around since there were other bus operators in the area. Noone spoke English but people were good at reading maps. We were advised to check out Ceva (at a different bus terminal- cab ride 3 soles). The bus depot was bustling, and there were multiple bus agencies there. Since Ceva had no vacant seats we decided to take the next bus to Ica with Flores (20 soles). The bus was leaving in 5 minutes- I rushed to find where it was while H decided to grab us a meal. Completely crazy idea but he made it back in time with some piping hot, delicious corn and spicy, fresh salsa. Yummy!

Day 2, Visa, Downtown

Left early in the morning to go to the US embassy. We decided to take the cab to not get late for the 8am appointment. I was not anxious having gone through the process many times before. Reached the embassy on time, but it was already bustling with people. Went to get in the queue for the embassy and decided to meet H at 9:30 outside the embassy. Some difficulties ensued that were unexpected however the visa was finally issued. Passport pickup could be anywhere between 48 hours and 5 days. Great! Perfect for planning the next leg of the trip. We decided to take the combi to plaza de aramas. Combi was the local transport option popularly used by many in Lima. Having regularly traveled by rickshaw and also local buses in India combi seemed like an easy option for commuting.
Some local guy helped us with figuring out which one to take. According to him it would not be easy to get to the plaza since it would require changing combis twice. We had all the time in the world so decided to go the slower route. Any combi trip so far was costing us 1 soles. Inside it was bustling with people and we fell at home. There was a young, disheveled lady sitting with a cute cherubic boy. She got curious in us and tried to figure out where we were going. She looked at our lonely planet lima center map and was smartly able to figure out and show us the route that would get us close to the Plaza. Then in sign language she also told us that the driver was her child's father and that he did not believe in getting married!! Talk about feeling at ease. She advised us not to pay more than 4 soles for the next ride in a hush tone since she didn't want the driver or the conductor to feel she was giving away insider secrets It was such a pleasant ride and we wondered why we were being advised not to take it. Reached a bustling center and were immediately told to take a shared cab by the driver. Seemed like he was a part of their group, and we went along. The ride took about 20 minutes and we were dropped off close to the Plaza. The first thing to strike us was the huge cathedral in the plaza. Christ Ruled. We were completely famished and looked for Cafe Natural that was recommended by Lonely Planet for vegetarian food. The food was pretty good and seemed good value for the money. After visiting 2 museums(nothing great) we had some delicious coconut pastry and some average coffee. Decided to call it a day and head back to the hostel. General observations from a day in the city:
- A line of combis(mini-buses) always arrive together- here's a video; it was a private local transport system and ran extremely efficient. There was typically a conductor who shouted the destination of the combi. They hardly stopped for a minute and you could get off on the way, wherever you wanted within reason. It was a cheap, easy way to travel conveniently in the city. They seemed to move faster than the rest of the traffic.
- Sign language seemed to be working everywhere
- Looking like a Peruvian, but not knowing Spanish worked to a disadvantage. Locals either started having a conversation or thought you were fooling them
- Weather is awesome- don't miss the Boston cold
- Building are very colorful

Landed in Lima- Day 1

Lima airport was bustling with people when we landed around 1 am. We had decided not to check our backpacks so it was a smooth exit. Outside there were hoards of taxi drivers, hotel pick-ups waiting for the passengers. We had booked a prepaid ride with Hostel Malka (where we were planning to stay). The ride would cost us 20$ but decided it was worth it, late at night when we were tired and unsure of the safety in the surrounding areas.

The hostel pick up was prompt and we set out on our 20 minute journey to the hostel. Unfortunately the driver didn’t speak much English. The whiff of air was similar to Bombay and the city was sleeping. We checked in. prepaid for the 1^st night (the rate was pretty good- 7 soles for 1 dollar) so we paid in dollars. Our room was small, and the bed seemed smaller than what we were used to in the US. The air was humid and hot. What a change from the Boston weather! We were exhausted and called it a night. Next morning were able to better appreciate the room and the hostel. It was neatly laid out with a small table, and a cupboard. The room overlooked the garden downstairs and had an adjoining shared patio. There were shared bathrooms. There were several people staying in the hostel- mostly young kids from Europe. The hostel had a large kitchen which was well equipped however did not have a matchstick ( note to self, buy one). There was a fridge, microwave and a lot of pots and pans.

The girl at the desk had changed from last night, and found a friendly and helpful person on the other end. We needed to go to Banco Continental and Bolivian embassy that day. Got some local maps from her, as well as the neared Banco Continental address. Hostel was in a nice residential neighborhood and walking a couple of blocks we were in the middle of the bank district. We were able to locate the bank fairly easily and waited for help. At the counter only 1 person spoke broken English and I showed him the written instructions from US consulate, regarding what was needed. They were helpful and we got the bank draft easily.

