Let's start in Atacama, which I probably could've just given to the letter 'A', but tehre's a lot to talk about there. Let's start with to me one of the more special hikes and experience in the salt flats, the piedras rojas, the aguas calientes. These salt flats with their surprisingly pristine water, the perfect reflections of mountains. The imposing mountains behind. This is what you imagine in your head when you start thinking of what the Atacama Desert is like (as are a bunch of letters to come).
B is for Beaches & Bays (Rio)
The image of Rio is that of beaches and water (and I guess Christ the Redeemer and what not). If you think of Rio's great exports, the beaches of Copacabana and Ipanema are at teh forefront. Well, on my first trip in February, despite leaving with a very positive opinion of Rio, it really didn't focus on the beach. That all changed in this trip that slowed things down and forced us at times to live like cariocas and head to the beach - from the quioscas, to the incredible setting, to the waves of the Atlantic. Nothing better than our day and afternoon in Guanabara Bay, seeing the hills and mountains of Rio in the background and just living like a Carioca.
C is for Cotopaxi (Quito)
True tourism started early on this trip, with my most challenging hike, given altitude, of my life on day 2, but what made it so worth it was our incredible luck of the nearly constant cloud cover clearing over Cotopaxi. It cleared when we were on our drive to it, creating just this incredible view, leading to dozens of photos and constant stares on its beauty. We came too much into summer for there to be much snow cover, apart from Cotopaxi where it was everpresent and perfect, as was the hike and the coca tea on the top - all of if truly a memorable experience.
D is for De Gema (Rio)
Another thing I did in Rio that is very classic Rio that I missed last time is go to a damn samba / bossa nova / live music bar and sit back and enjoy the fun. Our night at Carioca de Gema was lovely, most of all the energy there with people just soaking up every second of Dani Coimbra's performance - the impromptu co-performing, the great songs, her presence, the image of people just samba-ing and having a grand old time. Situated in the buzzing Lapa area (for many more mainstream reasons), Carioca de Gema was, well a gem-a.
E is for Ephedra (Atacama)\
I still don't really understand how a restaurant like Ephedra exists. This was a michelin quality meal in every way, from presentation to refinement to taste to elegance to setting. For taht place to exist in an area that is far more "hostel and hiking" tourist than people wanting tasting menus is such a credit to what chef Sergio Armell has put together. I wish nothing but the best for the team at Ephedra that gave me a true meal to remember, well beyond the expectations I had when I found it after Googling "tasting menu Atacama."
F is for Flamingos (Atacama)
There was something so magical and alluring about seeing Flamingos in their natural habitat, these brilliant pink, slim birds just mingling about in the water of the worlds driest desert. There was an even heightened sense of magic the few times they took off and flew and glided across teh desert and mountain landscape - a perfect picture, if one that was too fast to actually capture. Flamingos also gave me my first true attempts at taking photos through my binoculars, something I got reasonably good at as we went. Overall, these were just awesome birds.
G is for Guanacos, Vicunas, Llamas and Alpacas (All)
Speaking of animals, none dominated this trip like these cuddly, fuzzy little buggers, with us following them southwards from their presence in the highlands of Ecuador (got to feed two Alpacas during the Cotopaxi tour) to the higher highlands of the Atacama, with Arequipa thrown in for good mix. The constant presence of the Vicunas and Guanacos in Atacama almost became routine by day 3, but seeing these cuties never gets routine. Certainly not the llamas, where even in the Santiago tour we got to traipse around a compound with some of them including the most curious little baby. I will never tire of these animals.
H is for High Elevation (All)
I've spend a good amount of time in Denver and Salt Lake City, and never really felt the effects of elevation. Same with Mexico City. But all of that was amateur hour for most of this trip - from that first day in Quito (9,000 feet), to climbing Cotopaxi, where I've never felt more out of breadth despite a fairly easy hike by gradation. From those days in Arequipa (7,700 feet) to the tour of the Colca Canyon (anywhere from 11,000 - 15,000) to of course our time in Atacama. Those brief reprieves in Lima and Rio were just little valley stops between the plateaus and peaks taht make South America so interesting.
I is for Inca Lagoon (Santiago)
It's weird that Santiago visually is so close to the mountains, but the most popular day trips or road trips from the Capital really don't involve them - they mostly involve heading either to the wine region or the coast (Valparaiso), stuff we blindly did, and enjoyed, on our earlier trip. Well, we found a strange Viator tour titled of a visit to an Inca Lagoon high in the mountains. It was that, but also a chance to spend a day in the Andes, be it visiting a winery (with the mountains present in every directions), a llama farm, the namesake Inca Lagoon (which was spectacular) or a few glimpses of Mt. Aconcagua - the tallest point outside of Asia. It was all a soft thrill, even if I'm not sure what was so "Inca" about the lagoon.
