2025 Year End Trip: Day 22 & 23 - Santiago

Day 22 - The Lost Day

This day wasn't supposed to have much in it, but after we realized that the two main nearby tourist locations in Atacama were either unavaialble during the AM of the Jan 1st, or sold out, it became a barren landscape. Luckily, because our flight time to Santiago had shifted like fifteen minutes, we were allowed to change it for free, so instead of a night flight that would land in Santiago at 11:15pm, we were able to move it up. I probably was too hasty, picking a flight that leaves at 3:30 from Calama (reaching Santiago at 5:50). Hasty because Calama is an 70-minute drive from San Pedro, meaning we needed ot leave around 12:30 - too late to do anything other than trawl the main drag a couple times.

That trawling revealed a town still recovering from the New Year's Eve celebrations from the night before, the ash leftover from burning the old man, the streamers and confetti. Not sure how they clean it up given it literally never really rains here, but that's future San Pedro's problem. For me, there were a few souvenir stores open that I could peruse, including a way too impulsive purchase of a stone carved llama, but I did want to get something of note.'

Anyway, the flight was fairly routine, with a nice churrasco sandwich for lunch in the small but well buult out Calama airport. Soon enough, we were in my favorite city in South America. Problem is, much like Christmas Day in Rio, New Year's Day in Santiago is similarly quiet. The only place I figured that would definitely have things open was in Barrio Bellavista. For that, I took my parents on a quick walking tour, starting at the cultural center in Lastarria, down some nice alleyways of bras, restaurants in Lastarria (a mix of local places and then modenr places that could easily be in New York) through a bit of the park that borders the Mapocho River (as brown and essentially ignored as always) and then into Bellavista. What I should've realized is Bellavista was robably a mad house for New Year's Eve, to which they hadn't yet cleaned up yet, so my parents got a wrong first (re)impression. 

That all changed when we got to Patio Bellavista, which while more corporatized than it was eight years ago (which was soon after it opened), is still charming, upmarket and gives a sense of what Santiago is all about. Our dinner was out Le Virgen, which also had a location in the domestic terminal of Santiago airport. Now realize it is a chain, but still the food was dceent, including our first ever taste of pil pil, coming way too late into our South America days. 

After that can the one huge positive of today, which was realizing that Siete Negronis, what had been my favorite cocktail bar in the city, is open again, and this time in Bellavista. Siete Negronis was our go to spot in 2024 trip, but they had mysteriously closed (a rent / expansion dispute). Apparently at the time it was clear to those in the know in Santiago they would re-open at some point, but the some point came fairly quick (about six weeks earlier) and their new locatin, to be honest, is better. It was the exact same conceit - the menu fronted with seven variations on negroni (one smokey, one with more chocolate, one "baconvardier") and other cocktails. I sampled four of the negronis, and called it a night. A quieter day, but probably needed before what I hope to be an action packed weekend to end the trip.

Day 23 - El Andes

The three days in Santiago to end the trip (technically four, if you count me working from here on Monday) was always given a bit of short shrift from a planning perspective. Not entirely sure why - as my parents had only been here once before, but I guess it was far more recent than their one prior trip to Lima (2018, vs 2005). They generally left all potential sites to me to plan, along with the meals (granted, meals were generally my domain for teh entire trip). The only thing of note that we pre-planned was the tour that would take most of the day today - labeled a trip to the Inca Lagoon, in reality it is a meandering little drive and traipse through the andes northeast of Santiago, a day full of enjoyment.

The started with a 7:30am pick up, us the last group in our sprinter van, joined by another couple and then a family of five. What we would soon learn by the second stop is that our van is one of about 5-6 vans all holding the same 10-12 people plus guides that would be doing this tour in parallel. Our guide Hector was a delight, a fount of knowledge, giving us facts about Chile, agriculture, wine, weather, mountains, etc., starting from the beginning twenty minutes from our hotel the gas station rest stop for breakfast, coffee, etc. (rest stops are quite nice in Chile), where for the first time we saw the other various vans.

More facts followed on teh way to the first real stop of the day, which was well outside the city. First from Santiago we drive through the Coastal Range (the lesser known range that borders the city) and then out east into the Andes. About thirty minutes from the rest stop we pull over to the side of the road to take a look at Mount Aconcagua which is visible in teh distance. As we've come in summer, there is nearly no snow on any of the mountains, except for of course Aconcagua. While the snow would've made the sight that much more beautiful, it still worked wonderfully without it - the valleys, the mountains, the rocks. This was driving in teh mountains.

Anyway, back to Aconcagua - why the name might be familiar is this is the tallest mountain in teh Andes, and more than that, the tallest mountain outside of Asia. Truth be told, because it was quite a bit in teh distance, it didn't feel like you were looking at a point 22,800 feet up, but all the same there it is - the highest point I have myself witnessed - a small thrill to wake us up.

The first real stop of the tour is at a winery in the Aconcagua Valley (one of the various wine-making valleys in Chile) at the picturesque San Estaban In Situ winery. it was a bit odd having wine so early (it was about 10am) but it was a leisurely pace drinking a glass of white and red and getting a ton of facts, figures and anecdotes from Hector around the Chilean wine scene, from how they still have carmanere and other grapes that have long left France (mainly because they don;t have some particular fly or worm or something that used to eat wine grape roots), to so much more. The setting was gorgeous, with the rows of perfectly manicured vines in front of the backdrop of the Andes. Hard to describe really; good enough that it convinced me to buy a bottle.

From there we took off deeper and deeper into teh Andes, with the next stop being a little farm where they had some llamas, vicunas, sheep, ducks, horses all just lazing and grazing around an area where you can walk around with them. We were humorously told to net pet the llamas, as it can trigger them to spit back in fear. So we didn't, and just enjoyed the animals in their furry glory - especially a baby llama that was just too cute and seemed actually quite interested in coming close to me. Once again, like with every stop, the Andes are imposing their might on each side as well, just elevating these stops into something more.

The next stop was the namesake lagoon, which is actually at the Portillo ski resort of Chile, which is a famous skiing area in the Andes (quite close to the Argentina border actually). To reach it you have to drive up 29 switchbacks, which is a ludicrous number but offered just so many vantages of the brilliance of the landscape and scenery. About halfway through the switchbacks, Hector pointed out the start (bottom) of the chairlifts and tried to get us to visualize that in ski season this is all snow covered and skiers are literally skiing down these mountains. I'm not a skier, but even if I was, I don't even understand how taht is feasible. That all said, I would love to come back to see what this area is like with snow everywhere.

The Portillo resort from a lunch perspective was a disappointment, as they never served my order of beet ravioli in huacatay sauce. Our best guess is that they forgot to put the order in (as my parents food came rather quick) and realized only after a couple reminders, and then the kitchen was super backed up. We were given 90 minutes to eat and experience the lagoon, and it was cutting well into that time to the point I gave up, we cancelled the ravioli and just switched it to some empanadas to go. I didn't want to shortchange the lagoon.

So, how to describe the Inca Lagoon? The best comparison is probably Moraine Lake in Banff in terms of teh sheer blue-ness and the vastness of the mountains behind it. Moraine Lake is probably a scotch prettier just because of the increased greenery and the top of the monutains around it always being snow-capped, but this comes so close and is just a super cool feeling. It's about a ten minute walk down from the ldoge to the water-level but at the bottom you're able to dip your toes into this pristine Andean lake. Few feelings approach this.

The drive back nicluded one final stop, which was on switchback #17 of 29 where you can take some extreme photos, fo the switchbacks below and the valley, the mountains, the road upwards. It's all a scene and worht a few minutes stop and the few tense moments realizing how clsoe to teh edge the bus goes before letting people off. After this is a two-hour drive back to Santiago where we were all given time to rest and nap - Hector's fact vault seemingly sufficiently emptied. On the whole, the Inca Lagoon tour is a nice time and a great way to spend a day outside of Santiago.

We actually reached back early to Santiago (4pm, rather than closer to 5pm like expected), giving us more time than expected before our dinner at 8pm. With this little window, I decided to check off the site that could take the most time, the combined funicular up Cerro San Cristobal and the cable car (teleferico) down it. It's a wonderful site where you get the best views of Santiago, and the lines can get lengthy, specifically on weekends. Here, early on a Friday evening, we had to wait until the 4th funicular (about 20 minutes) but from there were then at the top near the Virgin Mary statue and chapel, along with an exhibit where famous Chilean artists painted imagery on five crosses. I think that all helps make the first viewpoint from the actual San Cristobal hill better because of where it is positioned you don't get the best views of Santiago yet.

You don't have to wait far, though - as when you make taht turn towards where you catch the cable car, you get to see Santiago in all its modern glory - with the gleaming glass of Sanhattan and the Gran Torre, with teh mountains behind it - a truly splendid scene. My parents couldn't stop taking pictures of Santiago from this angle - I think this view with its grandeur, vastness and modernity, being the first time it clicked when I told them that Santiago to me is by far the most developed, modern South American city.

The cable car down is lengthy and slow, intentionally so, giving you a good ten minutes or so to just soak in the views, but also the beauty of Parque Forrestal, and the great homes, gardens of the Pedro de Valdivia barrio. That continues when you finally reach the bottom and walk towards the Mapocho River and the Costanera mall (where the gran torre is) as again you walk by a series of blocks of houses with immaculate greenery, flowers, and sightlines. The costanera mall is also a nice reminder of the modernity of Santiago - though in a way malls like this exist in many cities; what don't as easily are the beauty of the blocks surrounding it. Luckily they got that takeaway from the short trip, because the line was a bit too long to to up the tower today.

Dinner was at a new restaurant, one of the few I'll be eating at in my time in Santiago. However, if I got my way and was able to snag a seat at Restaurant 99, it wouldn't have been. Alas, they were fully booked so I went to my backup option of Peumayen Ancestral Food. It is quite a well reputed restaurant and serves lovely food, if I do take maybe a hint of issue with them calling it a tasting menu. Anyway, it is located deep in Barrio Bellavista, which itself is a bit odd for a fine dining restaurant, but once you go inside and see the thoughtful craft decor and the open courtyard, you're transported away from Bellavista. 

