Changing of the guard in Chile

The main presidential palace here is called Casa de Moneda, literally "House of Money" and we got to see the changing of the guard, complete with marching band, horses, and about 75 soldiers. While they looked really sharp, it was kind of weird to see this in a foreign country. Minus the stars and stripes it missed the goosebump patriotism.

The other photo is of the dizzying atrium lobby of the Hyatt in Santiago...if this doesn't give you vertigo, nothing will!

Vina Del Mar, Chile

Vina del Mar is Santiago's vacation playground, about an hour away and right on the ocean. The climate here is cooler than Santiago, lending itself well to wine grapes. We tasted fresh cabernet grapes right off the vine. Fantastic!

Touring the home of Pablo Neruda

Pablo Neruda (1904-1973) was a Nobel Prize winner for literature, noted for his poetry and beloved in Chile. We toured one of his homes, small and quirky but with an inspiring view of the sea, where he penned tomes only in green ink.

Mike and I are standing on a rock near the classic Pablo Neruda design - a fish with a circle around it with the letters N-E-R-U-D-A.

Neruda was a voracious reader, and quite a fan of Walt Whitman - there is a life sized photo of Whitman in his small study. His love poetry is famous, but he also wrote many odes, including Ode to the Sea, Ode to the Tomato, and Ode to Conger Chowder :) Conger Chowder is a simmering concoction of fresh eel, onions, garlic, potato and milk that is prepared all over Chile "Pablo Neruda style". We ate it at least 3 times...sooooooooooooo tasty.

Consequiences of smoking pot in Chile

No, this isn't a Chilean public service announcement, it was spray painted on a wall. It does reflect how some in the Chilean community feel about marijuana smoking, although with no verbiage it's not clear if it's a message from la policia or the smokers. We don't smoke it, but support legalization!

More Valparaiso Art

Washers and dryers are a luxury item here, but the clothes hanging outside added to the bohemian ambience. Who would ever think up painting ants on a gate outside a nice home? To quote Pablo Picasso, "Painting is stronger than me. It makes me do it's bidding."

Valparaiso Art

Valparaiso is a bit rough around the edges, but it's finding it's renaissance in art, which is bursting from murals and doorways throughout the city. So creative, it is considered the cultural center of Chile.

It's hard to walk at take it all in, the streets are very rough cobblestone, sidewalks have crumbling stairways. Art mezmerizes the eye, so walking around town is slow, you have to watch your step!

Riding funiculars in Valparaiso, Chile

Valparaiso, Chile was granted UNESCO World Heritage status in the mid-90's for historical purposes, specifically because of the nine funiculars, which are self-contained incline railway systems at about a 60 degree angle. The city itself is very steep, so whenever 8 people get on or 5 minutes passes, whichever comes first, the car at the top and the bottom move slowly to switch places. People get on with groceries, strollers, etc. all day long for the equivalent of 10 cents a ride.

Mike is popping out of an underground shop, the "door" to which becomes part of the plaza when closed. How bizarre to find a little separate world underground.

The last photo is of electrical wires, which are an unbelievable mess here. It's a miracle that the lights worked...our guide said that maps to the old lines are frequently missing, so new ones are spliced, and spliced and spliced. We ducked to miss the ones hanging at eye level.

Hotel Zero in Valparaiso, Chile

OK, I'm not one to normally take pictures of hotel rooms, but this one was special. The Hotel Zero in Valparaiso, Chile is a lovingly restored old home with 12 rooms, newly reopened. We loved our bay window there with a view of the Valparaiso harbor and the staff was very warm and helpful. The really cool thing was this photo of a local farmers market next to the bed. Somehow they lit it from behind, so when we came back after dinner it was glowing. Wow.

Finding older is better in Chile

Here are three great examples:
This lovely lady was selling "dulces" or sweets made by the nuns, which were incredibly fresh meringues - I couldn't quite understand her Spanish, but I think she said there was no sin involved in eating them.

The fellow in the hat was just a sweetheart with all the time in the world to make someone's day, waving at all the cars as they passed by.

The last was Dante, an incredibly talented pianist in Vina del Mar, who played nonstop for at least 40 minutes with segues from song to song at 76 years old. He had the whole restaurant singing together!

Torres del Paine...this is IT!

The guidebook description of this hike is: DIFFICULT.

My description: After a grueling hike of 6 miles, mostly uphill and in the wind, you will arrive at a huge boulder field, which requires a severe uphill climb. Once you climb that hill, there is yet another boulder field which is at least 3 times higher than the first boulder field! Mercy. That's when my knees called it a day, and I didn't make it to the top.

Mike did, of course, and got this unbelievable view of the three towers you see behind him. I think he actually is standing on cloud #10.

By the way, this hike is not a loop, so it was 6 miles back to the beginning. Whole lotta hiking for this girl, over 19 miles in 2 days.

Torres del Paine National Park, Chile

If you want to feel lost in a national park, try one that is 600,000 acres. We didn't even see another person on our breathtaking hike up to Torro Heights with our new friends Bob and Frances Vagg of Sydney, Australia. Bob is a former Olympic marathon runner, he and Frances are a couple of ship-shape Aussies to keep up with!

Our guide from Explora Lodge packed a great picnic - I'm toasting with hot carrot soup. This Chilean lodge and their bilingual guides were fantastic, we give them a thumbs up! www.explora.com

The large round bush is very common in this area. It's quite thorny and is locally known as "mother-in-law's" chair. Posted just for my son-in-law, Brian's amusement :) It's an accident that my shadow looks like a chair, pretty cool, huh?

Perito Moreno Glacier, Argentina

Our last glacier was the most spectacular, rising over 200 ft from the surface of the water...at it's deepest point it's 2,300 ft in total. This is one glacier that is actually not retreating - it advances about 6 ft per day, although it loses mass at approximately the same rate, so it stays about the same. It ended, of course, with the classic whisky toast over glacial ice!

Checking out erratic rocks?

Hmmm. Erratic rocks are rocks that the glacier has deposited as it retreated. They deviate from the size and type of other rocks around - basically stick out like a sore thumb. This one we saw during our horseback ride was at least 20 ft. high, and obviously hadn't tumbled down from anywhere in the vicinity. Even though it seemed like the wind was strong enough to push it out there!

Braving the biggest wind, EVER

No reasonable person would step out into the deafening wind at Helsingfors, so of course we had to try it. Mike's hand-on-the-bible estimation is that the wind was 70 miles per hour. I was unable to stand up without a hand from our guide. Mike, of course, attempted to fly....he was able to lean his entire body weight at a 45 degree angle.

It's a jungle out there!

Trekking out on the Pampas (lowlands) vast terrain, with the Andes mountains in the background...we saw remains of sheep and guanaco, hunted by the puma, which is like a very big mountain lion.

We were lucky to see a group of 8 condors. Although they are a bit shorter beak to tail than their California condor cousins, they actually have a bigger wingspan, which can reach up to 14 FEET (think about that!) The Andean condors also are far more handsome, with a black head. Since condors only eat carrion, and they were in such a big group, they must have been circling a kill. Competition for food in the wild is fierce.