A few days in Chonchi, Chiloé

We were just in Chonchi for three days, enjoying some down time. Chonchi is a town of about 10,000 peope on the island of Chiloé. It´s very peaceful (except for when something sets the neighborhood dog chorus off) and beautiful, perched right on a big bay. It´s traditionally a fishing village, and in the last few years the salmon industry has been a big boon to the area. We stayed in a residencial (private home that takes in renters) where about 10 scuba divers who worked for one of the salmon companies are living. These guys were amazing - their job is basically scuba diving for about an hour at a time down to 120 feet to fix the big anchored nets that enclose the farmed salmon. Sea lions are their biggest headache - ripping holes in the nets to get into the salmon.

The photos are of the Chonchi church (one of the famed Chilote wooden churches), a street in Chonchi, and the Chonchi harbor.

Tonight we get on a ferry for about 20 hours south to Puerto Chacabuco, near Coyhaique. Wish us calm seas! - Nancy

The Puyehue Traverse

We have just returned from our first trek in Chile -- the Puyehue Traverse. Truly incredible. The five-day route led us around the Puyehue Volcano, a now dormant peak that last erupted in the 1960s and covered the area with marble-sized pumice stones. Honestly, the landscape resembles some combination of a desert, a lunar landscape, and the Colorado Rockies. It´s stunning. Along the way, we enjoyed natural hot springs, witnessed some incredible geo-thermal activity, spotted an Andean fox, followed the upside-down Orion constellation as it traversed a crystal-clear sky, developed a few wicked blisters, and bonded with a friendly American couple who, coincidentally, are also waiting to hear from graduate schools. Opting to take the road less traveled, we exited the region via a rather remote route. It paid off. We spent two days hiking through pristine rainforest and following the majestic Rio Nilahue -- and never once encountered another hiker! We then hitched (a first for Sean) back to civilization, where we are now enjoying beer, chicken, ice cream and clean underwear. Next stop, you ask? Tomorrow, we leave Osorno for the coastal city of Puerto Montt and the famed island of Chiloe. -Sean

Villarrica to Osorno - new stage of the trip

We stopped back by the Nilos´for Friday night, in the hopes of seeing the oldest daughter Daniela - but she now isn´t getting back until Monday. But we enjoyed hanging out with the family again. Christian (son) took us out sailing on Villarrica Lake.

We got to Osorno last night and stocked up for our first backpacking trip. There is an enormous store here - kind of like a Super Walmart - that we wandered around in for about 2 hours trying to figure out rations and buy a few other things. We woke up this morning late and had to be out of our hospedaje room (kind of like a hostal - room for rent in a family´´s private home) by 10, so got permission to explode and pack up in their living room. Quite a scene. In an hour we´re off to Anticura, a teeny town from which we´ll start the Puyehue Traverse, a 4-5 day trek past volcanoes, lava rock, streams, and some little farms.

Pucon

Thursday afternoon and Friday morning we hung out with Fields Marshall in his nifty little cabin outside of Pucon. While we found Pucon rather touristy (perhaps the Vail of Chile?) it was great to hang out with Fields and finally break out our tent to camp in his woods-yard. I got in a kayaking run and Sean went fishing!

Valdivia

On Wednesday we met up with Christian Denckla and his mom Kathy in Valdivia - a really charming city - and visited the university´s botanical gardens (this photo taken there), went to a local museum, walked by the river running through the city, and went out to where the river meets the ocean (Los Molinos) - it started pouring so we ran for cover in a restaurant and had some tea as we watched to rain hit the bay and the colorful fishing boats moored there.

