More Amazing Scenery

I took a 2-3 hour bus ride up to the tiny tourist town of El Chaltén at the North entrance of the Glacier National Park. Today was the best weather to date. Perfectly clear, blue sky with lots of sun. The drive around the lake with the mountains in the back was incredible. I was going to go on a short walk but did abotu a 5 1/2 hour hike in order to see one of the more scenic areas that is usually shrouded in clouds...it was so clear...again beautiful spiky mountain, snow covered mountains, glacier, glacial lake (I even picked up a chunk of the glacial ice and had a gnaw on it). It´s so beautiful. The Austrians gave me some really good tips on which trails to walk, where to stay, etc. I half expected to run into some of the Torres del Paine crowd here but have not thusfar. I will stay here for the next couple of days and do some more hikes. It will be great, especially if the weather holds. The views are somewhat similar to Torres del Paine, across the border, but not quite as dramatic. The trail today was thankfully, flatter, and less muddy than at Torres.
I am gearing up for the Antarctica trip...by this I mean, I´m getting excited, I´m not actually making any preparations although I will be sure to get some sea sick tablets. The travel agency in Ushuaia will provide a parka, boots, etc. I´m thinking of actually flying down there in order to avoid overpriced 19 hour bus trip including annoying re-entry and exit into Chile with long waits at the border.
Things are grand.

Anti-freeze, Argentina, Avians, Austrians, Antarctica

So, I kind of decided I would go to Antarctica so I changed my plans a bit and took the bus back from Punta Arenas to my now, base town, of Puerto Natales (where Sang Kyoung and I stayed pre and post Torres del Paine). Sadly, when I arrived in the evening, there had been some sort of mishap on the bus where a liquid leaked into the luggage hold. My duffel bag was soaked. I was assured it was just water but as I got to the hostel I realized in neither smelled nor felt like water. So, I brought some damp items to the tiny bus office and started to complain. They didn seem so concerned. At first I just wanted to find out what was the liquid. Was it water? an automotive chemical? urine and disinfectant from the on board bathroom? (I have some expertise in this area what with college friend, Gil Pearman, and I inadvertently dropped an empty bottle of Blue Nun wine into the chartered LUV bus toilet in 1985 enroute back to Charlottesville from a football game at Georgia Tech--sadly we had to foot the bill for the costly repairs). So, they found out it was antifreeze, mixed with water. I demanded some compensation and I started getting worked up...ranting in my bad spanish. They kindly asked me to calm down, which I did. I then noticed the "smile, youŕe on camera" sign and noticed the security video camera. I can only imagine that the entire bus office crew now gathers to watch the video of the hysterical foreign woman muttering in crappy spanish. I am horrified that this video will get into the hands of the producers of Chiles funniest home videos. In any case, they took me to the laundry and had my damaged goods washed...all the time involved though kept me from going to the really good chocolate cake place.
The following morning I took a bus to El Calafate, in Argentina. The best part was the view--loads of fields of cows and sheep grazing with snow capped mountains in the background, every so often there was a small pond, full of flamingos. I was surprised, amazed and delighted.
I then arrived to El Calafate and within minutes ran into one of the Austrian duo. I do not know if I have previously mentioned them...Sang Kyoung and I met a guy and his dad traveling together from Austria. They were so sweet, and funny, and were our favorite pair (mainly we liked that this guy and his dad were traveling together) so after Torres del Paine, we trawled the streets of Puerto Natales for the better part of two hours hoping to run into them but alas, no. And we regreted that we didn t even have a picture. So, I was delighted to run into Johannes, the younger, and saw him and his dad yesterday afternoon on a walk to the nearby lagoon full of flamingos. I cannot get enough of these pink birds. There were tons of really great birds at the lagoon.
Today, I ran into father and son again at the super amazing Perito Moreno glacier which is the most amazing thing ever...HUGE. Again, my pictures won be good enough so look it up on the internet. Huge, beautiful, amazing.
And on the Antarctica front...Iǘe just handed over my credit card number so it looks like Iḿ in for a trip leaving on NOvember 7th for 11 days. Yikes!

