Patagonia - I was really there. 26 Dec

When we had arrived in the Chilean lake district we were given a welcome to Patagonia but while there was snow on the mountains it was too comfy and it was warm. One always thinks of wild open spaces and cold weather when considering Patagonia.

Our next flight south brought us to a more stark landscape. We stayed overnight in a very homely hotel in Puerto Arenas, a once well off town according to the size and embellishment of buildings in the centre. I tried kissing the foot of the Indian who forms part of a statue about settlement in the area. This is said to ensure that you return. The town made its money as a free port town after being a penal colony and a centre for sheep farming in the mid 19th century.

In the afternoon we took a tour out to the island of Magdalena which is home to some 150,000 penguins. As the weather was good the trip took around 3 hours (sometimes over 4). The island is a national park and a ranger was staying there in a small hut.

I took far too many photos of birds in different poses. They are so amusing that all the visitors were grinning all of the time. The birds had been breeding and many had two chicks. They all looked well fed and well established
on the island with burrows everywhere. Many of the bigger chicks were exploring the rocks and having trouble balancing as they slid down the bank to the water. A parent bird was demonstrating how to swim and some babies looked quite awkward at first. Lovely day.

Chilean lake district for Christmas 23-25 Dec

What a contrast.
Flying south to Puerto Montt and then by bus to Puerto Varas we looked out on snow covered volcanoes that are part of the Andes and water everywhere. This region has a strong German influence including small dairy farms and special pastry shops.
Our hotel was special, a large yellow painted place with around 4 stars.
As we were there for Christmas eve out guide Claudio, arranged for us to have a special dinner after a day of sightseeing. We had this at the local 5 star hotel looking out across the lake and directly at the beautifully shaped cone of the local volcano. Food was a buffet and was very nice.

Outings here included a walk around the volcano, a look at a local (German) farm, and a long day out on Chiloe island on Christmas day.

On Chiloe we saw some of the amazing wooden churches which are now recognized as world heritage. The building techniques as well as the design are unique. Houses too were usually brightly colored and covered by wooden tiles.

I was amazed when in the local supermarket to see three varieties of Bega cheese!!! What ?? I shook my head trying to remember where I was. The other cheeses in the fridge were all local.

Geysers and flamingos Atacama

Rude start today as we had to leave at 5am in order to get to the geysers around dawn when they are at their most active. The road was ok to start with but got more windy and rough as we progressed. We climbed up above 4000 metros and I was pleased I had got started on the Diamox the day before as a couple of the women were badly affected by the altitude including one whose legs were just shaking uncontrollably. The geysers were in a crater and with water under the surface coming into contact with the magma it is forced out. We had a picnic breakfast there the best part of which was the hot chocolate warmed in one of the geysers. We stopped at an
Indian village on Our way back and some people had llama empanadas
- goats cheese was a good alternative especially as we had just been oohing and aahhing at some llamas up
The road. The bus returned us to the hotel around lunch time and I took a sleep - getting into this siesta idea.That afternoon we went again in the opposite direction out of town to the salt flats in particular to see flamingos. We stopped at a village part way where there was a lovely church built by the Spanish of course but with an even older tower built by the Indians as a lookout but now used as a bell tower. The were two lovely paintings in the church painted around 1580. A young puppy we befriended came into the church with us and then hot bored and started pulling flowers out of the display so he was sent out in disgrace. I ate a mound of beautiful apricots bought from a store there for all to share. Not sure why so many people didn't want any. Who doesn't love ripe apricots? The salt flats were not flat at all but looked like ploughed grey earth. Apparently the minerals from the volcanos cause the salt to form a sort of hard aerated form. Anyway there was a visitor centre in the middle of this grey landscape and out from there were some wetlands in which the flamingos were feeding on small shrimp. There were other birds as well including lovely black and white avocets. Strange and beautiful the flamingos caused great excitement when any took off as people tried to catch them on camera with varying success. Lovely day overall.

San Pedro de Atacama

A short flight from Santiago and we are in the deserts of the far north. We arrived in Calama and then went by bus for 1.5 hours to arrive in the small oasis town of San Pedro. The landscape is stark with mountains in the distance and all sorts of colours in the smaller hills around. Peru has many volcanos and we can see many from here; one, a perfect cone, is said to be building up for a big explosion at some stage. Our hotel is lovely with a rustic, Indian look built of local products like pink mud bricks, rushing for the roof and the round rooms like the roundavels in south Africa. Our first outing was around the town which is small and mainly catering for tourists going out to the desert regions. We had a menu of the day lunch for 7000 pesos including drinks, which was excellent. Also went into the local church built in 1534ish which had wooden plank floors and a ceiling built like a ship but using cactus planks. In the afternoon we were taken out to the Valley of the Moon and later Death Valley. We were sand blasted as the wind sprang up and later as the sun went down and the wind rushed through the gorges it got quite chilly.Our last activity was to watch the sunset from a special point and there were a few others there for the same reason. As there were no clouds the sunset wasnt special but it did light up the Andes in the opposite direction with some pretty colours. We had a pisco sour and some snacks up on the view point to celebrate a birthday of one of the women on the trip.

Valparaiso and Vina del Mar

Most of we took an optional tour to Valpariaso By bus which cost 85 USD. It is just over one hour away and the drive took us across the coastal mountains where there were a number of sheltered valleys using irrigation to farm wine grapes and fruit trees. There is a great contrast between the brown steep hills and the flat green valleys. We stopped at a lovely winery making organic wine using chickens and llamas to help fertilize the grapes. We had a wine tasting costing 11000 pesos or say 2.20 Us dollars. Wine very special especially one that has just won a gold medal for their carmenure?? Check spelling for this one which is Chile's 'own wine'.Valpairiso is a beauTiful ciTy with such a long history starting with Spainish settlers in 1534 and being one place that was attacked by Francis Drake who apparently blew up their first church. It was wealthy with the export of nitrate but when the Panama Canal opened and the price of nitrate fell the city declined. It is now a UNESCO World Heritage site and there is work on cobbling streets and renovating old and beautiful houses once owned by rich merchants. The styles are so varied but there is an obvious reference to Germany and many streets with English names reflecting'the influence of large immigration streams from both countries. The most endearing thing is the use of bright colours on the houses and the art work and graffiti around the supporting walls. We looked at a funicular which was called the Victoria and later in the new Gold Coast like Vina del Mar city the horse amd coaches taking tourists along the waterfront were also called Victorias. Lovely lunch in turn of the century building up in the hills and overlooking the bay and the naval base.