We have booked our trip for tomorrow and will be on our way to Bolivia to spend Christmas near the salt flats, hopefully having a white Christmas (well, a salty white one anyway).
A short highlight of our next three days:
Crossing the border from Chile to Bolivia
Laguna Verde and Laguna Blanca, located at the
bottom of Licancabur Volcano (the one we can see from our walk into town)
Daly Desert with a surrealistic landscape and thermal water pools
Sol de Mañana
geysers
Laguna
Colorada, main nesting center for more than 30,000 flamingos of 3
different species.
Siloli Desert
Laguna Honda, Chiarcota and Cañapa lagoons
Chiguana salt
flat, San Juan town
Uyuni salt flat
Huasi Inca
island or Fishes Island
Uyuni town
We are not expecting the hostel or hotel to celebrate Christmas in any way but on the other hand, we will be experiencing something comepletely different and most definitly unforgettable. So we can look back on Christmas 2011 not as the year we didn't have gingerbread men but as the year we saw flamingos in the desert. Maybe next year I'll make gingerbread flamingos...
Feliz Navidad and see you on the flip side!
Thursday, December 22, 2011
Wednesday, December 21, 2011
El Tatio ain't got nuthin' on Strokkur
This morning we woke up at the ungodly hour of 3:15. It should be iilegal to wake up at that hour on purpose. But it was the only way we could get to see the Tatio Geyser at sunrise and test out our potential reactions to altitude sickness in order to safely book the next trip into the mountains.I can happily report that we both handled it well, despite my run-in with the anti-altitude sickness pills yesterday.
After a breakfast of cheese sandwiches, cookies and tea with milk heated in the bubbling geyser, we got our long awaited sunrise shot. Yes, this is a very pretty picture and very cool to see the sunrise over the mountains and reflect off the pool, but the geyser didn't shoot up in the air like the pictures at the tour operator's office. We were expecting a geyser of Strokkur (Iceland) proportions. Instead it was a field of small bubbling pools of geysers. Very pretty and cool but a bit disappointing.
After the geyser field tour, we drove to the thermal pools where half of us stripped down to our bathing suits to float around in the 80 degree waters. The other half stood at the edge with their wool sweaters, winter jackets, hats, gloves and scarfs, pointing and laughing at the rest of us fools.
On the way back, we stopped at the pueblo of Machuca. As our guide wasn't very forthcoming with info, what I can tell you about Machuca is that apparently their church is 5000 years old and they make a mean llama kebab. Yum.
Yes, it was that cold at 6 something in the morning. Minus 5 degress celsius, we were told. I left Denamrk this winter to avoid this necessity of bundling up. 8 more layers going on under the jacket.
Anyone know what Fuma Oles are?
Don't be fooled by the sun in my eyes, the blue sky and the single layer of clothing. Yes, the water was hot but the air was not more than 3 degrees C.
Random river on the way back
The village of Machuca where there is a 5 thousand year old Church. Uh, fact checker, please
The really old church from the side
Said old church
Typical doorway shot
After a breakfast of cheese sandwiches, cookies and tea with milk heated in the bubbling geyser, we got our long awaited sunrise shot. Yes, this is a very pretty picture and very cool to see the sunrise over the mountains and reflect off the pool, but the geyser didn't shoot up in the air like the pictures at the tour operator's office. We were expecting a geyser of Strokkur (Iceland) proportions. Instead it was a field of small bubbling pools of geysers. Very pretty and cool but a bit disappointing.
After the geyser field tour, we drove to the thermal pools where half of us stripped down to our bathing suits to float around in the 80 degree waters. The other half stood at the edge with their wool sweaters, winter jackets, hats, gloves and scarfs, pointing and laughing at the rest of us fools.
On the way back, we stopped at the pueblo of Machuca. As our guide wasn't very forthcoming with info, what I can tell you about Machuca is that apparently their church is 5000 years old and they make a mean llama kebab. Yum.
Tuesday, December 20, 2011
"Only 4 of the cats are mine..."
...Is the first thing our hostel host said to us as we walked through the plain doors into the minimal but dusty courtyard of our desert hostel. A little dog with dreadlocks around his butt came right up to Michael and sat at (practically on) his feet, ready for pets and ear scratching. The collared cats ( his 4) and the homeless ones greeted us as well. The kittens couldn't care less. There was one thing I thought was missing at our hostel in Mendoza: a cat. This place seemed perfect for several.