Antarctica: To go or not to go

Sang Kyoung and I spent her last night back in the town of Puerto Natales. As it was a Monday, the cargo ship had docked and I ran into some of the crew about town. At dinner, Enzo, one of the "pilots" joined us along with Luis, chief of the engine room. The new captain was there as well. It was fun but we were struggling to enjoy it as our freshly laundered clothes were taking on a strong, cigarette smoke odor. It was like living in Spain again. We then went to a bar for drinks with crew members Mauricio (maintanence) and Marcelo (Tour Leader/guide). It was good as Marcelo speaks English well and could talk to Sang Kyoung who, apart from saying, "hola,agua,gracias" really does not speak Spanish. We also ran into the Australians that we´d met at Torres. The following morning we took the bus down to Punta Arenas, on the Strait of Magellen. The bus ticket collecter seemed happy to see us, kept gesturing, smiling, etc. When the bus dropped Sang Kyoung at the airport and I continued on, he gestured that I would be crying (which, I must confess, I did do later). We assumed that he used all these gestures in lieu of talking as he knew we were foreign and assumed we wouldn´t understand but, after Sang Kyoung left, I realized it was because he was deaf. He sat next to me on the bus for the remaining 15 minutes of my trip and was very kind. Communication was tought but I believe we verified that I was married with no children, that we have two cars, that I was sad that my friend left on an airplane and that he also had a car and may or may not have been sad and/or tired.
I kind of drifted around Punta Arenas ( a not entirely charming town) a bit and felt very lonesome. I ran into a young American couple that we had met at Torres del Paine and walked up to the lookout point with them but other than that, did very little.
Antarctica: Brian has been, and like everyone else who has been, says it is quite amazing. I am so close to Ushuaia (where the cruises leave for Antarctica)that if I ever did want to go, this would likely be the best time. I´m having trouble deciding. It is quite expensive but, as frugal as I am, it isn´t the expense so much, but the thought of being on a boat for 11 days. I´m not sure if I could do it. I´m not that keen on boats. The crossing of the Drake Passage over to Antarctica is rumored to be really rough and I´m not sure if I really want to entertain the idea of paying to be sick but ... In any case, I have to figure it out pretty soon and either commit to a trip or not.
In either case, I will leave Chile tomorrow for Argentina...I´ll still be in Patagonia but on the Argentine side. I´ll visit the reportedly very impressive Perito Moreno Glacier and do some short day hikes in the Fitz Roy range. I hope the weather holds.
Now I´m off to see the allegedly "fascinating" cemetery here in Punta Arenas. Feel free to weigh in on the Antarctica question.

Torres del Paine National Park

Wacky friend, Sang Kyoung (who also goes by Jennifer, Judy, and/or Kim) and I just spent five glorious days hiking at the most amazing park I have ever seen. Before leaving it rained for two days and was terribly cloudy but we had incredibly good weather. Even the bus ride to the park was gorgeous. Loads of snowy mountains, thousands of sheep and tiny lambs grazing, cows grazing, etc. As we got closer to the park we saw hundreds of guanacos (like llamas but wild)...they would run when they saw the bus coming and even jump effortlessly over the fence used for the sheep. We also saw a couple of ñandus (birds like ostriches) running pell mell in front of the bus. They were so funny. We got to the park and took the catamaran to the west end of the park to begin our hiking. The water in Lake Pehoe was like no color I had ever seen...a milky light green and blue color. It was amazing and even when I am able to download pictures, they will not do justice to this stunning lake. We hiked for about four hours to see the glaciers. The thing about the park is there is a ¨star¨feature wherever you look. In one direction there is the glacier that goes back as far as the eye can see. You turn your head and see the light green lake with blue chunks of ice (that have broken off of the glacier) floating by. You look the other way and you see the beautiful snow covered mountains. And in the other direction, still, there are the spiky, rocky bare peaks above the mountain. It was like this for five days. We, I think, were both in awe and felt lucky to be there and for the entirety of the five days said, "this is so great." Each night we stayed at the very over priced dormitories that the park provides. Some were cold, some were modern. They weren´t great but are the only choice apart from camping which I´m not keen on. We had heard the food was really expensive so we hauled a bunch with us and ate more cheese sandwiches than I care to count. We thought there would be cooking facilities but they were only available at the one campsite/lodge. We are pretty sure the Chilean college students will look back on their trip in years to come and say, "Remember when we went to Torres del Paine and there were those two dumb foreign women who didn´t know how to cook or even how to light a stove." We were unaware we had to provide our own pots, forks, etc. so they took pity on us. When we ran out of food we bought the overpriced stuff at the lodges. We hiked about 4 hours the first day,6 the second day, 8 the third day, 9 the 4th day and an easy 4 the last day. I must say, the hiking was very strenuous and Í wasn´t terribly well prepared so each day I felt extremely unfit, overweight and, sadly, very old. There was pretty rough terrain, scrambling over bolders, lots of mud, through creeks, etc. There were quite steep inclines and descents and it was rather exhausting but worth every second. One of the days where we had to backtrack, I decided to leave my backpack on a rock during the hike and retrieved it on the way down as I didn´t think I could haul it up the bolders. That day was gorgeous...we got to the scenic overlook and listened for the thunderous cracks and then watched the avalanches on the mountain oppposite us. It was amazing. I was a little sad to leave the viewpoint as it was so incredible. Each day offered different vistas but just like the first day there were four or five amazing views in every direction. We saw tons of birds: condors, woodpeckers, geese, and lots that I will have to look up. I was exhausted each night but I am so glad we went and we had such great luck with the weather. We returned yesterday afternoon to the town of Puerto Natales (where I arrived by boat last week) and met up last night with some of the crowd that we had met at the park for drinks. The nice German friends that I had met at the hostel were back here when we arrived as they´d been on a different trip. Sang Kyoung leaves tomorrow and I am terribly sad as it was so great to have her here. I know the next few days will be tough on my own. The cargo ship has docked for the night and I ran into a couple of the crew so we might meet up with them for drinks after dinner. The best part about leaving the park was being able to go to the laundromat and I have a bag full of clean clothes. Maybe in the next town (Punta Arenas---really far south if you care to check a map) they will have better computer facilities. Until next time...

