Atacamaniacs!

We finally had a nice long weekend, kicked off by celebrating my friend's birthday.  We hit a club with live salsa music, followed by a night out that was way, way too late.  The band did play a Star Wars song to cumbia style, which was cool, but the entire place smelled like vinegar, I guess it could be worse, probably to cover a worse smell...   Friday after classes that came WAY too early, we headed back to the apt., packed our bags, and headed to the airport via the bus to head out to San Pedro de Atacama.   

For anyone who doesn't know, the Atacama desert, located in northern Chile,  is considered the driest desert on the planet, with little to no rainfall.  It is also where a lot of Chile's copper is mined, being the #1 producer in the world, and counts for over 30% of its GDP.  This year it did rain more than usual, which means a few extra days, which is why you see the snow on the mountain tops in some pictures.  We spent 3 days there, based out of San Pedro, which is the hub of all activities in the area.   It's a small town, filled mostly with migrating tourists.   

We did some sandboarding in Valle de la Muerte(their death valley), followed by watching the sunset over Valle de la Luna(valley of the moon), sipping some pisco sour.   I will say, though, some serious temperature swings on our trip.  It was 70's by mid afternoon, and then below 30 at night.  I felt like I was back in Peru again.  The whole area is in a former lake bed that over the thousands upon millions of years, as the tectonic plates pushed up, dried out into what it is now.   

That night, we headed out into the darkness to see the stars with an astronomy scientist, who was very strict and demanding  - I felt like I was in grade school again.  I do miss the stars with all of the light pollution in the big cities, and forgot there are more than 5.  You could actually see a visible arm of the milky way, and we got to see a moon set, which was the crescent moon positioned facing upwards on its back, and as it set, looked like horns passing behind the mountains in the distance.  We also got to see Saturn and its rings, some other cool star formations, and heard more details of constellations than I'll ever remember.  

Super, super cool, and super cold!!!

The next day, we headed up, and I mean up! - to about 15000 feet to visit the altiplano, or high mountain plains.  It has some nice lakes to see the threatened horned Coot bird that nest there.  

We also saw some vicuna, which are a small member of the camel family.  It is the vicuna and guanaco that were bred to create the llama and alpaca species that we know today.  Vicuna are a protected animal that only live in the high mountain plains of Chile, Peru, Ecuador, and Bolivia.  They were hunted to near extinction for what is considered the finest animal hair in the world.  

They have made a nice rebound with the conservation efforts, and they are now allowed, through monitoring, to harvest their wool for sale.  It is unbelievably expensive, a sweater would cost thousands of dollars.  I'll stick with "baby alpaca", as all the vendors used to say in Peru.  Still too itchy.  I likes me the cotton.

After that, we headed back down to the solares - or salt flats left by evaporating  lakes and volcanic activity.  The largest in the world is in Bolivia, but other than the salt flats in Nevada, these are the largest in the world.  It is in these solares that the flamingos live off the brine shrimp(a.k.a. sea monkeys) that live in the water there, which is what turns them their nice pink color as they mature.   

The Chilean flamingo is a bit different that some other varieties that you typically see, with more black and white coloration.  We did get to see some fly, quite spectacular, but it was super hot, so it was time to get out of the sun, at least for a bit.

We had lunch, and surprisingly all food in San Pedro is ridiculously good.  I had wrongly anticipated that the food would be average at best and expensive, but was pretty reasonable and fantanstic.  We had some of our best meals there, at least with meat, not seafood.  Valparaiso wins that one, and for good reason.  

Anyway, so we then headed out to Laguna Cejar - a place to swim that is 7 times saltier than the ocean, it's comparable to the Dead Sea.  It was freezing, but you really float, and without trying.  You feel like a fishing bobber on the water.  I also plunged into Ojos del Solar, which are two natural water formations that look like a pair of eyes, I was the only one in our group that did, and it was freezing, the Atacama polar plunge.  We then headed over to another shallow lagoon, which you could walk across - it's only a few feet deep, to watch the sunset.  

The next day, we flew back to Santiago, then bused to Valparaiso, minus a few hiccups along the way.  Our transfer bus had some transmission issues, but luckily we made it to the airport on time.  We then learned that in Valparaiso, there was a flood on one of the hills overlooking the port, which was caused by the major pipe supplying water to the city bursting.  So no water for 3 days there...  Luckily, we only had to go about 12 hours without it.  All I gotta say is I have a new appreciation for water, more than anything, for bathroom purposes.  

Monday, we hit a couple wineries nearby in the Casablanca valley - known for it's white wines and Pinot Noir.  Emiliana is an organic winery, which was neat to see how they grow grapes using some very clever natural strategies, bees, chickens, and alpaca included.  They have their crap together, and make a great sauvignon Blanc.  We also went to Indomita, a bigger winery, and lunched there as well - overpriced but good.  Interesting to see a large scale operation.  

