An EPIC finale to the Atacama Desert experience

We had an epic goodbye to the Atacama Desert! After four cancellations and rescheduling due to weather, we were finally "on" for our astrophotography tour in the desert! We were so happy as that ended up being our final night there before we started our journey to southern Chile. We were picked up at 11pm and driven out to the middle of the desert near San Pedro de Atacama...and that's where the magic began.

Atacama Stargazing has a great little setup in the desert with three dedicated stations which are linked by gentle ground lighting. We started at the telescope station, which was fortunate as the moon was about to set and we managed to get a brief, very clear view of the waxing crescent. We've looked through lots of telescopes and that first peek made it clear that the viewing in the Atacama Desert was remarkable. We then viewed Saturn, Jupiter, and the Orion Nebula through the telescope, all while the guide detailed the lifecycle of a star. We could also see nearby galaxies and saw several shooting stars. Even looking at familiar constellations was new and different! Orion appeared upside down and WAY more stars were visible throughout the constellation.

From there we moved on to an "Andean Cosmovision" station where we tried some traditional Andean food, teas, and wines before learning about how the Andean people used the stars. Fun fact--the familiar constellation, "Pleiades," was viewed as a sack of potatoes by the Andeans and they used it to assess how the potato crop would be and whether they needed to ration food (based on how much of the constellation they could see as moisture levels varied). And Orion was not Orion the Hunter to them, but a God of all things. 

My non-pro photos from the first two stations.

Our final station was Astrophotography. In this little spot we all got photos taken by a pro and while we aren't models (ok, we adults aren't), these photos were amazing! They almost look fake, but I swear they are real! We sat still for several seconds for each one!

Our first family photo in forever!

Our beautiful girl against a stunning backdrop.

Our handsome guy (who is about to have a b-day!).

Trying to be all cute like the kids.

This is the one experience we booked before going to San Pedro de Atacama and I'm so freaking glad that it finally worked out. We would HIGHLY recommend doing this if you're ever in the area as we learned so much and had a wonderful night of stargazing!

The final goodbye was also epic, but rather in an epically bad way! We arrived at the tiny Calama airport with plenty of time to spare, but as we had to check our big backpacks, we couldn't move along until they opened that counter two hours before departure. No big deal, right? Especially in an airport with only three gates. But...some flight had been "reprogrammed" and the passengers were physically blockading the doors to security! What?!?!?! What in the world did they hope to accomplish by blocking other people traveling on other airlines to other places? It mad absolutely no sense. We were baffled that the tons of people trying to go through couldn't just push by them, but since the airport security team was also rather small, it took a while to get the situation cleared up. By then, we were beyond tight on making our flight and didn't know that way up at the front, our flight was being told to come on up and get through security. We were assisted by another family who knew we were on the same flight and flagged us down, and we in turn grabbed a lady that we recognized from when we had checked baggage. Suddenly this cute little airport was turning into my worst nightmare! And I HATED going around others who had been in line for over an hour with us, but we did it and squeezed through to an incredibly quick security screening. We went straight to the gate and immediately through boarding. With all of the flights getting held up, there was actually no gate for our plane to go to so we were walked out on the tarmac to it, loaded up, and miraculously pushed back only a few minutes late. What a freaking adventure! We were so tired from the late night in the desert the night before and I was getting bummed that we only had two nights in Santiago that looked to be in danger and I was NOT excited about having to rebook a bunch of stuff, but it all worked out. Really hoping we don't have to repeat that anytime soon, but that's travel. We just have to be flexible and have our credit card ready!

My word, that was NOT how I expected our departure from a tiny airport to go!