The Cargo Ship

So last Friday afternoon I boarded the Navimag Cargo Ship in Puerto Montt. From everything I´d read, the quality of the trip depends entirely upon the weather. Good weather reveals stunning views, calm seas, and a good time. Bad weather means, no views, and 3 days trapped on a boat with nothing to do except, of course, for getting sick. Friday morning I was pretty disappointed to see, after 4 days of sunshine, very cloudy skies. But in the afternoon, the clouds lifted, the sun came out and it was a really lovely day. We, the 64 passengers, boarded around 2 p.m. and chitchatted. Lot of European travelers, some Chileans, a handful of other nationalities (Canadian, Korean, etc.). We got off to a late start, about 7 p.m. but watched the shore with the green hills, volacanos, etc. and perfect weather. Meals are served cafeteria style in the dining room/ lounge area. Meals had been described as being like school cafeteria food but they were really a lot better than that. I got to know a lot of the other passengers...a really nice Dutch couple, a young Danish couple, the Italian newlyweds, and others. The weather the second day was equally as good and I spent most of the day on deck or on the bridge with the naviagation crew. That was probably the most fun part of the trip. They were great. They let anyone in there during daylight hours and they were all very funny, and nice guys. An Argentine girl hung out there a lot as well. The only rule there was no food or drink but the Argentine and I sat there in the Captain´s chair and nearby stool and they guys served us tea and cookies. The Captain would surface periodically (during narrow passages). So, the boat goes through very narrow inlets, between islands, fjords, etc. It was really beautiful with pretty clear blue skies and green hills, and snowcapped peaks on both sides. I´d hoped to see more wildlife but we did sea a few sea lions, and lots of birds: albatrosses, petrels, etc. Probably my best friend on board was Mauricio the maintanence man. He was funny and nice like all of the crew. They also had presentations each day to tell us about the flora and fauna of the area, geological information, the day´s itinerary, etc. The second night is when we left the inlets for the open ocean which was a little rough...large but steady waves. I worried about getting sick but it didn´t bother me at all which was great. The third day looked rather bleak, overcast, misty, you couldn´t see a thing but after breakfast, the clouds lifted and we had another great day. The last night was the most fun. It was Bingo night. Prizes included hats,jackets (with ship´s logo), wine, whiskey, etc. I was going for the polar fleece jacket and Mauricio assured me I would win as he performed some psychic voodoo on my bingo card but alas, he had no powers over the bingo gods. After bingo I stayed up well into the night drinking wine with the Danish couple (alert for Brian...I´ve invited them to come and stay with us in December while they are in New York) and the Riccis (Italian volcanologist husband, and his equally Phd´d geologist, French-Polish new wife). We stayed up ´til about 2 a.m. which made getting up for the 6 a.m. scenic pass through the very narrow strait a difficult wake up. I got up for it but "missed it by that much." I did see the very pretty pink-red sunrise though. So, yesterday a.m. we arrived in Puerto Natales, our destination after breakfast. I was a little sad to go as it was a pretty fun trip. As the crew bade me farewell, they said they´d be out in the village (it´s tiny) later that day and we´d meet up for drinks. Later that day was pouring down rain and extremely windy so I didn´t venture out. Some of the Germans from the boat are staying at the same guest house as me so I did go out to dinner with them later after the wind and rain had let up. It was very generous, but unnecessary of the 5 Germans to speak English through the entirety of the meal for my benefit alone but it was, nevertheless, appreciated. Now I await the arrival of my friend, Sang Kyoung, (from Korea who I met walking the Camino de Santiago in Spain 2 1/2 years ago). We will hike for several days at the reportedly beautiful Torres del Paine national park.