So this week, we're sticking around the area.  We might go to see Pablo Neruda's famous house in Isla Negra, but we've got projects due for class, as we're heading into the last week.  I've had a blast, but I'm also looking forward to getting home.  I want to wear shorts, eat some barbecued chicken, and not freeze my buttocks off at night.  

I'll post at least one or two more times before home, one from Buenos Aires, as I have a few days there before I leave for the great warm North.  See you all soon!   

This blog post has been Chuck Norris Approved

 So another week down with school, I'm ready to say goodbye to Rigoberta Menchu and her Latin American testimonial, though a powerful story and she is one of the more evolved people on earth.  I'd say I'm still in the cromagnon stage compared to her, upright but still a long way to go, and still questing for fire...  We did have another class day canceled as the students are still unhappy about this whole paying for school thing.  They'll get it figured out eventually, maybe.

Once again, another free, lounging Friday. 

Saturday anyway, the 3 amigos headed to a small town on the far side of the bay called Con Con, which we were told to go check out for some awesome seafood, and watch the cold-water surfers and nice sunsets as well.  Well, it was great seafood was really good, the surfers, not so good.  I had reineta - pomfret with abalone(a very scary looking creature that looks like... something - look it up and you tell me = I didn't know till later what it looked like not on the plate), yellow mussels, and some green and red pepper.  Tasty fixin's.  

I did make some friends, though!  I mentioned before, street dogs are everywhere in Chile, but I would agree that if I were to come back in another life, it would be a dog in Chile.  They are free to live and more around as they please, it's not cold, and they're fed.  

We wound up back in Vina del Mar... again, this time we hit the casinos, and I actually played some blackjack.  As usual, I sat there and didn't lose, and didn't win, just handed money back and forth until we decided to head back home.  We stopped off for some lumami - another version of chorrillana - except it was a pile of fries, topped with onion, grilled chicken, beef, and peppers.  Apparently it's similar to poutine - some Canadian thing, minus the gravy.  I dunno.  It eats good with a good Chilean Escudo beer.

One of the kiosks in the market, I couldn't resist!  They loved the attention as well!

We've got this week, then a 4 day weekend.  We're flying up to San Pedro de Atacama do get some desert in and do some hiking around up there.  I'll keep you posted!  Oh, and there might be a winery involved on the day we get back.  ]


O.k. so there is for sure a winery tour, or 3 when we get back.  The next blog should be full of good times and good stories.



I've taken to eating at the market restaurants everyday, it's outstanding - fresh fish and veggies!  And it has the stamp of approval from a very reputable source...  I've eaten more fish here than I have in the last few years combined...  I wish it were possible to eat this well off the Lake at home.  I will not be eating that fish, sorry, Lake In The Hills.

I miss my doggies!  Lexy is taking good care of them!

Photo Day!

Panorama from Cerro Artilleria point of view overlooking the port.

So today, it's time to share some photos from my meandering, not much writing, just read the captions where there are and enjoy some good graffiti art, and some nice scenery.

186 miles from coast to mountains at the most in Chile, you can see them well today all snow-covered.  Aconcagua - Latin America's tallest peak in the background far on the right side.

 Piano Staircase

It's a Beautiful Weekend in the Neighborhood...

 Friday night, we decided to hit the town and found a cool little bar called Pajaritos.  Little did we know was going to be invaded by Chilean Elvis, who we found out was 78 years old, and still rockin'.  It was definitely entertaining! Apparently he's going to give us a shout out on the radio this Thursday on his show.


Saturday, we went on a city tour that included the Valparaiso house designed and and owned by Pablo Neruda, called La Sebastiana.  It is a neat house, with all floors looking out over the port.  His favorite chair he called La Nube, or the cloud, and had lots of very eccentric little rooms and items.  It's just up the hill from our place in Bellavista.

We then went on a walking tour through 3 different cerros, or hills - Concepcion, Alegre, and Artilleria.  The first two are part of the historic and protected UNESCO area.  Houses have major restorations through very lenient loans that allow people to be able to afford the sometimes massive amount of work to return them to their original glory.  These streets are also filled with tons of street graffiti art, which I love.

One of the unique features is the several ascensores(or elevators) in the area, although they really are funiculares.  Everyone you ask says there are a varying number of them that are working, but I think 5 of the 16 are functioning now, with the promise of restoring a couple of more to working status.  The systems were devised by a German engineer and have been       working for over 100 years.  

Next, we took a tour of the port area, which used to be the main port in Chile, but has been replaced with San Antonio, to the south, to maintain Valparaiso as a tourist destination.  It still receives a massive amount of ships and operates 24 hours a day.  We also took a boat ride, and met some very photogenic sea lions. 