From there we realized we were famished so decided to look for something to eat. On the map we knew where the supermarket was and decided that would be our best bet. Usually food courts have more veggie options than restaurants or cafes. The super market seemed upscale and on the back was a large buffet spread. 7.99 pesos a pound. Checked out the selection and found tons of options for vegetarian. H was sold on their dessert selection. We picked up all that looked tempting and oddly in the checkout line we were the only ones who had carried food that weighed at 2 pounds. We were fairly embarrassed but devoured on our first Peruvian meal.

Headed to the Bolivian embassy from there by bus- it was farther away from our hostel. Seemed like most embassies were in that area. Unfortunately it was closed.

We needed yellow fever vaccination for the trip to Pantanal, Brazil and according to the hostel it was possible to get it at the general hospital 40$ per person. The hospital was on the other end of town and again managed to take a bus there. That area seemed poorer and was bustling with people. At the hospital we were immediately helped and the doctor knew some English. He was intrigued when we told him we were from India. The vaccination was quickly completed and expected symptoms were headache and mild fever within a week.

It was late afternoon and we were exhausted. Decided to head back to hostel and make dinner. We discovered another supermarket around the corner from the banks street which was slightly cheaper, and bigger with more variety of products. Completely freaked out in the fresh vegetable section. Tons of variety in produce, lot of different kinds of dried chillies. They also had bulk holders of different types of lentils, grains and pasta. Bought Quinoa, potatoes (had to, we were in Peru- place where potatoes were first grown and it boasted 2000 varieties of these), carrots,tomatoes,chillies and rice. Also stocked up on the basics like butter, eggs, milk, salt. Hit upon the fresh jams and jellies section later where they had a huge selection sold by the pound. We bought some Anjeer jam and Peruvian cheese.

As always, we realized we had bought more than we needed but returned to the hostel satisfied with our purchase.

Quinoa soup/dal, rice and salad meal turned out to be great. Not really sure if locals used these ingredients for a similar preparation, but enjoyed the Indianized version of it. Hostel staff had changed for the evening. I went to check with the lady if she could tell me how the grain is used, but did not get much help.

There was dining set up outside, need the lounge and table tennis area overlooking the garden.

A Dutch guy, older than the rest of the inhabitants of the hostel, was hanging around in the area. We started chatting and realized he had spent a lot of time in India. He was in the business of making tents and had outsourced the work to an entrepreneur in Jaipur who made it using Indian textiles. The clientele was in Holland and used the tents for outdoor events and weddings. How global and interesting!

Pointers:
- youthhostelmalka is a great option to stay in Lima
- Check out grocery stores for food- works great for vegetarians
- Yellow Fever Vaccination easily available in Lima

Argentina Visa

Argentina Consulate NY website
Cost of visa for Indian citizen: None


Boston residents need to go to Argentinian consulate in NY for a tourist visa.
I took an appointment prior to visiting the consulate.
Reached Argentinian consulate at 9 am and showed the documents I was carrying ( as per what was listed on the website). I was asked to bring back 6 past financial statements and reservation confirmation for all places we were going to stay at. I was perturbed by this, and told the person at the window that I needed the visa urgently and that could not wait another day in NY. He asked me to get the documents as soon as I can and he would try to give the visa on the same day.
I quickly went to nearby FedEx to access internet. Turned out to be super expensive ( 12$ for reviewing what H had prepared and printing). I didn't know FedEx charged extra for opening a Word file!!! Have traveled a lot and its hard to accept that internet can be so expensive in a developed country ( and not easily available).
Returned back to the consulate and after reviewing the docs our passport was taken in for stamping. Unfortunately they were unable to give the passport back on the same day since the consulate officer had already left ( it was only noon when I returned). Unfortunately I did not have any other option but to leave the passport behind. I had to get a prepaid envelope from FedEx for the passport delivery. I was extremely skeptical of this, after FedEx said they had issues with the consulate during package pickup.
The consulate gave me a receipt and a number I could call to check on status of my passport. I never got through to anyone on that number however within 5 days we received our stamped passport with multiple entry Argentinian visa.

Colombia Visa

Colombian consulate website
Visa cost for Indian citizen: 44$ per person
I sent an email to the consulate to get an appointment but did not receive a response. Hence I decided to do a walk in one day. It was also buzzing with people (like Brazilian consulate) and I was thoroughly confused upon getting there. No-one in the waiting area seemed to know English. I could totally envision how the Colombian travels were going to work out without knowing Spanish!
There was a counter with a line of people waiting to be helped. Waited in the slow moving line patiently. The lady at the counter told me to speak to someone else who apologized for not responding to my email regarding appointment. She listed the documents I would need and gave an appointment for the next day to review the paperwork. The following day I returned and my application was accepted. She would be returning my passport in 48 hours- I would need to pick it up from the embassy on Christmas morning! I was skeptical about reaching someone on Xmas day but decided to try my luck.
I returned as instructed at 10am and the embassy doors were locked ( as expected). Frantically tried calling them but no one answered. After 15 minutes of waiting, I saw someone inside and try to get their attention. I am allowed inside and the consulate officer asked if I had issues getting into the building. I did not have an issue, which bothered her since she had informed security not to let anyone in after 10 am. HA! I finally got our passports back and we got a 30 day multiple entry visa. PERFECT.