J is for January 1st (Atacama)
I'm not the biggest New Year's Eve person, but (un)luckily for me, San Pedro de Atacama is a damn big New Year's Eve place. No Times Square Ball, but the crowds spilling out from every restaurant, bar, hostel with drinks and party favors in hand from 11:30pm onwards to watch various restaurants burn the old man and you feel the crowds are teh same. Atacama takes New Year's to heart, and why wouldn't it. Most people are tourists, on some trip of a lifetime, thousnads of miles away from home, in this little patch of dessert in the driest place in the world. Can't be further away from New York, but can still feel the rush of a new year.
K is for Khristmas City (Cuenca)
Ok, yeah that was a cheat, but in my defense the letter K is very uncommon in Spanish. Anyway, on Cuenca - apparently their mayor is a big Christmas guy and made it a big thing taht the town will follow suit. Maybe that's silly, but damn if it doesn't create just the best environment - the magical main square (more on that later), their own version of Saks lights and windows. Every lane with lights, every storefront with santas and reindeers. The old town, the new town, even the craft brewery with a tree and tons of other decorations. Cuenca I'm sure is lovely all the time, but was particularly awesome this time of year.
L is for Lobos de Mar (Lima)
I wasn't sure if the trip to the Palomino Islands to swim with the Sea Lions would be a worthwhile use of most of a day in Lima. Not sure why I was so skeptical - call it overconfidence in my own research prowess because I had never thought to do this on prior trips. Well, glad my parents convinced me otherwise. Doubly glad we bought those seemingly flimsy waterproof phone cases that worked amazingly well. Triply glad we got to see a few penguins (which again, didn't know existed in Peru), and finally, glad we also went to the Sea Lion namesake Cebicheria in Miraflores that had the best Chaufa I've ever had. In the end, it was a fantastic day and a lesson in not giving in to pride.
M is for Merito & Maido (Lima)
Hard to know if I've ever had a better back to back dinner than our Friday Night at Merito and Saturday Night at Maido (if I have, it was probably my last time in Lima where it was Maido on Friday and Central on Saturday...). Maido was given the title of World's #1 Restaurant by the Top-50 people. Probably a bit overranked, but it is still so amazing with its fish, seafood, mix of Nikkei preparations and ideas with Amazonic ingredients. Merito though was a surprise piece of brilliance. I mean, it shouldn't be a surprise - it is #26 on that list, but how expertly it took Central's heart but added a bit more sweetness and spice in homage to the chef's Venezuelan roots. Just perfect, the meal at Merito, the meal at Maido, all of it.
N is for Natal (Rio)
Christmas in Brazil - hard to say that is so unique given it is a Catholic country of 300 million people, but still, Christmas on the bansk of the Copacabana, be it the view from the hotel on Christmas Eve, to trawling the beach on Christmas Day, was just different in the most fun way. Christmas Mass in shorts, Christmas afternoon sipping on a chopp on the beach, and Christmas Dinner at a bustling Boteco Belmonte. But with the Catholicism in the country, you don't feel like you're on some Caribbean Island, as a church, a cross, a nativity is never too far away. This is Christmas, South America style.
O is for
P is for Plaza Mayors (Cuenca, Arequipa)
Seemingly all great Spanish or Spaniard Colonialized cities have these main squares. Some get overly built up with too much security presence (Lima), or are just too big to really take in (Santiago). But then you get little perfect ones like in Cuenca and Arequipa, with their church, their Christmas Trees, their existence as just centers of merriment. The Cuenca one was probably my favorite, but much of that is just the extremes to which they do Christmas. Arequipa also had some lovely architecture and views. Yes, the shops are a bit too commercial, but both also had these little lanes and courtyards that held their own secrets. Just lovely little centers of their little worlds.
Q is for Qu(i)echa
This is for the ancestral, indigenous language of Peru (Quecha) and Ecuador (Quicha) but also standing in for the ancestral peoples of Chile. Mostly about their art, but I guess in a couple senses their food, their legacy, but mostly for me the art - the pottery patterns, the threadwork, the stuff that I had dreams in my head of wanting to buy before leaving on the trip, and fulfilling that dream in successful ways. What I love about both countries (and Chile as well) is taht they still elevate these old cultures so well.
R is for Rodolfo Guzman (Santiago)
Sadly Chef Guzman, the genius behind Borago, wasn't there this time (he was on my last visit where I was able to snag a picture). Instead, we were left to his team, his super capable, inventive, brilliant team to a classic meal, in many ways the last big event of the trip. Seeing my parents also engage with the madness, the beauty, the creativity of some of these dishes were a delight as well. But at the end, the simply cooked over a roasting fire for thirteen hours Patagonian Lamb stole the show, as Sr. Guzman certainly designed it for. I'll dream of that lamb.