Sunday, we decided to check out the next city over, called Viña del Mar.  For all the long tradition  and preservation that Valparaiso has, this city is upscale and fast paced, with wide boulevards and tons of shopping areas, condos, restaurants, bars, and a casino.  It is a very popular weekend and summer getaway for Chileans and people from all over.  It's pretty, and we had one heck of a great seafood meal there.  

We saw tons of different varieties of birds, walked around a bunch, relaxed and took in an incredible sunset, it was a great weekend!

Tear gas, no class, leaky a*$

     Monday, Mike and I had our first big day at school at the Pontificia.  It's about a 30 minute trip down the hill and through the woods from our apt.  Rachel finally arrived late on Monday night via Brazil, which you should avoid as they have reciprocity fees - fees we charge them, so in return they charge us:-) that can make your journey a pain, I'd avoid it if you don't plan on staying...

  

      Anyway, Tuesday classes started.  Our classes are very well organized, the best I've had since my masters program at CSUS...  I really like both professors, they're really well organized, and our culture prof is hilarious, it's always nice to hear someone else's perspective on things.  An example, concering the dogs in the streets here -  A student suggested that he wanted to start a shelter for all the dogs in the streets to protect them.  Her response was, "Why would you incarcerate dogs that are free, well fed, and healthy now to... save them?    Reminds me of growing up, when you could just let your dog out the door...  Oh, the good ol' days.  I'm gonna like that class.

So class on Wednesday was canceled due to student protests over tuition costs at public universities, and it was a solidarity protest with all university students joining in, apparently with union dock workers and miners joining the effort and shut down much of the country's productivity yesterday...  Apparently, when they do it, it's planned, but the police here(carabineros), use a type of tear gas banned in all other countries - awesome!... As the students also took over the university buildings, some people 100ish were arrested... And for us, it meant no class!  We got a taste of leftover tear gas when we showed up yesterday before being sent home.  Dang, that crap burns.  I still had issues with what was still left when I showed up today and it sticks with you for a while...  So, it was a day of relaxing, playing some spades, and sampling the local nectar.   BTW, today everything went back to normal, kids in class, people working.  It really is perfectly safe here!   It's just a young democracy exercising it's right to voice an opinion.  It's refreshing, actually, to see.  Well, minus the serious eyes and nose burning.  I'm telling you, it sucks.  

our place is behind the neon green house

we're 3/4 the way up,
after climbing the hill to get here!

So our walk home everyday takes 10 million times longer than going to class.  Valparaiso is a UNESCO heritage site, reknowned for it's beautiful hanging houses and it's old school elevators on the steep, narrow, and winding pathways and streets of the big cerros or large hills/mountains.   It also means we have a serious hike to get home, no joke.  It's also an earthquake zone, yay!  Another negative is that when fires start, they can really spread badly.  150 houses burnt just last year alone.  The bonus:  the views - and we're pretty safe from tsunamis where we're at.  Factoid: We were told that everyone thinks that the women from Valparaiso have the nicest legs because they walk these hills!

    A few details about Valparaiso that are interesting.  It is a popular town for artists and it's very bohemian feel to the town. People do what they please as long as you aren't bothering others and no one seems to care, and they genuinely care about everyone's best regard.  As Bart, my landlord said for the rules of the house - there are no rules.  That also applies to town, everyone is very helpful and outgoing, not in a rush, cars, and actually stop for you.  Interesting tidbits:  McDonalds tried to come here, but no one would eat there, so they closed.  It was also sacked by Sir Francis Drake - El Draque in Spanish.

Along with the numerous artists that live here, Valparaiso is the second most recognized city in Latinamerica for it's graffiti art, as you can see in the pictures I post.  

It's also has lots of artwork in a style that you see in Antonio Gaudi's work in Parc Guell in Barcelona, Spain called trencadis, which is using lots of broken glass and tile to create mosaics.  I'm a big fan, and anyone who knows Gaudi knows he was too.

So, the mystery food for the week is this stuff, which frankly, looks like umbilical cord tied in a bundle, to be blunt.  But what it is - cochayuyo.  It's a seaweed that grows in the coves around here that people eat, but it just looks nasty.  I'll try lots of things, but I think this is off my list.                                                           

As my title hinted to, I have had a touch of the food poisoning after eating at a restaurant that actually got good reviews from Lonely Planet.  This is the second year in a row I've had it, and I didn't like it in Ecuador.  I'm better now, but I don't enjoy the process, but it's part of traveling.                                      

Now what to explore this weekend?  Definitely the Pablo Neruda house, what else???  I'll keep ya posted!  By the way, in the picture to the left - that's one poinsettia plant.