Spending our last weekend in Chile in the Vibrant, colourful city of Valparaiso. Our b and b is perched on one of the many hills of the city with an amazing view of the city and the harbour. There are 8 naval ships anchored just below us and many of the houses are brightly coloured in blues and yellows and reds. There seem to be hundreds of buses which career around the streets and make crossing the road very interesting. the city is kind of like Wellington on Speed!
Talking of buses. We have had some hilarious adventures on the local buses elsewhere in Chile. Like the time we hopped on the local bus instead of the express and ended up taking 3 hours and stopping at every little bus stop and house and tree and dog and telephone pole on the way to where we were going. The same journey by car was an hour. This was also the time when Graham decided to adopt some cost cutting tactics by only buying 2 seats, which meant the boys had to sit on our knees when the bus was full. No problem until the last 30 minutes. Lachie and Sam have both put on weight!!!
We also got on a local bus to get out to the Speights. It had about 30 seats so when it got to 45 passengers on board, the sales people started to arrive and push their way down the bus. Vegetables, fruit, biscuits, ice creams, newspapers, you name it. We had grocery shopping and the boys on our knees again and I may have mentioned that the Chilean people tend to be short, so legroom on the bus was minimal. It also meant our faces were at butt height. Just when we thought it was time to go, a busker walked on and proceeded to serenade us all with guitar and vocals. Just as well he was awful as we couldn´t have got to our pockets if we had tried. This was the one rainy day we have had in Chile. The bus steamed up something wicked. And could we see our stop? No way. We accidently got off about 1 km early which was a worry because there were no verges to walk on. We had to fight our way through the blackberry on the side of the road in between waiting for a break in the traffic to sprint down the highway. And having to look both ways in case their was some maniac overtaking behind us. ALl part of the experience!!!
Saturday, March 21, 2009
Monday, March 16, 2009
Catch Up!
Where do I start!
Well forgot to report on the Observatory trip. It was extremely worthwhile! We had an English speaking guide and an expert Astronomer to give us a taste of Star Gazing!
The moon was fairly bright, which meant we could have a really good look at it and the boys were able to take photos of it through the telescope! We also saw Saturn with its rings and its moon Titan. We saw the Orion Nebula, which is a star factory and a close up of one of the southern cross stars which is a binary star. The guy was really good with the boys and made sure that they saw everything and was very impressed when Lachie knew what Saturns moon was called.
I finally had a go driving and found it wasn´t as bad as I had expected. We were on a pretty rough dirt road and at one point I don´t think Graham appreciated my rally driving skills....... Still he only grabbed the wheel once. Personally I couldn´t see what the problem was! I did have to stop quite suddenly going up a hill when we spotted LLamas very near the road and wanted photos! Oh and then a Chilean Fox ran across the road, so it turned into quite an eventful drive!
After La Serena we drove about 100km south to a place where thee are Thermal Pools. There was accomodation so we decided to stay and made use of the hot baths and cool swimming pool. We met the owner who was very interesting. Firstly when he found out we were from NZ he insisted on giving us a discount. This was because he had gone to an English school in Santiago and his headmaster was a Kiwi! But wait, theres more. It turns out this Kiwi with the surname Lowe, was the photographer on the Hillary Everest expedition! This chilean Ronald, took up photography and about 40 years ago spent 6 months living with and photographing a tribe of Head Shrinkers in the Amazon Jungle! So guess what the boys had a lesson in that day..... Head Shrinking. Now I don´t think they would have learned about that in school! Turns out its quite a simple process but I´ll let he boys fill you in on the details.
We are now about 30km south of Los Vilos staying in a wonderful little fishing village called Pichidengui. The summer season is over so we are about the only tourists here. There is a little dairy and a Pastelaria that sells bread and the yummiest Empanadas we have had so far. We can buy fish straight off the boats although we have no idea what kind of fish it is, but it is delicious. There is a great rocky headland so lots of rock hopping has been done and a beautiful beach for walking on and swimming for those of our group who are part polar bear!
We went all day yesterday not realising that the clocks had gone back here in Chile! We found out quite by accident and were glad this wasn´t next weekend or we may have missed out flight to Argentina!
Talking of flying to Argentina, Graham couldn´t believe that I sat up the other night and watched the movie Älive¨!
So less than a week left in Chile now and still G hasn´t got his Poncho! Times running out.... will it be a rushed buy right at the end!
Well forgot to report on the Observatory trip. It was extremely worthwhile! We had an English speaking guide and an expert Astronomer to give us a taste of Star Gazing!