The Lakes District

Well, the most recent 12 hour bus ride has finally put me into a completely different landscape. Long gone is the desert, the shrubby bits, etc. The 1800 miles that I have traveled south,thusfar in Chile has brought me to the verdant, rolling hills of the Lakes Region of Chile. IT is VERY green, with trees, flowers, grassy fields, cows, sheep, etc. It could be Charlottesville ...well, except for the amazing snow covered volcanos. I am at my third village along Lake Llanquihue (the second largest lake in Chile). It is a very blue lake and at the opposite side of the lake are two incredible volanoes. The first is a perfect cone with snow at the top. THe second is not a perfect cone but is no less beautiful, also covered with snow. I will post photos later but sadly, not here, on this circa 1985 computer. Evidently in the mid to late 1800s, many German immigrants settled in this regioun. The villages are quite charming with German style houses, churches, etc. This morning I visited the town of Frutillar, also on the lake, where I visited the German Museum which was quite nice. IT had some replicas of typical early German houses in the area (a house, blacksmith shop, barn, mill with water wheel, etc.). THen I traveled onward to Puerto Octay where I am staying tonight. The drive was particularly lovely, more green, rolling hills, lots of lazy cows, small farms and dairies, sheep, chickens, horses, all with the little German style houses. I am staying out in the country at a nice place--it is one of those German/Swiss type houses you see with grass growing on the roof. THe view of the conical volcano is amazing. TOmorrow I will return to Puerto Varas, another of the villages along the lake and then Friday will go on the 4 day boat trip to take me farther south. After the boat trip I will meet my dear friend, Sang Kyoung (who I met on Camino de Santiago walk 2 1/2 years ago in Spain) as she is also on a South American adventure. We will have about a week of hiking in the reportedly beautiful Torres del Paine National Park. So, I will likely not be able to communicate from the cargo ship. Oh, the miners getting out of the mine has been on the news non-stop here--great excitement for all.

Santiago de Chile

I have now spent two days in the capital, Santiago. I arrived yesterday morning and got out of the subway with my eyes on the map. When I found my bearings I started walking and finally looked up from the map and saw...The Andes. They´re just right there in the background...a bit snow capped. The weather here is lovely...It´s about 80, very sunny, not at all humid and with a light breeze. I´ve been slathering on sunblock at a rapid pace.
The city is very big (about 6 million, I think). The center of town has a lot of big, imposing neo-classic buildings (banks, government buildings, etc) and then there are a lot of 70s and 80s kind of ugly buildings mixed in. Yesterday, Saturday, there were throngs of people out milling about...loads of street vendors, etc. I am so pleased with my horse hide shoe inserts that I bought another pair. I visited the big fish market, the cathedral, the big park on the hill, several monuments, etc. This morning I went to the museum of pre-colombian art, the museum of visual arts, La Chascona (another home of Pablo Neruda) and visited some of the interesting neighborhoods. I feel like a true tourist doing lots of city sight seeing and I am exhausted...but in a good way. Tomorrow I plan to visit a few more churches, parks, and neighborhoods and tomorrow night will take a bus to Puerto Varas farther south.
Oh, and on the communication front...whereas I could understand, perfectly, the tour in Spanish at the Pablo Neruda house, I am still having a tough time understanding regular folk (at the restaurant, on the metro, at the bus station, etc.) Or, for example, when I try to read the side of the Lysol can in the bathroom and I believe it to say "Very flammable. Do not crush can near llama." I´m, evidently, not adapting.

I will survive!

