After our summer stay at the lovely hostel "Casa Chueca" in Talca we had to plan a return trip to share the experience with our good friends Margaret and Clayton.
Day 1
We arrived on a beautiful sunny afternoon in Talca, a relief after such gray and dreary weather back in Vina. Margaret, JoAnna and I enjoyed a lazy day which included a relaxing walk in the countryside and an afternoon bottle of Chile's finest on the deck at the hostel.
Fall colors in full effect on our afternoon stroll in the campo.
Picture perfect flowers outside our room.
Day 2 - On friday we decided to rent bikes and head for a ride along the region's "ruta del vino."
We made our way to a local colonial house and former winery which has been converted in to a religious artifacts museum. Our tour book eluded to the fact that it has some strange displays and they were correct. The show stealer was a life-sized replica of the last supper complete with full sized wooden carved characters. To top it off they played creepy recordings of some rather macabre biblical passages. (something to the effect of "follow me or you will be left to dry in the desert and have your bones picked dry by the vultures")... errrrr yeah it was weird. Regardless it is a neat building and some of the displays were quite interesting.
The last supper.... very realistic and soooooo creepy.
Jo and I outside the museum.
Varieties of grapes on display in the impressive gardens out back.
Margaret and I posing behind the large Jars that were used for wine making.
They had a pretty cool selection of artisan ceramics on display.
A somewhat frightening wall sized painting of ???????
The big event on Friday was the grand opening of Casa Chueca's own Divino, a 200 year old refurbished building where they offer wine tastings from local wineries. Although we are far from wine snobs we got to act like we were as we enjoyed a selection of 5 region wines and chit-chatted with a variety of other guests from far off lands such as Germany and the UK.
Wine tasting at the new Divino room at Casa Chueca.
Day 3
Clayton arrived late Friday night and the following morning we rented a big truck from the hostel and headed a few hours north east to the regions famous Radal Siete Tazas were we did some day hiking and enjoyed the views of the very Oregonesque series of waterfalls which are the parks namesakes.
Here is a 360 degree video
That night at the hostel we enjoyed another sampling of regional wines and chatted it up with hostel guests and newfound friends. We also enjoyed a excellent vegetarian dinner prepared by Hostel staff.
Here we are relaxing on the patio.. a panoramic picture.
On sunday we enjoyed a lazy afternoon hanging around and reading in the sun. Here I am on one of their many hammocks. It's a hard life isn't it?
Fellow hosteler Kevin from the UK who is living near Vina was kind enough to offer us a ride home and spare us the unpleasant 5 hour bus ride. Not a bad way to end the trip!
5.09.2008
London, Paris, Talca!
4.27.2008
What we've been up to lately...
We've been pretty busy since we got back from our summer trip in February. Our German friends Thomas and Kathryn, who we bumped into various times while we were traveling, came to stay with us in Vina for a few days, before heading north. We showed them around Vina and Valparaiso - here we are on one of the ascensores.
In March we went to Santiago to visit our friends Clayton and Petra, who had just moved there from Vina. Here is the beautiful couple celebrating at their engagement party. They're getting married in May.
A typical "asado" (roast or barbeque) at Clay and Petra's party
Although we were sad to see Clayton and Petra move, on a positive note, we got their awesome apartment! Here's Jo in the living room- see the balcony?
Here's a view from the balcony before the week of forest fires...
...and here's the same view during the forest fires. The city was enclosed in a thick cloud of smoke for a week, the sun was a distant red blob and it rained ashes for days...
Here's our full sized kitchen! (for Chile it is huge!)
The "dining room"
In February we also celebrated our friend Daniel's birthday. Here's Jo and Claudia making pulpitos (little octupi) - you cut up hot dogs and slice the ends open so that when you boil them in water they open up like little tentacles. Do they taste better? I don't know, I don't eat pig...but they sure look cool!
Here's Jack, Daniel, Patrick and Paolo at Daniel's birthday party.
Here's a group of gringo friends in the elevator at our moving in party at the new apartment
Jack has been djing a lot since we've been back. Here we are with our friend Margaret.
My colleague, Laura, a fellow English teacher, celebrated her birthday - she invited some colleagues over for food and drinks and cake.
School has been a little chaotic for Jo. Every week her schedule has been changed and the last few weeks the students have been on strike due to, among other things, rising bus prices. Many days she has shown up for school only to discover that the students have taken the day off! The nice thing is that she is still doing her cooking classes, which she loves!, and doesn't have classes on Mondays.