So, generally people come here to get a four course dinner where each course has multiple bites - total about 19 "moments". You can go with either a land (meat), sea (seafood), vegetarian or mixed option - the mixed annoyingly being a mix of all three and not just a mix of land and sea like I had assumed. My parents both went with the sea, I went with the land, and I think all of us were happy with our respective choices. The first course of a bread board made up of seven little blobs was the same no matter the menu - and here you see what tehy are goign for. Some are traditional bread, one was a delightful pumpkin fudge almost, two were legume balls, another was honey and barley; all of them tasty enough and a good way to get you started.

The next two courses were teh ones taht were land or sea specific, and in my case included things like beef tongue pate (excellent), a potato cylinder with stewed beef (tasty), a blood sausage croquette (better than most blood sausage things I've had), pickled rabbit in broth (excellent), confit pork with quinoa puree (not the best) and more. They were all presented well, and all were at minimum tasty. The desserts could've been better, but overall Peumayen was a solid choice. Restuarant 99 would've been better, but it was nice to try Peumayen out as well and realize that there is good food deep in the heart of Bellavista.

My parents were fairly tired by this point (understandable) so I said good bye to them and headed to Backroom Bar, the cocktail bar I first went to earlier this year when Siete Negronis was still closed. Backroom was as good as ever, from teh cocktails, to the vibe, to the live music, to of course the site of Santiago's hills above you along with the moonlight as you sip the night away. The open back area is just a perfect spot in my mind, elevating the drinks probably even higher than they already are by themselves. 

From tehre, I ended the night heading back to Bellavista (of course) ping-ponging between La Feria and Ambar - for the latter the two side rooms that play house and techno (basement). On this night, preferred Ambar as they stayed true to their mission, while the DJ at least at the time I went to La Feria was playing more latin-beat EDM (much like Bizarro back in Lima). Both are excellent spots however, with these new self-ordering machines that make getting drinsk quite easy (and quite cheap as well - the one area that Santiago is cheaper than Lima in). In the end, settled msotly at Ambar until about 2:45 when I finally felt the urge to sleep a bit after a long, delightful day in Santiago.

2025 Year End Trip: Day 21 - Atacama Desert

Day 21 - The Plato Fondo y Postre

Today was going to be the most complex day in the Atacama desert. First off, the main area we are visiting today, Socaire, has by far the strangest set of logistical rules of any in the area. Secondly, we have a tasting menu dinner that is a complete wild card on how good it will be, and it will end sometime in the neighborhood of 11pm, with today being December 31st. That left the final wild card, which is what to do for New Years at midnight - from everything we read, this tourist town with tons of hostel-ites will be crazy. In the end, none of these were problems on what was probably the most fulfilling day in Atacama yet - as I always like to do, we very much saved the best for last.

The day started with us having to triangulate timings. We had booked a 10:30 entry into the Socaire area of sites, an expanse of the Atacama that starts at the town of Socaire and runs through to the border with Argentina. In bright letters we are told you have to arrive at the Socaire check-in facility in the town at least an hour before your assigned entry time. Along with that, you have to pick either starting with the piedras rojas (also known as Aguas Calientes) site first, or the dual lakes of Miscanti and Miniques first. We chose to start with teh piedras rojas, which is further out and allows us to then basically drive as far as we will in the day and that start traversing backwards. 

The "be there an hour early" thing was creating a bit of a damper, because after the late night of the stargazing tour, we now had to leave by 8am to ensure we reached Socaire check-in by 9:30. I had looked up online how rigid this one hour thing is, and it seemed clear it was real. Of course, we ended up reaching the check-in at 9:15 (my Dad drove faster than he has in years!), and the lax, reserved nature of the check-in people has me really questioning if that one hour early thing actually had any meat to it. The issue of all this was we had to leave too early to pick up breakfast (or emapanadas for lunch) in San Pedro, and other than machine coffee and snacks (chips, candy, bars), Socaire had nothing. Luckily we had some leftover empanadas from the prior day, but food was going to be scarce.

Anyway, after the check-in we were off, and the land behind Socaire is just beautiful in a very different way than any of the sites we've seen so far. This is probably the most "in the andes" of any of the main site areas in the Atacama, as you get far more mountainous terrain with hills and peaks all around you, including the mountain collective that houses the two altiplano (high plains) lakes that are omnipresent around the winding road. The land more close to the cars was desert but also reminded a lot of Patagonia, with low shrubs of this bright yellow color, heightened by the sun. It was mesmerizing - I stopped to take photos way too many times.

Our first stop was actually beyond the piedras rojas, to Lake Tuyalto, which is at the very end of the area. It's not really a well advertised stop, and because of this had no real parking lot, or trail to get any closer to the lake than the main road, but it was glorious - just a large expanse with regal mountains behind it, fields of all types of colors, and the best part was some solitary flamingos in the lake and vicuna grazing. Chile is super serious about not letting human visitors interrupt wildlife in their natural habitat, and I guess that is one of the reasons we are not allowed anywhere near the actual lake. Still, I'm getting better at contorting the phone camera through the binocular lens to get some nice close ups of the fauna. As a way to start your time in Socaire, Tuyalto is a steady choice.

It doesn't prepare you for Piedras Rojas though, because taht is something special. Another lake on a large salt flat, you are able to approach quite close starting from the parking lot off the road (which was packed) through about 1km of trail to an expanse of red rocks (hence the piedras rojas name) that you can climb on, walk on, pose for photos on, etc. The lake behind you has some moderate sized mountain peaks behind it. On the other side (to the back of you as you look outwards to the lake) are larger more imposing peaks. The walk down adn back is not too easy because of the roughly 14,500 ft elevation you are at, but that's even nice in a way because the frequent stops to catch a second breath allow for continued views of this incredible scene.

**quick aside: I should note hear that I know I can't really describe the beauty of any of these locations well. It's probably why I will fully admit I write better trip diaries when the trip in question is about cities and more tangible (man-made) sites. Anyway, back to trying to describe natural beauty**

For a whole site experience, the piedras rojas is probably the best of Socaire, so in taht way we didn't save the best for last when limited to the actual Socaire tour, but doing the most strenuous one in the middle was probably the way to go. At this point we shared our leftover empanadas and just tried to take in this moment, sitting in the expanse of the Atacama, with these world-bending sights in front of you. I've felt lucky and awestruck many times on this tour, but add this one to the list as well.

Add the two lakes as well, because even if the piedras rojas is arguably the best part, the reason it is arguably and not "unquestionably" is because the twin Lagunas Miscanti and Miniques are pretty damn incredible as well. First, you have to drive about 20 minutes up over many switchbacks from the main road to get to this higher plateau than the already usper high plateau that is the natural Socaire level. From there, you get this little home diorama type show by a park ranger on how to drive through the site. The cute little diaroma makes them all seem clsoe by, but in reality the lakes are large, and the drive is definiteyl a drive. 

Lake Miscanti is first, a giant set of blue, with incredible green, brown and gray mountains behind it, and tons of vicuna and flamingos on its edge. It's truly a stunning sight. It doesn't feel as "earned" in a way as piedras rojas because you can see it all from your car, but there's no denying how mesmerizing it is. The only downside is again the fact that the walkway still leaves you quite far away from the lake, so pictures aren't as pretty as they could be because they include a great deal of lakeshore, but you know what? I can't fault Chile for this because the reason is they do not want humans upsetting the natural order here, and I can't at all say that is incorrect. 

Lake Miniques is much like Miscanti other than there is even more wildlife in teh lake - it's almsot like visiting say Lake Louise and seeing instead of people canoeing and wading in the lake, you replace people with vicunas, flamingos and dozens of these cute, fluffy little brown/gray birds. It is quite a sight. For Miniques, we are high up with the lake below, the mountain peaks again providing this imposing backdrop. It is all so magical. It is Lake Louise, the Atacama version, and while if I'm being honest nothing will match the sheer beauty of Lake Louise, these two Altiplanic lakes come damn close.

So ended our time in Socaire, a fulfilling full day of sites, gasps and pictures. In a few days I think I'll have a better sense of how all these sites stack up to each other, but suffice it to say, they are all excellent. The town of San Pedro is as well, in more ways than you would expect as we would soon find out. I first went to Chelacabur to get a couple small beer pours - again this place is just the weirdest combination of a place that works (and seemingly attracts locals, many of whom I assume work for tour companies, as much as tourists) with its metal, posters, and beers. It isn't some great beer bar - neither here nor Saint Peter will make my top Beers Bar list, but still it is effective for what it offers.

The shopping is equally effective, though I mistakenly felt today would work better for shopping, not realizing quite a few stores closed up for new year's eve early. Anyway, it gave me time to not have to rush my beers, and gear up for a truly shocking meal.

I found Ephedra when I did a "tasting menus in Atacama" google and this is basically the only one that showed up. Food in Atacama is tourist focused, if still generally good. It's odd to think a tasting menu place can exist, but my God does chef Sergio Armella have somethign amazing cooking. It's about 15 minutes from downtown San Pedro through some gnarly roads, but suddenly you get to this upscale ranch type building, with sparse tables around an open kitchen with amazing sunset views of the mountains. Ephedra serves tasting menus of various lengths but mostly a 7/8 course version as they would today, with two added initial snacks (odd that those don't count towards the course number, but the palate cleanser does...). To say this is refined is a huge understatement. I'll cover the courses later but let's just say I'm having an internal battle on how high this should go on my list. There are far more reputed restaurants I've enjoyed less. I can't say enough good things about Sergio Armella, a truly unassuming head chef, and his team and their creativity and refinement in this setting. I wish them the best (to be fair, I may be underrating the appeal here, all the tables were full) and wouldn't be surprised if Sergio Armell makes his way back to Santiago at some point.