In Villarrica

We´re now in Villarrica, a city of about 45,000, 9 hours south of Santiago by bus. It is in the Lake District, aptly named - you simply can´t find a bad view around here! We are staying with the Nilo family. I first lived with the Nilos as a study abroad student in 1993. At that time, both parents were in medical school, and the kids were 9, 7, and 6 years old. I´ve kept in touch and visited them several times since then. Now they are both doctors (he is an anesthesiologist and she is a general surgeon) and the kids are 20, 18, and 16, and they have a new little girl who is 2. They just built a house a couple of years ago here, with a view of both the lake and the nearby volcano. So we´ve been enjoying visiting with them and seeing some of the area. Friday was a beautiful day and we went down to the lake beach. Yesterday was cloudy, but there was a big family barbecue. Today it is alternating sun and rain and cooler. The Nilos speak a good bit of English and also fluent German, so Sean is better able to communicate with them without my help. He´´s also picking up some Spanish!

Today is a voting day in Chile - the runoff for President, between the left Michelle Bachelet and the right Piñera. If Bachelet wins (and I think she is favored) she will be the first female president in Latin America! In Chile the voting rate is high - around 70%. Once you are registered to vote, if you do not vote you are fined $500 (if you are at least 300 km from your assigned poll, you can go to the local police station and get an excuse to avoid the fine).

Tomorrow or Tuesday we´re going on down the road to Pucon, where my friend Fields from college is living for a few months.

Hasta luego,
Nancy

In Viña del Mar and Valparaiso

Saludos a todos! We´re interneting from Reñaca, just north of Viña del Mar. We´re staying with my good friends Viviana and Alberto and their two kids. They have been just wonderful - Viviana picked us up in Santiago on Saturday (I had to laugh because I had warned Sean that her car might be small and we´d have to squeeze in our big bags, because she had a small car when I was here 7 years ago. However, she´s definitely upgraded - showed up in a big Kia SUV!). They are amazing - so excited to show us cool things about their area. We arrived at theirt house in Viña de a huge dinner - Vivian even remembered that I loved ice cream and had bought some special flavors for me. We were up until 1 talking. Sunday we got up and we all went to Isla Negra, a town where Pablo Neruda had one of his houses, and went to the museum. I had been before but it is worth seeing again, and Sean was fascinated by Neruda´s many quirky collections. Then we stopped by a beach for a bit before returning home. Chileans do love their beaches and the weekend - the beaches and the roads were packed!

Yesterday we met Viviana and Alberto for lunch in Valparaiso - they both work there, and we enjoyed taking a cable ascencor (escalotor, kind of) up one of the cerros to a cool restaurant with a great view of the city. Sean and I explored the port area a bit then came back to their house by bus. Such a colorful lively city (and very few foreign tourists, though many Chilean ones). Viviana brought home a Chilean specialty food that is a lot like lox for dinner - we ate at about 11:30! Then we again talked until late.

Today we´re running errands and taking it easy - which is really easy to do here. So many folks come here on vacation, so Reñaca has a very touristy holiday feel. So many people going to the beach. We´re about to walk there ourselves.

Either tomorrow or Thursday we´re going to take an overnight bus south to Villarrica, where the Nilo family now lives. I lived with them during my study abroad time in Santiago and have always kept in touch and visited them a couple of times since.

Sean is learning a little Spanish and getting bolder about it. I´m getting good at translating and maintaining him and me in the conversation at the same time. And my vocabulary of chilean slang is coming back to me, too.

Hope all are well. Thanks for reading.-Nancy

Arrived in Santiago

We´re finally in Santiago. It was a long though uneventful trip - we got in around 4 am this morning and waited at the airport until we knew our residencial (hostel-type place) would be open. We got into our room at about 7:30 and crashed for a few hours, to be woken by one of the men cleaning the rooms boisterously singing love songs. We´ve been out and eaten, walked around, and are adjusting to the sun and heat - in the 80s. We`ll do the Santiago thing until tomorrow afternoon, when my friend Viviana, who lives in Viña del Mar about 2 hours away is going to pick us up and bring us to her house.

It´s kind of surreal and absolutely fantastic to be here. In many ways, it feels just like it did when I lived here as a student. But also so different. Hmmm....

Thanks for reading the blog! - Nancy