The moon was fairly bright, which meant we could have a really good look at it and the boys were able to take photos of it through the telescope! We also saw Saturn with its rings and its moon Titan. We saw the Orion Nebula, which is a star factory and a close up of one of the southern cross stars which is a binary star. The guy was really good with the boys and made sure that they saw everything and was very impressed when Lachie knew what Saturns moon was called.
I finally had a go driving and found it wasn´t as bad as I had expected. We were on a pretty rough dirt road and at one point I don´t think Graham appreciated my rally driving skills....... Still he only grabbed the wheel once. Personally I couldn´t see what the problem was! I did have to stop quite suddenly going up a hill when we spotted LLamas very near the road and wanted photos! Oh and then a Chilean Fox ran across the road, so it turned into quite an eventful drive!
After La Serena we drove about 100km south to a place where thee are Thermal Pools. There was accomodation so we decided to stay and made use of the hot baths and cool swimming pool. We met the owner who was very interesting. Firstly when he found out we were from NZ he insisted on giving us a discount. This was because he had gone to an English school in Santiago and his headmaster was a Kiwi! But wait, theres more. It turns out this Kiwi with the surname Lowe, was the photographer on the Hillary Everest expedition! This chilean Ronald, took up photography and about 40 years ago spent 6 months living with and photographing a tribe of Head Shrinkers in the Amazon Jungle! So guess what the boys had a lesson in that day..... Head Shrinking. Now I don´t think they would have learned about that in school! Turns out its quite a simple process but I´ll let he boys fill you in on the details.
We are now about 30km south of Los Vilos staying in a wonderful little fishing village called Pichidengui. The summer season is over so we are about the only tourists here. There is a little dairy and a Pastelaria that sells bread and the yummiest Empanadas we have had so far. We can buy fish straight off the boats although we have no idea what kind of fish it is, but it is delicious. There is a great rocky headland so lots of rock hopping has been done and a beautiful beach for walking on and swimming for those of our group who are part polar bear!
We went all day yesterday not realising that the clocks had gone back here in Chile! We found out quite by accident and were glad this wasn´t next weekend or we may have missed out flight to Argentina!
Talking of flying to Argentina, Graham couldn´t believe that I sat up the other night and watched the movie Älive¨!
So less than a week left in Chile now and still G hasn´t got his Poncho! Times running out.... will it be a rushed buy right at the end!
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
La Serena
As you can see by the boys comments the Penguin and Sealion National park was a great success! We were out for 3 and a half hours and just saw so much! Sam was really excited about the dolphins swimming around the boat and jumping out of the water! It was a stunning spot at the end of a dirt/sand road about 45km from the main highway. We found a wonderful place to stay and the owner kind of adopted us and insisted on taking us for a drive to a beautiful beach and then showed us around and showed the boys how to catch shrimps!
As we drove back to the main road we came across about 10 LLamas and then a bit further on a Chilean Fox (el Zorro) crossed the road infront of us.
We are now in a small city called La Serena which is near the coast and is one of Chile´s oldest cities. It is very nice with lots of colonial buildings and churches.
We arrived at some cabins hoping to stay but thay had just rented the last one.....no problem though, the owner said he had a house in town we could have for the same price so we followed him there to have a look! We now have a 3 bedroom house in a nice safe, quiet area, walking distance to everything! Perfecto!
Have been to the big supermarket called Jumbo and are having steak on the BBQ with some funny looking vegetables that we can´t identify for tea. We also have some ice cold corona so all is well!
As we drove back to the main road we came across about 10 LLamas and then a bit further on a Chilean Fox (el Zorro) crossed the road infront of us.
We are now in a small city called La Serena which is near the coast and is one of Chile´s oldest cities. It is very nice with lots of colonial buildings and churches.
We arrived at some cabins hoping to stay but thay had just rented the last one.....no problem though, the owner said he had a house in town we could have for the same price so we followed him there to have a look! We now have a 3 bedroom house in a nice safe, quiet area, walking distance to everything! Perfecto!
Have been to the big supermarket called Jumbo and are having steak on the BBQ with some funny looking vegetables that we can´t identify for tea. We also have some ice cold corona so all is well!
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Cacti and penguins.
Where do you find cacti and penguins in the same place? Chile of course! Went on a boat trip out to an island and found bottlenosed dolphins , Elephant seals , Sea lions , sea otters , pelicans and penguins! Do you know why penguins live here? The Humboldt current runs straight up the coast of Chile , so it is really cold. Speaking of cold , how is the weather over in NZ? we aren´t having ANY rain over here at all. Great race Nikki , and hope you Iron men and women had a good race.
Lachie.
Lachie.
