Chile

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Chile

Our flight into Santiago from Auckland went off without a hitch (despite this route having been cancelled for about 1 month before our departure due to volcanic ash – lucky us!). We spent 2 weeks in Chile going north to La Serena and then back down to Santiago via Vicuña.

Highlights of Santiago include: 3 day Spanish class with Nastling (managed to just about understand how verbs worked in that time); 2 earthquakes (we were all set to panic given any slight look of apprehension from the locals – none came, we survived); trip up the funicular to the top of Corre de la Virgen; and the Santa Lucia hill walk.

North Chile highlights include: trip to the Humbolt penguińo reserve (great trip – we managed to see a handful of these miniature penguins, 2 pods of dolphins and even a couple of sea otters – no pictures of the latter as Will’s camera skills were not up to the task!); Mallamuta observatory (and no this wasn’t just Will looking at his girlfriend …….. oh dear I think that is a new low), we saw Saturn through the telescope and had a great English speaking guide (our interesting fact – around 50% of the stars we see at night are not in fact 1 star but 2 or 3 or even more); and finally counting the lazy hours in Vicuña’s Plaza de Armas watching small children on rented electronic cars and bench hopping to avoid fortune telling gypsies.

Guilty Pleasure: Tory’s technicoloured poncho purchase. Harry Potter 7 – we went from expecting not to see this in South America to seeing queues going round the block with all the cinemas only showing that one film.

Travelers Tips: Don’t go to Ovalle, it’s rubbish.

Quote of the trip: Tory, “I need help folding and if these clothes aren’t dry I need help tutting”.

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Photos

Aztec Chap
No idea but we liked him very much

Wooden figures
These statues would be present at funerals to ensure teh spirit passed over successfully

Sea otters.......
anybody? They are there somewhere, we think.