Friends
At every police outpost the officials asked the awkward group of 5 gringos what in the world they were doing walking down this mountain? We explain how we had been stranded up the night before and now needed to get down. Because they didn't open up the windey roads for "Down" traffic until 4 when the skiiers got finished, we had decided to start the 30 kilometer walk down and see which happened first; 4 o'clock or the bottom. They all laughed at us, but agreed to let Joel wear one of their hats in a picture.
Prior to the coming of the Spanish in the 16th century, northern Chile was under Inca rule while Araucanian Indians inhabited central and southern Chile; the latter were not completely subjugated until the early 1880s. Although Chile declared its ind... ... read more 