S is for Sugarloaf Mountain (Rio)
Rio shut down more on Christmas Day than I was expecting, however the one nice exception was Sugarloaf Mountain being open (granted, so was Christ the Redeemer), and not only open with the cable cars, but open with teh fun and energy of the midpoint at Urka Hill, with craft beer, shops, ice cream, music, and of course those views. We chose to come around sunset, which made an already amazing view into something truly special, the sun creeping down slowly behind the rows of hills (including the regal one with Christ the Redeemer on top). Few drinks are better than a cold craft IPA watching that sun go down, seeing Guanabara Bay in front of you and just soaking in what it means to be a Carioca (and yes, I realize saying that in a very tourist-heavy place is a bit nonsensical).
T is for Telefericos & Torres (Santiago)
The best way to see the expansiveness, modernity, clean lines and all around brilliance of Santiago is from above, and the two best in that respect and the opposing views (in that you can see each one from the other) of Santiago from teh Teleferico that goes down Cerro San Cristobal and Parque Forrestal, and from the top of the Gran Torre Costanera. The view is probably the best on the Teleferico, with glittering Sanhattan, the large expanse of parks, upmarket neighborhoods like Vitacura, and others all visible. From the Torre, you see the same but more stationary (though will give the Teleferico credit for being slow, which when the view is so nice is a good thing). Of course, the the mountains in the background in every direction the perfect backdrop.
U is for Urko (Quito)
If you look up best restaurants in Quito, there is one recurring name that shows up. Maybe there are others, and maybe there will be more in the coming years, but Urko is the apex of it, and was a perfect way to start our odyssey of tasting menus. Not the most audacious, but in a way the most homey. I say homey but the presentation was excellent, the dishes were creative, the produce and proteins were fresh. They expertly brought in Andean & Ecuadorian fruits, vegetables, herbs, spices, fish and did it all in this lovely house converted to eatery. To me a must visit in Quito.
V is for Valle de la Luna (Atacama)
I wrote in the diary on the day we did it that Valle de la Luna to me is a bit underrated because of its proximity to San Pedro de Atacama. Feels almost like cheating that there is a great site a stones throw away. But it should not be understated - the South American version of Wadi Rum in a way, a dessert with sand dunes, massive rock formations, imposing hikes - all of it, with a sprinkling of canyons and valleys mixed in. It is hard to describe the scenery (as you could probably tell from my world salad just now), but it is just otherworldly - which makes sense when you realize Mars Rover trainings have taken place there.
W is for Walking the Malecon (Lima)
After talking about various hikes and views and waht-not, it's weird to talk about the magic of walking on a place that is roughly sea level, but few things give a better impression and example of the beauty of Lima than just strolling on the Malecon. From our central point at the Larcomar, walk northwards and you get beautiful parks, sculptures, running lanes, tennis courts and oodles of life. Walk southwards and you get more manicured greenery, art and lovely rows of condos. All of it with the expanse of our largest ocean just on the other side. A truly cool feeling.
X is for Xcellent Weather (All)
Yeah, cheating again here, but I imagine I almost always cheat for my "X". I do want to call out the weather, which by the grace of God really treated us. The only days that had any sort of rain were in Cuenca, a place I was working during the day anyway. That was literally it. Now, three of the places we went to never really have rain anyway (Lima, Atacama, Santiago), but even within those often in Lima and Santiago there is clouds/fog and haze respectively and even those held off. I've never had a clearer day in Lima walking the Malecon. The real win was Rio, where it never rained a drop despite going at the start of their rainy season. God blessed us on that one.
Y is for Youthful Moments (Arequipa)
This is about a zip line; in fact, I initially put that as my 'Z', remembering my basic rule now that 'Z' has to be another thing (scroll down two inches...). It's about a zipline that was terrifying and amazing, and fun and thrilling that somehow just myself and my Dad did on our tour of fifteen or so people. The rest going straight to the hot springs. The zipline was a microcosm of me seeing my parents get their youth back on hikes, on meals on living life. Most of those things I dragged them to, but in the case of the zip line, if anything my Dad was the zipline veteran and way more calm compared to me.
Z is for Zero Regrets
My normal "Z", and maybe never as accurate or truthful as this one. I haven't done a trip this complex, with this number of locations, flights, hotels, etc., since my Round the World Trip in 2013. I haven't done a trip this long since then either (counting from the day I left to the day I got back). And it all went off without a hitch. Nary a flight delay. Nary a hotel issue (even the few that figured out we were three people instead of two). All the meals were great, even the impromptu ones. We did something every day, even if I did go slower on a couple than I would've travelling solo. It was a magical trip - probably my new #2 trip ever (my #1 probably remains the prior trip to Chile & Patagonia, as that was a lot of the same, just with the full family). It was a trip that we started planning in various iterations from probably June, and finalized in about October, and lived in December and January, and will relive for years to come.
