Hannah's Year in Chile: Home sweet home!

Well... after 2 months of travelling round South America we are back in Cholchol and back to work. A little bit of a slap in the face with reality it has to be said!

So much has happened in the last 2 months I have absolutely no idea how I'm going to write it all down. I'm planning on writing my 6-month newsletter (yes - I really am halfway through my year would you believe! Time has gone ridiculously quickly!) which will have more details and photos about my time travelling. If you would like a copy, please can you email your email or postal address to: spitfire062@gmail.com and I will make sure I send you a copy!

Ok. So - a quick summary.

For New Year, we headed up to Valparaíso with 10 of the other volunteers for the spectacular fireworks display. We spent a few days sightseeing and enjoying the sunshine and then for new year itself, we climbed up one of the many hills and had an amazing view right across the bay of the most amazing fireworks display I've ever seen! The rest of the night involved a lot of alcohol and a lot of dancing!

We headed north to San Pedro de Atacama after this, staying for several days and managing to go on several excursions and tours to salt flats, geysers, and both Death and Moon valley.

Next was the bus up the rest of Chile, over the border into Peru and then up further to the city of Arequipa.

( I honestly couldn't tell you how many hours have been spent on buses over these months traveling but I will never complain about British Rail again! )

I fell in love with Peru as soon as we arrived, the beautiful architecture, the bustling markets, the street food and of-course, the price! Everything was so cheap in comparison to Chile and for that reason, I decided I never wanted to leave!
We set of on a trek down Colca Canyon which was absolutely stunning and an amazing experience, though it was extremely tough, made a lot worse by the fact that on the last day - the hardest as this was the day we had to walk UP the canyon again - I was extremely ill. It was probably one of the toughest 4 hours of my life but I made it!

After a few days of recovery and recuperation in Arequipa we headed north to Cusco. Here we sight-saw the city, completed the Inka Jungle Trail - a 4 day trail including: biking down in the sheeting rain, trekking through the jungle and zipwiring the longest zip-line in South America! Eventually making it to the Inka city of Machu Picchu - one of the most spectacular sights I've ever seen! After some generic photo taking and a day spent exploring the city we returned to Cusco.
After a weeks volunteering just outside Cusco involving plastering, painting and glazing the floor of a newly constructed 'ecotoilet' we headed off on a bus to Bolivia.

A few days in Copacabana - a 4 hour trek round the absolutely stunning Isla del Sol and then it was on to La Paz. Days were spent exploring the Witches Market - with the many opportunities to buy llama fetus' - and buying as much tat as we could carry (and afford). A day trip to the Carnaval de Oruro - the biggest in Bolivia and absolutely spectacular - full of extravagant costumes, dancing and a lot of beer. The carnaval continued in La Paz, preventing us from leaving the hostel without being attacked by water bombs and/or snow spray.

After La Paz we ventured to the last city of our travels, the capital of Bolivia: Sucre. We visited several museums, and also went to the nearby quarry where the longest dinosaur tracks in the world can be found, followed by a trek and a swim in a waterfall!

And then we started our journey home, an intense series of bus journeys - a couple of stops in Antofagasta and Valparaíso and then it was back home to Cholchol and back to the reality of daily life!

I've included below a selection of photos from my travels - more will be included in the newsletter so don't forget if you want one, let me know! :)

Hannah :)