~Jo, Nomadic Momma

Chile: Part 1--the Atacama Desert

We made it to Chile! After boarding a collectivo in Tacna and crossing the border, we arrived in Arica, Chile with plenty of time to spare to catch our night bus, even with the time change (Chile is GMT -3). Our 7hr bus ride started fine, but was interrupted with lots of mid-night stops and we were all pretty tired by the time we arrived in Calama. We loitered at the bus station for a few hours before grabbing an Uber to the airport (in hindsight, I would have left for the airport earlier--it's nice!), picking up our rental car, and driving the final 1:15 to San Pedro de Atacama and our AirBnB. We checked in and immediately relaxed/crashed! Grocery shopping here is a little like the Bahamas--not a ton of fresh stuff--but we stocked up for a few meals pretty easily. Our AirBnB is perfectly cute with a functional kitchen and even a wash basin outside for clothes.

Given the warmth of the afternoons, we've decided to explore in the mornings and do school in the afternoons. Wednesday we set out to visit the Valle de la Luna, but got sidetracked with a visit to Valle de la Muerte and Pucará de Quitor. This pre-Incan fort is located just outside of town and boasts spectacular views of the valley. We also got to visit the entrance of a cave used by the Atacameños people. 

Pucará de Quitor

Thursday we did make it to the Valle de la Luna! We weren't entirely sure what to expect, but about 2km into the park we began to fully appreciate how it got its name. There are so many interesting geological features to observe, including giant sand dunes, huge salt deposits, and impressive sedimentary features. And even though we came home to do school and chores, I did manage to pull of a version of an American Thanksgiving dinner, complete with a bird product and tons of veggies!

It's impossible to capture the vastness of this valley in photos.

#nailedit  Our AirBnB was perfectly comfortable for our needs and had just enough dishes for me to be able to cook a somewhat traditional Thanksgiving meal.

Friday we got up a little early (but not 0300 like the tours!) and headed two hours north on a very rough road to get to the El Tatio Geysers. Tour groups go early to be there as the sun rises, but we arrived at 0900 and still thought the 80+ geysers were pretty spectacular (and we were almost all alone!).

Such an amazing, steamy place!

Considering the need to do school, the bumpy roads, and just a general desire to chill, we stayed "home" for the weekend. Saturday we walked into town to walk around, watch a World Cup game, get some amazing ice cream, and visit the Meteorite Museum (I know it sounds nerdy, but it was cool!). Sunday was a bit of Saturday on repeat! 

Tonight, weather permitting, we will be heading out on an astrophotography tour! Stargazing was one of the reasons we came to the Atacama Desert and it's been cloudy! But tonight is looking good so far so we are optimistic that tonight is the night! I hope so because tomorrow we head to Santiago after a pretty fabulous week in the desert.

~Jo, Nomadic Momma

Southern Peru: Arequipa - Nazca - Huacachina - Paracas - Lima

It's official--white water rafting > trekking for most of our crew! After knocking out a few hours of school last Sunday we headed 20 minutes outside of the city for an amazing paddle down the Chili River (which was chilly!) with Kanuwa Rafting. Easily one of the kids' favorite experiences in South America so far. The river valley was just gorgeous and the rafting was Class II-IV so it was had just enough challenge to make it exciting, but at the same time wasn't terrifying. The kids even jumped off a rock into the river for a little extra fun! This is an activity that each of us has done before all over the world (in Malaysia, Washington state, West Virginia, Maine...) and each time we go it's like we remember all over again that we love it. Keeping this in mind for our travel options next year...

We had so much fun on the Chili River! It's beautiful!

We did manage to get a good chunk of school and laundry (and eating) done while in Arequipa, so that was good, but after a week it was time to move on! Next stop--24 hours in Nazca! There was a ton of construction along the route (a theme that would be repeated several times this week) so we arrived there about three hours later than scheduled. I wasn't too crushed...we only had one activity planned so we rested up for our flight over the Nazca lines! We boarded our little six-passenger plane for a 30-minute flight around Nazca to view the images that have been there for over 500 years. Both the themes and the scale of these drawings is amazing. We saw the astronaut, spider, compass, triangles, monkey, hummingbird, condor, heron, hands, tree, lizard, and cat (and probably a few others I am forgetting) before flying over the aqueducts which are still used today by local farmers. The flight wasn't easy on the stomach (I had to close my eyes quite a few times and Katreina was in rough shape...didn't help that her first set of headphones had vomit on them!), but I'm glad we did it!

