Santiago Chile to Guayaquil 1/22/2017 Su

The Ritz Carlton in Santiago upgraded our room to a junior suite. That meant that we got an extra set of chairs and a coffee table in the room. We arrived too late last night to enjoy the desserts and the after dinner drinks in the lounge, but we got breakfast this morning! This is a better picture of the honey comb. The honey dripped down, and you used the wooden tool to drizzle honey on your croissant or bowl of oatmeal.Aren’t these flowers in the lobby gorgeous?

We didn’t get much sleep last night as the temperature in our room never got below 23 C, which is 73.4 F. We usually like it best when the room is 67 or less.

We are off to visit the winery in Casablanca. I think that Rick and Ilsa have already departed.

9:30 is a great time to arrive. No one else is here.

We got to look at unripe grapes.

Also some grapes that looked more ripe. I didn’t try to eat any as there were guards everywhere.

Here is our guide JP with the crazy hands trying to explain something to Steve. Steve is just going “uh huh, uh huh. If you say so.”.

I was busy watching the marching ants going off it both directions.

This was in the gift shop. I thought it was pretty cool. You put it in your bottle of white wine and it automatically chills the wine as you pour. It’s great if you forgot to chill your white wine and you need some chilled white wine ASAP! I guess you could be a peasant and just throw some ice cubes in it!

Our table was all set up for our tasting.

Five glasses of wine at ten in the morning. Oh My.

First up were two wines from the Ritual line.

Next were from the Primus line.

This was our last bottle. It is their flagship brand. It is named in honor of the indigenous people, The Mapuche.

We were given snacks to eat with the wine. I ate the cheese and chocolate. Chopped liver or headcheese are things that I won’t eat. I don’t eat innards. We have a friend M, who is now a vegetarian. When she did eat meat, her favorite dish growing up was liver and onions. Can you imagine? Well if you are M, you can!

Here is our beautiful wine instructor.

You can see that I didn’t drink much. Steve did. Or wine instructor either caught Steve in mid blink or he is besotted with me! Or in other words a “love fog”.

James Suckling really liked their wine.

This is where some of the packing took place. We had a tasting, not a tour. If you want to goo on a tour you will have to read the rest of this blog post.

We had never tried Carmenere before we stayed at Coyhaique. We liked it very much.

The vineyards grow halfway up the hillside.

Let’s check out our next winery, shall we? Vina Casas Del Bosque. But you already knew that as all of you can read!

Steve looks like he owns this place doesn’t he?

Steve fell in love with this chair, and thought that I would look amazingly cute in it. I think that it is wonderful that he still finds me cute. Now if he found me adorable that would be even better as I would likely get away with more nonsense then! I stayed very still so that he could center me in the frame. If the subject is not moving he does very well with his picture taking. Steve didn’t even get his fingers in the picture!

I know many people that would like this coffee cup.

We joined a tour already in progress. We started after the guide talked about the grapes.

Everyone had a good laugh when we realized our tour guide was not saying “Friendship Barrels”, but “French Oak Barrels”! Did you know that China, Japan and Korea are the largest consumers of Chilean wines? Now you do!

Here is wine being aged in the barrels. There was something important to know about the red lines on the barrels. I did for about twenty seconds, and then promptly forgot. Maybe you should go on the tour next time, and remember for me. Steve’s expression is “Enough already, let’s try some wine!”.

You can see the wood chucks holding the barrels in place. During the last earthquake there was some damage to the winery. I will allow you one guess as to what is being stored in this barrel.

We are ready for the wine tasting. Those are neither my legs, nor Steve’s

This is our new friend G from Canada. She is trying to determine if she liked this wine. G and D flew into Santiago from Toronto to go on a cruise form Valparaiso around the tip of South America. They are with five other couples that belong to a curling club.

