So we left off Friday before my “Fonda” adventure. Two of my hostel mates (Patrick and Meghan) and I went off to find the rockinest party of Independence Day Weekend. Fondas, in Chile, are large tents that are constructed to hold many people, food, a band and a dance floor. Don´t forget the Terremotos! A national alcoholic beverage that is made by filling a glass with of ice cream and then pouring a sweet alcohol infused liquid over it. Truth be told, it was way too strong for me and the ice cream had to be stirred in liberally in order to make it drinkable, but onward! We made our way up to the area where the Fonda was supposed to be, having heard that the party had been raging most of the day and was likely to last all night, only to find that it was not yet open. We arrived at 8, hungry, and discovered that it wouldn´t be open until 10.
It had taken us a half an hour to walk there so we asked one of the security folks if there were any restaurants around (the area itself was sort of deserted except for the Fonda itself). The guy gave us quick directions to one of the nearby streets and we went in search of food. To no avail. We walked…. and walked…. and walked. Finally we had gone so far that we were back to where our hostel was. We all made a democratic decision to give up on the party, eat in one of the restaurants next to the hostel and go back home for a bottle of wine and another of beer that was waiting there (mine and Patrick´s respectively). For all of you who are lamenting my inability to party on Independence Day, do not fret! After about an hour of quiet chatting, the manager came into the common room and told us he was going to turn off the lights and TV and that we must go out and dance 
Thus began another hostel night filled with music, wine, dancing and good conversation. There were a few Brazilian women who were excellent dancers and we learned how to samba, the traditional chilean dance of Cueca and I taught everyone how to twist (after much harassment from my fellow hostelmates, they demanded I teach them an “American” dance). It was an excellent evening and went well into the night.
Next day was sleeping in, watching Manchester kick the crap out of Chelsea and heading to a large park called Parque O´Higgins to experience a true Chilean Fonda. I went with Meghan who needed to get some cash, and I discovered that I needed some too. Little did we know that EVERYTHING was closed (Sept 18th is the official day of independence) and ended up having to walk for about an hour until we found an accesible atm. Once that was achieved, however, we were off! Exiting our metro station stop, we realized we were in for quite an exciting day.
There were so many people exiting and entering the station that it was like leaving a sold out concert, people were squished up against one another and moved at a snails pace. It wasn´t much better once we reached open air and there were food stalls and hawkers selling goods before we even entered the park. Once we got in, we went in search of food. There were open air food stalls everywhere, and when I spied one that looked tasty I asked the guy bbqing how i could have one of his delicious skewers (in decent, but broken spanish, of course). A word on Chilean spanish. It´s sort of it´s own dialect. They speak extremely fast, and they also tend to drop the “s” and sometimes just the end of the word. With this in mind, I had absolutely no idea what his response was, nor could I understand the woman within who wouldn´t just give me a price. So! I moved on, hoping I wouldn´t starve due to my limited spanish and inability to understand responses. Finally we found a BBQ place with an obvious line for skewers and also GIGANTIC barrels of terremotos, so we decided to eat there. Everything was very tasty and it was a great people watching spot.
This might be a good time to mention that 99% of the people there were locals. I saw probably 4 tourists aside from the two of us and they stuck out like sore thumbs (as we did, I´m sure), so it was a cool experience to not be in a touristy area and to see how folks there really celebrate. Basically it was a huge carnival with food and music and a large Fonda in the center for more drinks and dancing. It was a good time, but exhausting (the crowds never let up, no matter how far into the faire we got) so we left after our food, taking photos and watching people on our way out. Getting back into the metro station was insane! I think there´s only one entrance to that station and it took us at least 20 minutes to go as many feet. After arriving back at the hostel, I took it easy, had a shower and went to bed with a wake up call for 6am (ick!!) to take a cab to the airport and Cusco.
The next day was quite an adventure. I pride myself on my airport efficiency and always carry on my bags, but I had a bottle of wine I had bought my wonderful husband in Argentina and I needed to check my baggage. Getting through in Santiago was no big deal (aside from a ton of people checking baggage and having a minor panic attack because I couldn´t find my essential exit immigration paper (I did find it eventually, phew!)). The layover in Lima was another story entirely.