Worth the stomach-turning flight to see these spectacular images!

With the construction issues holding up the "big bus," Peru Hop offered a shuttle from Nazca to our next stop, the oasis of Huacachina. Our shuttle stopped at the viewing tower for the Nazca lines and a roadside fruit stand before losing its transmission somewhere on a detour backroad in the mountains. We all piled out while our driver used some bits of trash from the side of the road to fashion a usable wire to someone fix the transmission! About an hour later the bus filled with smoke and fumes from (maybe?) some other issue, but we all opened the windows and it went away so we crossed our fingers and willed the shuttle along the last hour and a half of highway. We arrived after dark and decided to pass on the hotel pool, but had a great meal with our travel mate, Nic, at her hostel before crashing. 

Our day in Huacachina was pretty nice! We had a wonderful breakfast on the roof of our hotel with amazing views of the dunes before heading off with the Peru Hop gang to Nietto, a pisco vineyard, for a little info on how they make pisco liquors and wines before a very generous tasting (which included some drinking games) of pisco, pisco wines, and pisco creams. And yes, our kids did sample a little. We had a surprisingly good lunch at the vineyard and met lots of interesting fellow travelers. We spent a little time just walking around the little oasis, surprised to learn it had been a tourist destination since the 1920's. You can rent little boats to paddle in the lake, walk the dunes, or just relax by the many pools. But finally, it was time for our next adventure--dune buggy rides and sand boarding! It was AWESOME! The buggy ride part was like being on a roller coaster that fishtailed a bunch and boarding down the dunes was a totally fun, new experience. And watching the sun go down over the dunes was beautiful. Totally recommend hitting this touristy are just for that experience. We barely dusted the sand off before boarding another bus for just a few hours to our next stop...

The oasis was definitely touristy, but peaceful. Didn't expect to be calling out "shot, shot, shot!" with my kids, but when in Peru at a Pisco vineyard...

The videos of the buggy ride are way better than the stills! (On IG)

We all managed to safely board down four slopes. The last one was super steep!

Paracas! We only spent one night here but had a fun-filled day in this little seaside town. First up was a boat ride (yay!) out to Las Islas Ballestas, a.k.a. "The Poor Man's Galapagos." On our way we passed "The Candelabra," another pre-Incan line drawing with many theories as to when/who/why it was made. The islands themselves were clearly active bird rookeries and right away we saw Humboldt penguins! There was also a ton of Peruvian boobies, Inca terns, and gulls, and it was easy to see how these islands were important to the local guano trade. We also saw a few seals, including a baby! We had a nice cruise back to town where we dropped the kids with some complete strangers for paragliding! They both wanted to try it so we took advantage of a break in the day to let them go and fly over a beach. They liked it! After a quick lunch we rejoined the Peru Hop gang for a tour around the Paracas Nature Reserve, which took us to stunning seascapes and through Martian-esque terrain. Then we headed out for drinks and dinner at a seaside restaurant with Nic (she really is an awesome travel companion!), watching the sunset and swapping stories about life until we had to board our final bus.

Las Islas Ballestas were stunning!

The kids got to try something the adults have never done.

And of course, Katreina found a kitten in town before we went on the tour of the reserve.

Our Peru Hop journey ended just before midnight in Lima. Overall, it was a pretty good experience. The busses (other than that one shuttle!) were cozy and the company includes some nice bonus tours and makes it pretty simple for even inexperienced travelers to make the trip. Our time in Lima was short (and I wasn't feeling awesome)--we walked around town a little but that was it. It seemed very "city."

A wee bit of Lima...and our cozy bus (which is great since we were on it forever).