Dinner ended actually earlier than I would've thought (Ephedra had clockwork efficiency), and after stopping at the AirBNB to change, we ventured down to the main area to experience an Atacama New Year's, and my word was it an experience. Many restaurants set-up the old "burning of the old man" puppets during the day, and we were wondering if they would actually burn them (lighting a series of fires is this arid ass place seemed concerning) and man did they ever light them. The key two blocks of the main road were basically shoulder to shoulder traffic from 11pm onwards. Most restaurants in teh town having some sort of New Year's special that invovled allowing patrons to take drinks out into the street. It was a joyous time, if a bit too wild (even as someone that goes to nightclubs and stuff, I'm not a New Year's person).

It was just a burst of energy seeing that crowd those last 15 minutes, if in a bit too tight of quarters. It makes sense in a way - most of the people we were celebrating with are tourists coming to this random patch of desert in the middle of nowhere, and why not celebrate together. I've had some random New Year's locations over the years, from Italy, to Aqaba, Jordan, to a very similar one in Patagonia in 2017-18, but this was maybe the most memorable. At the very least, it gave me enough energy to come back home to the AirBNB and watch the Stranger Things finale to a bottle of beer from Rio de Janeiro (I will have many thoughts on that show soon), a weird way to end what had been a pretty perfect December 31st.

2025 Year End Trip: Day 20 - Atacama Desert

Day 20 - The Entrada

The first day in the Atacama was excellent, and honestly from start to finish the second day may have topped it. There were some tricky logistics at play, namely the fact that the first chosen site, the El Tatio Geysers was roughly two hours away, and the other main site, the Valle de la Luna, while closer to San Pedro, allows last entry at 5pm, and various treks and viewpoints of note within it close at varying times. Now, this particular logistic challenge is usually sorted out by the fact that most people to go El Tatio early in the morning, when the geysers are at their most voluminous and mystifying. This requires generally leaving San Pedro, generally by tour bus, at 4 or 4:30am to get there around 6am. We're not that type of family, and the one 3am wake up for Colca Canyon was enough.

So, instead we still left fairly early for us (7:30am), and started off northwards towards El Tatio. About an hour in we reached Machuca, a half-road town that is primarily there as a rest stop for trips to and from (mostly from) El Tatio. They served a really nice fried goat cheese empanada (made to order), and the main guy was starting to get the grill ready to serve llama kebab skewers. Sadly, the prep time for this would take too long, so we punted on the llama kebab until the drive back. 

The drive from Machuca to the El Tatio Geysers is a rough one, the road conditions, which are normally excellent in Chile, turn into a dirt / gravel road that is a bit of a mess. The easiest way to actually not make it a rumbling, stumbling drive is to just drive faster than you think you should, which of course the risk being it may break your tire, but otherwise you are jack-hammering for an hour. The payoff though is probably worth it, as we get close to 4400m above sea level to see the highest geothermal field in the world.

The geysers themselves were great when we were there, reaching around 10:45 and staying until about 11:45am. I can't imagine hos magical it must be if you do come at 6am. Were I to ever come back to Atacama (and minute by minute I think that is becoming more and more a reality) I probably just bite the bullet and do the dawn trip. Anyway, back to the geysers, there are two main areas, each with about five to ten geysers of different sizes. The first part had the bigger geysers, at least during this time of day. It was mesmerizing to watch them bubble up every few seconds with seemingly random sizing and volume, standing in front of the plumes (even suffering through the whiffs of sulfur). Even if the geysers themselves from a water perspective topped out at a few feet (instead of 10-20 feet at 6am) but the plumes of vapor rose way above that. The second area didn't have as large of geysers, but had maybe more beautiful scenery, with the wisps of vapor rising above some beautiful, colorful peaks. The whole setting was wonderful, combining the altitude, the crisp air, the beauty of the surroundings and water vapor in a way that makes no sense if you aren't a scientist.

We did stop at Machuca on the drive back, adn did get the llama meat. The grill at this point was well ablaze, and the guy manning it makes these skewers with such care. They're made to order, which means it does take probably 15 minutes, but that is because the grillmaster is tending to each skewer with perfect care, turning them often, dousing them with chimmichurri sauce using some herb as the brush. It was all super cool, and luckily ending up tasting great as well - super tender, juicy (the chimmichurri helped) and a great little bite for at this point fairly hungry people.

We finally reached San Pedro again around 1:45pm, allowing for about a one hour to rest at the AirBNB before heading to Valle de la Luna. This is easily the site closest to San Pedro itself, comprising of two areas - the first being the main valley, which has a road running through its spine with four to five stops of note (mostly hikes). The other is a mirador / viewpoint a few miles away which gives the aerial view - this spot having last entry at 7:45 (sunset around 8:15). The main site has entry ending at 5pm, The first stop is Duna Mayor, probably the msot well known spot, which is a hike that has two main peaks / miradors. The mirador #1 is higher up and further away, while the #2 is a quick 10min hike from the fork between the two. The catch being if you do #1, you are supposed to then go from there down to #2 instead of walking back down the same way you came - each of the routes being theoretically one-way.

I wasn't sure both how the elevation would work out and how my parents would do, so initially we did the climb to mirador #2, which was fairly easy accept for most of it being walking through sand. It was easy enough that after getting to the top, my Mom (to which my Dad agreed) wanted to do the walk to Mirador #1. This ended up being great, but was a precarious hour after that. First, the climb to Mirador #1 isn't exactly difficult, but has a lot of little ups and downs over rocks, to which I had to aid my parents a bit. The view from teh top is amazing though.

Quickly on that view aspect - the Valle de la Luna is a brilliant combination between the sand dunes of a dessert (including essentially all of Mirador #2 hill in this case) and the rock formations and valleys / canyons of a Grand Canyon (if not as grand, fo course). This combination is just magical - I don't really know what I've seen that is like it. Maybe Wadi Rum desert in Jordan if it had even more rock formations. But my word the views from teh top of the miradors were just incredible, all giving slightly different perspectives and ratios of desert & dunes to rocks and valleys. 

Back to the hiking aspect, the toughest part was actually getting from the Mirador #1 to Mirador #2, which requires traipsing some really terrifying ground. Most of this stretch is essentially on a ridge between the two peaks (about may 500m) and while most of it is wide enough (say 6-7 feet), some get a bit tighter, with no real relief if you were to slip and fall, particularly to the left side (as you walk). To get my parents across this without them giving up, I had to feign more confidence than I had, but it was an excruciatingly fun time.

The combination of the exertion of the hike and the misery at times of the narrow walk, my parents were effectively done with hiking for the day, so they stayed in the car at the second hike spot, the Acaches Miradors, which this time has three miradors, and if anything was the Duna Mayor hike with more extremes. More of it was just trudging through sand, including both incline and decline. The heights you reach are higher. It is definitely tougher, but it is also more impressive and awe inspiring. The views from teh first two Miradors are incredible, both featuring a large rock formation on the other side called the Anfiteatro (not entirely sure why, as I don't think it really looked like one). There was also these great rock formations to the other side, as the hills holding up the Achaches Miradors was a bit of a barrier to a flat desert with rock formations on the other side. Another magical little hike, this one being end to end about an hour as well.

From there wer drove to the end point of the first part of the Valle de la Luna, taking in the scenery, all still a bit tired. The lower part of the Valle de la Luna is great, and it was probably nice to do that part first and then go to the other part of the Valle de la Luna to see the same area from above and really get a sense of how large, how unique this area of land is. The other part is called the Chkari Mirador, which has two miradors that are elevated probably a thousand feet or so from the same road we were driving on earlier. The terrain is really magical from this angle - stretching quite far in front of you with just a mix of peaks, jagged edges, expansive sand dunes and more. I think in some ways the proximity of Valle de la Luna to San Pedro makes it underrated a bit - both in terms of how it is advertised.

By this point it was about 7pm, so we went back, showered and then went back to the main drag, that was abotu 50% busier today than yesterday, It's nearly all tourists (and a crazily high % of them seeming to be from Brazil) so not sure why today was so far busier than yesterday, other than maybe a theory that the visit level for this week is peaking around New Year's Eve (tomorrow). The stores were buzzing, the restaurants were all quite crowded, but everyone seemed to be in a merry mindset. After some trawling, we picked Adobe for dinner, a spot right in the middle of the main drag, that is large, has a really cool indoor / outdoor vibe with great local art / sculpture decoration. The menu, much like Picada del Indio yesterday, was a mix of Chilean classics and pasta & pizza - though I was heartened looking around that most people went for Chilean. As did we, splitting two starters of a sopapillo (little fried dough cracker) with ceviche on top (quite good) and crispy quinoa fried chicken with a olive sauce (not as nice as it sounded) and two mains of a Merzula fish in butter sauce (parents liked it a lot) and a lomo with corn puree (the steak was cooked well but overall not as good as yesterdays, however the corn puree thing was excellent). The only downside was they ahve live music, but had one group that stopped around 8:30 when we arrived at 8:20, and the next duo start at 9:30, just as we were leaving.

We were leaving to go to St. Peter's to share a couple beers, play rummy and wait an hour or so for our Stargazing tour, a common nighttime tourist activity in a place that if you drive ten minutes away from San Pedro you get a very dark, unlit areas perfect for stars. Now, we were given advanced warning that since the moon was about 80% full, we would see less stars than normal, but if the amount we saw is the "less than normal", I'll live with it (though can't imagine how good it is if you come on a new moon). 

