The long road to Chile...

Since the last post I did in fact get healthier. I think the Cipro helped. Machu Picchu and the Inca Trail were amazing (photos up at http://picasaweb.google.com/blumjonathan/MachuPicchuAndTiticaca)

Now I´m headed to Chile... but it going to be a long haul. Here´s the deal (I think...): I left Cuzco this morning at 8:30am headed to Puno. The goal is to get to the Peru-Chile border at Tacna. There are lots of busses from Cuzco to Tacna that go through Arequipa, which is lame because of the timing:

CUZ-ARE: 11 hours
ARE-TAC: 10 hours

CUZ-PUN: 6 hours
PUN-TAC: 10 hours

So its 5 extra hours on a bus to go from Cuzco to Tacna the way all the bus companies want you to. So, I´m in Puno waiting for a bus to go to Tacna. Hopefully, this bus will drop me in Tacna early enough to exercise one of two options:

1) Get a direct Tacna to Santiago (33 hours, US$100)
2) Save some money by taking a collectivo (3 hours, US$5? to Arica), then catching a bus from Arica to Santiago (31 hours, US$40)

Then we´ll see where the road leads. With a little luck, Ben, Baker, and Andy (and maybe Liz, Hootie, Drew, and Emily) will still be in Pucon, where I hope to meet them. If not, its another 12 hours south to the Futaleufu. I can´t wait to be back in the kayak firing off some of the great stuff Chile has to offer. More to come...