As most of you who have traveled with me are aware, on each trip there is generally a point where I am convinced that I have contracted an exotic disease. In Malaysia, when I had a nosebleed, I was certain that I had reached the deadly, hemorrhaging phase of Dengue fever. With my friend, Elizabeth, in Thailand, I was sure that I had liver flukes. In both the U.S. and abroad, I´ve been pretty certain that I had rabies and lyme disease. So, I´m sure it comes as no surprise that on this trip, too, I would encounter a deadly disease. I had not mentioned it before as I didn´t want to alarm my parents (who undoubtedly expect the announcement of my certain demise as it happens on every trip). After the 15 hour bus ride, when I arrived in La Serena Tuesday morning, my feet and lower legs were pretty swollen. I convinced myself that I had developed Deep Vein Thrombosis from sitting for hours on the bus imobilzed. The swelling wasn´t horrendous but this hadn´t happened to me before. In addition to the swelling, I noticed that my legs were discolored...kind of blueish gray colored--like bruises but very light colored. I had had on very tight socks and from the sock line at my ankle and upwards was the discolored part--my feet were normal colored. I went to three pharmacies and each pharmacist assured me that I would be fine but they could give me a diuretic so the swelling would go down. I declined and figured I was probably okay. I milled about the town a bit and as I got ready for bed I kind of started to panic...the blue coloring was not just on the lower legs but on the entirety of both legs. I figured the clot in the leg would work its way to my lungs or heart and that I would not make it through the night. So, at about 9:30 p.m. I decided to head out to the local hospital. WHen I went outside, Fabiola, the sister of Meli (my hostess) was getting in her car and asked where I was going. I asked her if, by any chance, she was a nurse. Well, as luck would have it she is a nurse. She came up to my room and took a look at the swollen feet and legs (the swelling had gone down quite a bit by this time) and the discolored bits. I don´t think she had much previous experience with fat legs as she asked what size my legs usually were. I explained that they were big but not that big. She felt my legs, ascertained that I had no pain. She told me that was good as usually a clot would be painful. She suggested I sleep with my legs elevated and helped my jimmy a chair under the foot end of the bed frame. I went to sleep and in the morning the swelling was gone yet the legs were still blue. I did some sight seeing and then decided to call the Kaiser advice nurse in the U.S. to share with her my dilemma. She pointed out that both feet being swollen was good as usually with a clot it is just the one leg. I thought maybe I should go to a doctor but figured I would wait until Valparaiso or Santiago as they would likely have better facilities. Yesterday afternoon I went to the hospital clinic here but the line was really long so after waiting quite awhile, without them calling even one person´s number, I left. I figured I could go in Santiago. So last night I showered and got ready for bed. I hung up the white towel on a hanger in the window sill to dry. It was the craziest thing, the towel looked as if it could have some kind of blueish gray stains on it. Could it be? I dampened the towel and rubbed my leg vigorously and the blue came off on the towel. It seems I do not have deep vein thrombosis but a case of dark wash lightweight denim pants. Seems the dye has been wearing off on my legs. I´ll try to answer your questions. Yes, I had washed these pants a number of times before. Yes, I had worn these pants all night on the bus and the following day. Yes, I had showered but didn´t feel that I should scrub my swollen legs with hot water. Oddly, my hands had been very dirty for the last couple of days too. I guess from resting my hands on my lap on the bus rides. It took a lot of scrubbing to get the dark part off my hands. I just figured it was really polluted here. So, for the last three days I have been in something of a panic about the alleged blood clot but I´m pretty sure I am in the clear. To celebrate, I wore khaki pants today and did fabulous sight seeing without the fear of impending doom. I walked out to the pier, to the great market (I love markets), way up one of the hills to the Pablo Neruda house, back down to one of the hills in the historic area where I had a fabulous lunch. Generally you can get a pretty good meal for about 4 dollars but I decided to "splurge" by spending about 12 dollars for a tremendously delicious three course meal and an excellent glass of wine at a really cute bistro type place. It was so good. I had been avoiding wine due to the disease and all but now it´s a definite go. I must say, I had to come back to the lodging here to rest up after the big and tasty meal. Today is a lovely day...sunny and about 70. As it is spring there are lots of flowers in bloom including lots of very sweet smelling lilacs. It´s so much nicer when you don´t think you are about to die.

Valparaiso!

I arrived in Valparaiso this afternoon. It is a really cool city. It is a port city--there is a flat area that runs a few blocks´width parallel to the water, then the rest of the city is made of hills. 42 hills. It is quite amazing, they are very steep and covered chock-a-block with brightly painted houses, restaurants, shops, etc. Although it is unlike any place I have ever been, it does remind me slightly of Lisbon. It is a little run down, a little rough around the edges but really, really neat. There is graffiti everywhere but it includes really great murals, cartoons, paintings, etc. I only explored one or two of the hills but will try to see a lot more tomorrow. Along with all of the dogs, this town seems to have quite a few cats as well.
The lining/insoles of my raggedy shoes (you know, that I will throw out while traveling) has wrinkled up and given me a blister so I was thinking I should try to find some insoles. Right when I got here I started walking to the historic part of town and there were many street vendors. One had a blanked spread out with what looked like were very thin, leather insoles for shoes. Perfect, I thought, I slipped some in, gave the girl about a buck, and they are comfortable. They have a stamp on them (in Spanish) saying ¨real leather" which I guess they are but there is also a picture of a horse. I don´t know if this means they are horse leather...which I kind of feel bad about but I guess I like cows too and that hasn´t stopped me. In anycase my horse leather insoles are exactly what I needed.
As I get farther south, it continues to get a bit greener. On the outskirts of Valparaiso were real live trees, flowers, crops, etc. It is nice to see some green again. There were also goats in a field and horses, oh, and horse pulling a plow for a farmer. The mountains still look like the ones on M*A*S*H though.
I am exhausted and will shower and turn-in. I will change rooms for tomorrow but tonight´s available room is on a corner of busy streets. I hope my earplugs do the trick.

Elqui Valley

This morning I went on a little day trip by bus to the Elqui Valley about an hour away. The landscape has changed and now looks, I guess, like California. There are still dirt mountains but they are covered with patchy bits of cactus and various dried out shrubs. They look like the mountains that you see in the background of M*A*S*H but without the 1950s era helicopters. Like California, there is a lot of agriculture too. We passed papaya farms, flower farms, and lots of vineyards--this is where they grow grapes for pisco, Peru and CHile´s national beverage. Evidently there is argument over where it originated. I visited a nice little town where I went to the Gabriela Mistral museum. I´m sure you know her as the Chilean poet who was the first Latin American to win the Nobel Prize. IT was a nice museum. On the way home I rode in a shared taxi (same price as bus) with among others, a nun, who kept falling asleep on my shoulder. I tried to take a picture but it was dodgy as to get my camera out of my pocket I had to jostle her and in turn wake her.
There are tons of dogs in Chile but unlike other places I´ve been with lots of dogs, these ones are pretty relaxed. They just lounge in the sun. THey don´t chase you, they don´t bark at you, they do not intimidate you. I like them. A lot of them are big dogs, like German Shepherds but they really leave you alone.
Tomorrow off to Valparaiso.

Big Desert=Long Bus Ride

So, I got on the bus last night at 7:30 p.m. It was already dark. Although I was not looking forward to the 16 hour ride, I must say that the buses here are pretty nice. The seats recline very far back and there is plenty of legroom. They also pass out pillows and blankets like on an airplane and this trip featured snack boxes. So, the first hour of the trip was from charming yet touristy San Pedro to Calama. Calama is the big center of the copper mining industry. The guide book describes it as a pretty rough place with hard working, hard drinking, hard gambling copper miners. I had made a point of making sure I had bus connections there so I would not have to stay there overnight. So, while we were just 6 on the bus from San Pedro, when we got to Calama, I got out to walk around (we had about half an hour) and noticed all of the people waiting to get on the bus were the apparent hard drinking copper miners who were all smoking, all talking to each other, and several carrying bottles that appeared to be liquor. I´ve nothing against copper miners and I¨m sure they are great folks but I wasn´t sure that I wanted to be wedged in next to one the entire ride. I scanned the crowd and saw pretty much aforementioned miners but there was one woman, tiny, about 40 who was very neatly dressed and I hoped she would have the ticket with the seat next to mine. As luck would have it, she did. The miners spread throughout the bus and laughed and carried on a bit but for the most part settled down and there was not raucous drinking and carrying on. They showed the movie...I don´t know if I have been under a rock or if they are just crap movies, but I have seen several movies on these buses that I´ve not only never seen before but have never heard of. One featured Reese Witherspoon as a doctor who was dead. One featured Tim Robbins, Rachael McAdams and some other guy driving to vegas after returning to the U.S. from Iraq. Last night´s featured Renee Zelwegger going to Minnesota to run a tapioca factory and to inadvertantly shoot Harry Connick , Jr. in the ass while out shooting crows. IN any case, they are not great seletions but better than not having entertainment. You can put in your headphones to the bus soundsystem. So, after the movie at around 11, they turned off the movies and the lights and I thought I would die as one of the miners had is laptop out and at full volume was watching video clips of exotic dancers (they might have just been performing Chile´s national dance but I doubt it as there were no handkerchiefs). I put in my earplugs and wrapped the blanket about my head but I could still hear it. I was livid. Nobody else seemed really concerned. I didn´t want to be the foreigner who told the porter to tell the guy to turn it down as I feared it would result in the same way as the incident in Spain on the train. I believe it was with my friend, Jodi, years ago...we were in the nonsmoking car and the only other passengers at the other end of the car were smoking. Jodi, as I remember it, asked the porter if he could do something about it and he did. He walked over to them pointed to us and said, ¨Those people don´t want you to smoke in here". After a bit though, he turned it off. I guess I slept off and on. After about 11 hours it was morning and light out and shocker...we were still in the desert. Soon thereafter, however, it started to look more like a regular desert with some cactus, dead looking shrubs, etc. and the closer we got to La Serena, there were even patches of what looked like dead grass. I went to a place to stay but they didn´t have any rooms so they walked me across the street to the neighbor´s who occasionally rents out rooms. It´s a pretty good set up. I immediately showered and noted that my feet were terribly swollen...I imagine from sitting for 15 hours. It´s gone down some.
This town is very nice looking. It has lots of lovely architecture...colonial, I imagine. It´s a good sized place but I´m right near the center. I have taken it easy today. I managed to have a pretty good lunch at one of the city buildings that was an old mansion with a really nice interior patio. Tomorrow I will visit some of the small villages in the Elqui valley region where they grow grapes to make pisco...the liquor that Chile and Peru fight over as their national drink. Then the day after tomorrow I will head to Valparaiso. Still looking for a computer where I can download some photos to post.

Desert, Lakes!, Flamingos, Vicuñas, and the Moon

So, I am finally getting to see stuff. Good stuff. Yesterday morning I walked a couple of miles to visit some ruins (where the locals tried to fight off the spanish in the 1500s) and then up a high, high hill to a scenic overlook. The views were amazing. The desert has become very interesting in this area--there are large hills that have eroded somewhat and have amazing shapes. It is really incredible. I will try to post photos at the next location. There are also huge sand dunes. Yesterday afternoon I went on the "Valley of the Moon" tour. First we hiked at the top of these canyon like rock forms, we saw the huge sand dune and I thought the guide was kidding when he said we would go down the dune but we climbed down a few rocks and then ran down hundreds of feet of sand dune. We contined to the bottom of the canyon like structure. Then went to the valley of the moon area. Evidently it was named after man landed on the moon and described the surface of the moon and the locals felt the description was eerily similar to the landscape here. We stayed to watch the sunset over the Salt Mountain range and then turned around to see the Andes in all shades of pink and red.
It only got better this morning when I left at 6 a.m. on another tour. There is evidently, in this vast desert, a small river that goes to the Pacific and so here in San Pedro there are a few trees here and there and as we drove through the desert this morning there were lots of dried out tumbleweed looking sort of plants. There arent really many towns around, and few paved roads. But we drove about 45 minutes out of town to the large salt "lake". It measures something like 60 x 30 miles but there is very little water--mainly large rough shaped things that resemble rocks but are dried up salt. So, in the middle of this huge desert, in the middle of the salt flat, there is a small amount of water and there are scads of flamingos. We saw Andean flamingos and Chilean flamingos and they are really beautiful and elegant and it was a treat to see them. There are tons of tours around here but our little van of ten was the first to arrive so we had the flamingos all to ourselves to admire.
We then returned to the van where we headed up to about 14,000 feet above sea level to see two beautifl lagoons--these are not salt water and I guess get water from the nearby snow capped Andes. The lakes were bright blue and just beautiful and they are there in the middle of this desert and it is extraordinary. We saw a vew vicuñas drinking at the lake (they are in the llama/alpaca family). They are more delicate looking than llamas...slimmer and really, in my opinion, much cuter. We also so a variety of birds. The excursion was great and it made me so glad that I came. My mad race through the north/mid part of Chile (in order to meet my friend, Sang Kyoung in patagonia on the 19th) is somewhat tough (I have a SIXTEEN hour bus ride tonight) but really it, so far, has been worth it. I really hoped that today I could have posted photos as it was spectular...or in the words of Frank DeBiasi...stunning.

National Barflies

So, last night in the really cute town of Iquique, they were setting up a stage on the front steps of the really beautiful theater. It seems tehre was a festival and there were posters about town promising a night of folkloric song and dance. So, I took a seat and as I waited I saw what I assumed were the performers approaching the theater. The men were wearing kind of gaucho cowboy outfits and the women some sort of squaredancing dresses. The hostess introduced the first performance and although I don´t understand the Spanish here, her´s was pretty easy to follow. She said that the first group would be performing the national dance of Chile. So, the music starts up and I expect the cowboys and square dancers to come out from behind the curtain ,but no, it is a trio of chubby ladies wearing clingy, teal, polyester low cut dresses that are embellished with some sort of bedazzled gold sparkly bits at the plunging necklines. They essentially looked like bar flies. THey started the dance by waving around handkerchiefs and did a fair bit of shimmying. I guess that´s the national dance. Ensuing acts included the aforementioned cowboys and squaredancers.
IN other news, although the Village People have been claiming for years that it´s fun to stay at the YMCA, I´m not so sure. I stayed there last night and it was clean, and they were very friendly but there were lots of ongoing loud dance classes and the water was barely lukewarm. On the upside though, I did get to see the ¨power¨dance class whilst I was showering from my shower window. It´s possible one of the actual village people was leading the group in dance as he pranced around wildly wearing red fringed MC Hammer style pants. IT was quite a cultural evening.
Today I spent another 7 1/2 hours seeing the desert. It´s just odd--there are no plants, no cactus or anything...just the dirt. IT´s reportedly the driest desert in the world which might explain the lack of any growth of any kind.
I am now in desert town of San Pedro de Atacama which is a little adobe village which is really quite cute but extremely touristy so everything costs twice as much as it does elsewhere which, of course, I view as a scam. I am hoping to go on a couple of tours to see stuff--volcanoes, salt lakes, flamingos, geysers, etc.
I had to skip the ghost town due to the bus schedule today but we did drive by a working nitrate mine oh and a HUGE copper mine. As you know, Chile has the largest copper producing mine in the world.
OFf to eat dinner.

Crazy Desert Dweller

Today I took a 4 1/2 hour bus trip through the desert from Arica, in the North, to Iquique, still in the North. This desert is really something. Just as far as you can see, it is either flat sand or dirt or hills of sand or dirt or mountains of sand and dirt, or valleys of sand and dirt, or ravines of sand and dirt. I guess for people who have spent time in deserts it is normal but for me it is something that I have never seen. Years ago when I lived in the Spanish village of Ciudad Rodrigo I would often take the bus from there to the bigger city of Salamanca. It was about a one hour´s ride on the El Pilar bus. The bus drivers tried to accomodate people and although illegal to pick up passengers who would not have a seat, they would do so anyway. When the driver spotted a police car, he would yell for the passengers standing in the aisle to crouch down so the police wouldn´t see them. I was always amazed where some of the people would get off the bus. They would alert the driver that it was their ¨stop¨and the driver would pull over and drop them in front of a field. There would be no house or town in sight...just a field. I always wondered where the went, how far they had to walk, etc. Well all that just seems so normal compared to today´s events. We left the bus station in the rather modern, comfortable, and upscale bus and about 5 miles out, on the outskirts of town, an older woman flagged him down. He pulled over and picked her up. In the oncoming lane was a bus from the same bus company whose driver smiled yet wagged his finger at our driver--I got the impression that picking up passengers enroute might be frowned upon. In any case, this smiling woman who appeared to be an indigenous person, sat behind me. We drove along through this intriguing desert. At times I felt a bit frightened as I would look out the window and could not see the side of the road but just the deep ravine below. I imagined the bus veering off the road and dropping hundreds of feet into the ravine. It was at one of these ravines that this woman went and alerted the driver that we´d reached her stop. He pulled to a stop and let her off. I am mystified as to where this woman would have gone. There was not a shrub in sight for miles. It was amazing. I kept trying to take pictures out of the bus window but they didn´t seem to show any depth.
So, today is the first day that I´ve done any real sort of sight seeing. Large dirt desert mountains rise up just behind the city of Iquique, where I now am, and the sea is just a few blocks away. It was a big boom town in the 1800s due to the nitrate mines. THe main street is quite beautiful with a nice pedestrian walkway, wooden sidewalks, and really pretty Georgian architecture. It is quite nice. Tomorrow morning I will go to one of the ghost towns in the area. They were the mining towns that sprung up in the 40s )or earlier, I´m not sure) and housed the miners,houses, stores, a hospital, etc. A young British guy who I met at last night´s guesthouse had been there and said it was quite fascinating and rather ¨spooky.¨ I guess I´ve never been to a ghost town. The Brady´s have of course.
The other thing of note here is this. In the admitedly small number of Spanish speaking countries that I have visited (Spain, Peru, Mexico and Puerto Rico) I´ve generally been able to understand the Spanish and communicate fairly well. Chile is a different ballgame. I´m baffled. I have no idea what people are saying. I have to ask people to repeat everything. The bus attendant explained something to me twice and when he left I asked the guy next to me to exlain one more time. Newscasters, the be all end all of clear speaking, also cannot get through to me. I watched the news last night and got maybe a third of what they were talking about. I got more out of the little scrolling bits of info. at the bottom of the screen. IT is a little bit frustrating but also kind of funny as I had not anticipated not understanding anything. Okay, this seems rather long, and rambling, and I´m tired so I can´t really be bothered to proofread this. I´m off to the wharf area now.