The last night of our stay in Villarrica, we were sitting having dinner at about 10:00 when someone else out on the terrace said, ¨Wow!¨ Everyone looked where they had been looking, and the volcano which had erupted earlier in the month was shooting big red clouds and smoke. We watched it for about an hour. Pretty fascinating to see the bright color against the only rain clouds that we had seen on our trip so far.
The next morning, as we were eating our breakfast, the couple at the next table leaned over and asked us if we´d like to ride with them to Puerto Varas. It seems they were headed down to the same town and scheduled to stay in the same hotel as we were. Our host at Hosteria de la Colina had told them we were going too, and they decided to invite us to ride in their rental car instead of going on the bus! So, we dashed down to the bus station, got a partial refund of our tickets, and proceeded down a much more scenic route than the bus would have gone. Louise and Bruce are from San Francisco, about our age, recently retired, and very nice.
We got to our hotel in Puerto Varas and the next morning went with them to see the Vulcan Osorno which is the biggest volcano in Chile. It sits among several hundred other volcanoes and sticks up above Lake Llanquihue kind of like Mt. Fuji does in Japan (without a lake). We drove almost entirely around it, stopping periodically to see a waterfall or another lake. We also took a beautiful drive across another lake down a valley that has the volcano at the end of one of its arms and ate a wonderful little lunch at a cafe. The town was very small with only one main street and the cafe was merely 4 tables off to the side of the owner´s home. But the salmon was excellent, and I asked her if it had come out of the lake, which it had. Very fresh.
On the way home, we looked down the road and looming ahead of us at the end of the road was Osorno again! It seems to have followed us wherever we went. Very difficult to describe, but we all thought it was beyond description. Breathtaking.
Yesterday we took a ferry across the arm of the bay that is next to Puerto Montt and back. It was quite beautiful with some tall snowy mountains, but not quite the level of Osorno. Then we drove back through P. Montt and back to P. Varas.
A beautiful stay here in P. Varas, some Chilean music at a concert last night, and back to the hotel to pack for leaving. We are going by ship through the Andes down a series of lakes to the Argentinian side, taking buses from lake to lake. That should be breathtaking, also. We will return to Chile on Sunday and fly out of P. Montt on Mon. We´re flying El Comet Airlines. Doesn´t that just boost your confidence???
Thursday, January 31, 2008
Sunday, January 27, 2008
Terma Geometrica
Before we leave Villarrica, I wanted to describe the hot springs we went to yesterday. We had to catch a bus from Villarrica at the bottom of the hill where we are currently staying and take it to a small town called Lican Ray which is also on a beautiful lake. From there, we had to catch another bus to an even smaller town called Coñaripe, and from there a little van to the hot springs. Catching the buses weren´t too difficult. We just had to make sure it was going where we wanted to go. We liked Lican Ray, but we had to press on to Coñaripe, knowing that we would have time to stop for dinner at Lican Ray on the way home. Anyway, Coñaripe was not a tourist town at all. Most of everything was geared to Chileans´ needs with some small restaurants and a few vegetable/fruit stands, and a few beachy type stores. We had dragged another couple from Redmond, WA with us. They had checked into our hosteria just the night before and were interested in going to the hot springs with us. So, the four of us had to find a taxi or something to take us the remaining 17 kilometers to the actual hot springs. After talking with several taxi drivers and van drivers, we negotiated a price of $48.000 pesos which is about $12 dollars each for a ride up to the hot springs and return. He was willing to wait the 3 hours we thought we´d be there. When we got theree (after riding over an unpaved and really rocky road) we paid our fee to get in, took possession of our towels and locker keys, and proceeded up the wooden path to the springs. It was in a narrow valley which someone had decorated with small pools up the hillside, covered with wild fuchsia and vines. The pools were made with flagstone so they looked natural, but were obviously manmade. Beautiful. They varied from extremely hot (muy caliente the sign said) to very cold, water coming right out of the cascading river. It´s pretty clever how they had combined the cascading water with a hot spring to vary the temperatures. They had outdoor bathrooms with permanently running water into sinks in which to wash your hands. They were painted black. The changing rooms were painted red and were open on the rock cliff side. I took lots of photos of it because it was so unique.