Thursday, March 5, 2009
Cacti and Desert
We only realized how long Chile was when we started driving north! Infact it is 5000km from top to bottom. We drove 1300km from Pucon and its still another 1000km to the true Atacama Desert!
We are in Semi-desert and it is amazing. Cacti are everywhere, all different shapes and sizes, from Prickly Pears to Chandelabra Cacti. Many of the latter are bigger than me and some of them have beautiful red flowers. The size of some of the spikes is a bit scarey... lets just say you wouldn´t want to fall into one!
Yesterday we headed up one of the highest passes across the Andes to have a look. At its highest point it reaches about 4500m! Its only open in summer and is amazing. we didn´t get all the way to the top, but were completly dwarfed by the mountains. The boys had a lesson in plate tectonics and mountain building.... or at least we told them what we could remember!
This area is famous for the grape that they make into the national drink Pisco, a kind of brandy and you wouldn´t believe the scrubby ground that the vines grow on. Also due to the clarity of the air here there are lots of Astronomical Observatories. We have booked to go to one tonight so will have to rport back on that!
There is a pool where we are staying so at least we can cool off when we need to. The Holidays are over here now so it is quite quiet... we have noticed the lack of Gringos generally on the trip, but he boys have met afew local kids along the way and have managed to communicate.
We are off to the coast tomorrow and hope to find some more penguins and sealions, I´ll let you know!
Good luck to the Ironmen and Women this weekend hopefully it won´t be as hot as it is here!
We are in Semi-desert and it is amazing. Cacti are everywhere, all different shapes and sizes, from Prickly Pears to Chandelabra Cacti. Many of the latter are bigger than me and some of them have beautiful red flowers. The size of some of the spikes is a bit scarey... lets just say you wouldn´t want to fall into one!
Yesterday we headed up one of the highest passes across the Andes to have a look. At its highest point it reaches about 4500m! Its only open in summer and is amazing. we didn´t get all the way to the top, but were completly dwarfed by the mountains. The boys had a lesson in plate tectonics and mountain building.... or at least we told them what we could remember!
This area is famous for the grape that they make into the national drink Pisco, a kind of brandy and you wouldn´t believe the scrubby ground that the vines grow on. Also due to the clarity of the air here there are lots of Astronomical Observatories. We have booked to go to one tonight so will have to rport back on that!
There is a pool where we are staying so at least we can cool off when we need to. The Holidays are over here now so it is quite quiet... we have noticed the lack of Gringos generally on the trip, but he boys have met afew local kids along the way and have managed to communicate.
We are off to the coast tomorrow and hope to find some more penguins and sealions, I´ll let you know!
Good luck to the Ironmen and Women this weekend hopefully it won´t be as hot as it is here!
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
Wine
After Pucon we drove 700km to Santa Cruz which mum and dad liked because there were lots of winerys. we had a tour round one and found out how to make wine. we tasted the grapes then we tasted the wine, me and lachie included!!
sam
sam
Monkey Puzzles and Tarantulas
Decided to go and find a Monkey Puzzle forest we had read about, so drove about an hour further into the mountains to the start of the track. A stunning walk, 7km uphill through forest but not a monkey puzzle tree in sight! Having thought that there really haven´t been any nasty creepy crawly things in Chile, there in the middle of the track was a dirty great big Tarantula!!!! It was very hairy and as big as my fist! After spending a while watching it we moved on. After 7km the track droped over a small ridge and it was really as if we had entered another ecosystem. Very prehistoric, with heaps of Monkey Puzzle trees, bright red Fuschias and Hummingbirds. All this at about 5000 feet! There were 3 little lakes and of course the boys had to have a swim!
The walk back down was much faster and we definately needed beer and juice to replace all our fluid!!!
The walk back down was much faster and we definately needed beer and juice to replace all our fluid!!!
Under the Volcano
From the honey farm we moved on to Pucon, adventure capital of Chile! It reminded us of Queenstown with agents offering everything from climbing an active volcano to white water rafting. It had a good feel and we spent 3 nights there. The boys were interested that there was a very visible evacuation procedure involving red, amber and green warning lights and a very obvious route out of town......follow the green line!
Luckily the volcano didn´t blow while we were there, but was constantly smoking!!! We went up pretty high on the volcano and it was very, very hot, and there were lots of lizards. We also found a Monkey Puzzle tree just on the tree line.
The boys sampled some of the local juices and approved and G and I sampled the local Ceveza and also approved!
Luckily the volcano didn´t blow while we were there, but was constantly smoking!!! We went up pretty high on the volcano and it was very, very hot, and there were lots of lizards. We also found a Monkey Puzzle tree just on the tree line.
The boys sampled some of the local juices and approved and G and I sampled the local Ceveza and also approved!
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