Dec 2007

Just spend 2 days in Puerto Varas, doing recon work for when I´ll be back with Jonathan. So much to do here, reminds me of Queenstown in New Zealand, with the rafting, horseriding, hiking, and canyoning (a must!).
Went for a hike to the Petrohue falls... although the word `falls` is a bit of a stretch...more like a big rapid...still, very cool view of the Orsano volcano & others in the background.
In the evening, I hung out with students (from Spain, Italy, Germany) at the hostal who were traveling around after a semester in Santiago. The fun thing was that we spoke Spanish to each other, instead of English. Great practice for me. Somehow I can undestand them whey they speak (must be the foreigner`s way of talking), but not so much when the old people talk to me in the bus (might be because they have no teeth!!).

Now, I´m in Chiloe, an island in the south part of Chile. The people here actually barely consider themselves Chilenos, but rather Chilotes. They´ve kept their own dialect and have a strong traditional culture mixed to mythology. It´s little quiet being a sunday and before the Holiday. Nevertheless, I´ll walk around and treat myself to seafood for lunch in the palafitas (those houses on stilts) and to a xmas concert in the Cathedral tonight. Off to the northern part tomorrow to check out a penguin colony.

That´s it for now. Note that I added pics in my previous entries.

Merry Xmas to everyone!

Just spent almost a week relaxing in Talca, about 4hrs south of Santiago, in the wine region of Maule. Found this cute hostal in the middle of vineyards...with a pool, what a treat!!!

Got there late last Friday and wanted to just take easy for a day or two, but got talked into doing a hike the next day. As much as sitting by the pool sounded fun, I wanted to explore and exercise a little, so I was up at 6am off to the bus station. After a 2 hr ride, I got to the Vilches National Park. By luck, this girl I had met in the hostal in Valparaiso ended up on this same bus and we ended up doing the trek together (there was no one else around, so I was glad to have a companion!). The trek was relatively easy, 2hr30mn each way through the forest, crossing small rivers, and climbing up the mountain. The path ends at this mirador overlooking the whole valley, really breathtaking. There was a huge waterfall in the distance that you just wanted to run to and jump in (it´s so hot here, 30´s celcius!) but that meant another 3hr hike. No time. Had to make it back for the last bus at 5pm. The bus system here is quite interesting...you can flag the bus down from anywhere and get off wherever you want... which makes the whole ride slightly inefficient...listen to me, with my gringo attitude...just saying that it´s weird to me that people will stand 10m apart (and i´m not exaggerating!!!) and the bus will stop twice, instead of the people walking towards each other. It´s like a milk run. You´re constantly stopping to let someone off or on. I think it´s cool to have door to door service, don´t get me wrong....but why people won´t walk 10m or at worst 50m to consolidate the stops...don´t know.

On Sunday and Monday, I took it easy, lounging by the pool. There were some fun people at the hostal, so I enjoyed just hanging out. On Monday, a group of us did motivate to go wine tasting...well, not that hard to motivate...we visited 2 vineyards nearby, Hugo Casanova and Colinia (the syster vineyard to Kendall Jackson). The first one was a family-run type vineyard where everything is done by hand, from the picking to putting labels on the bottles. The second was more massive and industrualized. Both had generous tastings, so the end of the day consisted of more lounging by the pool. The carmenere wine, only produced here in Chile, is quite good, full bodied, almost a little thick, and very potent, 14degrees. But actually cabernet sauvignon has the highest production in Chile.

The next day, I went for a little train ride from Talca to Constitucion on the coast. The train is this old OLD train (2 wagons) that goes along the Maule river from village to village, dropping kids off to school, bringing supplies to the various villagers, and taking tourists on this lovely ride through the valley. The landscape felt like Breakback Mountain, with pine trees taking over the hills and falling into the rocky river bed- such a contrast with the vineyards on the west side. The ride took about 3hrs but it flew by...such beautiful scenery. Plus it felt like going back in time. The conductor had to blow the horn (old school steam-like train sound) at every crossing. And the villages were more like tiny regroupment of houses for the sheperds and the treemen (the whole economy on this side of the coast is wood), all stuck in the time, ie: 50yrs ago, or dare I even say 100yrs ago!

