Mendoza to Santiago: Crossing the Andes by bike!!

We found out that we needed to get our birth certificates translated into Spanish for the wedding, and not just any Spanish, but official Argentinian Spanish, which could only happen in a few cities in Argentina. So, we decided to take the bus to Mendoza, ~500km away across the border, then ride our bikes back to Santiago, across the Andes.

This is us celebrating getting the translation done AND the fact that you can drink in public in Argentina (you can't in Chile)!

The road generally follows the Rio Mendoza to its headwaters in the Andes.

Originally, the route was a walking/mule trail for the Inca then, in the early 1900's, a rail line was put in. It went out of service in the 1980's but there is talk of reviving it.





A truck full of garlic!

An artificial lake - it was so nice to jump into after our first day of riding in 35+ weather!!

That night, we met a Canadian couple who were living in Potrerillo guiding river rafting, and they invited us to stay at their house. I had worried that us Canadians weren't as nice and generous as Argentinians, so I'm glad they proved me wrong!

The rock around there was all volcanic and really red.

A cemetary we stopped at for lunch the next day.

Some interesting advertising.

We met this amazing Argentinian couple coming the other way down from the pass, with their two year-old daughter in the trailer behind them. They had so much stuff, including a whole pannier full of diapers! But they'd previously ridden from Ushuia to Alaska, so it seemed like they could handle it.

The following day we stopped for lunch in a little one horse town called Los Penitentes.



There a lot of little altars alongside the road with all these bottles of water surrounding them. People believe that by leaving water there, it becomes holy. I hope I'm not going to hell for making a mental note that these would be a good emergency water source.


The "Puente del Inca" or Incan bridge is a natural stone bridge that formed itself over this river. The building is the remains of a spa that used to be there in the 40's.

Aconcogua, at 6959m, is the tallest mountain outside of the Himalayas.

Right around here, the wind started to really pick up. And I thought that I knew what a bad headwind was before! The last 20km up to the pass took us three hours.

The hostel we stayed in at the pass claims to be the highest hostel/refugio in the world. At 3200m, it was the highest I had ever been, so it was also the highest meal I'd ever had, the highest shower I'd ever taken, etc., etc. The joke just never got old...

The view at the pass.
Near the top of the pass, there is a 4km long tunnel through the mountains that saves everyone from having to climb another 1000m higher! The tunnel was originally built for the train.

Tightening all my bolts before we start descending.
Crossing back into Chile.

Guess how much fun this was??!! We made it the whole rest of the way home in one day, and I swear I only pedaled about five times.

Santiago: Hot town, summer in the city

For such a transient girl, I've discovered that I do really like to nest so it's been wonderful to have a place to call home, and especially to welcome Nelson to. Our apartment is in a cute little neighbourhood called 'Providencia'. This is the view from our balcony.

I love having a kitchen!! And that Nelson brought me veggie sausages from Vancouver.










The living room.

How hilarious is it that I'm posting photos of the inside of my apartment on my blog? For those of you who've let me know you're living vicariously through me from YOUR living room - well, I guess I've been a little jealous of YOU, lately!

Nelson and I set out to explore the city a little, and see where to buy everything we will need. All of our gherkin needs should be taken care of here at Pickle World.






There is so much happening in Santiago right now - a film festival, theatre, dance and music performances every night - it's almost overwhelming. One night, while looking for a theatre performance that was supposed to be happening in a little plaza, we stumbled upon this carnaval parade. I'm pretty inspired for the next lantern festival in Vancouver!!

Valparaiso: Happy New Year!!

Happy New Year!! I spent the holidays in the port town of Valparaiso.

Folks from 'Valpo', as it is known, are called 'Porteños' - literally "people from the port".

Neighbourhoods are called 'Cerros', which means "hill", because pretty much everyone lives on a hill.

There are stairs everywhere and even these elevator/gondola things called 'funiculars' - like the one depicted in this mural - to bring you up into the Cerros.

It's a really arty little town with murals everywhere.

Everywhere!

The houses are also really brightly painted. This was my view from the walk down into the flat part of town each day.

I left my bike in Santiago when I heard how hilly Valpo was. Luckily, the next generation is a little spunkier!

Fedor, the guy I couchsurfed with, and I went out to a little town on the coast to see the house of Pablo Neruda, Chile's most famous poet.

He was a great fan of all things related to the sea and his house was full of those wooden women that are on the front of boats, coloured glass, shells, ships in bottles, compasses, etc., etc. Apparently, however, he was afraid of sailing and only used his little sailboat on land to entertain guests.

This was the symbol he used in all his work.


His workshop.