Saturday night we boarded a super cozy bus with lie-flat seats for a trip that was scheduled for 20 hours--it took 25.5. Why? Traffic around Lima, extensive construction projects, hour-long stops for food, life. My four hours of "fluff" before our next bus was gone so we cancelled our next bus, informed our AirBnB that we would be a day late, got a room in Tacna for the night, cancelled and rebooked our rental car, got bus tickets for the next night, and enjoyed a great dinner and comfy beds at a nice, clean, $38/night hostel. We have "lost" a day in the Atacama desert and incurred some more expenses, but it's not all that bad. Tonight's bus is only supposed to take seven hours and we don't have the fancy bed seats, but I think it's going to be ok. I think...

~Jo, Nomadic Momma

Time to see more of Peru! Puno y Arequipa...

The first stop on our bus adventure was Puno, a town on the coast of Lake Titicaca. As the highest navigable lake in the world at 3812m above sea level, we boaters just had to visit! We opted for a 2-day/1-night tour that first took us from Puno to the nearby Uros floating islands. These 120 islands were created from 2m chunks of land topped with 1m of dried reeds which are then tied together and anchored to nearby shallows. The residents refresh the reeds routinely and also use the reeds to craft boats (and now crafts for tourists). While the islands helped save the people from conquistadors 500 years ago, younger generations are heading to the mainland and cities and it's not likely that the community will last for too many more generations.

The Uros island of Waliki

Next we transited a man-made channel out to the "big" part of Lake Titicaca. The lake really is large and while you can see the distant mountains of Bolivia, the water seems to extend nearly to the horizon sometimes. Our next stop was Amantani Island where we would stay with a local family for the night. We stayed with Rosalia and Bautista (the community President!) and their two kids and while Quechua is their main language, they knew some Spanish. The island is agriculturally rich and we talked with the family about farming, fishing, family, food, houses, and local and global politics. The family eats mostly vegetarian (though some neighbors have sheep and chickens, and sometimes they fish) and Rosalia only goes to the mainland one or two times a year. After lunch we hiked up to the top of Pachatata (Father Earth) for sunset, had dinner with the family, and headed to a touristy-yet-fun fiesta in the town hall wearing traditional dress. 

Chatting with the family was the highlight, but the views and getting to try the traditional dress was awesome, too! The skirts were warm!

After a quick breakfast and goodbyes to the family we were off via boat to the island of Taquile. Here we hiked a trail with amazing views of the lake to arrive at the town square for a dancing demonstration and a lunch where we learned all about the island's farming history, use of natural materials for crafts and daily life, and about the social structure of the community. The island reminded me of some of the small islands in Greece! After that, we enjoyed the boat ride back to Puno. Love a good day on the water. Oh, and right near the pier Frank got to hold a black-chested buzzard-eagle! Our bird guy was happy! And after having a lazy afternoon walking around Puno and enjoying a long dinner, we ran into an old classmate of ours from Cusco. Always great to see Alex!

The island of Taquile.

A little bit of fun in Puno (especially for Frank!).

We boarded another overnight bus from Puno to get to Arequipa, "The White City." The goal for this stop was to do a little sightseeing, but also to get caught up on school. We arrived at the hotel at 0500 and while we couldn't check in for a few hours, they had a lovely garden we could sit in and plenty of hot tea. We had a great breakfast, got into the room, showered, and slept! Later in the afternoon, the adults went to an on-site cooking class where we learned how to make traditional Peruvian ceviche and chorrillana, a fried fish dish. It was so delicious! After a quick dinner for the kids we had to turn in as we needed to be up at 0300 the next day for...

A "hot" date night! (P.S. Don't cut rocoto peppers and then touch your eyes even if you have washed your hands about 10 times with soap. Just trust me on this one.)