In Constitucion, I ended up finding a german tourist to split a cab to go to Putu, these amazing sand dunes along the coast. You felt like in the Sahara...not sure how they ended up there...quite spectacular. In the afternoon, I grabbed lunch in the mercado (mussle soup...last time though! as there was a bug in my soup, yuk!) and walked over to the beach to see the rock formations. Took the bus back to Talca...2hrs...again one of those stop and go rides.

After another day of rest at the hostal & a 4hr bike ride to the hills nearby, I took off to go explore the 7 Tazas waterfall, but unfortunately the bus route is not open yet...season starts next week...so i took the 1hr bus back to town...oh well. More pool and tanning for me!! hehe.

Tonight, off to Puerto Montt on the night bus...will transfer to Puerto Varas right away, as it´s the more cozy village to stay at...on the lake. Only there for one night to organize a hike over New Year´s....figured i might as well be in the mountains and star gazing than anywhere close to a city with all the crazy parties. For Xmas week though, I´ll be on the island of Chiloe...won´t be as hot...actually more like Irish landscape & climate... but will be exciting.

A week in Valparaiso already. Spanish class is going well. Learning fast...learning being the key word...now need to practice. Reading the paper every day to learn vocab and expressions. But still, need to find some Chileans to speak with. Although their Spanish is said to be one of the hardest to understand...they drop all the ends of the words... like the ´s´for example: gracias becomes gracia, nos vemos becomes no vemo. No wonder it was hard to figure out what people were saying the first few weeks I was here. All the travelers I´m meeting are saying it´s much easier to understand the language in Argentina, Peru, or Bolivia.

Anyways, since I can´t post pics for a while, I figured I´d share interesting facts and figures. Today: cost of life.

2kg of tomatoes = $ 1
1 kg of avocado = $ 1.40
1/2 kg of apricots = $1
2 little pieces of bread = $0.40
1 yoghurt = $0.60
Orbit gum = $0.70
1 L of water = $1.10
1 L of beer = $1.60
glass of wine at a bar = $2 to $4 (or much more of course!)
pisco sour (the national drink) at a bar = $4+ (for tourists only!!)
Bottle of wine from the store = $3 - $15 ( the $4-5 are just fine!)
Simple lunch menu (empanada, fried fish + rice, ice cream) = $5-8
A nice plate of fish (ie: not fried) for dinner = $8+
Typical backpacker´s lunch, ie: make-yourself sandwish (ham+cheese) and fruit = $3
´Yummy´completo (hot dogs) italian way (with avocado, mayo, ketchup) = $2.50
Empanadas de pollo = $1.60 - $2.00
Hostal night = $ 10-11 in the burbs, $ 12-14 in the cities
1 way ticket on the brand new Valparaiso train to Vina = $0.90
1 return ticket on the old micro bus = $0.90
1 way from Valpo to Santiago (1hr1/2) = $7
Banos = $0.30 (gotta pay everywhere)
1 Hr on Internet = $0.80
Jeans = $20 (yes, got a pair already!)
Sunglasses on the street = $2