G was very much in thought regarding this wine. G and D couldn’t get on their ship until late afternoon as the ship had to undergo deep cleaning due to the presence of a Norovirus on the last sailing. We had a lot of fun hearing about the cruises that they had been on. They advised us to start with a river cruise, and if we like that go on a bigger ship. Steve does not want to cruise until he is every older and more decrepit. I must admit that now a few years have passed since we were on this trip and my body is decrepit enough to go on a cruise.

Here is D examining the wine’s color. It looked red to me. D drank all his wine.

Our tasting package only allowed us to sample three wines. These were the yellow buttons we were given.

D and G had ordered the deluxe package tour and got five wines to sample! I will miss D and G, they were a lot of fun.Lots of empty glasses after our tasting!

Our Canadian friends hopped on their bus and we went to have lunch at the winery.

A fried bread with cheese inside on the left. Chilean rolls on the right. They were very hard.

Next up was a fried shrimp brie and nuts on a green salad. The waiter would always ask us ten minutes after we got our food if we wanted fresh ground pepper.

Three French fries, and a little filet with a fried egg on top.

My wines with lunch, their level didn’t change much.

Dessert was lavender Creme brûlée.

I thought you might want a closeup of the chocolate branch. I am not sure if it is hard to make or not.

Finally espressso and a little sweet. I promptly spilled my espresso all over after I took this picture!

At the end of the meal the waiter was there quick as a button with a big smile to tell us that tip was not included in the prepaid lunch.

On our way out we saw another bus load of tourists arrive for their wine tour.

Good bye wine tour, and one last crazy pose for Chile!

At one of the toll stations on the super highway there were peddlers selling stuff. Water, candy, soda, and food. Peddling is not allowed, but people love the convenience.

The peddlers would place their wares on the concrete and you would tell them what you wanted.

Sandwiches and in his hidden hand horse jerky.

Before we knew it we were at the airport in Santiago.

At the duty free shop, I found these bottles of Pisco. I wonder if I will find them in Poughkeepsie!

Will I be able to find these in the local liquor store?

When I saw this lady in the line at the airport I thought she was topless at first. No, just in need of a good bra.

Premium Economy on LAN from Santiago to Guayaquil is an empty seat between you and your seat mate.

Good bye Santiago mountains through the haze. Good by JP and your crazy hands!

Hello clouds that look like a snowbank.

Pork, pumpkin risotto, salad and gooseberry mousse.

Our flight path, the trip would take us about four hours.

Sunset in the air.

Somewhere above Guayaquil, Ecuador.

This map will give you a recap of our travels so far. We flew from NYC to Santiago, Balmaceda, Puerto Montt, Santiago, Isla de Pascua(Easter Island), Santiago and then to Guayaquil where we have just landed. We then fly to Galapagos, Guayaquil and then home.

Are you old and decrepit?

Would you rather drink three glasses of wine or five?

What size suite do you prefer, junior, one bedroom, or Presidential?

Easter Island, Chile 1/21/2017 Sa

Good morning from Easter Island!

Saturday morning and the chefs are busy in the kitchen peeling potatoes.

This will be our last day on Easter Island. We will fly to Santiago tonight, go to some wineries in the morning tomorrow and then fly to Guayaquil, Ecuador in the late afternoon. Then we fly the next day to the Galapagos. But enough of the future, let’s hear about what we did today.

Instead of more hikes, we asked to go look around the main town on the island. I will show you the highlights.

This is the Catholic Church. Most of the Islanders are Catholics. There was also a small Seventh Day Adventist Church in town. That was a small dog sleeping on the steps.

I asked if we had time to look inside the grocery store.

The market was small, about the size of a convenience store. I think most of the vegetables were grown on the island. You can bet that the ice cream and Lay’s potato chips were flown in from the mainland!

This is the post office, we would go here to get our passports stamped.At the post office you could get your passport stamped. Easter Island is not a separate country, but they do have a cool stamp! Many people were selling locally grown vegetables and fruits.

Here are ads for a dance performance in town. We didn’t go. Had we gone we would have seen lots of muscular men smeared with oil. Steve could have seen women with costumes barely attached. Maybe next time!