...a trek to Colca Canyon, the second deepest canyon in the world! With a bird nerd and geology geeks in the family, we thought this trek with a night at an "oasis" on the canyon floor sounded great. While I was mentally prepared for the 1100m descent to the canyon floor, I was not prepared for the insane amount of up and down we did in intense sun and heat to get there! It was a long, hot day and I swear we ended up descending and ascending the entire canyon twice by the end of the trek, but it was nice to take a sunset swim in the pool at the oasis at the end of day one. We also had a lot of fun introducing our Austrian hiking buddies to the game, Farkle! The next day we were up early to hike up, up, up out of the canyon. Amazingly we managed to do it in less than 3 hours. While we did see condors at a roadside stop on the first day, we never did see them while we were in the canyon so that was a little crushing! But the views were great and there were some really interesting basalt formations. On the way back to Arequipa we stopped to relax in some hot springs, saw the areas volcanoes, and saw wild vicuña, but I'm not sure I'd do this one again. Maybe I'm just a little worn out!

A hot day of steep up and down ended in a rustic lodge with a pool at the base of the canyon.

We made it! Had another great group for a trek. We really enjoyed the post-trek relaxing.

We are at an AirBnB in Arequipa now and are only two blocks from the main plaza on a local side street known as "the music street" as it is lined by instrument shops--we love hearing all of the music! We are cleaning all of our stuff from the dusty trek, walking around the city, and eating all the yummy food! After school one day we visited the Museo Santuarios Andinos to see learn more about Incan traditions including child sacrifices and to see the mummy "Juanita," a well-preserved mummy of a girl of only 12-14 years old who was sacrificed atop a nearby mountain. You can't take photos there, but trust me when I say that the level of preservation achieved in cold, arid climates of the mummy and her belongings (and those of others found on the mountain) is amazing. We also hit up La Capitana, a popular picantería, to try some famous Arequipeño dishes (sadly they were out of rocoto relleno for the day)--so much good food!

Picantería goodness and getting some queso helado on the street (trust me, it's not cheese!).

Few more days here before we move on. Where do you think we will stop next?

~Jo, Nomadic Momma

Cusco: Week 8--Last Call!

We closed out our time in Cusco with a week full of celebrations--Halloween, All Saints' Day, and Day of the Dead--and final visits to favorite places we've found over the past two months. 

Monday we got back to volunteering and school, and we enjoyed a walk through the crowded Plaza de Armas to see Halloween costumes and browse a book market. Dinner was Trent's pick--Burgers and Beer (he's not wrong--it's good!).

Halloween on the Plaza de Armas

Tuesday was a holiday and the volunteering program was closed, but we did join the Amauta Spanish School students for a tour through Plaza de San Francisco, Mercado de San Pedro, and el Cemeterio de Huancaro with Professor Hans to learn about the Peruvian traditions of All Saints' Day and Day of the Dead in Peru. The markets were full of vendors selling lechon (pork), pan wawa, and flowers and offerings for graves. We enjoyed the markets so much during our morning visit that we went back in the afternoon to try some food. On the way we ran into the Caminos del Inca Road Rally as it ended in the Plaza de Armas--it was pretty cool! Later we hit Nick's Food Co (Katreina's pick) for Indian and Mexican food (trust me, it works) before heading back to the plaza to gawk at cars a little more. Then it was time for one last trivia night at Cerveceria del Valle Sagrado! We managed to tie for 2nd place this time and stayed for part of Alex Leran's set before heading home.

Learning all things about All Saints Day and Day of the Dead in Peru.

A fun night out! Korma Sutra vs. Tacomania at Nick's and rally cars in the Plaza.

Wednesday was a bit of an odd day...we did school, ran some errands, and headed to volunteering. But only two kids showed up! We ended up getting done early and hit the markets again for some street snacks. Cookies, salchicha on a stick, quail eggs, popcorn, and pineapple were all a hit! We walked and relaxed for a while before heading out to dinner and finding many places were closed. We ended up at Mullu for some Thai food (and a little Peruvian)--no complaints!

Street food throughout the week.