We are off to Puerto Varas for the next leg. It is very influenced by German immigrants so we expect to see some familiar architecture and eat some food that we had many years ago.
Mom is doing well. We talk with her every day, she gets calls and visits from Holly, Terry´s sister Marge, and our friend Rachel, besides many of her own friends. Heather is scheduled to fly in on Wed., so we feel good about the hands she is in. Thank you to all who wrote with concerns. We appreciate you all and told Mom about you.
Will write soon from Puerto Varas.
We are off to Puerto Varas for the next leg. It is very influenced by German immigrants so we expect to see some familiar architecture and eat some food that we had many years ago.
Mom is doing well. We talk with her every day, she gets calls and visits from Holly, Terry´s sister Marge, and our friend Rachel, besides many of her own friends. Heather is scheduled to fly in on Wed., so we feel good about the hands she is in. Thank you to all who wrote with concerns. We appreciate you all and told Mom about you.
Will write soon from Puerto Varas.
Villarrica, Pucon and on to Puerto Varas
After many emails, phone calls, and talking with Terry, we have decided that we will cancel our Argentina trip, but we´ll stay for a few more days to see the part of Chile that we had planned to visit. Mom is doing really well; she sounds strong and, of course, doesn´t want us to cancel any of our trip. But, we could not possibly stay as long as we had originally planned, so after talking with Holly and Heather, and Heather´s being willing to come down to be with Mom, and Marge, our friend Rachel, and my cousin Sandy´s daily vigil, we feel relieved enough to be able to stay another week and will return home on Feb. 4/5.
So, we are staying in Villarrica at a beautiful old inn called Hosteria de la Colina which means "inn on the hill." What a terrific place with a fabulous lawn and flowers. The innkeeepers, Glen and Bev, and their assistants Amber and Alex have been so helpful with phone calls to bus stations, thoughts of how we can shorten our trip and still see much of what we were wanting to, etc.
Most of the last 5 days have been close by Villarrica and Pucon which are two very sweet towns. Villarrica is a very "real" city, as folks here call it, because it doesn´t have a great deal of extras for travelers. The town is set up mostly for the Chilean population with restaurants and coffee shops and some shopping, but not in the context of those coming from great distances to take home piles of souvenirs. Pucon, on the other hand, is pretty much a town for tourists, both South American and out of the arrea. It is a town that is planned for looking good with lots of restaurants, coffee shops, and souvenir shops. We had to go there to get our tickets to fly home out of Puerto Montt, so we had a chance to see some of it. Both towns are on Lago Villarrica which is a lake at the foot of a beautiful volcanic mountain. The water is beautiful and blue and the snow on the volcano reflects off it when it´s calm. We took an hour´s boat rideon the lake and just enjoyed the serenity of it.
Yesterday we went to a hot springs, but right now we have to go to the bus station and get our tickets for Puerto Varras, so I´ll write about that tonight.
So, we are staying in Villarrica at a beautiful old inn called Hosteria de la Colina which means "inn on the hill." What a terrific place with a fabulous lawn and flowers. The innkeeepers, Glen and Bev, and their assistants Amber and Alex have been so helpful with phone calls to bus stations, thoughts of how we can shorten our trip and still see much of what we were wanting to, etc.
Most of the last 5 days have been close by Villarrica and Pucon which are two very sweet towns. Villarrica is a very "real" city, as folks here call it, because it doesn´t have a great deal of extras for travelers. The town is set up mostly for the Chilean population with restaurants and coffee shops and some shopping, but not in the context of those coming from great distances to take home piles of souvenirs. Pucon, on the other hand, is pretty much a town for tourists, both South American and out of the arrea. It is a town that is planned for looking good with lots of restaurants, coffee shops, and souvenir shops. We had to go there to get our tickets to fly home out of Puerto Montt, so we had a chance to see some of it. Both towns are on Lago Villarrica which is a lake at the foot of a beautiful volcanic mountain. The water is beautiful and blue and the snow on the volcano reflects off it when it´s calm. We took an hour´s boat rideon the lake and just enjoyed the serenity of it.
Yesterday we went to a hot springs, but right now we have to go to the bus station and get our tickets for Puerto Varras, so I´ll write about that tonight.