We passed by the boat launch. We had originally hoped to go on a fishing trip to catch fish like the islanders in the traditional style, but it was too windy. Although, had we gone fishing this morning I would have missed my grocery store.

There were beautiful pineapples for sale on the street.

In the gift shop I had to prevent Steve from buying a Moai. They were very expensive, about $300-800! They were also very heavy. Not to mention that these Moai, unlike the Moai on the island had penises. No, that is not a beer keg tap on the Moai in the back of the photo!

If it weren’t too heavy to travel with, the coral eye would have been pretty cool as a paper weight.

Steve liked the duck.

In the gift shop they had the DVD from last year’s contest for sale. This was not Lilly our guide for several days, she won the contest years earlier.

These Moai carvings looked pretty interesting. I told Steve that he could display them in Lake George but not in Poughkeepsie. We didn’t buy anything. We had arranged to have massages before our next two days of airplane flights and car rides. It was pretty magical listening to the rain during the massage. Lunch was a turkey and cheese on a baguette. This was the best salad at lunch, all baby greens and no escarole. I hate escarole! Outside the airport flower leis were being sold to put on arriving guests. Good bye fake Moai! This guy was all garbed out for hiding in the gardens!

Steve is wearing the necklace that we got from Explora. It was made from shells. When we get home we will probably throw it in a junk drawer and forget it. Then we will pull it out in five years when we do a cleaning purge and wonder where we got it. Good bye Easter Island airport!

Steve had a Pisco Sour and I drank water. It’s five o’clock somewhere isn’t it? Good bye Easter Island! I called these Moai clouds! Dinner on the plane, the beef was tough and the cake overly sweet.

After we landed we were met by JP and our driver and whisked off to the Ritz Carlton in Santiago. Did you know that there was a two hour time difference between Easter Island and the mainland? That’s what happens when you are on a five hour flight!

JP told me that the shirt that I had left in the hotel in Valparaiso was found. However it would have cost us $50 US to have it sent to us. We said “No thank you.” I was hoping that JP would have been able to pick it up at the hotel and keep it for us until today as he goes to Valparaiso every day from Santiago to give tours. We were given an option of getting up an hour earlier to pick it up before our adventures tomorrow but I treasure an hour of sleep more than the shirt.

Do you prefer Lays or Wise potato chips?

Do you prefer male bodies oiled or natural?

Do you have junk in your junk drawer?

Easter Island, Chile 1/20/2017 F

Another beautiful day begins.

Today we are going to visit Ahu Akivi.

Ahu Akivi is said to represent the seven men who first came to Rapa Nui. It is very interesting to note that the seven are all of equal size and shape. It is also a celestial observatory, that was set up in the 16th century. They exactly face the sunset during the spring equinox and their backs face the sunrise during the autumnal equinox! You can see the cement where the heads were reattached.

Here is a baby pineapple!

Our first hike of the day was to a lava tube, Anu Te Pahu. Have you ever been in a lava tube before? Well come along.

These horses along the path were quite healthy.

With all the recent rains the path was quite muddy.

The cave is hidden by the trees and the banana plants. Bananas do not grow on trees as the plant has no woody tissue!

The cave was used as a dwelling place for the early people. It was also used during the tribal wars and a hiding place during the raiding for slaves.

Down we go! This is the largest cave on the island. There are several interconnected chambers totaling a length of seven kilometers. It was damp. Water was dipping down from the ceiling. Lilli drank the water and said that we could to, as it had been purified by going through so many layers of basalt rock. I didn’t want to risk any indigestion of any kind, and passed on the opportunity. Ah, the end of the tunnel appeared. I was so happy to see the end of the tunnel. We could have gone further through the tunnel and seen the ocean through lava windows, but I knew that we had to return and would have another hike in the afternoon. Yay! Steve came out right behind me. We had to use a flash light on our walk in the cave, and the flash light app on Lilli’s phone. The sharp lava rocks made the hike very difficult. I was hot, tired and sweaty and we still had to hike a long way to get to the van. Lilli found a sweater left by a guide on a previous walk. She was bringing it back to where we had left our van. The path was really muddy and slippery. I never fell completely in the mud, nor partially, but it was tough going in a number of spots. You can see the guava fruit growing on the tree in this picture.