The tour leaves San Pedro at 11pm (there is a 9pm option) drives about 20 minutes away to a little outcrop where the 20 or so of us were regaled by Alejandro, an amateur astronomer. Using a super effective laser pointer, he points out stars, constellations, etc., and gives us the history, the facts and a lot more. That's roughly the first 45 minutes of the 90 minutes you are tehre. It is cold, so they give you a welcome drink (wine, mango sour, juice or water) and then a series of hot drinks options (tea, coffee, hot chocolate) for the second half which involves Alejandro setting up sights in the two telescopes they permanently have there. Despite the moon not playing alone, it was still great - there are still so many stars and you see things from the opposite perspective we normally do - be it parts of Orion that are usually more hidden by the light pollution in the US, to the Southern Cross. The telescopes were able to pick out Jupiter and a few moons, the brightness of one of Sirius, and the orange glow of one of the stars of Orion's belt. The only thing it couldn't really was saturn which was descending nearly below the horizon. All in all, the stargazing tour was an informative, exciting and memorable experience, even if the moon wanted to put a damper on things. That it did not, and this was a great capper to a day that started at 7am and ended at 1:30am.

2025 Year End Trip: Day 19 - Atacama Desert

Day 19 - The Amouse Bouche

The Atacama Desert is a vast expanse that so far hasn't been fully commercialized to its final extent. What I mean by this is that there are large stretches where there is not much going on at all, and instead many of the main sites that have been turned into true tourist locations are all within a 2-hour radius of San Pedro de Atacama, our home base for the next three days. Figuring out what to do each day, the logistics, which sites require pre-booking tickets, which you can get day of, which you can only get day of on site, all of it is rather complicated. Luckily for us, my Dad's random habit of watching travel vidoes on youtube on TV on Sunday afternoons paid off big time, as he found a gem - a guy named RustyPics who seems to be a more unassuming than most travel vlogger / professional nature photographer. He had visited the Atacama desert in late 2024 for four days, a half day more than what we would have. He helped us unlock the code.

In the end, the plan was to basically follow all his suggestions and ideas with some swapping of combinations of places and events (for instance, we weren't getting up at 4am for a tour of the El Tatio Geysers, no matter how much better the geysers would be at morning). But at least one day in, I can say mr RustyPics is a smart man. If anything, my complaint is he has a way better camera than most humans so his photos will look better on the video than ours will look. Luckily though, real life seems to match his photos pretty damn well.

Our first stop after the 75-minute drive from Calama to San Pedro de Atacama (which I'll call San Pedro for ease), was to Emporio Andino, a lovely little coffee shop / grab & go spot with empanadas and sanguches / restaurant. We will likely go here many times, mostly for those first two things. Lunch is a bit of an arbitrary concept in Atacama, with most being either to-go emapanadas (which is what we did) or if you're lucky a weird timed sitdown. Anyway, we grabbed some really good capuccinos, a giant, cold bottle of water (to refill other bottles), two empanadas and a sanguche and off we went to the first spot, which I do think was our friend Rusty's as well.

The Atacama is a desert, but various parts are more mountains, some more steppes, some what you would imagine when you hear "desert", and some are giant salt flats, some of the biggest in teh world. Our first tourism stop was one of these, about an hour south of San Pedro, at Laguna Chaxa, in the Sal de Atacama salt flat (the biggest in teh world). Laguna Chaxa's claim to fame is the flamingos that rest in its lakes in the middle of these salt flats - along with the incredible, hauntingly beautiful scenery (I think I'm going to use that "hauntingly beautiful" line a few times...). Truly the scenery of Laguna Chaxa is hard to describe - cool, faultless peaks around you on all sides, far enough to not be imposing, close enough that their reflection is perfectly mirrored in the lake. Flamingos were all around, most staying a bit further away from teh dedicated walking path, but enough lost their way close by to allow for some amazing sights.

Sadly, we were two months before hatching season (as I saw one time in of all places the Salt Lake City Bird Park, baby flamingos are among the cutest animals around), but still it was mesmerizing. The best might be when one flaming that was rather close to the path, did some weird little twitchy dance while its beak was fishing for the little sale water shrimp things that make up most of its diet. No idea why this one did that while all the other flamingos seemed far more steady in hunting for food, but it wss adorable and memorable all the same.

For a first impression into the Atacama, Laguna Chaxa was pretty perfect - despite its elevation (every site is between 2,500 - 4,200 meters), the flat paths, the mystic salt flat scenery and colors, it was all so intense in the best way. As was our next stop of the Valle de Arcioris (Rainbow Valley), which is located about 45 minutes north of San Pedro (so the diametric opposite direction). We were able to check in to our lovely, albeit un-airconditioned, AirBNB early as well, and on the way first back from Laguna Chaxa and then to Valle de Arcioris, we crossed first a llama farm, and then a series of llamas idling by the road, including the cutest baby with its mom, who seemed afraid but would adorably poke his head up every now and then. Llama are way less rare in Atacama than Vicuna and some birds, and even flamingos, so seeing them was a nice surprise.

As nice a surprse was the Valle de Arcioris. On the one hand, it was a bit tough to know exactly where to go as the map and gidance was fairly minimal. I guess the best way to describe it is you drive around a landscape that probably looks more like a desert than anything we've seen so far - sand, rock formations, hills, but with way more colors than sand red or brown. Hence the name Rainbow Valley. The main weird color was a green hue made up from a particular type of rock that lined many hills and ledges. So was light purple, yellow, and so much more. This whole area had some staggering landscape views and valleys and open areas, all interspersed with the colors of the rainbow (no blue, I guess...). Valle de Arcioris is more a pick your own adventure site than others - hence we even figured a couple times we probably drove a bit too far off course, but still a wonderful way to acclimate yourself to the vastness of the Atacama scenery.

Finally, a bit tired for the day, we returned to our AirBNB and then took to explore the town. San Pedro is not big in terms of its commercial center - much like an El Calafate. Everything is essentially an a 3x4 stretch, with one pedestrian only lane in its center. In there are tons of tourist offices (most people that come here seem the backpaker types who will take these group tours rather than us driving oursevles around), tons of stores and restaurants, all built into these brick buildings that look homely from the outside, but often have larger, better decorated than you think, interiors. Already a few places I've ID'd for future shopping trips. They also have a beer bar, named Cerveceria Saint Peter, which has a few local brews. No idea how local, they just said one stout and one amber (along with the normal fare like Austral, Kuntsmann, etc.), but the stout was good, they had wifi, they gave great cornbread on the house; no idea where the Saint Peter name comes from, but so be it.

After the beer, I walked down that main drag a bit with my parents checking out a few stores, before we went to dinner at La Picada del Indio. Dinner options are more multiple in San Pedro than you would think, but a lot is catered more at the heavy tourist population - meaning a host of spots advertising heavily that they serve pizza and pasta. Even La Picada, which is a more traditional Chileno restaurant, serves pizza. We didn't get that, but instaed I got a lomo (steak) main that was weird in that the steak itself was perfectly cooked with one of the better cabernet sauces I've ever had (seriously), but combined with some pretty meh sides. The drinks were nice though, and the place is super well rated - for a quick meal, not at all disappointed. 

After dinner and dropping my parents back, I headed back to downtown (e.g. that main street) and went to their other reputable beer bar ChelaCabur. Sadly, a place that only serves fairly mainstream stuff (granted, mainstream in Chile means Austral and Kunstmann - two better than Budweiser equivalents), but not sadly a place that was great in every other way. They play generally heavy metal, they have the weirdest set of movie, metal album posters, and just the coolest vibe. Great way to end the night for what looks to be a great three-and-a-half days in Atacama.

2025 Year End Trip: Day 18 - Traveling from Rio to Atacama

Day 18 - The Blank Space

The Atacama Desert is not easy to get to, specifically the place that exists as a tourist town in the middle of all the main sites, that being the city of San Pedro de Atacama. In fact, it is so tough to reach (quick note, I'm somewhat exaggerating this) sitting about an hour from the closest reachable airport in Calama, that we decided to not only spend this entire day traveling from Brazil to the Atacama, but didn't even end up reaching San Pedro de Atacama. Technically, this was more the fact our flight was scheduled to land from Santiago at 9:41pm at Calama airport, and the rental cars all closed between 9-10. So we audibled a bit last minute and got a hotel that night in Calama. I'm skipping to the end a bit because there is really not much to say here. 

We took Sky Airlines from Rio to Santiago, and then after a four hour layover, from Santiago to Calama. Sky Airlines is a low cost carrier, but I'll give them credit for having slim-line seats that while a bit hard, to offer a bit more legroom in return vs some competitor low cost airline economy seats. Also to my shock they served a sandwhich to everyone on the Rio to Santiago flight. It wasn't a good sandwhich, mind you, but something that was free, unlike awter more than a sippy cup a amount. 

Santiago Airport's international terminal is lovely, though their domestic terminal is a bit sparse. It is nice, and the new concourse area is quite well maintained, and they're actively renovating parts of it, but that is all still very much a work in progress. What Santiago also needs to focus on a lot is the staffing level of their immigration area - the cues are ridiculous. Even with my parents qualifying for "priority" lanes all over South America due to them being over 60, we had to wait about 30 minutes becuse the priority lanes were manned by one agent. A second came in maybe two families before us. The main line was no better, and in February (there I go again referencing that trip...) it took an hour arriving at a very similar time. Santiago is amazing in many, many aspects, as I will undoubtedly extol a bunch to come, but for now they really need to fix immigration.

Finally, the Park Hotel in Calama is farily basic but tries hard which is nice. They have lovely art, paintings, a Christmas decoration, a kitchen open until 11:30 (and quite well attended when we arrived at 10:15 and ordered at 10:45). The rooms have super comfortable beds and air conditioning units that blast the shit out of that thing. It's also quite basic, and the bathroom is small (though clean). In the end, it deserves its quite high rating on Google or Booking.com and worked well for what we needed it for: a pit stop on the way to bigger and better things.

