3852 Miles Down!

Hola familia:)

Well it took 5 weeks and countless hours on buses to get here but we finally made it to Buenos Aires! I did the calculations and we traveled roughly 3850 miles from Lima, Peru to Buenos Aires, Argentina. That's like going along the entire west coast of the states 3 times!! We had many adventures.. probably too many to write here but I will review just a few. After Puno we hopped an 8 hour bus for Arequipa. Arequipa has probably become one of my favorite cities and I am so glad we incorporated it into this trip. We spent a week and a half in the beautiful city which was a mix of old and new and we were lucky enough to be there as they celebrated their nearly 500th anniversay! Beautiful Spanish couble stone streets and churches with intricate facades carvedd from volcanic rock make up the historic part of the city. Three very large (and active) volcanos surround the city and so the white volcanic rock is used for many buildings, which is why they call it the white city. I would love to return to Arequipa on my next visit to Peru. Moving quickly along, Alice and I got a bus to Tacna and then crossed the border into Chile. Just crossing into Chile it was easy to see the higher level of wealth of the people and the state. We stayed in Arica for a night and then got a 12 hour bus for San Pedro de Atacama. This small city located in the middle of the desert is a big tourist destination because of Valle de la Luna (Valley of the Moon) which, like the name suggests, looks as if you are on the moon. We rented bikes and road around the area nearly all day. We were very tired so we went to bed early and prepared for yet another bus the next day. The bus took 25 hours but we made it all the way to Valpairiso. This port city is known for its artistic past and throughout the city there are hundreds, or possibly thousands of amazing murals painted on houses and stores and abandoned buildings. While we were there, however, we had a bit of a shock when there was an earthquake! We were in a cafe when a 30 second long 6.8 earthquake hit, it felt like forever but in the end no one (that I know of) was hurt. But it shook us up a bit. After Valpairiso we had a quick stop in Santiago and quickly jumped on another bus to Mendoza and then changed buses for Buenos Aires. Going over the Andes was breath taking but I don't have much time to write about it now.. maybe in the next post:) Now we are here all settled into our host family houses (which I will also write more about later) and after several long orientation sessions we finally start classes tomorrow! Thats all I have time for for now, I love you guys!