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
Viña del Mar and south to Villarrica, Chile
We´re back in Chile after what seems like an unusually long amount of time to cross the border from Argentina. It took two hours, part of the time waiting in line, but an amazing amount of looking at passports, stamping pieces of paper, checking bags, etc. It seems as though they don´t trust each other.
But the bus ride was interesting back across the Andes, and the flora became more colorful with flowers and shrubs as we got closer to the coast near Viña del Mar. Lots of flower and fruit and vegetable stands along the way. We pulled into Viña in the early evening and got to our B&B that we picked out via the computer. We lucked out again! It was an old Victorian home that had been converted into a darling hotel. The yard was full of flowers, and it looked so inviting after a long bus ride. The owner came out to meet us at the gate; he was Canadian with a Chilean wife, both as nice as could be. Our room upstairs was pink and green, very restful. We put our things down and immediately went to dinner (recommended by Brian) at a seafood restaurant on the ocean. There we sat on the terrace under white umbrellas, watching the sun hit the water´s edge. The waves crashed up on the rocks straight ahead and to the south of us was a small beach where dogs were playing in the surf. I couldn´t imagine that it was the only beach, but we couldn´t see any other because of the approaching darkness. We then walked home and crashed ourselves.
The next day we went to Valparaiso which is a town about 5 miles south, also along the water. I expected a smallish place but found that I was mistaken yet again. The city is very large, a huge port with two cruise ships, an oil tanker and maybe 50 other large ships docked right downtown. We had lunch overlooking all this chaos and were amazed at the cacophony of noises--all kind of bells and whistles from every craft there. After lunch, we left the shoreline area of the town and took an ascensor, which is an outside elevator (just a box, really, with seats) up a steep hillside to the upper level of town. Of course, there was a repairman fixing the rails as we started skyward! It looks so much like Italy! And there is a big population of Italians who live there, so it´s only fitting that it would. We visited another home of Pablo Neruda. He called this one Sebastiana, and it was on such a steep hillside that we decided to take a taxi there. We walked down and back home on the metro.
On Monday, we decided to see the town and then the beach. It was super-crowded in town, but we found the bus station and purchased tickets to Villarrica. We could have taken an overnight bus, but I wasn´t falling for that plan again. We walked back to the beach for lunch and after that decided that we´d walk north to see the other beach. As we turned the corner, we were so amazed to see thousands of bodies on the sand! This was a Monday! Lots of colorful umbrellas, rows of shops selling all kind of beach trinkets, dogs roaming up and down the beach on the prowl for some forgotten morsel, and a little boy who looked at Terry and said, ¨Daddy!¨ I looked around, expecting to see a man who looked like Terry behind us, but there was nobody around. The mother of the child came up to us with a sheepish look on her face and explained (in English) that Terry looked just like her husband, and the little boy thought he was. He had been there with them visiting her mother but had flown back to the US a few weeks earlier. She had a photo in her camera, and, sure enough, he looked just like Terry. They were Chilean. Amazing!
Back to the B&B and a bottle of wine that we had brought back with us from Mendoza, shared with our hosts, ended the evening.
And so, we are up to yesterday, when we caught the 8:00 bus south. We rode through countryside that looked like a mixture of places to us. At the beginning, very dry, desertlike, morphing into very lush green treed land. We passed lots of vegetable and fruit orchards, corn fields, grapes, and apples. Then came wheat fields and cows that were truly handsome, brown and shiny. Then we began to see the volcanoes, and they edged closer, and by early evening, we were very close. We arrived in Villarrica at about 9:30 and took a taxi to Hosteria de la Colina, and that´s where we are now.
We got up this morning to a beautifully gardened lawn with breakfast on the terrace overlooking the lake. The volcano is to the east, and we can see it from the yard. What a lovely landscape, serene but potentially exciting--the volcano smokes all the time, we read. But there are lots of hiking areas and fishing. Much to do.
This may be my last blog entry as I received several emails last night when we arrived here that my mom had had a stroke and was in the hospital. We talked with Terry´s sister Marge late last night and will call the hospital today at noon. We are in touch with both Holly and Heather and family and friends in Florida, so we are waiting to hear how she is doing. Last night, she seemed to be doing better and everyone said not to rush home, but I´ll need to talk with Mom and also the doctor before we decide. It´s very difficult not to be there. I´ll let everyone know what we decide to do. Thanks to all of you for keeping up with us. It´s been fun to get your emails, too, and we always enjoy hearing from you.