I decided that, with a view like this, I could also write some pretty stellar poetry. Okay, here goes:




"Fleas interest me so much/ that I let them bite me for hours./They are perfect, ancient, Sanskrit,/ machines that admit of no appeal./ They do not bite to eat,/ they bite only to jump;/ they are the dancers of the celestial sphere,/ delicate acrobat/ sin the softest and most profound circus;/ let them gallop on my skin,/ divulge their emotions,/ amuse themselves with my blood,/ but someone should introduce them to me./ I want to know them closely,/ I want to know what to rely on."

Okay, okay, that was actually from Pablo himself. Fleas don't actually interest me that much.

It was a little weird to on the beach in December. I spent Christmas back in Santiago with Tomas, a friend of Nelson's who had done an exchange from Chile to Vancouver a few years ago. His family was so wonderful to me, even buying me presents. On Christmas day, I swam in their pool then lay out in the sun until I got too hot.

In the lead up to New Years, the cultural carnaval was amazing - I saw dance (traditional and very modern), theatre, circus, photography, music and even a film projected onto a screen on a staircase way up in one of the Cerros. I was really blown away.

New Years Eve was spent with new friends back in Valpo. They all laughed at me for buying a silver wig, but then everyone wanted to wear it! They had also made fun of me for always going home so 'early', but I managed to stay up past 5am, which was midnight in Vancouver, to bring in the New Year Canadian style!


I am back in Santiago now and found a wonderful apartment in a great neighbourhood close to Nelson's school. Nelson arrives early tomorrow morning. YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!

Chilean wine country: a little slice of paradise

After spending a few more days in Pucon, enjoying the hotsprings and volcanoes, we decided it was time to head for wine country.

Los Pozzones Hotsprings about 30km outside of Pucon that we rode to.

Chris and Sarah on top of the Villarica Volcano

We took the overnight bus from Pucon to a little town called San Fernando. Arriving at 6 in the morning, we put our bikes back together on the side of the panamerican highway and started cycling towards the Colchagua valley, one of Chile's most famous wine regions.

Our first stop was the Viu Manet viña.

Then we headed to Las Niñas viña.

We soon realized that it was much more economical to buy entire bottles of wine and drink them, rather than to pay to taste them all. Unfortunately, this makes cycling a little more difficult!

Near the end of the day, we were cycling by this house with a pool and, on a whim (and a few bottles of wine) decided to ask if we could swim in it. It's the kind of thing you would never do in Canada but somehow, in South America, it seems like the people would be offended if you wanted to ask but didn't.

We met Christian, who is studying human rights at the university in Santiago and was just on his summer break.

The next morning, we decided that our strategy from the day before wasn't so smart, so we did wine tasting the way you're supposed to. At the Estampa viña, we were introduced to their range of wines by Soledad, one of the owners of the winery. She had cycled the Carretera Austral previously and was really excited for us that we were on bicycles.

Of course, she invited us to stop and swim in the pool of one of her family's houses, about 30km down the road.

They had really beautiful dogs, who drank out of the pool on hot days.

We also got a tour of the property, including these little earthen structures that they use to make "carbon", which are like briquettes for the ubiquitous "asados", or barbeques, that happen here. They fill this little dome with wood and heat it by underground fire for two weeks until it all turns into little chunks of black carbon.

The next day, we arrived in Pichilemu, on the Pacific coast and met up with Christian who had invited us to stay in another of his parents' houses. I guess wine country is where the sort of people live who have multiple houses!

It was Chris' last night in the country, so we were finally convinced to go out dancing. We have so far been considered quite un-fun for leaving social events by 1 or 2am, but actually managed to stay up until the bar closed at 6am. It was pretty fun, and people here really know how to dance!

The next morning, we bussed into Santiago and got to work packing Chris' bike for the plane ride. It was a Sunday and very few things were open, so we had to piece together a box from four smaller kids bike boxes.

It was sad to say 'goodbye' again to Chris, but she keeps turning up in different parts of the world, so maybe I won't have to wait too too long to see her again.

Sarah had a few more days in Santiago, so we quickly set to work seeing all there was to see.

Sarah dancing salsa.

Public displays of affection are also a huge part of the culture. Most people live with their parents until they are married, so the parks are full of young people making out!

Phillipe, the guy we are couchsurfing with, is a huge cyclist, so he introduced us to the bike paths and took us up the Cerro San Cristobal, a little mountain in the middle of the city.

The view from there of Santiago was really stunning.

It's really interesting being in a city, not just as a traveller, but knowing I will be coming back to live here for four months while Nelson goes to school. I've been scoping out good neighbourhoods to live in and have already found my favourite vegetarian restaurant.

Today I'm off to Valparaiso, where I will spend the holidays. Apparently, after Rio de Janeiro, Valparaiso is the best place in latin america to spend New Years Eve. In the five days leading up to it, there is a 'cultural carnaval' happening - music,concerts, movies, parades, photography, poetry, and theater - much of it in the streets and for free.