We are now in San Pedro de Atacama, the most arid desert in the world. Tomorrow we'll test our bodies' reactions to altitude sickness by going to the Tatio Geyser at 4200 meters. If
we survive, we'll book a trip to Salar de Uyuni, a 3 day tour in a 4x4
with 4 other people. So if anyone gets sick, unles they turn purple and pass out, we all have to deal with it for 3 days.
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| One of the homeless kitties at the hostel |
Saturday, December 17, 2011
"It´s weird to see Orion NOT upside down"
...Said our guide about his recent visit up north.
And you´ll never see the North Star in the Southern hemisphere....Yeah, I guess that makes sense. They go by The Southern Cross in the south.
Last night we went to the Mamalluca Observatory to learn about the stars and the universe. Our guide was very nice and well spoken but he assumed we knew all the basic terms already; super nova, nebula, black hole. Ok, I admit I should know these terms and I kind of sort of knew... a bit. But I would have preferred he gave a quick description every time he mentioned the term for the first time. We saw loads of stars, lots of satellites, and even a few meteors, leftover from the big "Dec 13" meteor shower. He pointed out a few constellations and explained when we would see them in the sky and where, depending on the time of day and year. He also told us which planets were in which constellations. So, he did share a lot of info but not too much of it was absorbed cause it was all just sort of thrown at us. I woud have liked to have sat inside and look at a map on the ceiling of constellations drawn out so we could recognize them when we got outside. But we did see Jupiter through the telescope, rings and all. That was pretty cool.
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Our hostel in La Serena
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Anothr angle of our hostel in La Serena
There is not much to do or see in La Serena but we are glad we found the Archeological Museum and the Observatory tour. On the 1.5 hour bus ride home in the pitch black, we were entertained by some awesome videos of popular music over the last 4 decades. The highlight was "Dust in the Wind." Nobody in the bus (save for me) had ever seen the video and were highly amused, no, cracking up to tears, whenever Robby Steinhardt made an appearance with his famous violin. We all thought it was the best part, for different reasons...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tH2w6Oxx0kQ&ob=av3e
Getting ready to look at a bunch of blurry bright, blue or orangey objects, just that much closer.
Today we are off on an overnight trip to San Pedro de Atacama, where we will try to get a 3-4 day tour in the Uyuni salt desert in Bolivia. Still not exactly sure where we'll be for Christmas. In Bolivia in any case...
Thursday, December 15, 2011
"Buenos Noches!" "No!"
I dare say that Chilean Spanish is more difficult than Argentine Spanish. I try to so hard to understand not only the gist of what is being said to me but each word as well. Sometimes it backfires. So sometimes I try another approach. Case in point... I am standing at the checkout at the supermarket and the clerk asks the woman in front of me if she has a membership card. She hands it to him, he scans it, says something else unintelligable and hands her the card back. So in my ultimate cleverness, I decide that when it's my turn and he says what will probably be the same thing about a membership card to me, I will just automatically reply with a "no" and he will assume I belong there as much as the next woman (or in this case, previous woman). Except he greets me with a "buenos tardes". "No!" I quickly reply. It's only about 3 seconds later that I realize all he said was "good evening." It's too late to say "buenos tardes" back and not look more like a weirdo than I probably already do. So when the bagger greets me with a clear "buenos tardes!" I reciprocate; very loud and clear and smily. Dork.
We arrived in Chile last week (I think). We crossed the border wthout incident. The drive was only 7 hours but the whole trip took 9 as we spent 2 hours at the border, standing in line to check out of Argentina only to go stand in another line to check into Chile. There were so many signs about declaring your fruits, meats and other animal products that we assumed the sniffing dogs were only there to make sure we didn't smuggle in a ham sandwich from Argentina. When Michael told me that people sometimes slip stuff into the sides of your backpack before it goes into the cargo hold, I realized "oh yeah, they're probably sniffing for drugs." No, I haven't forgotten we are in South America but at that point, I was more concerned about holding onto my lunch.
Santiago was a fine city but the highlight was our free guided tour. Our guide, Filippe, was filled with so much passion about every single thing that came out of his mouth that we thought his head would explode.
He also added, "In Chile, we care about the homeless dogs, we feed them, give them water, and even give them sweaters in the winter." Most of them still look pretty healthy, still some look fat.
We tried our first pisco sour and umpteenth empanada. Both were tasty.
Off to Valparaiso with its many many loosely hanging electrical wires, wall murals, steep streets up to the different barrios and the ascensores, mechanisms of cheatery for those who don't want to build up their thigh muscles any more than they already have to if they walk from downtown to their homes. When we got in our first one (the oldest in town, Ascenso Concepcion, from 1883) I was a little apprehensive as I thought it was like a funicular or a ski lift and we would be trapped in yet another death pod, suspended in the free air. But it doesn't leave the ground, not really, so my fears were quickly dissolved. We also took a boat ride around the harbour and learned absolutely nothing from the guide. But saw sea lions and lots and lots of boats and containers. So we were satisfied.