2025 Year End Trip: Day 17 - Rio de Janeiro

Day 17: A Winsome Day

We had been going pretty much wall to wall in Rio the first three days. Granted, probably less so than I did solo back in February (and yes, it annoys me how much I keep bringing that trip up...), but still quite busy. My parents were a bit burnt out, and we know there is a lot to come in the next few days in Atacama (despite tomorrow being essentially a write-off travel day). So they chose to stay and enjoy the hotel spa, do some local shopping in Copa, and basically just live a relaxed Rio life until our sunset bay boat tour later in the day, which come to think of it is the definition of a relaxed Rio life.

Anyway, I would not stand for such laziness, so I ventured out towards Gamboa (our planned neighborhood of Rio for the day) to first just take in the beauty that is the Museu de Amanha from the outside (it's also nice from the inside, but probably only worth it once - had my parents come we would've done it) and then walk over to the Rio Museum of Art, which I was pleasantly surprised by as it changed all of its exhibits since I visited in February. They were still leaning towards showcasing art from the ethnically aboriginal or African side of Brazil, but doing so with great care, curation and aplomb. From some stellar modernist paintings of grief and battle, to great tapestries from the jungle, to an exhibit about the life and the art inspired by such life of Vinicius de Moraes, the legendary Brazilian poet, lyricist and writer (the guy who wrote Garota de Ipanema - what we then butchered into the Girl from Ipanema), which even though the various stills and what-not of his life weren't all that interesting, the art, paintings and sculptures accompanying them were.

From there, I headed to my other intended museum, the Modern Art Museum of Rio, which sadly was a dud because it was closed as preparations were ongoing to convert it into a event stage and then club for New Year's. We'd learned through these few days in Rio what we probably knew, that New Years is treated as religously in Rio as Carnaval - from large stage and audience areas being erected on Copacabana, to now this. Rio throws parties like no one else, but I guess it does take time to prepare for such things. Sad for me but great for the city. There were some nice views of Santos Dumont airport, various hills and nice buildings and manicured gardens adn such near the museum to still make it not a complete loss.

The last stop pre-boat tour was maybe the most valuable by the end. I wanted a light lunch given our tasting menu dinner at Oro later in the day, and was craving a beer, so found a home for both at Brewteco (where I didn't try what seems to be well reputed food earlier), and there was one in Botafogo, with a graet view of the city. The view was 100% true, as Brewteco takes up the terrace level (so roof but open sides) of the Botafogo Beach Mall, a nine story modern ode to commercialism. Somehow, Brewteco's food was nearly as good as the view, as their classic Burger por la Pobre was excellent. If anything, my biggest ask for a burger at a non fast-food joint is that they don't over sauce / oil it to where the bun starts getting soggy. Nothign wrose. Here, despite having quite a nice local spin on mayo, the bun held firm. The beer was also good, the view even better. Even if you aren't a beer person, you should make a stop here.

In a similar vein, as I would soon find out, even if you aren't a boat person, you should do the lazy three hour sunset boat tour of Guanabara Bay. For about $40, we got three hours on a fairly well sized boat (held the 15 guests and three crew easily), with an open bar (granted mostly just various versions of Cachaca based cocktails, but still good) and endless views. The boat leaves from Urku (so essentially the neighborhood at the base of Sugarloaf Mountain) and steers leisurely for about an hour out fairly close to the full other side of the bay, near Niteroi and the Adam and Even beaches, where it drops anchor for another hour, where you're free to jump into the brilliantly warm Rio bay waters, splash around and be merry. Then the tour concludes with one final hour heading back taht coincides with the sun starting to descend and then ultimately get hidden behind the various hills that make the backdrop of Rio from this angle. It's run at perfect pace from 3:30 to 6:30, so technically ending before the actual sunset, butgiven the sun is not visible by the end, it might as well be. All of it was great, but the views were something special.

At this point, I've extolled the views of Rio from the top of Christ the Redeemer, from the top of Sugarloaf, from flying out of Santos Dumont if you're lucky to snag a window seat (only relevant for the last trip) and now from Guanabara bay, and rightly so. They are all great, but honestly I don't know if this isn't the best one. This is the msot classic image, from ground level, far enough to see the city splayed out. Yes, you dno't really see Copacabana, Ipanema, Leblon from this angle, but you see everything else - the full range of hills, peaks and mounds, Sugarloaf in all its regality, and of course Christ the Redeemer lording over the city. It was stunning, and a great way to end the tourism aspect of Rio.

Similarly, we ended the culinary part of Rio in a great way as well, going to Oro for their tasting menu. I'll detail it later, but I will say the sad element is that they had largely unchanged their menu from when I went in February apart from say three of the eleven snacks, and two of the four mains. Now, there are michelin starred spots that change less than that over a ten month span, and the dishes that remained also remained really tasty. My parents loved it, but I was dismayed a bit more that I couldn't get a table at Lasai at a reasonable time (they had one 10pm seating on Friday) as I do think my parents would've equally liked it and they probably would've switched up more of the menu. Anyway, Oro is still very good and reasonably priced for a two-star Michelin spot.

After that, my parents went home (we do have to get up for a 7:30 taxi to the airport tomorrow after all...) but I wasn't going home early on a Saturday Night in Rio. In the end, I only went to two places. The second was to D-Edge again, which while in some ways it is quite corproate, the acts are good, the drinks are cheap, the setting is excellent, and it is always at minimum a good time. I don't think it will rise up my EDM club rankings, but not fall either.

What may rise is the other spot, going to Liz Cocktail, a short walk/drive from Oro. It was more crowded than before so I had to sit outside, but with teh cool air settling in that was fine. The cocktails here are just great - so well mixed where you can definitely feel the alcohol but all the o ther flavors they are trying to add in, like Sesame into a martini, or Hibiscus or Apricot or Endive (yeah, that was a weird one... but still worked). My only quibble is their rather early 1am closing time, saying that being this is Rio de Janeiro (where people eat late) and a Saturday. I could've tried at least one more of their new styled menu (they went away from the weird music thing from last time) and been a happy camper. In the end, that little quibble can't overcome how good their drinks are, and can't dampen what has been another great four days in Rio de Janeiro. I'd never been to Brazil before 2025, and now spent eight days in ten months in the same city, and somehow am still not really bored by any of it, which is probably the best compliment I can give it.

2025 Year End Trip: Day 16 - Rio de Janeiro

Day 16 - Coisas Novas

Coming back to Rio for a second time in ten months was not really on my cards, or to put it better, I didn't really think through what that really meant. It was exciting to send my parents to Brazil, a place that my Dad for years wanted to travel to. My mom was more hesitant on the need or desire to visit Brazil, but nevertheless, it was a knew country, a new flag. Over the first two days, despite most of what we did being the same as my trip earlier this year, they were in some ways better - less crowds to be sure on both Sugarloaf and Christ the Redeemer; also somehow not as hot. Anyway, day three was going to be a tour of the Centro neighborhood, where the most prominent, let's say, sites are located. In the end, what I learned was that it included far more sites than I remembered.

We left the hotel around 10:15, with roughly three hours for this walking tour through Centro, ending with a lunch on Santa Teresa hill at 1:30 at Aprazivel. The idea I had in mind was to end at the Selaron Steps, which sits at the base of Santa Teresa hill. It was a hot day, and most of these sites were outdoors or semi-outdoors; this was going to be an issue, but I think the power of the sites carried us through for much of the day.

We started at the far end of Centro, at the Portuguese Library, a three story floor to ceiling of books, maps, paintings and joy - I found it fun in February, but saw it as more glamorous and awe inspiring this time around, as did my parents. I think I did well to not really explain any of the sites - they weren't surprise sites, they had all come up in our various trawling of "4 days in Rio" type blogs, but without pictures, they were able to go to these places without any prior knowledge, which worked out to all of our advantage.

From there, we walked through Centro over to a new site, something that I somehow missed despite walking these very some roads, but it was the Museo San Francisco mini-hill / buildings that contain an old church turned museum (the namesake Museo San Francisco) along with a side church of Sao Thomas. It was a bit tough to find how to actually access these things without walking up a bunch of steps, but did eventually find an elevator and then got ready to be astounded. First, was a nice amouse bouche of a side exhibit of various cribs made from various types of things from various countries, from one made from a favley artist of cut up newspaper, to one made of rocks from Peru, to so many others. This was a small, seasonal, exhibit but put an early smile on our face.

The two churches kept that smile, if not expanded it. The first church was active and prepping for mass, with some nice colorful side altars and such. The real beauty though was the San Francisco church, which was smalla but astounding. Gold leaf everywhere from floor to ceiling, with beautiful painting over the inverse of a ship hull on top. The gold leaf was incredible - slightly audacious I guess, but it worked so well to draw out the darker color sculptures, paintings and medallia. On the whole, the Museo San Francisco was an incredible little stop.

The next on our tour went from old school small church to large-scale modernism / brutalism, with the Cathedral of Sao Sebastiao (Saint Sebastian). Before we got there, we did cross a few roads and intersections and squares that again somehow I missed despit4e walking these self-same roads between sites ten months earlier. The main one being the square that holds the grand National Theatre on one side, built in a purely baroque style that would not be lost anywhere in Europe, to the National Museum of Fine Arts (haven't done), National Library and other government buildings. Despite its contemporaneous age with European cities being built in this style, Rio is a style of its own - aside from this one square which is right out of Lisbon, if not better.

The Catedral de Sao Sebastiao was as beautiful as ever, with some added Christmas festivities from another nice crib with local fauna, two decorations lining each pew and hanging from the ceiling. The stained glass on each side of the rectangular cone glimmering with the bright sun, in a way that again I don't remember being so bright and beautiful ten months back. I don't know how much of my changing view of these sites were seeing them a bit through my parent's eyes, but they loved each of them, and I too saw my appreciation for each grow.