Lilli showed us a guava. The horses love to eat them.

They were easy for Lilli to twist open. My sneakers were a mess, along with my pants of course. Good thing there was a shoe cleaning station back at Explora!

I am wearing one of Elliott’s old fishing shirts, as I left my white one on the white bed in Valparaiso, I was happy to have this one! I felt as bedraggled as I looked!

We got back in the van and traveled to see…More Moai! You were not allowed to go past the markers as the ground is sacred. These guys might have had a story but i forgot what it was.

Here is Steve studying the two Moai. This site was restored in 1974.

This one got really eroded over time.

He is the only Moai on the island with coral eyes. The eyes are a restoration. Don’t the coral eyes make him really seem alive? He also has the top knot. He is called Ahu Ko Te Riku.

Didn’t Lilli take a great picture of us? Someone’s keeping an eye on us!

You can see the crane in the distance unloading goods to be brought to Easter Island.This picture has all the Moai in it. On our way to town we passed by a cemetery. If you didn’t have much money you could go camping. Remember me telling you about the richest man on the island? He owns this car rental agency. He also rents mopeds and motorcycles.

We drove into town and saw this Moai. I had mentioned in a previous post about the festival that was going to be held in a few weeks. Part of the preparations was erecting a painted Moai.

Lilli is explaining to Steve that it is made of concrete. Lilli said he would be painted yellow, the color that the original Moai were painted.

This shows the coloring a little bit better. It will be quite dramatic when it is finished!

I was hoping that I didn’t get the van too dirty. I really was a mess!

Soon we were back at Explora and it was time for lunch.

Minced vegetable tortellini.

Creme anglaise with caramel for our dessert! Yum, yum!

Since our next hike wasn’t until four, we decided to have massages.

Too bad you close your eyes during your massage. The view was really nice. The massage therapist played native music. It was a blissful afternoon!This is the way back to our room where we got ready to go on our afternoon hike.

Now it is time for you to learn about top knots, or pukao. What are those strange things on top of the Moai? They are pukao, the top knots. How did they get up there?

Puna Pau was the quarry where the top knots were from. The stones were cut and then rolled to the site where they were carved and then erected onto the Moai. There are several different viewpoints on how it was done.

A Chinese group joined us at the site. They do love to do the crazy photos!

Here is our guide Stephen telling Steve the story of how the top knots are created. Believe it or not, but Stephen stayed with an uncle in Saugerties for a year. Saugerties is about an hour northwest of us! More information regarding the pukao. This is how some of the archeologists believe how the top knots were placed on top of the Moai. We headed back to the van and passed by many top knots that never made it to the tops of the Moai. Our guide carried a back pack filled with emergency gear, and he always had a walkie talkie with him to contact the hotel.

Then we were off on another short hike to see some pictographs in a grotto.

Unfortunately, going down would mean going back up also!

The pictographs had been very badly damaged by the elements and natural breakage over time. The drawings were on the ceiling and just flake off over time.

My last picture of our hike for the day. I was so tired of walking around. Steve got out of the van at our next stop. 11,000 steps were enough for me! We still have a week left on our vacation in South America! Yikes!

Lovely green salad. I had the duck confit.

Steve had the seafood pasta, hold the octopus. My dessert. It had bananas in it. Steve doesn’t usually care for fruit.

Dessert number two. Which was guava cake. I asked the waitress which dessert was better. She told me to have both. I actually only ate 3 bites of each. That is my story and I am sticking to it.

Do you have an uncle in Saugerties?

Have you ever been to Saugerties?

Do you know where Saugerties is?

Easter Island, Chile 1/19/2017 Th

Good morning from Easter Island!

Before we eat anything, let’s take a look at the kitchen. Here is the display of all the fresh juices and fruits available at breakfast.