But the bus ride was interesting back across the Andes, and the flora became more colorful with flowers and shrubs as we got closer to the coast near Viña del Mar. Lots of flower and fruit and vegetable stands along the way. We pulled into Viña in the early evening and got to our B&B that we picked out via the computer. We lucked out again! It was an old Victorian home that had been converted into a darling hotel. The yard was full of flowers, and it looked so inviting after a long bus ride. The owner came out to meet us at the gate; he was Canadian with a Chilean wife, both as nice as could be. Our room upstairs was pink and green, very restful. We put our things down and immediately went to dinner (recommended by Brian) at a seafood restaurant on the ocean. There we sat on the terrace under white umbrellas, watching the sun hit the water´s edge. The waves crashed up on the rocks straight ahead and to the south of us was a small beach where dogs were playing in the surf. I couldn´t imagine that it was the only beach, but we couldn´t see any other because of the approaching darkness. We then walked home and crashed ourselves.
The next day we went to Valparaiso which is a town about 5 miles south, also along the water. I expected a smallish place but found that I was mistaken yet again. The city is very large, a huge port with two cruise ships, an oil tanker and maybe 50 other large ships docked right downtown. We had lunch overlooking all this chaos and were amazed at the cacophony of noises--all kind of bells and whistles from every craft there. After lunch, we left the shoreline area of the town and took an ascensor, which is an outside elevator (just a box, really, with seats) up a steep hillside to the upper level of town. Of course, there was a repairman fixing the rails as we started skyward! It looks so much like Italy! And there is a big population of Italians who live there, so it´s only fitting that it would. We visited another home of Pablo Neruda. He called this one Sebastiana, and it was on such a steep hillside that we decided to take a taxi there. We walked down and back home on the metro.
On Monday, we decided to see the town and then the beach. It was super-crowded in town, but we found the bus station and purchased tickets to Villarrica. We could have taken an overnight bus, but I wasn´t falling for that plan again. We walked back to the beach for lunch and after that decided that we´d walk north to see the other beach. As we turned the corner, we were so amazed to see thousands of bodies on the sand! This was a Monday! Lots of colorful umbrellas, rows of shops selling all kind of beach trinkets, dogs roaming up and down the beach on the prowl for some forgotten morsel, and a little boy who looked at Terry and said, ¨Daddy!¨ I looked around, expecting to see a man who looked like Terry behind us, but there was nobody around. The mother of the child came up to us with a sheepish look on her face and explained (in English) that Terry looked just like her husband, and the little boy thought he was. He had been there with them visiting her mother but had flown back to the US a few weeks earlier. She had a photo in her camera, and, sure enough, he looked just like Terry. They were Chilean. Amazing!
Back to the B&B and a bottle of wine that we had brought back with us from Mendoza, shared with our hosts, ended the evening.
And so, we are up to yesterday, when we caught the 8:00 bus south. We rode through countryside that looked like a mixture of places to us. At the beginning, very dry, desertlike, morphing into very lush green treed land. We passed lots of vegetable and fruit orchards, corn fields, grapes, and apples. Then came wheat fields and cows that were truly handsome, brown and shiny. Then we began to see the volcanoes, and they edged closer, and by early evening, we were very close. We arrived in Villarrica at about 9:30 and took a taxi to Hosteria de la Colina, and that´s where we are now.
We got up this morning to a beautifully gardened lawn with breakfast on the terrace overlooking the lake. The volcano is to the east, and we can see it from the yard. What a lovely landscape, serene but potentially exciting--the volcano smokes all the time, we read. But there are lots of hiking areas and fishing. Much to do.
This may be my last blog entry as I received several emails last night when we arrived here that my mom had had a stroke and was in the hospital. We talked with Terry´s sister Marge late last night and will call the hospital today at noon. We are in touch with both Holly and Heather and family and friends in Florida, so we are waiting to hear how she is doing. Last night, she seemed to be doing better and everyone said not to rush home, but I´ll need to talk with Mom and also the doctor before we decide. It´s very difficult not to be there. I´ll let everyone know what we decide to do. Thanks to all of you for keeping up with us. It´s been fun to get your emails, too, and we always enjoy hearing from you.