The final stop was the Selaron Steps, around the exact time it needed to be. My parents at this point were too tired to climb any further than the second set of stairs, and it was also packed, but what is nice is somehow inside of that maw, you do get these 30 second windows every say five to six minutes that the steps clear out enough to get a really nice picture of the tile-work. My parents also loved the side / wall tiles that are less renowned but just as beautiful. My mom even found deep inside one of the wall frescoes two pieces of actual roof tile, which are of the same style and making of her father's tile factory in Mangalore (a Portuguese settlement), which was a nice piece of familial history to weave into this.

From there, we took a cab up to Aprazivel, well up the side of Santa Teresa hill, one of the few hills in Rio that has housing and is built up but is not a favela. Santa Teeresa is best known for its bohemian culture, art scene, shops, etc., and we did do a bit of walking tour of that aspect getting a few wares in as well, but the real reason to head here was to visit Aprazivel. Cut into the cliff face with various semi-open roofed dining areas, Aprazivel specializes in old school Brazilian recipes, ingredients, etc., much of it from the North of Brazil or the Amazon. We ordered a few different plates, all quite good and two of which were spectacular. For the more normal ones, we got a seabass croquette which was cooked just perfectly. Fried balls/cylinders of meat/fish are so everpresent in Brazil, but often done just so well. The other was a tucupi-broth ceviche of fish and squid, which was probably not as good as my similar squid tucupi soup from February, but still tangy and nice. The other two were just outstanding - the first being a corn and shrimp bisque with pieces of shrimp that was so fresh, nutty and aromatic. The final was a pressed lamb shoulder with farofa which was so tender, juicy and sweet. The final piece was a Brazil Nut ice cream dessert, which also was great. Aprazivel is a bit expensive (in Brazilian terms) but worth it for consistently just excellent food and an amazing view of Rio below.

After lunch it was bout 3pm, and my parents were still a bit tired from teh walking (and this includes I guess the 20 minutes or so traipsing around Santa Teresa Hill), and were ready for some R&R at the hotel. I was jsut tired enough to be fully on board with that idea, which got us some needed horizontal time before the final piece of the day that would also be rewriting an opinion I had coming out of the Feb trip, which was Copacabana beach. Mainly my thinking was Copacabana is the superior beach to Ipanema, as the latter gets too crowded, but ironically the neighborhood of Copacabana if you go a block off of the beach is worse than the neighborhood of Ipanema. I still think that is largely true, but my conclusion coming out of that was a resolution that if I were to come to Rio again, to stay in Ipanema or Leblon and not Copacabana. Well, be it the hotel and its rooftop view of the beach, to our upcoming walk on it, but I no longer think this - Copacabana beach truly is something sepcial.

This is probably just due to the fact that 95% of the time I spent in Copacabana was on the beach or the beachfront promenade off of it (the tile steps). We had walked up and down the tile pathway and the quioscas and what not, but now it was time to get into the beach, and that just was another great exprience. The sand is great, the waves are great, teh water is fairly warm, the waves come a t aperfect height to be fun to walk through (or wade in). The sightlines in both directions are great. The line of hotels and life on the promenade glitter at the pre-sunset time that we came. All of it was just an experience, the height of which was jsut dipping my feet into the beautiful Atlantic.

Dinner was a big one, our time at a churrascaria, which we've semi-starved and worked up the appetite- for through a whole bunch of steps. I chose Assador Rio for this (vs. the original Fogo de Chao, or Churrascaria Palace) because of its great setting on Flamengo beach with a nighttime view of the bay, Sugarloaf and planes taking off from Santos Dumont airport flashing over the moonlight. Of course, the meat is great too - and they know what sells with picanha, filet and sirloin coming around 3-4x any other cut. The salads are nice, the wine is great (picked a Brazilian bottle, which given it is not a fancy wine country, probably underprices it given the quality I thought of it). But damn that picanha, that fatty, crunchy, juicy bit of brilliance. I think with the view, the meats and the wine, we got our moneys worth.

To dance off some of the meat sweats, we then headed to my last "new" thing of the day (if not my time in Rio) heading to Lapa, a buzzing nightlife area, to visit Carioca de Gema, and oldschool live music bar. Lapa itself is a scene, and probably not one for my taste, a bit too mainstream club and dance bars (think Miami or something) - a bit too loud, too flashy. But Carioca de Gema is, no pun intended, a gem in this maw - a brilliant little spot that showcases true old school Brazilian live music. Today's event was a performance by Dani Coimbra a carioca star singer, dancer mostly in samba music, with some bossa novo added in. She was mesmerizing, as was her band, the energy, the dancing of the crowd. This little spot was perfect for what I think my parents wanted from their one "nightlife" scene in Rio, and good for me as well.

The night continued to two spots taht defined my late night Rio experience last time and held up well this time as well, the first being Canastra Rose in Botafogo, a great DJ-led lounge where the DJ this time played a series of 2000s-2010s hits remixed with a bit of house overlay that was just amazing to people watch, sip their great house negronis and live a Rio life. The last spot was D-Edge, a warehouse club way north in Gamboa, that seemed to have opened a new stage area on its top floor (vs normally the second floor), which was bigger, had better acoustics, if not also better airflow and was jsut a great scene even if the music was less melodic a version of EDM than I normally like - but still for what I wanted my Friday night in Rio to be, this was a great capper, along with just a great day overall in the marvelous city.

2025 Year End Trip: Day 14-15 - Rio de Janeiro

Day 14 - A Christmas in Rio, Pt. 1

This trip centers around Christmas in many ways. It is the midpoint of the trip (though in its earlier half from me being off of work). It is the biggest holiday of the year, both in my family and in basically any given country in South America (though I guess in Brazil you can argue Carnaval-time is bigger). It also created some logistic complications, namely not knowing what would be open on either Christmas Eve or Christmas Day. There was a whirlwind trying to find answers.

The answer for Rio seemed mix, in that at first I read Christmas Eve is the bigger holiday and that Christmas Day isn't really kept up. Well, while Eve is probably bigger in Rio than Day, Christmas Day is absolutely kept up in teh sense most things are closed and everyone is off and having a good time. Few restaurants are open Christmas Eve, and the ones that are, are selling upcharged buffets or set menus and the like. Not surprising I guess, but again creating some logistical hurdles. We reviewed multiple buffet menus at the top hotels (that's basically the other option for Christmas Eve dinner). Some were luxurious but stupid expensive (Grand Hyatt), some cheaper but also clearly more budget (a local boutique hotel). Some annoyingly gave no real information on what was included in the menu (Sheraton), and then there was our hotel, the JW Marriott, who had a price right in the middle, and a decent spread - not as good as the Grand Hyatt, but affordable enough to still make it reasonable to do a tasting menu to conclude our time in Rio on Saturday night.

Anyway, I'm skipping ahead. We landed fresh off the redeye with less sleep than we would like, and a weird hotel situation where by Brazilian law they were forced to upgrade us to a suite (seems to be true, and at no extra charge), but also then the one suite that would come available wasn't available until the evening. Not ideal, as we were hoping on a quick nap. Instead we took a quicker nap in the lounge, had a coffee (or three) and omelet, and we were off to see the city. Going in, this first two days were mostly going to be things that I had seen before - and not only before, but quite recently (ten months ago), but having been through the wonder of Rio, I was more than happy to showcase that to my parents as well.

Our first stop was the Jardim Botanico (Botanical Garden) located in that same neighborhood of Rio. The downside was there were not many flowers blooming - for instance the Orchid greenhouse had maybe five actual orchids. The upside was with my horticulturist Mom, I actually probably took in and experienced more of the garden this time around, from learning about the cannonball tree, to the jackfruits (omnipresent all over Rio but something I missed completely the first time). The laneways of gigantic palm trees, some with a peek of Christ the Redeemer in teh back, astounded them as much they did me ten months ago. The botanic garden one the whole was a good time and nice introduction to some of Rio's defining features - the searing heat, and the lovely lush greenery.

We took a quick lunch at Braseiro de Gavea, the much reputed quick steak spot, which was nearly as crowded today as it was when I came on a Sunday Night (weird comparison, but it was hopping basically but not to the point it needed a 45-minute wait). The picanha set with farofa and rice and what-not is normally portioned for two. I had to pony up and order it last time and finish half. This time, we ordered it and between the three of us still finished half. Not sure what that says about our *collective appetites, because the steak was incredible - fatty, tender, juicy; everything you want from a steak in Brazil.

The final stop of the day was the Christ the Redeemer. This was not as crowded (a graet thing) as it was when I came last, so uncrowded at the bottom we were able to take the tram scheduled 20 minutes earlier than our booked one. If anything, I found Christ the Redeemer more impressive, in both teh statue itself and the incredible panoramic view of Rio it gives you, this time. My parents were astounded, by Rio's sheer size, the beauty of its curves, hills, lagoons, beaches, etc. We also came at the perfect time of the day, as the Sun was starting to descend right behind Jesus's head, creating this amazing halo effect from a heads-on view. He came out to paly on his birthday.

I guess I lied, the real final stop of the day was the rooftop bar/pool of the JW Marriott, to take in sunset and watch Copacabana beach down below. Friom this aerial angle, Copacabana beach is truly stunning, with the hills on either end, the lines of Quiscas (beach shacks / kiosks), the wavy tile print. All of it was a scene for the senses.

The night ended with the dinner buffet, which was a mixture of things. The food was like most buffets at upscale restaurants - there were a handful of truly great items (in this case, most of the cold appetizers including squid and white beans, cod fish salad, heart of palms, and then nearly all the desserts) and then some taht sound gerat on paper but are just not ideal for mass, bulk preparation, like duck leg confit or filet mignon. But on the whole aside from the food, they had wine included which were mostly all from Argentina and very good, along with great decorations, a live bossa novo band playing Christmas classics (and then for the second half, random songs but still quite good), and a jolly old santa. Wasn't the most traditional Christmas, but I guess a fairly traditional carioca one.