Antofagasta, Chile
Shortly after our big trip to the South of Chile my friend Mikiphone arranged a gig for he and I in the northern city of Antofagasta. Antofagasta, 5th biggest city in Chile is a bustling and bright city set in the middle of one of the driest deserts in the world, The Atacama. Originally founded as a marine port Antofagasta's primary bread winner now is the mining industry and it is often said to be one of the wealthiest cities in Chile.
The Event Flyer - Good billing eh?
In order to to get between Vina and Antofagasta Miki and I took a "semi-cama" bus, which is a double decker bus with large recliner like seats. The idea is that you can sleep comfortably during the brutal 19 hour trip through the bleak northern desert. Well, that may work for those of a somewhat smaller stature, however, for a 6 foot 4 gringo with size 14 shoes it's another story all together. I have to admit it was infinitely better than the typical bus sets I have a feeling that the engineers behind these seats had someone of a different size in mind.
The Semi-Cama phenomena... if I were only a foot and a half shorter!
After a 5 bad movies and a rough nights sleep I woke at 8 am sharp to find that we had arrived on Mars... When I picture the "desert" I picture cactus, tumbleweeds and the occasional oasis, but in the Atacama desert means absolute nothing. Dirt, rolling hills, and more dirt. No water, no plants... NOTHING! and it goes on for hours and hours. The sheer size and bleakness of the landscape was unbelievable.
Mars... I mean the Atacama desert.
On arrival to Antofagasta I was surprised by the lively city and it's clean bright streets and public spaces. One senses a certain zest for life on the boulevards, and a lack of fear of the Sun which shines 360 days a year. In fact when I asked one of the event organizers about how often it rains he laughed and said 'well.... it rained once here in the 80s but the it was a real disaster because the houses started sliding down the hillsides.' Hard to fathom for someone from Oregon!
After a nap and at our hotel Miki and I headed to the waterfront to check out the fish market and port.
The Puerto
A large group of lobos marinos (aka sea lions) spend their afternoons entertaining toursists as they battle for scraps of fish tossed from the dock.
The less common but much cuter "perro marino" cooling off at one of the towns central plazas
Me enjoying an incredibly fresh, cheap and delicious, empanada de mariscos filled with all sorts of un-identifiable but really tasty shellfish. So good I had to go back for seconds.
Posing in front of some impressive art on display in the old train station.
The show wasn't as big of a success as we had hoped but we still had a great time playing, got to see a little of the great north, and met some really cool people.
3.30.2008
Buenos Aires, Argentina
In the novel Antigua Vida Mia by Marcela Serrano, main character Violeta states, upon returning to Chile after traveling through Latin America, “Tres cosas me han impresionado muy negativamente de este país al volver, el Nescafé, la ausencia de calefacción central y el machismo, y en ese orden” ( Three things have had a negative impression on me upon returning to this country, Nescafé, the absence of central heating and machismo, and in that order).
We love Chile, but it was so nice to have some real espresso in Buenos Aires! We will just have to see if there's central heating when we return in May and we will refrain from commenting on machismo... :)
Buenos Aires was better than we could have imagined, cafes on every corner with real espresso, international cuisine, nightlife, art and fashion, amazing architecture. Kind of like New York City with more latin flare!
Here's Jack in our first hostal, El Portal de Sur, a 6 story building in the middle of down town, one block off Avenida de Mayo, with a 100 year old wrought iron elevator and a roof top terrace bar overlooking the city.
La Casa Rosada- the pink house - is the presidential palace- just outside is the Plaza de Mayo where for decades the Madres de la Plaza de Mayo have marched, every Thursday at 3pm in a silent protest of the "desaparecidos" - the thousands of people that "dissappeared" during the Dirty War. Unfortunately, after we had practically ran there to catch a glimpse of the marching moms, we realized they have officially retired! But we did get to see a bunch of tourists crowded around 3 mothers sitting on a park bench, snapping away pictures like the papparrazzi...
Down at the other end of the Avenida de Mayo is the congress building- see Jack on the bench?
We stayed in the San Telmo neighborhood, which is known for its countless antique shops. Check out the cool vintage toy store we stumbled across!
El Federal was a bar/cafe right next to our second hostal that served a mean cheese omelet and, of course, great espresso!