I exited the plane, went through customs with my carry on, and realized the woman in Santiago didn´t check me in for my connecting flight. Shit. Alright, over to the machine to check in, nope, can´t find my reservation. Alright, into the line to check in at the counter. Waiting… wating… why the hell are there no clocks in AIRPORTS?? I see this everywhere I go and it still amazes me. It´s the single major flaw in every airport design ever. Anyway, I get to the counter the woman asks me “Where is your luggage?”. I say, “Won´t it be transfered to my plane? I have a sticker that shows that it will meet me in Cusco.” “No,” she says. “You must pick it up from the other side of customs”. At this point I´m panicking. I ask how long I have until my flight leaves and she tells me I have 20 minutes to get my bag before bag check in is closed, but I´m OK on flight time. I ask if they will even let me through the wrong side of customs and she says it should be ok.
So I race back over and ask the security guy in broken, but understandable spanish, if I can go back through to pick up my “mochilla” (I have no idea how to say luggage and can´t take the time to look at my translator). Thank god Peruvians speak more slowly and clearly, I convince him and am able to go back through customs where, low and behold, I cannot find the conveyer belt that belongs to my flight. I ask a random guy who works in the airport and he tells me my luggage will be transfered directly. UGH! I finally go to customs help and after a few minutes of frustrated conversation I find that I do, indeed need to take my luggage through. But where is my luggage? I go over to the LAN counter to ask about my flights luggage and finally see my backpack waiting patiently on a cart. Apparently the flight emptied pretty quickly.
OK! Grab bag, go BACK through customs, explaining to the woman that I had to come back through and that she already has my official customs form, race back to the LAN check-in line, wait…. wait….. OK! Check-in! And I just make it. Whew! At this point I´m sweating from anxiety and exertion and still need to hurry to get to my gate before boarding starts. I make it though, and the uneventful flight and taxi gets me to my lovely hotel in Cusco where I meet up with Dylan and Theresa, have some dinner, do some exploring, watch Trainspotting AND Inglorious Basterds and go to bed!
That was Monday. Tuesday, yesterday, we did some more exploring and found a lovely cafe/restaurant that had great food, fantastic decor, friendly service and Scrabble! Dylan won, of course, and I was stuck with a “Z” at the end and totally lost… a lot Dylan had woken up not feeling very well and got worse through lunch so he decided to head back to the hostel and nap while Theresa and I decided to go exploring some more. We walked around finding some lovely churches (which will likely be on our walking tour today) and an old arch. Theresa wondered allowed if it was a magical arch that would take us out of the tourist area so we decided to investigate. She was right! Going through we found another church and a HUGE market with clothes, hats, bags and other such things on one side and a gigantic assortment of very fresh looking produce and other edible items on the other. We made a mental note to go back, if it wasn´t, in fact, the market that the walking tour today ends up at
Afterwards we made our way slowly back to the main area and our hostel, finding super cheap clothes, men running corset stores, impressive government buildings and a real love for old town Cusco. We also, through a 6th chocolate sense, managed to find the chocolate store that was recommended in the guide book without even trying! We had delicious hot chocolate and purchased some delectible chocolate treats to share with Dylan for dessert. Almost home now, we decided to climb some stairs… there were maybe 20. At the end we had to stop to catch our breath. It´s difficult getting used to, this altitude change. We also discovered where an Indian Place we would like to try is, found a waterfall in a plaza and made it back to the hostel.
Dylan was still napping so we hung out for a few hours until it was time for dinner. We all admitted that we weren´t that hungry so we´d find a place where we could get something small. We found “The Cavern of the Orient” which inexplicably served French food. Still, they had a very inexpensive prix fixe menu so we decided to enter. It was really awesome, actually. A small cave-like room with interesting art and candles. We all decided that even though we weren´t that hungry we would get the prix fixe menu which was 4 courses I had deviled eggs, onion soup (sorta), a veggie omlette type thing that resembled hash browns and chocolate cake. I ate about half of everything and was saddened to learn I couldn´t bring the rest of my hash brown thingy home. Still, it was a fun time with good food. We were all wiped so we came home and went to bed. Overall a great day.
Today we take our walking tour and who knows what else. You´ll have to find out next time Until then!!
