Remember that mountain we climbed??

So It kinda just came to my attention that we barely wrote anything about our journey to Machu Picchu last month so I thought I'd post some pics and stuff about it while I've got the internet.

The entire trek lasted 4 days with the best guide we've ever had who showed us all of the ruins that led up to MP and explained their significance to the Incas during that time. He also taught us a special ceremony where people gave respect to Pachamam (mother earth) by stacking rocks and spilling alcohol on the ground before taking a pull, somewhat similar to what Americans do while listening to Pac or Biggie. I'll put a pic of Freddy, our amazing/traditionally named guide, preparing the rocks along with others after I'm done writing.

Anyways, we got to meet a lot of fun people on the trek, one of them being the actress from the hit TV series GREEK. Much to my surprise though, she had no idea who DiNovi was so that relationship was shortly lived. I was shocked to see how many people we were hiking with though. We had to leave for the last leg of the trip to MP somewhere around 4 in the morning just so we could get a chance to experience it without a ton of people. It was well worth it in the end though because there's way more to see there than I ever thought. We didn't get to hike Wayna Picchu (the huge mountain you see in all the postcard pics) due to the weather and tickets being sold out but I guess we'll save that for next time.

The journey ended in a small back-packer town called Aguas Calientes where we met up with our group and Freddy to have some celebration beers. Here are some pictures of the trip, Freddy, us and some sick views. Salud.

-Chaz

Shockhound Chronicles

It as been a long time since the last Chronicle and for that I appologize. Like Damian wrote, we split up and went our separate ways. After the salt flats, Jordan, Emily, and I entered Chile through San Perdo de Atacama. We were only there for a short time but some activities we involved ourselves in were sandboarding, watched the sunset drinking pisco sours on top of a mountain in Valley de la Luna, ending the day with myself getting a mild case of food poisoning. We were in San Pedro for about 24 hours but everyone enjoyed the events of the day.

The following day, we caught an 18 hour bus ride out of San Pedro to La Serena. Due to my approaching departure date to Torre del Paine, I stayed in La Serena for less then a day and went on my own to Santiago later that night. The bus was an easy 8 hour trekk.
Once arriving to Santiago, I stayed with a friend that I met in Tahoe, Greg, for a day or 2. We caught a 15 hour bus ride from Santiago to Puerto Montt, then jumped on a plane to Punta Arenas. We stayed the night in Punta Arenas. The following morning we jumped on a short bus ride to Puerto Natales, roughly about 3 hours. On arrival to Puerto Natales, we started preparing for our 10 day 9 night hike through Torres del Paine. Since we had to carry our own supplies, the food of choice had to be light and easy to make..which just so happen to be ramen noodles and instant oatmeal. So for 10 days, Greg and I experienced the most beautiful scenery while hiking roughly 12-20 KM a day and enjoying Gods gift to earth, ramen and instant oatmeal. The last day was the best of the trip because i woke up knowning I was going to eat something other than ramen for dinner. Other than my excitement to not eat ramen, we saved the best part for last. We woke up at 4 in the morning to hike in the darkness for an hour to watch the sunrise at one of the highest points of Torres del Paine. This is one of the main attractions in Torres due to the amazing colors the sunrise brings on one side then the colors the sun makes as it reflects off the mountain on the other side of you. We lucked out because the morning we woke up to watch the sunrise, there was not a cloud in the sky, unlike majority of the previous mornings. Many pics to come.

Now Greg and I are in Puerto Natales chilling until our flight back to Puerto Montt, which is the 14th of Feb. So if anyone has ever been to Puerto Natales or Punta Arenas, we would love some possible ideas of something to do until our flight. Until then, we will be here...just kinda chillin around.

SH