Typical Buenos Aires graphic art on the wall at El Federal
Florida Pedestrian Street
Recoleta Cemetery
Evita Peron Duarte's tomb at Recoleta Cemetery
Tomb dedicated to a 17 year old daughter (and her dog) in Recoleta cemetery
More amazing sites at the Recoleta Cemetery
Many of the family tombs had broken windows and you could see right in, very creepy but at the same time beautiful
La Boca neighborhood is known for its brightly painted buildings
Live tango in La Boca
This is what we'd been missing! Real espresso and delicious media lunas (half moons = croissants)
We spent a lot of time shopping around at all the hand made clothing boutiques. Artists come together and rent out a space, often times a bar or loft, to sell their one of a kind pieces.
3.16.2008
Talca and Altos de Lircay National Reserva
Before heading back to reality, we decided we needed one more outdoor experience. We bussed north from Villarrica to
The swimming pool!
Hammocks, beautiful gardens and a pool, what more could you ask for?
After a day of preparation, we headed east towards the little town of
We were told that this tree has been dead for over 10 yrs. Can you see the crescent moon in the background?
It was a tough hike and the campground definitely left something to be desired, toilet paper everywhere, yellow jackets and horseflies, cows (one came and drooled on Jack's backpack!) and, yes, more dust. After a nice long lap in the protection and comfort of our tent (thanks mom and dad!) we headed off to see the mirador (viewpoint), not really knowing what we would see. It was beautiful! The viewpoint overlooks the scenic Valle Venado's and the river that winds its way through the bottom, as well as several massive Andes Volcanoes in the background. As we were enjoying the view, a pair of huasos (Chilean cowboys) came zigzagging up the steep, gravel trail. Very cool and worth the efforts.
Jo, at the top of the world! Overlooking Valle Venado.
Now that's a vista! The Valle Venado Mirador.
After a good night's sleep we hiked the grueling 1200 meter trail to the famed Enladrillado (brickwork or paved with brick), which is a flat plateau covered in patches of lava rock that look like huge, you guessed it, bricks. This was caused by lava flowing over a glacier and is also a famous site for UFO sightings. We thought the first vista was incredible, but this one took our breath away.
That 1 hour was a doozy! Check out the rock "el conojito " in the background.
Jo posing at the Enladrillado, which is known as a great UFO watching location- 2700 meters
Jack at the Enladrillado with Volcano Descabezado Grande in the background.
The moonscape on the way out of the plateau near the Enladrillado
After a break, we continued on to the Laguna Alto where we set up camp and took a refreshing swim in the icy cold waters. It felt great to get rid of the layers of dust that had accumulated on the trail. We spent the rest of the afternoon exploring the alpine valleys surrounding the lake and we even hiked all the way around the lake, which was a fun adventure. That night we had the lake all to ourselves and the next morning awoke as the sun spilled over the mountains, bathing the lake in crimson light.
Our first look at the Laguna Alto
The laguna with the Volcano in the background.
The hike out was nothing short of pure hell, we descended something like 2000 meters at full throttle trying to catch the early bus out of the park. The park ranger told us it would take about 1 1/2 hours to get out of the park when in fact it took 3 full hours. However we were able to catch a 12 pm bus and it all worked out in the end.
That night we returned to the Hostel and enjoyed a swim, good conversation with fellow travelers, and yet another excellent vegetarian dinner. The following day we hung around the pool some more, read and enjoyed watching the owner Franz giving lama rides. On the grounds they have lamas, chickens, and even donkeys!
Lamas and swimming pools?
This is what happens when you descend 4000 feet with a 40 pound bag in less than 3 hours. It should have come as no surprise when Jack woke up with this frightening-looking burst blood vessle in his left eye.
3.08.2008
Villarrica and Pucon
After a few relaxing days in
Pucon and Villarrica are about 30 minutes apart on
In downtown Pucon there is a tour operator on every corner, offering to take you up the volcano, white water rafting, canyoning, to the
Pucon and the Volcano Villarrica
Pucon has a beautiful black sand beach on the lake, but during the summer it overflows with Santiaguinos. It looked more like MTV Spring break in
Jo enjoying a delicious meal at Trawen in Pucon.
Don't panic Margaret! The green light means mild earthquakes, some steam and a little smoke, but a relatively low risk of eruption.
Termas Geometricas
After 3 days of hiking and camping in
Before we headed to the Termas, we took a loop around
Thirty kilometers above the resort town of
Ewok village or vacationers paradise?
Jack & Jo chillin' (or should we say cookin')
A steamy wonderland
Yet another beautiful pool