Friday, January 18, 2008
Wine Tasting in Mendoza
We´re getting ready to leave Mendoza tomorrow, but we´ve had a wonderful time here. The city itself is very beautiful with tree-lined streets and many homes surrounded by intricate wrought iron. The main streets have coffee shops, ice cream parlors (gelato), restaurants on every corner and in between. Because there are trees everywhere, everyone can sit in the shade and drink their coffee or eat their lunches. At night, of course, everything gets going fairly late. We are stretching it to eat dinner at 8:30. Most everyone shows up around 10, just as we are finishing, but even though we´ve had coffee and a sweet treat or ice cream at 4, we are still hungry by 8. Lights come on at 9 and light up all the cafes on the streets. I wish I could send you a photo, but I still don´t know how to download. Along the streets, between them and the sidewalks, are pretty deep ditches where they open the water gates to water the trees. Without them this would be a pretty desolate place, how and dusty. So, we have had to keep our eyes on the places we are walking. We said we´d be lucky not to break a leg falling in the irrigation ditch. I think we´ve made it, though.
Yesterday we went bodega hopping with our guide Javier whose parents´ home we stayed in. He took us to 4 wineries where we tasted from 5-10 wines each. Fortunately, each glass had only an inch or so of wine, but still I felt a little light-headed at the end. One of the wineries had a beautiful lunch for us, pared with the appropriate wine for each course. What a treat! The old home is of classic Italian architecture with thick walls and wrought iron (you´d love it, Mom) and a courtyard in the back, surrounded by brick walls and roses. We loved staying at the B&B they call Hotel Italia. It´s right across the street from a square with a fountain and Italian looking statues. Beautiful.
So, tomorrow we will go back across the Andes to Viña del Mar. I will write more from there. Ciao!
Yesterday we went bodega hopping with our guide Javier whose parents´ home we stayed in. He took us to 4 wineries where we tasted from 5-10 wines each. Fortunately, each glass had only an inch or so of wine, but still I felt a little light-headed at the end. One of the wineries had a beautiful lunch for us, pared with the appropriate wine for each course. What a treat! The old home is of classic Italian architecture with thick walls and wrought iron (you´d love it, Mom) and a courtyard in the back, surrounded by brick walls and roses. We loved staying at the B&B they call Hotel Italia. It´s right across the street from a square with a fountain and Italian looking statues. Beautiful.
So, tomorrow we will go back across the Andes to Viña del Mar. I will write more from there. Ciao!
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
In Mendoza, Argentina 1/15/08
Hola.....
It is almost 11 at night, after traveling by bus from Santiago to Mendoza for the entire day today. Pooped again. But we had a safe trip and got here without incident although the gendarme boarded our bus just over the Argentina border and had a look around. They seemed amiable enough, but one never knows.
The bus system here is pretty extensive. Hoards of people at the bus sttion in Santiago, but we found our waiting spot and waited. Lots of people travel this way, and it is pretty easy to go. We were just tired already from the bed and breakfast in Santiago. We were on a busy street, and since they did not have air conditioning, we wanted to open our windows, but the street noise was so loud, we couldn.t sleep very well. We´re hoping to do better here in Mendoza. It´s plenty hot ( probably about 85 at 11 tonight) as we walked back to our hotel from dinner. (nothing opens until 8:30) But here we have air conditioning. Thankfully.
Tomorrow we will probably just hang around town and rest up. Then the following day we´ll see how we can get out to the wineries. The day before we left Santiago, we took the metro out to Concho y Toro and Cousiña Macul winery. It took us about 2 hours to figure out how to do it, but it turned out fine. Interesting experience, for sure. The grounds of the wineries were really beautiful and the wine itself was delicious. The architecture was beautiful, too. We haven´t figured out how to download photos yet, but we took lots of them and will do our best to get them on.
Tonight we ate in a little Spanish tapas restaurant and had some very tasty fare. I asked about the recipe and the waiter told me how to do it. Yum. I´m bringing the recipe home.
We got here and our hotel room had already been rented, but we leaned on them a little bit, and they found us another one. Our regular place at the Plaza Italia is available tomorrow, but we walked by it today, and it´s a very old home. Looks really cool. So, we´ll move over there tomorrow. For now, to bed and hopefully be able to get to sleep!!!