Day 15 - A Christmas in Rio, Pt. 2

As mentioned, I had initially Christmas Day wasn't really kept up. That was dead wrong. Nine out of Ten restaurants I looked up were clsoed on Christmas Day (the general theme seemed to be open for lunch on Christmas Eve, and then closed thereafter). Same with bars. We woke up lazily, catching up on sleep after the red-eye the day earlier. The idea for the day was mostly lazily stroll on some of the most famous beaches in the World and then visit the other incredible, awe inducing set of views that is Sugarloaf mountain to try to time it up with sunset. On the whole, this mission was accomplished.

To begin we just took a stroll on Copacabana, mostly on the wavy tiled sidewalk running parallel with the beach, which is a vibe of itself of street vendors, quioscas, and a throng of humanity, probably 80% locals. The beach wasn't nearly as full now as it would get later in the day, but it definitely seems the Carioca way to celebrate Christmas is very much like the Carioca way to do most things I imagine - by going to the beach. We are firmly not a beach-going or beach-loving family and still found it enticing.

This was the morning prelude to mass at noon at the Basilica Imaculada Conceicao (Immaculate Conception), which is a grand regal old church built into what is now an urban maw of Botafogo. The church was shockingly empty given until I realize there are dozens of churches in Rio proper, each with 4-5 masses. Also, luckily for us, it seems clear people in Rio realize just how hot it is and threfore a lot of shorts, sundresses, t-shirts in church without anyone batting an eye (India, please take note). The mass was quick, efficient, and even afforded us a few moments to take some pictures of what is still a lovely basilica afterwards.

We headed back for lunch which was yesterday's leftover Picanha and Banane Farofa, both still quite good the day after. I think it shows just how damn good the picanha at Braseiro de Gavea is that it remained incredible juicy and tender despite being blasted in a microwave for 30 seconds. It wasn't planned this way, but meal solution #1 for a day where most stuff is closed was a success.

After lunch we headed to Ipanema beach, Copacabana's slightly less well reknowned neighbor. It was throbbiing with people, as expected. As we walked along Ipanema, it became pretty clear to my parents what it was to me - that as far as a beach goes, Copacabana is supreme. Ipanema however seems the one that is always more crowded. Both have similar set-ups, with the beach apportioned lightly into sections with a tent renting chairs, towels, etc., in each section, each tent the master of their slice of sand. This system seems to work very well, along with the vendors on the street selling caiparinhas, beers (chopp - their term for a cold as hell draft beer), various wares, etc. We didn't go into the water (saving that for tomorrow in Copacabana), but did grab a beer at one of the quioscas and just watched life go by. We aren't beach people, but Brazil is trying its best to convince us otherwise.

Then it was time to go to Sugarloaf, again timed up well to do the visit of all the cable cars, all the views, all the pictures, etc., and then end it with seeing the sunset. I still think the views from  Christ the Redeemer are better (higher up, central to allow you to see basically every part of Rio) but I do think from a "where can you get the best picture of what Rio is?" perspective, Sugarloaf is probably better in that you can get that one picture of Botafogo, Flamengo, Centro areas (the more modern part), with Christ the Redeemer int eh background, and a peek of Copacabana appearing as well. Not sure if my parents agreed, but they did found it all as amazing as I did, from the views, to us happening upon a marmoset, to the shops, to their ice cream they shared, to my craft beer, to it all. Sugarloaf is just a great experience (which si good, since the ticket for foreigners is roughly $35-40). But all of that doesn't even begin to explain how magical sunset is there. The sun sets over the mountains behind Rio, and gives this most amazing glow to all parts of the city. Pcitures hardly do it justice, even when the pictures are pretty incredible. I would maintain my favorite single viewpoint in the world is seeing Cape Town from Signal Hill (also an amazing sunset spot), but Sugarloaf might be #2.

Now it came the real challenge, which was finding a dinner spot, but the solution ended up better than expected, and allowed me to check off one of the few things I didn't do on the first trip. There's a Boteco chain (basically a bar that serves appetizers or steak type place) called Boteco Belmonte, that has kept its spirit despite now having high-single-digits number of locations strewn around Rio. It is almost always packed, as it was when I attempted to go for food last time. Well, as one of the few places open Christmas night, it was still crowded but we got a table after about a 10 minute wait, and then got to experience a true Rio experience.

My dad had his first Caiparinha. I got to say "choppe" a couple times. And above all taht, the food is quite good also. Their starters of various open pies, empanadas and bolinhos with various fillings come served by servers rotating around the room with a plate full of them - almost like a dim-sum type set-up. They were all great, with a really good food to bread/farofa ratio. Way too often these bolinhos come with it being 80% breading, but these were the opposite, adn so good for it. After that we also had a serving of linguica, which was close to the type we get in Mangalore, and a heart of palm soupk which was the only miss in that it was just above average. The experience though of Boteco Belmonte was excellent, and even for a place that is something of a known tourist spot, a quick scan had it like 80% locals (or at least people speaking Portuguese). 

Parents night ended there, but I didn't want to sleep just yet, so I headed back to Gavea to visit Brewteco, a craft brewery Boteco style, which is another chain that has done well but kept its spirit. This place was throbbing, again mostly with locals. It seems the locals that do stay back in Rio for Christmas do want to get their energy out on Christmas night, and it was jsut a great scene of people largely between 25-40. The only hiccup was this system where you can't order at the bar, but have to order through one of seemingly three waiters for a place that probably had 300 at that point. Many people were annoyed by this, seemingyl some locals. This extended to me, who was sitting at the bar, but in the end I enoyed my three half pours and left near their Christmas Day close of 1:30.

Rio at Christmas is what I expected in all the good ways - it's a time to visit the beach, it's a time to enjoy the outdoors and stuff that doesn't close. It's a time to get some sun. It's a time for afamily and santa and red and green, sure, but also picanha and heart of palm and all those other things. I guess what I'm saying is in the very best way, Rio at Christmas is also Rio in February (when I went) and probably Rio in October as well, in taht it is still great. Just maybe ensure you check all establishments instagram to figure out what is open and what is not.

2025 Year End Trip: Day 13 - Arequipa

Day 13 - The Reset

This is roughly the halfway point of the trip if we're counting the four working days in Cuenca where I was only a part time tourist while managing being a (75%) full-time worker. We should count those days, as they were great and cool as hell. Anyway, for the halfway point, the main goal was to see as much as there is in Arequipa before we had to head to our flight back to Lima (leading to a flight to Rio, which is the real start of the second half). There isn't a whole load to see in Arequipa, meaning that this task wasn't all that crazy and eminently realistic. At the end of it, I think we checked all of it off our list.

**quick aside, saying there is but one day of tourism to do isn't a knock. Many places have one day of things, plus Arequipa's primary value from a tourist concern is the access to the Colca Canyon, which isn't something you can just brush aside**

After having to take my second to last call of the year at 9:00am, we left to walk down to the old town, which is really nice, essentially flat 15-min walk. I call out the flat part because the city is definitely not flat. I don't know what contortions of the land allow for this area to be so, but bless it. Walking into the main square, we were greeted with more or less as much life and merriment as we saw the night before, if less glitzy. That all these smaller Latin American cities have a main square like this (some, like Oaxaca have multiple) is one of the better lasting leave-behinds from Colonialism.

Our first step on the tourist circuit was the Cathedral that lines the north end of the square - interestingly oriented with the entrance on one corner of the square and the alter roughly on the other end, but the two columns being essentially going north/south within the church (I realize I butchered this explanation... let's move on...). The church is open 7-10am for prayer (and morning mass) but then closes 10-5 other than guided tours every thirty minutes. This all seemed a bit annoying but in the end, the tour was well worth it. The basilica was lovely by itself in its simplicity at times (no fancy frescoes and paintings in the main area) but brilliance at others, from the giant organ, to one of the more ornate, wood carved pulpits. There was also a fascinating little back room or two with old sconces, chalices, crowns, etc., made of real gold, silver and tons of jewels. One wonders both what the true value of those pieces were, and how profligate Catholicims is if this basilica in Arequipa is so loaded.

The final part of the tour was checking out the roof, ringing the bells, and seeing from probably the best vantage point in Arequipa proper the double peaks of Chachani and Misti. I've been to cities with prominent peaks in the backgrund, be it Salt Lake City, Calgary, otehrs, but for some reason I don't know if any have worked as well as Arequipa did.

Anyway, after that fun start we headed over a few blocks for some shopping and walking and pictures, to our lunch spot of ceviche and chaufa at Puente 92, a fairly reputable middle-scale spot in Arequipa that serves super fresh seafood at super affordable (for foreigners) prices. This was maybe our single most rustic joint meal during our trip so far (e.g. not stuff I rodered on uver eats) and it was still quite good. Both dishes weren't as good as their version at Lobo De Mar two days back in Lima, but Arequipa is not Lima. This was still really nice, including some chewy old seafood thing that didn't fit nicely into any traditional seafood slots, but was still quite excellent.

From lunch we walked another ten minutes or so to the Santa Catalina Monastery, which is a weird place - it for sure is a great tourist site, but also one that is easy to underlook in case you have either a map or an ability to get lost there for a few hours. The monastery held cloistered nuns for hundreds of years before being essentially shut down, before being opened as this museum in the 1970s. The first few couryards were painted with bright pastels, tons of beautiful flowers and some standard-fare depressing as hell cloister rooms. That all seemed like an ok site, but one that I had a hard time believe anyone would spend hours. Well, then down one alley off the third some courtyard, you get lost into a sea of cobblestone lanes, more interesting living quarters, more vibrant colors and great gardens. The monastery becomes effectively an old city at some points, with named streets, tunnels and more. They offer guided tours, which we passed up, but to be honest not sure how a guided tour could take the one hour they claimed, when our unguided "let's just roam around, take photos and read every other plaque" took an hour itself. Whatever the answer is, this was a great site.