Bolivia Visa

Unfortunately for us, there are only 2 Bolivian embassies on the east coast- in Washington D.C. and New York. I decided to visit the Bolivian embassy in NY while I was there for the Argentinian visa. It was a small office and the lady at the counter was not very helpful. I carried all the documents( as listed on the website) with me, and she reviewed it grudgingly however they needed 2 days to process the visa. We were out of time and so decided to get the visa in Peru. We had called the Bolivian embassy in Lima but they spoke only Spanish so could not get any information. The Indian embassy in Lima was able to confirm that we could get our Bolivian visa in Peru.

In Lima we went to the Bolivian consulate but we were late in getting there ( open only until 12pm). We called the next day and got confirmation that our visa could be obtained in Puno.

The Bolivian embassy was near the town center. The building was not fancy and the office was even more basic. The consulate officer spoke only Spanish and was perturbed why we were sent to him. He had to review his instruction manual ( which was photocopied so many times that it was hard to read the print). Eventually he was able to find India in it, and was even more bothered that his service was free of charge. He asked us to bring the filled out visa application form, available online along with other supporting documents.

We returned and he approved our documents. He agreed to give us the visa on the same day in a couple of hours. H went to collect the passports, and oddly the visa was given on the page opposite that of Brazilian visa( odd since the passport had many blank pages). Also he asked H to get him copies, which was really funny.

Brazil Visa

Brazil Consulate website
Visa cost for Indian citizen: 20$ per person
Sent an email to the consulate to get an appointment but no response for a couple of days. So I decided to try a walk in and see if I got a faster response or an appointment. The embassy was buzzing with people. Helpful receptionist however could not provide any information except for the fact that everything is available online. I sent a follow-up email after which I received a response. The earliest available date for the appointment is Jan 5 which was too close to our date of departure. I tried to get an emergency appointment for an earlier date but unfortunately I did not get lucky.
Carried all documentation listed on the website. Also had to complete a pre-registration on the website prior to the appointment. I was running a bit behind for the appointment however upon reaching did not seem like anyone was in a rush. I was asked to wait with a few others. We were called in to another office area about 30 minutes later. Did not run in to any issue with the documents.
Typically they were returning passports after 5 working days but that was too tight for us, I pleaded for an earlier return. The consulate office budged and we got our passports back in 3 working days.

Peru Visa

Peru Boston Consulate website
Visa cost for Indian citizens: 30$ per person
Peruvian Embassy is in downtown Boston and accessible so I decided to visit the embassy without taking an appointment. I had heard from a friend that the staff was helpful and the embassy was not very busy.
I went with paperwork listed on their website. My goal on the 1st trip was at the very least get a review of the paperwork I have so I am prepared during the actual visa appointment.
Peruvian embassy had a very helpful staff who reviewed all the paperwork I was carrying. They needed an additional letter from University confirming enrollment(just an I-20 didn't suffice). Also there was a requirement for entry-exit ticket for Peru (our overall trip ticket print out didn't work). I returned the next day with the additional documents and within 30 minutes was given a stamped Peruvian visa.

What is backpacking?

As we went on to travel, and after we returned we get this question a lot: what is backpacking? Carrying a suitcase is not backpacking? Did you shop a lot?
In my opinion, backpacking is different from a regular trip in many ways.
The most obvious is, traveling with a backpack. To carry only bare essentials that would not impede the travel itself- which effectively means if you had to lug your bag with you all the time on your back, you would still be able to enjoy the sights without worrying about the load. So to keep this true, we carried backpacks however realized eventually that even what we carried was not the bare essentials and in our next trip we could go with fewer stuff. Considering how global most countries are now, you can find almost anything, anywhere ( maybe thanks to China!).
Travel time is typically long. A 2 week trip would be considered short for backpacking since the time you spend in each place needs to be sufficient to immerse yourself in the local culture.
Along with living like a local, comes how much money you spend on the trip. Typically on a backpacking trip you would spend only as much as a local would living in that country. The budget is self imposed and depends on each traveller's situation, however during our travel to keep it real we calculated everything in rupees( and not in dollars) to get a perspective on how expensive or cheap it was coming out to be.
Key backpacking features:
- Eat as the locals do ( cook , roadside or in small, heavily frequented and busy joints)
- Live as the locals do or sort of ( hostels, couchsurf)
- Sightseeing of key attractions/ must see's for each place, but also include non-touristy get-aways, beaches etc.
- Most importantly, interact with the locals - learn sign language or local language!
- Minimum or no shopping- Keep it light

