Last day in South America

Thursday Feb 25th

What a wonderful day we had for the last day of our holiday! The weather was perfect for a leisurely stroll to the Pablo Neruda museum, taking in a lot more street art on the way. The "taggers" respect the mural artists by never tagging on the mural.

In case you don't know, Pablo Neruda was a famous Chilean poet and diplomat who won the Nobel prize for literature in 1971. The museum was housed in one of Neruda's three homes, bought jointly with friends who lived in the bottom two stories, whilst Neruda lived with his partner Matilde in the top three stories. The house was half-built when he bought it, as the previous owner had died part way through the build. It was quirky and full of eclectic objects and furniture painstakingly collected by Neruda from trash and treasure markets and trips overseas. Surrounded by his things, one could feel the essence of the great man himself. The view from his study was phenomenal and on his desk was a poem he wrote about completing the house.

View from the bedroom

We had lunch in a nearby café, then walked to the open air museum which is an area dense with street art, commissioned by the government to rejuvenate a particularly poor area of Valparaíso.

From there we walked to the vertical ascensor which is basically a lift; the area is so steep. You approach it via a long tunnel cut into the rock, which is an ex-silver mine. It's dripping with water and very atmospheric. From the viewing tower at the top of the ascensor, we were treated to another spectacular view and also saw a couple of young men flying the highest kite we had ever seen.

We then walked down via the very steep streetscape, viewing more street art and greeting lots of moggies along the way.

A trolley bus ride took us to the oldest pub in Valparaíso. We went there to view the hats which various drunken patrons have forgotten to take with them over the years - they've all been pinned to the wall. Unexpectedly, we were treated to some brilliant live music - just a few guys jamming, on guitar, cajon and vocals, with some improvised clapping, and tapping of tabletops with fingers and glasses with cutlery. The main singer was Jorge William who has been playing in the same pub since he was twenty - he is now in his mid-seventies. (You can find him on YouTube). The musicians were surprised and delighted by our contribution when they passed the hat around but it was well worth it.

Dinner last night was in El Pintor, the #1 restaurant on Trip Advisor - it didn't disappoint. We are one looking forward to our last dinner of the trip in another nearby and well-recommended restaurant.

In the morning, we'll have an early breakfast followed by a two-hour minibus drive to Santiago airport and then it's back to Oz, with amazing memories of an outstanding trip.

Valparaiso

More technology problems so I am using my phone for posting but all the photos will have to go at the end rather than throughout the text.  Kurt brings you today's news:

Wednesday February 24

Well, we found out a bit more about Valparaiso last night. Went for a bit of a trundle up from the hotel and found the most amazing bohemian neighbourhood. Little cobbled lanes everywhere. The most beautiful street art on nearly every building. Cafes, restaurants, bits of music all over the place. The whole area is built on a steep hill. There are views across to other hills with more art and also lots of ramshackle buildings. There are a few cable cars to make life easier. There was a playground with a slide running from one level to the next. It's a real gem.

 It turns out Valparaiso was developed in the flat areas beside the sea when the initial town was a wealthy port. As poorer people arrived they moved up the hill to the cheaper land and built wherever; the further up the hill the cheaper. The hills are still the domain of the poor but these people expressed their frustrations through street art (after democracy was restored in 1990). Some of the areas have become wonderful tourist and bohemian places.

We started the day with a two and a half hour walking tour. It took us to many parts of Valparaiso. Good explanations of the town's history, some of the politics. A bus ride through the hills and the poorer parts was rough and very interesting. Many hovels. Much street art. Much poverty. More walking through some of the poorer parts. A visit to an infamous prison from Pinochet times (torture and killing was done on a boat out to sea rather than at the prison).  A ride on the trolley bus and finally a small drink of white wine with Coca Cola which is one of the local favourites.

Once again on our own we visited a market very similar to the Queen Vic in Melbourne, but with way cheaper fruit and veg. A boat ride around the harbour in the afternoon to see the big ships moored there and get a different perspective of the town.

A full and interesting day.

Plaza Sotomayor

The tour guides wear "Where's Wally" T- shirts

 One of 8 elevators to save a 100m ascent

 An interesting local. The earthquake in 2010 caused the statue to lose his forearm

 The poorer areas on the hill

 Street art and the Cerro Conception elevator in action

Near the port area

View of part of town from the boat. There are 12 hills altogether.

A day in Santiago

We had less than a day in Santiago so decided to use the hop-on hop-off bus. The circuit takes about 2 hours to complete and allows you to get a feel for the city and hear some history about it. 

 No reins on the horse - the natives thought horse and rider were one animal

Church near where we boarded the bus

The German fountain with the telecommunications building in background built in the shape of a mobile phone

We left the bus near the circuit end to take the funicular up the hill and get some good views of the hazy city.

A private minibus took the 5 of us to Valparaiso, a port city about 100 minutes west of Santiago. Our accommodation is at Via Via Cafe. Thank you Trip Advisor for this fantastic recommendation.  A short walk in the surrounding area made us realise what a good decision we made to spend the last two days of our holiday here rather than in Santiago. We are part way up one of the many hills with coloured buildings, street art and atmosphere abounding.

 This mural is in the Via Via Cafe where we are staying

 Reverse mermaid with fish heads and human legs

 Angel Gillian next to Picasso saying "the enemy of creativity is good taste"

 Solar panels at our hotel with view to the port

The full moon at dinner time added to the atmosphere.

On to Santiago - end of the VIVA tour

Yesterday was a long driving day from Pucon to Santa Cruz, with nothing much of interest apart from the lunch break at some really touristy falls. It was a Sunday and school holidays and it was packed.

Today's news comes courtesy of Kurt:

 

A varied day today. It started cool but became really hot by the end.