Nearly as good was our last bit of tourism, at Mundo de Alpaca (Alpaca world). Run by the Michell group, and old pioneer in the Alpaca game, Alpaca world is a deft way to eventually sell you some quite pricey alpaca stuff by disarming you with facts and cuteness. First, you walk down a laneway with a few expositional posters on say the difference between Alpacas, Llamas, Vicunas and Guanacos (super helpful) or the migration of these types of animals, starting with their common ancestors (also the common ancestor of camels). Then you reach a courtyard with an area with basically one of each of the types we jst saw there to feed, pet and take pictures of. They were all cute, but especially so two of the eight, one being a truly brilliantly fluffy alpaca (though a bit moody, the only one that didn't come over to get food) and then a baby alpaca or llama that was just the cutest thing. Given admission is free, and feeding teh animals is free, it almost compels you to buy something, to which I did.

That was our last stop, getting back to the AirBNB in time for me to take my final call, us finish packing, saying goodbye to our brilliant view of Chachani and Misti and head to the busier than I expected airport (though I shouldn't be - again, this is the second biggest city in Peru, with a population of 1.2mm). The flight sadly took off after it was too dark to really see the mountains, but also was able to give us incredible views of sunset and the last rays of purple as it descended into darkness. 

The layover in Lima was quicker than a four hour would make you think, what with LATAMs one-hour early boarding process and having to do immigration. There are surprisingly few restaurants in the large new Lima airport, but the food was actually quite decent at one called copper, which served a fairly good pork belly sanguche (for an airport), but anyway, that and one last craft beer from Lima (not sure which one) got me full and tipsy enough to get as good a sleep on the redeye as possible. Brazil, and the second half of this trip awaits, but what I expected to be a fairly low key day in Arequipa ended up exceeding expectations and closing out the first half quite well.

2025 Day Trip: Day 12 - Colca Canyon

Day 12 - The Fright of the Condors

The Colca Canyon is the primary reason to visit Arequipa from a tourist perspective. Much like Cusco (the 3rd biggest city in Peru) is the entry point to Macchu Pichu, Arequipa is the entry point to the Colca Canyon part of the Andes, extending up from the 9,000 ft elevation of Arequipa, to about 20,000 in the canyon. To continue the comparison between Arequipa and Cusco, they are both quite far away from the cities they are meant to be the entry point to. This is why the Colca Canyon is usually advertised as a multi-day trip (two day tour, or 4-5-6-7 day trek). To do it one day is not fully a fool's errand, but does come with one significant catch - the tour starts around 3am.

For a couple days, maybe you think this is a joke and it will be revealed tehre is a typo or something, but no it was "you will get picked up between 3:10 and 3:20am". Indeed, the larger-than-a-sprinter van picked us up on the quiet main road at 3:19, where we were snuggled into the back row (limited window access) as we were the last people to be picked up. Luckily for us, three of the people on the van were starting a multi-day trek and were using the van more as a transport, so by the time we needed window access, they were gone.

Anyway, 3am is rough, but it helps that the tour proper begins three hours away, with a 6:30am breakfast in a little house / hall of a quecha woman and family. The food was basic (intentionally so) of inca-style prepared bread and truthfully really good scrambled eggs. There was also some really interesting warm juice. Overall, it was a nice pit stop as daylight just starts to break, even if there was another hour or so of driving until we really started the tour. That hour, though, had some amazing scenery - this part being the Colca Valley, where we are driving about halfway from the lower plateau of rivers and farmland below, and the peaks above. The mountain-faces were mostly all converted into supremely well manicured terrazas (small farms), it was all just a stunning sight that I had to contort my phone behind the sliver of window available to capture.

Anyway, after that hour drive, we left the Colca Valley for the Colca Canyon, the main difference being the level the road is at, now well above the river / gorge below, with teh terrazas being replaced by clean rock faces and crags. Canyon, for an American, evokes the Grand Canyon, and while the Colca Canyon probably wasn't as awe-inducing as the Grand Canyon, it was certainly close and probably more interestingly laid out (e.g. not just a long cantilevered walkway). The only real hike part of the day then commenced, weirdly about five hours into the tour but still 8am (unrelated: after this I am further convinced those "I get up at 4:30am to crush, bro" types are just insane). The hike was about two km, mostly flat with just stunnign view after stunning view.

The only real disappointment of the tour was taht the Colca Canyon is the home to hundreds of soaring, awesome Andean Condors, birds so ominous and impressive that they retained their place as one of the primary god figures for those ancient peoples. We were told early on by our genial, humorous, supremely billingual (if a bit too much given the pace he switched back and forth from English to Spanish) that this part of the year is when the condors usually leave for slightly cooler areas for mating and what-not, and that there are probably only a handful instead of the normal ~200. This was definitely disappointing to hear, but then allowed for a fairly uplifting communal moment when we did see one of those giant beasts soaring through the air.

Anyway, after the hike, we took the drive back towards the valley (us getting better seats with teh three trekkers now gone), and the views continued to just astound - to be honest, the valley is the more memorable, picturesque part of the tour scenery - even if not as awe-inspiring as the canyon was. The next real stop was the hot springs deep in an offshoot of the valley, a river with a natural spring heated up to 70 degree C, creating little pools of 30/40/45/50 C. That all was fun, and I'm sure for a few of the tourgoers was the real highlight of the trip, but the little accoutrements made it all the better. The first was on the ride there, where we stopped at stand where we could taste sankey, a sour cactus fruit taht visually looks like a kiwi. More than taste it, we could have "Colca Sours" which is a Sour made of sankey-based liquor rather than Pisco, and if anything it was better - though the elevation and tiredness may have been a part of that opinion.

The second added bit of fun was my Dad and I doing a zipline down to the hot springs (while all the other cowards just took the van down). The zip-line was in two parts, one 600m, the other 450m - they were both fast and thrilling, but also far higher from ground than any zipline I had done. Not against admitting the fact I was terrified, but it was still a thrill. The hot spring pools were a nice way to calm the nerves down however.

From there, the tour became a series of pit-stops on the four hour (extended to five because of those) drive back. First we had a stop at the highest lookout in the Colca Canyon National Park, at 4,910m (16,108ft, slightly higher than the lodge on Cotopaxi), which was interesting to be that high but to be honest the views from slightly lower (e.g. the main canyon hike) were better - being too close to the top of the higher peaks makes everything feel a bit smaller I guess. Then was a stop at an alpaca and llama preserve, meaning more pulling over to the side of the road where a farmer let his alpacas and llamas roam free a bit. They were incredible adorable - truly some of the most picture-perfect fluffy alpacas I have yet to lay eyes on. In the middle there was also lunch, which was a more impressive than I expected buffet at a simialr type stop to where we had breakfast, including three different preparations of alpaca, one of them being the Arequipa staple of stuffed pepper. All in all, the Colca Canyon tour was a crash course of an area that probably justifies further exploration than we were able to give it, but nonetheless a great time.

Back at the AirBNB, we were fairly well rested given the amount of sleep you can accrue on this tour, and therefore headed fairly quickly into the old town after watching teh glorious sunset from our AirBNB - with a perfect view of the two main mountains of Chachani and Misti that provide Arequipa cover. Truly, this was a mesmerizing view, going through all teh sunset shades are reflected and enhanced by these peaks.

The old town also was quite nice - maybe not as Christmas-y as Cuenca, but not too far away from my self-titled "Christmas Town, South America". Their main square had two LED christmas trees with some lovely graphics on either corner, and the main cathedral that takes up the north side of the square had one of the best cribs I've seen, both reverent to what the holiday is but adding a whole host of local flourishes in fauna, and flora (the offerings / gifts were real potatoes, tubers, corn, etc.). The whole square had a really nice energy - a town Arequipa's size has far more locals taking this in than tourists and you can tell they are living a good life at this Christmas time of year.

Dinner was at Chicha, a Gaston Acurio restaurant, which means something as Gaston Acurio is still the Godfather of modern Peruvian cuisine, from his namesake restaurant in Lima (still hanging on the Top 50 lists) and the whole host of other restaurants he's brought to life, and of course the chefs he's inspired or built the foundation to succeed off of (i.e. Virgilio Martinez of Central credits Gaston, his former boss, for still making Peruvian food be taken seriously). The food lived up to his reputation, graet presentation without being overly tweezery, and just amazing taste. We split five dishes, probably 0.5 too many, but better try it all.

The highlight was probably little cuy (guinea pig) taco that was a starter / amouse bouche for my dad and I, the guinea pig being the best form of pork belly in crunchiness, fat and taste. Other highlights included a great "Alpaca Frites", with Alpaca cooked in a way that far mroe resembled a high quality steak than the more gamey (if still tasty) preparation last night, and a tiradito - the only one we got in our time in Peru (I'll admit, still don't 100% know the difference between tiradito and ceviche). Even the desert of a lucuma ice cream adn creme brulee encompassed by a chocolate sphere that gets deconstructed at your table was exceptional - even if it was the same dessert I ate at a Gaston Acurio restaurant in Cusco in 2016. To be honest, it might have been Chicha (which exists in Cusco), but if anythign this was a credit to his legacy. Chica was great - there is a tasting menu if you are so inclined but it is just selections from the alacarte. In the end, we were happy with our five dishes, including my favorite which was a duck confit with red curry sauce, but the elements of red curry switched to Peruvian equivalents (their main pepper vs. thai pepper). The sauce was truly incredible, adn the duck cooked just right as well.

I did force my parents to visit the 7Vidas taproom a block away, mostly a combination of us needing to get down to business and plan a bit our time in Rio (which was currently way too lazy for my liking) and wanting to try craft beer in Arequipa. We did go there, and the place was lovely, if a bit empty on a late Monday night. I tried half pouts of a double IPA (really great), a mango IPA (too much fruit flavor - my mistake more than theirs) and a porter (excellent). From my various trails at craft beer in Mexico or South America, it is clear to me that they consistently do stouts incredibly well. 7Vidas was a nice way to end a day that started at 3am, ended at midnight, with a whole lot of amazing in between. This is why we travel.