There are many seats to choose from. We will have our dinners and lunches here also.

Steve appears to look a little worried. I would be also if I was married to myself!

Ah, nothing to worry about, his beautiful omelette has arrived!

The red marker shows you where our hotel is located. Orongo is the crater and the little island south west of it is Moto Nui, where part of the Bird Man ceremony occurred. Ahu Tahai is the restored ceremonial site. The quarry or Rano Raraku is located in the eastern part of the island. Near there is Ahu Tongariki, where the 15 Moai are located.

Here is a topographic map. The green areas are all National Parks.

I have left off at the three stages of of cultural development of Easter Island. Most scientists think that the first peoples arrived in the eastern Polynesian triangle from some point west of here around 800-1100. The eastern Polynesian triangle consists of Easter Island, Hawaii and New Zealand. The first people to settle Polynesia left 3000 years ago from Taiwan, then spread to the Philippines, then Micronesia then East to Samoa, Tonga, Tahiti and other islands. Oral history tell us that a group of seven explorers were the first to arrive to Rapa Nui.

The men saw the land was a good place to live and returned with women. Great stone Moai were carved which transferred mana, the spiritual power of their ancestors. Below the Moai, the bones of revered ancestors were buried. Moai were erected facing the town, and eyes were installed last, to guide and protect the people. Only when the eyes were inserted could the Moai’s mana protect the people.

Later when the European sailors arrived they spread disease. The first European on Easter Island landed on Easter Sunday in 1722, hence the name Easter Island. Europeans all wanted to see the Moai. Then slavers from Peru carried off a large portion of the population. The Rapa Nui people felt that they were no longer being protected by the ancestors. So the Moai were destroyed.

Our first stop of the day was the Hana Roa lookout. We had a great view of town and the freighters carrying cargo that were out at sea.

Our next stop was Orongo, the ceremonial village for the Bird Man challenges.

A yearly bird migration flew to a small rocky island off the south eastern tip of Rapa Nui. During the 16th and 17th centuries the carving of the Moai was abandoned and the Bird-man competition began. Thus began the second stage of development on the Island.

A competition was held to be the first man to return with an egg from the island. The very first competition elected the king, we have heard from our different guides that there was a new king every year or that the subsequent completions were for pride. Notice on the head of the warrior an egg holder. These guys look like our modern day hipsters with man buns.

Here is a picture of the island, Moto Nui, that the participants from all over the island would swim to. It was believed that the ancestors chose who would win the contest by giving that warrior extra strength and the Manutara (Sooty Tern) would lay an egg nearest the divine choice. The participants would stay for days or weeks waiting for the first egg. The last competition was in 1867.

Here is Lilli, our guide for the morning. She was the female winner of the Koro Nui Tupena festival in 2012. This sporting and cultural event was introduced to establish a bond between the young and the ancestral traditions, It gives tourists a chance to witness what Rapa Nui rituals and competitions were like before the colonization period. We will have to comeback another year for that! We saw many young people out running in preparation for the coming festival in February.

We walked to the ceremonial village. There was a gigantic Moai here that was removed and presented to Queen Victoria and is in the British Museum.

This house is opened to show tourists what the homes looked like inside. Very dark and confined inside, but the people only slept in their houses.

Over time the petroglyphs in the homes have been damaged or removed.

Most of the stones for the walls were very thin. They were from a special kind of basalt. Other stones used in different buildings or platforms for the Moai statues are different types of rock.

This was a short walk morning.

A closeup of the islet. This is where we would have done native style rock fishing if the wind had allowed.

The island has a wet and dry season. we are at the tail end of the wet season. it rained every day, but not at every place we were on the island.

At last we arrive at the crater. The crater was 600 feet deep filled with water 30 feet deep. With a mat of reeds floating on it. In some places it was said that the mat was so thick cattle could stand on it without sinking.

It was a long way down. The crater was 1.6 Km wide.

There was an option of hiking up to the crater. Only 5.4 miles one way with an ascent of 896 feet. We opted for the van ride!

