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Published: June 23rd 2009
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Hola Senoritas y Senors!!!
Como Estas? Yep we are doing fine as well! We won"t impress you anymore with our Spanish,,, just yet.
So yes, we are now in
Chile. Firstly though we just wanted to say thanks to everyone for their kinds words, gestures and general all round excitement about our engagement. We will definitely celebrate with you all when we get back. Which,,, isn"t that far away, but anyhow, still heaps to see and do first.
Monday the 8th of June 2009 goes down as the longest day ever,,, 39 hours due to the international date line, flying across the Pacific for 11 hours in a slightly bumpy crosswind, with only Antarctica nearby we landed in sunny
Santiago, Chile. Straight into the deep end we used all the local transport to get to the hostel. Then up at 6.30 the next morning to start school! We did a weeks Spanish course so we could get the basics sorted before going to far in the deepest depths. We really enjoyed it, although very odd being back in class, having homework and having to get out of bed in the morning.
We stayed in a lovely hostel
View over Santiago
Surrounded in beautiful snow capped mountains,,, if you can see them through the smog! where we were introduced to the local firewater,,, Pisco (a strong spirit a bit like brandy distilled from wine), there was also a pool table which worked well together. We also got to watch the massive footie game of Chile vs Bolivia on the box with the locals, which Chile won 4-0 (could mean they play England next year in the world cup), before all hell broke loose later that night with the police using tear gas and water canons to calm down the enjoyment. Nothing bad really though, but it was only about 100M away from our door.
We also got to see the sights in town, lots of history, churches, museums. Also a couple of very high hills in town that give a great view of the mountains surrounding the city. Albeit if there wasn"t so much smog....shame. Similarly there was a lot of snogging going on everywhere. Santiagoans obviously don"t go to the cinema much. Whilst on our soapbox, how many buses!!!!! They"re everywhere, and so are the stray dogs, Maria nearly adopted about 22 whilst there, especially the ones faking it by putting on a limp.
Next we moved onto
Valparaiso (or Valpo as
Beer and Pancake!
Dining well in Patio Bellavista sunshine after graduating from the Spanish Course the locals call it). Just a couple of hours away on the coast. Bit damp and wet when we arrived but it got lots better. We did loads of walking around the town, up into the hills area around the quaint colourful buildings. Luckily some genius built lots of venicular railways everywhere so that you don"t have to walk up too many steps. Very cheap and once you get passed the 120yr old noises they have their good fun. Valpo also made Santiago look like a small kennel as there were just dogs all over the place. No one seems to mind them and they seem pretty happy. Just mingling.
A late night bus ride from Valpo took us up the coast to
La Serena. In the Summer this is a bustling, surfing town with lots going on. We were a bit late for that, but it was just as nice. We stayed in a great little hostel called Maria"s Casa (Maria"s House - very apt), which had a resident cat again,,, this time Blondie the Ginger Tom. Met some nice people and we all went on a trip to the town that Pisco was invented in -
Pisco Going Down!
One of the many venicular railways in Valparaiso. Much easier than stairs! Elqui. Just a little bit remote, but good fun and we even managed to miss the bus back because we were tasting a Pisco Sour cocktail.
Heading Northwards we had another long bus ride, a 16 hour one this time to take us to San Pedro de Atacama. Trust us to sit in front of the National Snoring Champion, luckily he got off before too long. It's a small town bang in the middle of the
Atacama desert. Trust us, it really is a desert. Nothing for a few hours either direction. Here we stayed in a quaint little hostel, where the host made us really welcome with her english slightly outdoing our Spanish. Fighting the tiredness we did a trip out to the Valley of the Moon and Valley of the Dead before watching the Sunset over the Salt Plains of the Atacama. You know the superlatives we use here normally. It was stunning. See the pics.
Next day was a stupidly early start (3.45) to head out on another tour of the geysers in the highest geothermal field in the world. We thought the nights were cold normally, but this place at 6 in the morning
In the Hood.
Valparaiso's funky street graffiti at 4500m was truly freezing. 4 layers on each couldn't keep the cold out. Got some cool pics, but did defer the chance to go swimming in one of the hot springs, some mad people did though. A quick stop in a local Altiplano village meant Kevin got to try some tasty Llama Kebabs... but,,,, wait for it,,,,, Maria also tried a little as well!! SHOCK!!! (They were free range).
Next day we hired some bikes to head out to some local sights. On the way we managed to acquire a Black Labrador nicknamed 'Spud', until we realised it was a girl, but the name stuck. She proceeded to accompany us for the next 15kms through the desert. Then somehow we acquired 2 more dogs!!!! Talk about bizarre, cycling through the desert with 3 dogs with you. See the pics. It got so hot in the day plenty of water and sunscream were used. Spud stuck with us the whole way only leaving us when we shut the door at the hostel. There were tears! Later in the day we went stargazing with a looney frenchman who taught us lots about the Southern Sky and how to spot stars.
Ah Heaven
Us in the cellar at the Pisco Distillery. We weren't allowed to leave until we'd drunk it all! We then got to look through the various telescopes at Saturn, the Milky Way, various Nebula, galaxy clusters and stars. Fascinating and great to do it in one of the clearest skies in the world.
Tomorrow we're booked up to leave on a 3 day 4WD tour across the nearby border into
Bolivia through several lagoons, past lots of volcanoes and through the Uyuni Salt Plains. Should be fun, but we've heard the roads are bumpy and its gonna be cold as most of it is at 4500ms above Sea Level. Really looking forward to another new country.
Big congrats to the Tammy and Richard with the arrival of little Emily,,, also to Delia and Martin with the new addition of Baby Stu! Not long now either for you Laura and Lindsey!!!!
Ok,,, thanks for all the notes and comments, keep them coming, we love to hear what you're all up to as well.
Catch you soon
Kevin and Maria
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katheirne
non-member comment
oh wow your pics are sooo amazing. cant wait to see you. xxx