Start with a special breakfast sitting at antique looking furniture nicely laid out with ornate dishes. Start with a mixed fruit drink, followed by a fruit plate, then eggs, bread, coffee and tea etc. All done with style. Nice to experience after some of the rougher breakfasts we've experienced.

Our guide for the day arrived and we walked to the Colchagua museum, which was set up by Carlos Cardoen who is the patriarch of a wealthy local family. Only problem is the family made their money by making cluster bombs and it is suspected that this is still the case.

The museum is fantastic. It covers all possible aspects of Chile: early geology and the reason for the Andes, the initial inhabitants including Incas and Mapuche, the Spanish invasion, the freedom fights, early technology, modern technology, and finally the rescue of the 33 miners trapped for over two months in 2010. A worthwhile experience despite the macabre background.

Next stop a winery tour. We start with a walk in the vineyard where we taste the various grapes. Then the cellar where we get a detailed explanation of the wine making process. Then off to make our own wine. We don aprons. Each of us gets three glasses of different red wines which we taste and then mix in a proportion we think would make the ideal wine for us. It's messy but great fun. Finally we fill a bottle in our desired proportion, cork it, seal it and give it a label. Of course we get to keep the bottle and the apron. The result is very ordinary but it was fun.

 The Montgras vineyards

 Merlot grapes

 we can mix Merlot, Carmenere and Cabernet Sauvignon

 in any proportions we like

 filling our bottle with the right mix

 

corking the bottle

Then the long drive to Santiago. Three hours in the heat and traffic. Houses start appearing. We are driving between the coastal range and the Andes which still have glaciers sitting on top of them. Santiago is a city of seven million and is typical of any big city. Wild Patagonia was definitely better.

Pucón

February 19 - day hike near Pucón

Today was our last serious walk of the trip and it didn't disappoint. The walk was in Huerquehue National Park: 12,500 hectares of rivers, waterfalls, lakes and forest. A prominent feature of the forest - along with Beech and Fuchsias - are the Araucarias or Monkey Puzzle trees, some of which are a thousand years old. The original inhabitants, the Mapuche, used both the leaves and the fruits as a diet staple. The invading Spaniards used them for masts, as the trunks are tall and straight and relatively consistent in diameter throughout their height. Araucarias are related to the Wollemi Pine. 

Villarrica puffing away - view from town on the way out

Looking up to the top of a large Monkey Puzzle tree 

Our walk skirted Lago Tinquilco at around 700m altitude and then headed steadily uphill on a well-made but muddy track, full of roots to trip the unwary, to Laguna Verde and Laguna Toro where we had lunch (about 1250m altitude). The weather was beautiful but we were content to watch some brave souls swim in the lake - which would have been pretty cold. We were treated to some magnificent views of the Villarrica volcano gently smoking along the way. 

The volcano looked pretty innocuous today but, on the same tour, this time last year, Mel and Franco - our tour guides - were woken up at about 3 am by cries of 'Volcán!' followed by a fire alarm and got out of bed to see it erupting. It was spectacular and fortunately no one was killed - unlike the previous eruption in the early 70s which killed quite a few people - a result of the deadly gases emitted.

On the way back from the lakes, we made a couple of diversions to waterfalls. We returned to the very pleasant garden of our guest house for surprise drinks and nibbles for a member of our tour group who had come on the trip to celebrate her 70th birthday. 

Wendy's 70th birthday celebration  - with Mel and Franco


February 20th - free day in perfect weather

Activities were optional today. Evan hired a bike and did a ride of about 40km to the Ojos de Caburga waterfall mostly, along corrugated gravel roads with a few hills involved. 

Kurt, Kitty and Gillian opted for some cultural  input with a trip to a Mapuche 'village'. It was not quite what we expected as the Mapuche people that we met don't actually live there - however they do 'hang out' there.  The Mapuche have been regarded as second-class citizens in Chile though our guide estimated that 90% of the population have Mapuche blood but many don't acknowledge it.  Some Mapuche - aided by the (adventure) tourism boom in this area - are now trying to revive their pride in their culture and traditional way of life (with some concessions to modern conveniences like lights and running water). We were treated to reminiscences of the old ways from a 72yo woman with translations from our guide, who unfortunately struggled a bit. Kurt and Gillian were dressed  up in Mapuche dress and we listened to some traditional music. We were invited to play a traditional hockey-like game, which was a bit too energetic for our liking! We had been led to believe that we would have the opportunity to try some traditional food but, apart from the drink of 'pre-fermented' wheat - quite pleasant, lunch was sourced from the more recent tradition of barbecued meat and chicken, and salad!

It's hard to stop taking photos of Villarrica. Here it is in the  background this morning, just before the start of a 5 km fun run.

Farewell Argentina

Yesterday was a free day in Bariloche. Many of us took the cable car up Cerro Otto near town. At the top there was a nice forest walk with lots of lovely lilies, and a revolving restaurant with great views.

Later there was the option of kayaking, plus of course time for more chocolate and icecream :-)

 Today was a driving day north to Pucon, first passing through the seven lakes area. There are only so many photos one can take of lakes; after a while they all look the same.

 We did our fifth and final border crossing today.  We have now bid Argentina farewell and will spend our last week in Chile. At the border there was a great view of the Lanin Volcano 3747m high, with Monkey Puzzle trees (Auracarias) in the foreground.

It's the  last week of school holidays and Pucon is busy.

 the volcanic looking sand at the lake beach

 a performer entertains the crowd, with Villa Rica volcano in the background

And now just for Chris Avram - some of tonight's desserts:

 red fruits  icecream - strawberry and raspberry

 chocolate mousse

creme brulee