Thursday we finally visited Qorikancha, an amazing 15th century Inca temple that was once covered in gold, but was destroyed by the Spanish and replaced by a Catholic church. It was so easy to see the brilliance of Incan architecture and the cruelty of conquerors. There are so many similarities between the Incans and the Native Americans and the fates their cultures suffered at the hands of the colonizers. We admittedly passed quickly through the Spanish portions and lingered in the Inca portions. It was a VERY busy day at the aftercare program and afterwards we had to unwind with dinner and drinks at Jama.

Qorikancha. Cusco means "navel" in Quechua and is the center of the Incan empire.

Friday was a "routine" morning with the kiddos wrapping up school and the adults off to run some errands in the morning. We headed out to Wanchaq to a sports store to get a new soccer ball for the program we work at and afterwards took Katreina to an art cafe in San Blas (because who doesn't love art AND coffee?). We had our final lunch with our host mum (Lomo Saltado, of course!) and our final, emotional day (at least for me) at the Colibri Program. We helped with homework, went to the park for some great outdoor fun, then I headed to Amauta to pick up our huge load of donations to the program with an agree Uber driver, and all the volunteers and some kiddos helped to carry the load from the car to the program (you literally cannot drive to the door--you have to go down and up steps). Then there was a really nice farewell celebration for us, complete with kind words, songs, and dancing. And yep, I cried (no surprise to anyone that knew me in the military). We got so many hugs from the kids, the coordinators, and even the moms as they came to get their kids. But I felt like we were the ones that should be thanking all of them. We learned so much from this experience, and I don't just mean Spanish! We learned about Peruvian culture, the working class of Cusco, the government/social programs in Peru, how kids are kids no matter what country you're in, that cursive is alive and well in Peru, and that positivity, at any age, is contagious. 

One last day of work and fun!

As part of the program we gave a financial donation to the program which bought food and school supplies. It was so much, but the kiddos all helped carry it up the steps before sending us off!

Saturday we simply walked around, got some farewell gifts for our host mum, ate all the street food, packed, and had one final meal at Nero de la 375. And then, it was time to go! We took a taxi to the Peru Hop terminal and at 2100 boarded our first overnight bus of the trip. Destination--Puno. 

Goodbye, Blanca and Cusco!

This first bus was pretty nice and cozy! We have opted to use Peru Hop busses for our slow trip from Cusco to Lima for the next two weeks.

Jo, Nomadic Momma

It is time to vote! But how?

As we are just about a week away from Election Day in the United States, I figured it was worth talking about how we do that as full-time travelers. In short, we opt to vote by mail.

We are residents of Florida and request to vote by mail. Our county even offers an online tracker to show when your ballot was mailed, when they receive it back, and when it has been counted. We have used St. Brennan's Isle mail forwarding service since 2019. They offer different levels of service, but we opt to have the front of our mail scanned. From there, we can choose to have the contents scanned, have the item mailed, or shred the item. This honestly makes voting (and filing taxes) from anywhere fairly easy. 

As soon as we saw our ballots in our inbox, we requested a shipment to Peru (also helps to be "stable" in a location during the month of October to make this easier). We had time so we used USPS Priority International mail to send our ballots (SBI lets you choose your shipping method). This cost us $38.85 and took about two and a half weeks to arrive.

We retrieved our mail on October 25th, completed our votes, and sent them out via DHL Express on October 26th for $52.75 (DHL was having a 30% off sale so we scored there!). Our ballots were delivered to the county office in Florida on November 1st, with a whole week to spare. Now we will track to see when the county logs them as "received" and "counted."

Is it worth our monthly mail forwarding service fees and an additional $91.60 to vote? Absolutely. It's a right that many fought for and though we are away from our home country for long stretches at a time, it's still very important to us to vote in our local elections. We really hope that other full-time travelers make it a priority, too.

UPDATE: As of November 3rd, our votes have been counted! Love that we can track this info so easily through our county.

~Jo, Nomadic Momma