Crazy pose!

Here is Lilli, Beauty was not the only reason she won the contest in 2012. She said that she is a great dancer also.

On the road to the crater was this house with signs on it. I asked Lilli about it.

In previous years the Chilean government collected all the visitor fees. This made the Rapa Nui people very unhappy and they barricaded all the parks. This naturally was very bad for tourism.

Those hotels who had guides from Rapa Nui could enter the parks. The strike was settled and all monies collected to visit the parks now do not go to Chile, but to the Rapa Nui people. I’m sure Chile taxes the airlines and collects its money one way or another.

All our guides were of Rapa Nui ancestry.

On the way back to the hotel we see the business of the richest man on the island. He has a business of renting cars, ATV’s, motorcycles and other types of bikes!

We pass by a farmer who is selling pineapples off the back of his truck. There are no stop lights or street signs on the island. It makes it difficult for those visiting the island to know where to go or where they are!

Here we see a freighter parked at sea. There is no large wharf so smaller ships must bring back the cargo to town. It can take many days to unload a ship. Those black dots are people surfing!

There was a bit of a traffic jam in town. Streets were very narrow, and the drivers were crazy. I observed much sign language among drivers!

Here are the boats the fishermen would go out to sea and fish from. We were hoping to do some ancestral fishing but the wind was too strong. After seeing them I was happy that we couldn’t go. That would be very dangerous with any type of chop in the water. The fishing was with hooks, line and rocks. Bait was pieces of chicken. This is the same method as the drop-shot that Steve has such good luck in Lake George. However Steve uses artificial bait.

Lots of different businesses in town, these guys offered tours. There is no standard for being a guide, so if you didn’t stay at a reputable place you might end up with a guide spouting nonsense, All the guides from Explora had several months training and supervision. All our groups were to have a maximum of eight travelers. Steve and I were often the only ones on our outings.

Here is the Catholic Church. Priests who arrived from Europe were able to convert most of the people to Catholicism. Offering schools, hospitals and food, they filled the needs of the people. The population had decreased to around 110 people! Now there are about 7000 people of whom 3000 are Rapa Nui.

This is someone’s Christmas tree!

More free range or town horses.

The countryside is so green. They even grew big puddles with all the rain!

Here is one of the many cows that we saw on our travels on the island. Many were still nursing their newborn calves and often many of the teats would be engorged with milk. It looked painful.

In the afternoon we are heading in this direction to see the 15 (15 Moai on a platform) and then walk along the cliffs to a beach. I hope it stops raining by then and our walk is a stroll and not a hike!

But first, we see some kind of pit and a fire back at Explora. We heard that there was to be a special dinner tonight…

Carrot soup for lunch. Black and white sesame seeds as a garnish.

I had the lamb chops.

Steve had fish.

Who can resist chocolate guava cake? I couldn’t.

Steve’s and my leis were looking uglier and uglier as the days progressed. I threw them out after I took this picture.

In the van with us this afternoon are two new incoming guests. They are S and G from British Columbia. I take an immediate dislike to them as they look like real hikers. They have serious hiking boots on, we have just sneakers with us as we have a weight limit on our trip to the Galapagos. Yes, we could have worn hiking boots, but then where would the other shoes go?

We jump in the van and head off to see Tongariki, the collection of 15 Moai.

We pass by the house of Mr. Richest Man on the island. You will remember that I had mentioned earlier in this post that he has the largest rental car dealership on the island; 100 vehicles!

We saw lot of horses that were laying on the ground. We were told that since the horses were free to roam all over the island they frequently ate plants that would make them sick, and then die.

Our trip often took us along the coast where we had great views.

On our way we pass the quarry, Rano Raraku. I hope you remember that there were over 450 Moai in different conditions here. No where near that number were in good shape. Some were probably used for practice or experimentation.

This is a popular place!

Why don’t my pictures look like the professionals’ ?