I mused that I thought Valparaiso was like an old run down town that is trying to be hip and bohemian but can't really get it together. Michael thinks the opposite, that it doesn't care how it looks, and by default is really cool. We both agreed that it was very eclectic in its styles.
The highlight of Valparaìso was the Pablo Neruda house. I admit I couldn't tell you much about him before this trip but visiting his house/museum was really cool. Now "Odes to Common Things" is next on my list of books of poetry to read (it's a short list so he should feel honored).
Now we are in La Serena which has has big mall and apparently a beach. I found one today and hope to find the other tomorrow...
We arrived in Chile last week (I think). We crossed the border wthout incident. The drive was only 7 hours but the whole trip took 9 as we spent 2 hours at the border, standing in line to check out of Argentina only to go stand in another line to check into Chile. There were so many signs about declaring your fruits, meats and other animal products that we assumed the sniffing dogs were only there to make sure we didn't smuggle in a ham sandwich from Argentina. When Michael told me that people sometimes slip stuff into the sides of your backpack before it goes into the cargo hold, I realized "oh yeah, they're probably sniffing for drugs." No, I haven't forgotten we are in South America but at that point, I was more concerned about holding onto my lunch.
Santiago was a fine city but the highlight was our free guided tour. Our guide, Filippe, was filled with so much passion about every single thing that came out of his mouth that we thought his head would explode.
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| Filippe, our empassioned guide |
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| The National Theatre, complete with cracks from the last earthquake |
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| A hip neighborhood in Chile where we ate dinner |
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| The not-so-hip river of Santiago. The govt. wants to clean it up and build commerce and trade along the edge. Could be a promising place for long term arts projects. Probably will not happen, says Filippe. He didn't have much faith in the govt. |
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| A typical dish of chile. I forget what it's called. Under the yummy corn souffle-ish top was chichen, beef, eggs and olivs. Slightly weird. Good beer though. |
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| "Bless you" in Danish. |
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| Another random kitty |
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| One little street in Santiago was called New York cause it looked like Wall Street. It did, actually. |
He also added, "In Chile, we care about the homeless dogs, we feed them, give them water, and even give them sweaters in the winter." Most of them still look pretty healthy, still some look fat.
We tried our first pisco sour and umpteenth empanada. Both were tasty.
Off to Valparaiso with its many many loosely hanging electrical wires, wall murals, steep streets up to the different barrios and the ascensores, mechanisms of cheatery for those who don't want to build up their thigh muscles any more than they already have to if they walk from downtown to their homes. When we got in our first one (the oldest in town, Ascenso Concepcion, from 1883) I was a little apprehensive as I thought it was like a funicular or a ski lift and we would be trapped in yet another death pod, suspended in the free air. But it doesn't leave the ground, not really, so my fears were quickly dissolved. We also took a boat ride around the harbour and learned absolutely nothing from the guide. But saw sea lions and lots and lots of boats and containers. So we were satisfied.
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| On top of Cerro Concepcion |
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| Random cool house |
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| View from Cerro Concepcion |
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| A very active harbour |
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| A look up the steep ascensor |
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| Ascensor to the right |
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| Container central |
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| No, we didn't go in. But we did go to the Irish pub for Belgian beer. Lots of Danish choices too. |
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| Antique store. Cat not for sale. |
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| The best empanadas so far |
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| We felt a bit uneasy about our life jackets that have been used every day since the Titanic sunk, but luckily we didn't have to find out of they worked or not |
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| Technically we were not supposd to take pictures of the naval ships.... |
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| Seal taking a breather |
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| Sea Lion |
I mused that I thought Valparaiso was like an old run down town that is trying to be hip and bohemian but can't really get it together. Michael thinks the opposite, that it doesn't care how it looks, and by default is really cool. We both agreed that it was very eclectic in its styles.
The highlight of Valparaìso was the Pablo Neruda house. I admit I couldn't tell you much about him before this trip but visiting his house/museum was really cool. Now "Odes to Common Things" is next on my list of books of poetry to read (it's a short list so he should feel honored).
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| Pablo Neruda's Valparaìso house |
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| Huge cactus plant |
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| Yeah, I took, about 22 pictures of this cactus |
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| Statue defiling. Ok, not really defiling.... |
Now we are in La Serena which has has big mall and apparently a beach. I found one today and hope to find the other tomorrow...
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