It is almost 11 at night, after traveling by bus from Santiago to Mendoza for the entire day today. Pooped again. But we had a safe trip and got here without incident although the gendarme boarded our bus just over the Argentina border and had a look around. They seemed amiable enough, but one never knows.
The bus system here is pretty extensive. Hoards of people at the bus sttion in Santiago, but we found our waiting spot and waited. Lots of people travel this way, and it is pretty easy to go. We were just tired already from the bed and breakfast in Santiago. We were on a busy street, and since they did not have air conditioning, we wanted to open our windows, but the street noise was so loud, we couldn.t sleep very well. We´re hoping to do better here in Mendoza. It´s plenty hot ( probably about 85 at 11 tonight) as we walked back to our hotel from dinner. (nothing opens until 8:30) But here we have air conditioning. Thankfully.
Tomorrow we will probably just hang around town and rest up. Then the following day we´ll see how we can get out to the wineries. The day before we left Santiago, we took the metro out to Concho y Toro and Cousiña Macul winery. It took us about 2 hours to figure out how to do it, but it turned out fine. Interesting experience, for sure. The grounds of the wineries were really beautiful and the wine itself was delicious. The architecture was beautiful, too. We haven´t figured out how to download photos yet, but we took lots of them and will do our best to get them on.
Tonight we ate in a little Spanish tapas restaurant and had some very tasty fare. I asked about the recipe and the waiter told me how to do it. Yum. I´m bringing the recipe home.
We got here and our hotel room had already been rented, but we leaned on them a little bit, and they found us another one. Our regular place at the Plaza Italia is available tomorrow, but we walked by it today, and it´s a very old home. Looks really cool. So, we´ll move over there tomorrow. For now, to bed and hopefully be able to get to sleep!!!
Sunday, January 13, 2008
Santiago 1/13/08
Another full day. We have managed to see so much in the few days that we´ve been here, but then we have kept ourselves on the go the entire time. Yesterday we walked down to the Mercado Central to see the fish and vegetable market. Then on to Plaza de Armas and the Museum of Precolumbian Art. After lunch at La Naturista we walked Barrio Brasil to find a special little neighborhood called Concha y Toro. We walked all around it, not seeing the street, then we almost stumbled upon it by accident. It was very sweet with beautiful architecture, but it was so small and well hidden that we almost missed it entirely. Took many photos. Then to dinner and back to Marilu´s and fell into bed.
Up again bright and early this am with the intention of hiking up Cerro San Cristobal, but first we happened upon a Starbucks coffee and had to stop and have a latte first. Then onto the cerro, but by then it was an hour later and much hotter. We finally made it (about 4 miles) and saw the statue of the Virgin Mary. But we decided to take the funicular down and ended up not too far from Pablo Neruda´s home, so we went on a tour of it. Pretty interesting. By then we were drenched, so we walked back to Marilu´s and took a shower. Then we went back to Barrio Bellavista and had dinner at Galindo. A beautiful fish that is called Reineta. Not sure what that translates to, but I´d like to have it again. I´ll have to find out.
Tomorrow we are headed off to two wineries: Cousino Macul and Concho y Toro. Will let you know how that goes.
Up again bright and early this am with the intention of hiking up Cerro San Cristobal, but first we happened upon a Starbucks coffee and had to stop and have a latte first. Then onto the cerro, but by then it was an hour later and much hotter. We finally made it (about 4 miles) and saw the statue of the Virgin Mary. But we decided to take the funicular down and ended up not too far from Pablo Neruda´s home, so we went on a tour of it. Pretty interesting. By then we were drenched, so we walked back to Marilu´s and took a shower. Then we went back to Barrio Bellavista and had dinner at Galindo. A beautiful fish that is called Reineta. Not sure what that translates to, but I´d like to have it again. I´ll have to find out.
Tomorrow we are headed off to two wineries: Cousino Macul and Concho y Toro. Will let you know how that goes.
Friday, January 11, 2008
It was a long flight
It was definitely a long flight, but uneventful and safe, so that part is good. We tried to sleep, but it´s rather difficult in a small space especially for Terry who had his legs all the way under the leg space in front of my seat, so I had to put my legs up on the window kind of wrapped around each other.