No more pics for a little while, as I have no more camera!!! I got mugged on Sunday right in the middle of the street, a few blocks away from a main plaza. Just bad luck...wrong place wrong time. I had changed hostels that morning and the locker in the new place wasn´t available to me (the previous traveler still had his stuff locked inside)...so I ended up walking around with my small backpack for a little bit. I obviously usually never do- especially in cities. Those who know me in NYC know that i never carry a bag even there (mostly because i´d forget it!). So long story short, 4 guys came from behind me and just grabbed the backpack off of me. It happened so fast, no time to react or even shout. I think I did resist a little, or they struggled getting the strap off my right arm, so I have some scratches on my forearm, but other than that, I´m ok. Good they didn´t hit me or push me or something. So pissed though as they got away with my passport, money and credit cards, camera, and my journal...and postcards I was about to send off. Went to the embassy yesterday to apply for a new passport...will take 3 weeks. All in all, a bad start to my stay here, but I figure it won´t/can´t happen to me again, so I´ll be safe the remainder of the trip. The hostal got an earful when I got back though...why couldn´t another locker be available to me....ugh. The police officers who helped me out were very nice (I think they are so used to it... it was like a doctor´s office...so many people in line to report thefts). One guy spoke english which helped to file the report. He gave me his number in case I needed anything. And NO, he wasn´t hitting on me...it was just out of pure kindness.
I also realized after that a big cruise ship was in town, so it´s probably the worst time to walk around as thieves are on the look out for tourists. Oh well. I´m over it now. Glad that I had some friends at the hostal that I had met in La Serena...they spot me some cash and we hung out Sunday night, cooked a big pasta...shared some chilean wine... got me over the initial shock (sure feels weird when you´re left stripped in the street...not one penny on you!).
Ok, on a lighter note, I finally started my Spanish classes this am. Very small class...only 2 or 3 other students. I think I´ll breeze through the first chapters. Looking forward to figuring out verbs and every day expressions. And yes, I¨ll learn a few swear words in case someone comes too close to me again and I can scare them off.
The sun is out...pretty strong...need to go buy sunscreen (part of the stolen stuff, along with a roll of toilet paper, i hope they find that useful!!!)...and off to the beach.
More later in the week...maybe I´ll even attempt some a spanish entry!!

Just spent 4 days in La Serena, a very cute little town 8hrs north of Santiago. Good to be back in civilization. I do want to point out that what I have been living & visiting in the past few weeks was mostly in the mountains and desert, not a full representation of Chile. If you´re thinking Chile is all mudbricks houses and dusty road, not true! La Serena is bustling little town on the water, with impressive colonial houses downtown, a modern plaza, and a cute harbor Coquimbo 10km away.
My hostal, la casa Maria, was the cutest little place so far....with an interior courtyard and garden. The host had so many stories to tell from the dictatorship, it was hard to keep up...really need to improve my Spanish.
Turns out that 3 french travellers on the bus with me from San Pedro were at the hostal too. We ended up touring the area for 2 days together. First we took a local bus up the Elqui Valley, where vineyards grow in between the arid mountains and dusty valley. It´s an impressive oasis where pisco comes from, the national drink...from 30 to 46 proof!! Toured the Capel distillerie, but it´s mostly a tourist trap...the taste is so minute, I tried to get a second... didn´t work. Ugh.
The second day, we opted for exercise...after all these bus rides, we all felt walking to Coquimbo was de rigueur, a 2hrs1/2 hike. Felt great. Along the beach. Not a beach where I´d go spend my holidays (cold water, tons of seaweed), but apparentely in a matter of weeks, it will be packed with Chileans on vacation. We toured the fist market, the biggest one I´ve seen so far, and settled in a restaurant overlooking the harbor and its cute yellow boats (similar to Arica´s) for a fish feast: seafood soup (a la Indiana Jones, better not look too closely what´s in the soup) and reineta fish. The fish is automatically fried here if you don´t ask for a la plancha (no wonder people´s waistlines are a little on the overweight side)...and fillet´d....impossbile to get a whole fish with head and tail, bummer.
Anyways, we wrapped up the day with some scrabble games on the harbor in the sun... a little fare niente.
On my last day, I toured Tongoy, another harbor 1h1/2 away, via local bus. Now that felt like an authentic fishermen´s town...back to dusty roads and brick houses, a grade up from shanti houses. Although there´s a beautiful road along the coast with fancy houses, must be vacation houses for the city dwellers. Everything was closed still....season starts in two weeks. So I ate alone at this beach restaurant overlooking the harbor...very pleasant...basic...and local... felt like the end of the world again, since I was the only soul around and the waiter only popped out of the kitchen every now and then to check on me. Perfect for some meditation...with a pisco sour!
On Saturday, got on a 7hr bus ride down to Valparaiso, a big harbor 1hr1/2 away from Santiago. The town covers 41 hills along the coast. There´s steps everywhere you look and elevators to take you to the top of each hill. Looking forward for some good workouts...who ever complained about a 6 storie walk-up in NYC! More later....time for a hot shower before the boiler goes off...things you have to worry about!