Advertisement
Published: December 21st 2005
Edit Blog Post
Vicuña
Cerro del Virgen Next I stopped at a small town called Vicuña, in an area famous for it´s vineyards. After a short rest in the park, where lots of children rode around in severely underpowered mini-trucks and hot rods, I trudged off to find a hotel. I finally stopped at the Valle Hermosa, and a man showed me to a room with two beds and a private bathroom. Later that night, the hotel owner struck up a conversation with me, and after we talked for a half hour, and after a few more hotel guests joined our conversation, he poured us all some local wine, and his wife made mini-pizzas. They were sure to point out the the extra one was for me, and not for the guys sitting around the table. I was still having quite a bit of trouble understanding the Chilean accent at this point, but I gathered that the guys who had joined us for wine came to Vicuña on a business trip. I think they worked for a company that sold refrigeration or cooling equipment to large fruit-growing operations. We all went out for a beer later on, and everyone was shocked and amused to find out that I
Vicuña
Vineyards did *not* like catcalls and comments shouted at me when I walked past a group of men. I drank a Chilean beer called Austral, and learned that this word means something like "southern", which obviously explains the word Australia.
Vicuña is also famous as the birthplace of Gabriela Mistral, one of Chile´s two Nobel Prize-winning authors. The place where she was born was about three blocks from my little hotel. Chileans are extremely proud of their Prize Winners, but strangely enough they don´t seem to be a "reading" culture. Many people have told me that Chileans generally don´t read literature for fun. Just beyond this house is a little hill called Cerro del Virgen; from here there are great views of the valley. After hiking up there the next day, I took a walk further away from the town, down a dusty road lined with vineyards and orange trees. Several cars stopped to offer me a ride. I declined, although I felt it would have been safe. As I sat resting in the sun a man rode by on a horse, his mule in tow. He kindly said hello, but did not gawk at me even though I was
clearly out of place up in those parts.
I was so hot after this little trek that I needed ice cream stat! Avocado was the flavor of the day...quite tasty actually. I enjoyed this little treat in the park, watching a couple boys practice some very impressive breakdance moves to horrible Spanish-language rap music, seemingly recorded in someone´s airy basement. Nevertheless, the volume level was set at just below the ear´s threshold of pain. Kids in underpowered cars buzzed around me once again.
A couple days later, I made the trip up the Elqui Valley. This is supposedly a site of great mystical energy, and hence, lots of spiritual people live up there. Interestingly, whenever I told someone I was heading up there, they would say, "Oh, do you smoke Marijuana?" This area is also home to some of the world´s most powerful telescopes, owned by organizations in the U.S. and Europe. And just my luck, it was a full moon for the time I was in the area, making it useless to visit the observatories. Horrible planning on my part, but oh well, next time I´m out there in the middle of nowhere (Vicuña), I´ll be sure
Valle del Elqui
A tiny valley covered with vineyards it´s a new moon.
The photos I´ve included show the vineyards, the grapes from which are made into pisco. Pisco is a clear brandy produced in Peru and Chile, often mixed into a "Pisco sour."
The next stop was south to Valparaiso and Viña del Mar, two cities on the same bay. I was met at the bus terminal by Evelyn, who works there trying to entice travellers to stay at her place. Well I had arrived during rush hour with all of my bags and didn´t want to cram into a crowded bus to a different hostel, so I went with Evelyn. I had a room to myself with extremely high ceilings. Towards the back there was a mysterious staircase winding downwards with smoky green wallpaper; distant tango music could be heard wafting up to my room. If Viña is the resort side of the bay, Valparaiso is the port and artistic community - and people are very reasonable. Walking down the street one day I saw someone trying to parallel park his small car. It wouldn´t fit, so he and someone he waved down from the street simply picked up the tiny car in front and
moved it a bit forward. Genius!
Later in the week, Evelyn invited me to stay with her and some friends in Limache at some cabins in the country. Every year she goes there with her best friends, several other women who also work in the bus terminal offering rooms to tourists. They mostly talked business, but took some time out to drink, dance, talk about children and grandchildren, and to EAT. Seems like we were always eating, but the food was good, especially on the last day when the weather allowed us to barbeque. I spent Thanksgiving at the cabin, and tried to explain to the ladies what it was all about...but I don´t think they understood how big of a holiday it is for us. I didn´t eat turkey, but the Thanksgiving angels sent me a beautiful turkey in a meadow to photograph that very day.
Heading south, I didn´t spend more than a day in Santiago, but did hit the beaches of Pichilemu to surf. This is the most famous place in Chile for surfing. Being low season, there weren´t many people yet...Thankfully, the small waves were free for practicing! One of the best times I´ve
had on the trip.
Next, Temuco and Valdivia. Temuco is supposedly the center of Chile´s indegenous population, which is quite small. This Sunday was Chile´s presidental elections, and no candidate won a majority. So, the top two candidates, Bachelet (a woman senator) and Piñera (some kind of co-owner of LAN Chile) will be on the ballot again in a few weeks. It is a close race, with almost a 50/50 split. Further south, Valdivia is the home of Austral University and is quite beautiful...But only a taste of what was to come. The lake district in the south has to be one of the most beautiful places I´ve ever seen. I visited Lake Villarrica and Lake LLanquihue, and stayed for more than a week. Puerto Octay is home to a fabulous hostel people just don´t want to leave. Nadia and Armin take such good care of you there; it´s like staying with family. And their son Dominik is great fun to play with. They had five newborn kittens, and the only black one was named Dominik. Daily he would teach it how to "live in the world" he said. This meant how to cling for life on bike handlebars,
how to stare down the family dog (who wanted to eat the kittens) nose to nose, and how to find its way alone in a maze. Other than playing with the kittens, there are some great trails and lonely roads to explore in the region. After seeing what there was to see, I headed south again to the island of Chiloe.
Chiloe is home to some fishing villages, and is famous for its palafitos, or houses on stilts. It is mostly covered with forest, but is well-populated. It is also famous for its folklore; one story tells of a mysterious troll who lives in the forest, stealing young girls away and getting them pregnant. Girls are forewarned not to go walking alone (or with their boyfriends) into the forest!
This is the last post before Christmas, and I wish everyone the best! I´m currently in Patagonia near the southern tip of South America. I felt a warm feeling inside yesterday when I saw a group of burly pigs with sticks tied onto their heads like reindeer horns...just grazing on the Patagonian steppe, hours away from civilization. I suppose home doesn´t seem so far away. That´s it, happy holidays,
Limache
View from the cabins and stay safe everyone!
Advertisement
Tot: 0.093s; Tpl: 0.012s; cc: 11; qc: 68; dbt: 0.0385s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb