Chile (the part after the volcano fail/triumph)

Santiago

After a few rainy days in Pucon resting our bodies we had the choice of heading further south into the Patagonian wilderness or start the beginning of our long trek northwards.  In the end the promise of some sun after two weeks of solid greyishness turned us north towards Santiago, the capital of Chile.

We hadn't heard many people say great things about Santiago as a destination but we thought that it was a great city with a bit of an alternative character to it.  Santiago is ringed by mountains and you can see the snow covered Andes peaking out at you from between the high-rises in the CBD.  We spent a relaxing 5 days wandering the streets and markets, catching the views from the lookouts, reading in the parks and having a drink here or there when the mood took us.

On top of San Cristobal with part of the city and the mountains behind us.  Note the blue sky! Not warm but sun was great.

Yas making friends. It is incredible the amount of wandering dogs we have seen in South America so far, this guy looks a bit more cared for than some others.

What do old guys do in NZ and Aus? I don't recall seeing many hanging out in parks but it is a full time occupation round here.  Maybe all our old fellas are at the TAB or the pub.

Ahh scenes from Dunners. Students with a couch on the middle of the street making the trucks go round them.  Not sure what they were collecting for but I gave them a couple of hundred peso (about 50c) for the nostalgia.

Daisy

Stressful park time

Valparaiso and Vina Del Mar

After Santiago we headed for northwest for the coast and the town of Valparaiso.  It is dominated by a port and a navy outpost but has a cool set up with the shape of the surrounding hills.  The harbour is ringed by steep hills that have mini cable cars everywhere for those that would rather not carry the shopping up every day.  Valparaiso has seen better times, a lot of buildings were run down and some areas we were advised to keep well away from even in the daytime. Recently it has been dogged with students protesting for free education, the protests apparently happen every week or so and are usually sorted out with a bit of tear gas. 

We had a dud hostel for the couple of nights we were there (we were the first people to sign the visitors book for 5 days and they didn't like people cooking in the kitchen other than in microwaves???) but we had an interesting time walking around the town and catching the train to nearby Vina Del Mar to see where the richer folk live and walk on the beach.  Highlights were watching the pelicans soar just over our heads, the seals restlessly annoying each other on the rocks, sand between the toes (hello Pacific Ocean...no land between us and home!) and a brief glimpse of some protests on the walk back to the hostel.

Yas missing the real Melbourne cafe scene.  The owner had spent a year in Melbs and brought back muffins and paninis to shake up the Chilean cuisine scene.

More furry friends.  We have never been short of animal company in Chile, in Pucon packs of dogs will just walk down the street with you like a canine escort.

One of the cable cars

The beach at Vina Del Mar and my attempt at getting in front of the camera!

Yas protecting the foreshore

Unhappy at small horse treatment (frowny face)

The police preparing to stop the latest wave of protests.  Yas wouldn't let me get any closer.

We tried to leave Valparaiso for Mendoza in Argentina but struck our first bad luck with the busses.  The pass over the Andes was blocked by snow and ice so our bus was cancelled.  The cheeky bus co told us to wait for 2 hours at the station before informing us of the cancellation and then tried to say that if you wanted your money back you had to approach them in the first hour after cancellation! Thanks to several others in the same position and the help of a friendly tourist information/interpreter girl we stood there laughing at them until our money was returned. 

Instead we caught the bus back to Santiago for a night and managed to make it over the pass the next day on a packed bus (so packed in fact that we rode with our bags under our feet because all the local ladies had decided to move all their belongings to Argentina that day and there was no room in the hold for our bags...we had no sympathy for the lady whose 8th and 9th bag were left on the concrete, although she seemed quite peeved about the injustice of it all).   The drive was spectacular, as was the cheek of the customs official who searched the bags then asked for a tip for the privilege.

As we go back, back and forth and forth (just a little Wu Tang Clan reference there...i'm tired ok)

Will update shortly on Mendoza (just a preview, it was awesome).

Hope everyone is well back home or wherever you are reading this from.  I've been getting up at all hours to catch the cup games when I can (thank you live streaming) and NZ looks like an amazing place to be right now. Yas being the technical brains and beauty of our outfit has figured out a way to make commenting on the blog easier (no need to sign up to an account or anything) so fire away at will.

Much love

Mike and Yasmin