Chile-Torres del Paine

Torres del Paine is possibly the most fantastic national park in the world.  We were blessed with amazing weather if you don't count the constant, driving wind.  We hiked 28 miles in 3 days with small day packs for our lunches and emergency gear.  The most popular trip is a multi-day hike called the "W" staying in hostels or camping along the way.  We stayed just outside of the park and did three partial segments of the "W".  It's pretty rustic and exhausting, but the rewards were unreal.  Here is a case where a picture is worth a million words so I won't write anymore!

The Torres (towers) are the most famous.

Los Cuernos (horns) were my favorite.

Lago Grey with its glacier in the background.

Sunrise on Los Cuernos from our hosteleria.

Native fushia

Swinging bridges were very popular and sometimes scary!

The trails were in great condition due to lots of use.

We never figured out what this beauty was.

From the bottom of Chile

Magellanic penguins at Seno Otway

We spent the week in the far reaches of Chile and it was absolutely fantastic.  The flight to Punta Arenas from Santiago was spectacular starting with the snow-capped volcanoes and lakes of the Lake District and then into the glaciers and peaks of Patagonia. Punta Arenas is on the Straights of Magellan and the area history is rich.  You can see across the straights to Tierra del Fuego, the jump-off spot to Antarctica. The boys arrived after a couple delays but were in good spirits.  We stayed in a charming B&B called Tragaluz; fantastic place.  The next morning we were off in our rental car to the mountains via a penguin colony.  They were so, so cute! We also saw flamingos!

Balmaceda Glacier

Serrano Glacier

Our next stop was Puerto Natales, a small inland town along the sea (sort of in the fiords).  We took an all-day glacier tour/cruise that was spectacular.  The boat was a super interesting mix of travelers from around the world.  The glaciers were fantastic and lamb lunch at a estancia (ranch) was yummy!  We saw our first condor.

The roads were crazy, and the driving was fast!  Even on gravel roads, which was about half the way, we drove 50 mph.  We put a lot of miles on our little Chevy station wagon.  We actually saw quite a bit of wildlife on the way.  Crazy Rhea birds and guanacos all over the place.

Herd of about 30 guanacos, they have no predators.

Guanacos are like wild llamas

Flightless (and fearless) rheas

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was so fun to be with the boys!

Chile-Buchupureo

If I could live in Buchupureo, I'd move to Chile!  It is a peaceful agricultural valley on the coast with great waves.  Not that I surf.  Buchupureo was really not effected by the tsunami even though they are very near the epicenter in Maule.

We stayed in a little B&B owned by Arturo (Los Maquis B&B).  He was there during the earthquake and it shook for 5 minutes!  They all evacuated to he nearby high ground, but there was no tsumani.  He was so curious about Scott's research so we swapped a lot of stories.  He happens to have a couple water trucks and a generator so was in a good position to deliver water and let people take showers at his place.  He said he had to help the people of the village or he would have cried all the time.  It was three months after the earthquake before the village had power.

He had only been open for a short time before the earthquake.  He had minor repairs to do, but it was 1.5 years before anyone came back to stay at his B&B. Ironically, his extended family from Santiago brought supplies and waited out the crisis in Buchupureo.

Chile's Earthquake Region

We went on a fantastic trip this week into the heart of the region de terremoto. There is little damage visible except in the psyche of the people. Most toppled/damaged buildings are now rebuilt or empty lots. In Concepcion where the damage was severe and there was looting and anarchy for weeks before the military came in, the people are downtrodden still. Things are locked up tight at night and you can feel the distrust.

The area along the coast is just gorgeous and as we were on some really back roads, we saw some interesting sights. Like Oregon, the economy is driven by fishing and logging. There is also a lot of agriculture. The pictures are in scattered order because I can't organize them using my iPad.

Dichata was the hit by a 30-ft tsunami wave that returned four times (diminishing each time)! Much of the town was wiped out but only a few deaths, mostly of tourists who did not know to evacuate. Chileans living along the coast do not hesitate to evacuate to high ground if they feel an earthquake. In Dichato there is some rebuilding along the waterfront and lots of relocation housing being built on high ground. These new settlements (common in most coastal towns) are ticky-tack homes in orderly rows with little to no variability and no one is living in them. Along the waterfront in Dichato they built a huge, and very attractive, engineered sea wall with a beautiful promenade along the top. People were enjoying this feature (see police patrolling along the new wall-the tsunami was as high as the light standards behind them).