Original Route

We decided to spend bulk of our trip in Peru and Bolivia considering these countries were cheaper. The remaining time would be split between Argentina and Brazil. One of the key milestones to keep us on track during the trip was to make it to Oruro, Bolivia for the carnival. Oruro has the 2nd largest carnival in South America and considering we were not keen on Rio Carnival ( expensive, unsafe, hard to find accommodations) we decided to go to Oruro.
Our preliminary itinerary for a trip of 66 days looked like this:
Land in Columbia- Bogota and around: 2 days
Fly to Leticia and take a trip in to Amazon: 8 days
Speed boat to Iquitos, Peru and boat down to Pucallpa: 8 days
Bus to Lima and sightseeing: 5 days
Nazca, Arequpa: 5 days
Cuzco: 5 days
Lake Titicaca, Puno: 3 days
Bolivia: 10 days
Argentina: 10 days
Brazil: 10 days

Key takeaways:
- Plans will change as we travel along, we would need to be flexible
- Use this outline for initial reservations, visa

My, my here we go again!

After a few nights of searching for deals and researching best options for our route we bought the tickets. The plan was to fly in to Bogota from Boston and return fro Sao Paulo back to Boston. Continental Airlines had a great deal for our travel dates ($400 for multi-city round trip).
The rationale behind this air travel plan was:
- We have a friend in Bogota
- Cheapest flight into South America from Boston was to Bogota
- We wanted to cover amazon in the beginning of the trip rather than towards the end, when the energy levels were higher
- Flying out of a major city would make it easier for us to get US visa stamped
- We can get our visa paperwork at a friends place in Argentina
The countries we decided to travel were Colombia , Peru, Bolivia , Argentina, Brazil.
We really didn't have too much time for preparing our route so we picked up lonely planet travel books for all the countries we planned to visit from the Boston Public library. Their suggested itineraries was a great starting point for us to flush out the preliminary plan. After researching blogs, reading Thorn Tree and other travel websites, we decided to carry Lonely Planet : South America on a Shoestring with us. We had to watch the weight of our backpack and there was relief that youth hostels will have guidebooks for the country we were visiting.

Quick tips:
- Shop around a lot for travel deals. Use websites like sidestep and orbitz but also visit individual airline websites. Tuesday late night, early Wednesday mornings are best days for getting great deals.
- Don't spend too much time on the initial itinerary as far as you are comfortable with the shell. Plans will change if you are going on a long trip

Putting things into perspective

My husband (whom I will refer to as H, on this blog) and I have contemplated taking a break from work and routine and just setting off on an adventure every now and then. We both come from families with a passion for traveling. Our parents have traveled extensively around the world and in India. It was a family routine to travel to a new destination every year while growing up. H’s dad has traveled from UK to India by road, hitchhiking along the way, in the mid 70’s. My dad, who grew up in Uganda, has raved about their family wildlife viewing trips in Western Africa. It’s interesting how interests develop so subconsciously and how we continue with the traditions our parents have started and shared with us.
We have also been fortunate to have visitors from around the world who have inspired us by their stories and sense of adventure. After having a Turkish couple on a yearlong around the world trip visit us, we were ready to pack and leave with them! Having already seen a lot of Europe, Asia and North America ( I have logged 115 cities in 9 countries and H has seen over 150 cities in 15 countries), we really wanted to travel to South America. There were various reasons why we wanted to go there:
- If we decided to move to India, it would be almost impossible to visit the continent
- It made sense to cover a part of the continent at least if we were making a trip, to justify the cost
- Called for a true adventure as a backpacker
- Cost of the trip could possibly come out to be less than the amount of money we spent living in Boston for the same duration
By October 2009, I had been employed in the marketing industry for over 6 years; prior to that I had studied advertising, marketing and business in my two Masters Degree. I took a break in Oct 2009 from work, study and a routine continuous life. End of the year, I had plans to travel to Nashville and Baltimore to see family when one day H surprised me with the idea of traveling to South America. As soon as he mentioned this, I got cold feet even though South America has been my dream destination for a very long time. I went through a truck load of thoughts, mostly doubts on how all this would work out. How can one just take a break for 2 months? Had I earned it? What would I lose out on if I just traveled for 2 months? There were some practical apprehensions as well- is it feasible to pack, find a renter, plan, make reservations and do everything else in a month.
All these thoughts were pretty overwhelming however I did not completely shelve the idea. While on the family visit, H and I talked often about when we could possibly leave. I spoke to some friends and family to get a second opinion. Mostly, I received positive encouragement. It was surprising that a lot of them harbored the wish to do such a thing, but had not managed to do it. Others wondered when they would be able to take such a long break. We do become slaves of our own system.