The sun was beautiful rising above the hemisphere on the east side of the plane, first as a narrow orange ribbon and later as a wide paintbrush of brilliant yellow, orange and red with a silhouette of the Andes Mountains in front. We looked down at what appeared to be land that could pass for New Mexico, Arizona or California, but as we approached it became evident that it was its own place. A different architecture for sure with a different mountainous background.
Tired, we stumbled into our bed and breakfast, talked with Marilu the owner, listened to her opinion of the new president of Chile Michelle Bachelet, went to have lunch at the Thai restaurant at the corner, walked a few blocks and found a very nice gelateria (Bellissimo), came back to our B&B and took a nap. Refreshed somewhat, we´re off to see about bus tickets to Mendoza, the wine capital of Argentina. Terry is already licking his lips! Then we´ll have dinner (a small one) at Luguria, a pretty famous restaurant here in Santiago.
Tomorrow we´ll either climb the Cerro San Cristobal or take the funicular and visit the area of Bella Vista. Our B&B is located in Providencia very close to Bella Vista, so it shouldn´t be too much walking. We´ll see.
The sun was beautiful rising above the hemisphere on the east side of the plane, first as a narrow orange ribbon and later as a wide paintbrush of brilliant yellow, orange and red with a silhouette of the Andes Mountains in front. We looked down at what appeared to be land that could pass for New Mexico, Arizona or California, but as we approached it became evident that it was its own place. A different architecture for sure with a different mountainous background.
Tired, we stumbled into our bed and breakfast, talked with Marilu the owner, listened to her opinion of the new president of Chile Michelle Bachelet, went to have lunch at the Thai restaurant at the corner, walked a few blocks and found a very nice gelateria (Bellissimo), came back to our B&B and took a nap. Refreshed somewhat, we´re off to see about bus tickets to Mendoza, the wine capital of Argentina. Terry is already licking his lips! Then we´ll have dinner (a small one) at Luguria, a pretty famous restaurant here in Santiago.
Tomorrow we´ll either climb the Cerro San Cristobal or take the funicular and visit the area of Bella Vista. Our B&B is located in Providencia very close to Bella Vista, so it shouldn´t be too much walking. We´ll see.
Thursday, January 10, 2008
We're Off!!
Jan. 10
The first butterflies came to me just a few minutes ago, and now that we've closed our suitcases and put them by the door, all the planning and computer work now is on its own and our long flight looms ahead. We're pumped! I don't know exactly what to expect, but I'll bet I am surprised. Too many movies have colored my South American thoughts, and our earlier travels to Peru and Ecuador don't necessarily translate the same for every country in America del sur. So, we are excited about learning two (or more) new cultures, enjoying unknown architecture, seeing some new and splendid geography, getting brave enough to speak Spanish, and many other new experiences that will have an effect on us for the rest of our lives. We're off wth some great expectations. I'm eager to tell you what we're doing and grateful that you are interested in hearing about it. Muchas gracias!
The first butterflies came to me just a few minutes ago, and now that we've closed our suitcases and put them by the door, all the planning and computer work now is on its own and our long flight looms ahead. We're pumped! I don't know exactly what to expect, but I'll bet I am surprised. Too many movies have colored my South American thoughts, and our earlier travels to Peru and Ecuador don't necessarily translate the same for every country in America del sur. So, we are excited about learning two (or more) new cultures, enjoying unknown architecture, seeing some new and splendid geography, getting brave enough to speak Spanish, and many other new experiences that will have an effect on us for the rest of our lives. We're off wth some great expectations. I'm eager to tell you what we're doing and grateful that you are interested in hearing about it. Muchas gracias!
Tuesday, January 8, 2008
Traveling with Terry & Gloria
We are presently trying to tie up loose ends and get going with some serious packing. Terry has promised to learn how to operate our digital camera better while I promised I would get a blog started and get some more Spanish under my belt. I did get a chance to speak a few words last night when I called a hosteria in Mendoza, Argentina to finalize our reservations, but the Spanish speaker ended up with English which was better than my Spanish. Darn. I hope I'll have some chances to carry on a legitimate conversation with somebody. Meanwhile, we are still washing clothes and trying to find a decent exchange rate for Chilean pesos. But our hearts are beating faster when we think of being in Chile in just two more days!!
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