Scott is meeting with a bunch of ministers of different utilities and finding out some fascinating details about their recovery. Like fishermen faired the best since they are very self reliant, were able to communicate via radio, and were able to get back out fishing almost immediately after the earthquake. Communication breakdowns were the biggest cause of trouble (no power=no cell phones). Oregon needs to invest in satellite phones!!!

Valparaiso, Chile

This weekend we needed to escape the heat of Santiago so we took the bus to Valparaiso on the coast about 1.5 hours away. It such a unique town; artistic center, colorful houses clinging to steep hills, one of the busiest ports on the Pacific, full of artists, great food, pisco sours, busy locals, and fresh seafood, fruit and veggies! We met up with two different sets of friends that had gotten their degrees at OSU! (Double click on the pictures to see them better.)

We packed lightly so we could walk to our hotel.  The first thing that met us off the bus was this packed market.

This was the "street" we missed when we got lost and wandered up Calle Mira Flores.  The hotel manager said, "never go that way again".

View from our room.

Typical Valparaiso neighborhood.

Enjoying the sights over the port.

Shopping in Providencia, Santiago

Shopping here in Santiago is fun, and after a bit of orientation, you can find just about anything you need. The photos below show where I shop; Lider is a small grocery store with a good variety of food (unfortunately its owned by Walmart although there is no resemblance ). Toiletries and meds come from the Farmacia. There is generally one on every corner! Ibuprofen and Tylenol have to be requested from the pharmacist but are over-the-counter and are expensive. Fruit and vegetables come from a nearby hole-in-the wall store or from the Mercado Providencia, a sort of farmers market 1/4 mile away. When none of these stores work there is a huge mega mall with all you can imagine. Jumbo is the supermarket and is bigger than Costco, more expensive and very organized. It's four stops away on the Metro. I haven't even thought about shopping for clothes!

Touring Santiago

On Sunday, Scott and I took of determined to see more of Santiago.  We went to the Barrio Brazil/Yungay, two  neighborhoods built in the middle of the 18th century. There is a variety of interesting architectural styles, with little "Passages" that are short little cobblestone alleys into exclusive old homes.    Even though the buildings were really interesting, you can tell they can't decide if they should restore them or tear them down.  We saw both conditions.  Tucked away in one road was this incredible church, Congregacion Preciosa Sangre.

We continued to amble around and found what has to be one of the biggest open air second hand markets ever!  People laid out their goods, from clothes to computers, on the grass in the median of Bernardo O'Higgins, a large boulevard.  It must have been a mile long.  Then in the middle it split off and became a food market.  It looked like you could get anything form fish to fruit.  We didn't spend much time there, but I may have to go back without Scott.  He was not keen on exploring the market!

Getting in the Groove-Santiago

Scott's office in Santiago

Scott has found his office at Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile.  The Santiago campus is very convenient on the metro and he has found lots of faculty connections and some interesting research techniques already.  They have given him a nice office and he goes in most days.

It's definitely a one-butt kitchen

We are accumulating stuff in our apartment and getting acquainted with how to manage in such a small space (420 square feet to be exact)!  This neighborhood has everything we need if we can just find places; it seems we walk in circles a lot, "I remember there was a place that sold plastic stuff, just over here", but then we can't find it again.

The dining/ living room is cozy.

Our fridge is stocked and we actually cooked spaghetti last night!

The bedroom has big closets and a bathroom.

Santiago is Warm!

After an uneventful trip from 28 degree Portland we arrive in 85 degree Santiago!  It is heavenly weather and evidently is just about always comfortable here.  Scott's friend, Christian, met us at the airport and gave us a grand orientation, including a lovely lunch with his family.

Our apartment is on the 17th floor and is very tiny, but comfortable.  It has lots of windows and view is outstanding!! Santiago has 7M people so the view of the city is endless from here. We get a good cross breeze so that air conditioning isn't necessary.

We live in Providencia which is an older upper middle class neighborhood.  It is very busy and a hub of activity with lots of restaurants. The city sleeps from about 2am to 8am otherwise it is a cacophony! The first thing we noticed was a labor protest at a computer store just below us.  Oh man, they make so much noise with horns, whistles and chants.  Its deafening!  Theoretically it will not last long, but I still hope it will become white noise soon.