Anu Tonariki is the platform with 15 intact moai. Behind the platform is what is called a crematorium. It is the resting place for the bones of revered ancestors. A group of German archeologists paid to have the moai erected. In 1960 a tsunami knocked the Moai 100 meters inland! They were re-erected on the platform, which the tsunami did not move.

Remember all of the erect Moai are a reconstruction. Only those at the quarry remained erect, as they held no mana in them and therefore hold no power or value.

Here is Natalie, our guide. She is telling Steve the stories. In front of us is a Moai. You can see the serious hiking boots of our fellow guest. This Moai is quite eroded.

It is all so dramatic!

The 15 are all different.

Only one had the Pukao or top knot. It was formed from a different stone than the rest of the Moai, and represented long hair dyed red and styled into a big bun. Only men with powerful mana were allowed to wear their hair this way.

The archeologists can generally tell which Moai are older by the characteristics of the Moai. The early Moai were all different. They later became more stylized with the ski jump nose exaggerated jaw and elongated ears.

Notice how they are all different. This platform was used by two neighboring tribes that got together and said let’s make something special! Now what I hadn’t realized before, was that over the years the Maoi were constantly knocked down and new ones were erected. These two tribes designed the platform to hold many moai.

Here is the back side view. The lady with the red hair was not from our group.. She was concerned about the rising of the worlds sea levels and that the Moai would be soon under water.

Some old Moai that had been destroyed.

Here you can see the cement line where the Moai on the right was put back together again after it was damaged by the Tsunami.

This guy was one of my favorites!

The closer I am, the better he looks!

Here is Sharon. She was really into the lighting and her husband had a serious camera. Most of my pictures had to be brightened as it was so difficult to see the details of the Moai.

We started our walk along the cliffs. Here is a piece of obsidian that Natalia found. It is illegal to take any rocks from the park.

Our hike begins.

Here is a sick horse. He ate lupine. He shouldn’t have. He will get sicker, drink sea water and then eventually die. We saw two recent victims on our hike.

The walk went on for a long time. I think we started just below those three hills on the left of the picture.

We gathered here to look at something, I have no idea what it was!

Natalia kept on leading us onward.

We arrived at a rock called Te Pito Kura. It is believed that the high iron content in the rock makes compasses go crazy. The four small stones mark the points of the compass. Rumors are that touching it increases fertility. I’m to old for it to do any good.

I was never so happy to see our van! Our short easy hike was actually 3.6 miles! We hopped on the van for a short drive to Anakena Beach.

At Anakena Beach were a group of seven Moai, called Ahu Nao, Nao, not to be confused with Ahu Akivi or The Seven, that we will see tomorrow! You can see that two of the Moai have deteriorated.

Those with heads have the top knots.

This is Anakena beach. It is the only beach on the island. Although we hiked all afternoon with our bathing suits under our clothes, we didn’t have time to take a dip in the ocean. We had to hurry back for the special dinner.

Steps for the day were 13367! We will now head back to the van and go back to Explora. Natalia is really cheating here. She has a flower in her right ear signifying that she is single. She has a husband, so I was teasing her that she was actually doing a “Lemme, lemme, upgrade!”

The pit where the special feast was cooked.

Dinner’s ready!

Taro, sweet potato and chicken. This taro must have been mixed with banana as it tasted like banana!

We had a dance performance. With many costume changes!

Let’s watch a video our talented dancer, shall we?

I teased Steve about what would happen if her knot got loose!

At the regular dinner which was next I had invited ourselves to dine with C, the elderly French Canadian woman and her friend F, and a couple from Georgia, that we had seen yet not met. They were very kind, and said “Please do!”.

I had the fish for our main dinner. I was so full from all the other food. Our couple from Georgia was very interesting. They have traveled all over the world.

After dinner we decided to try the hot tub, and to see if we could also see the stars. Unfortunately it was overcast. We did see lots of bugs scurrying around the towel baskets. I was freaking out, as I hate bugs! Upon getting out of the pool I made sure to shine my iPhone camera app on my robe and sandals to make sure that no bugs had crawled into my clothes during our soak!

What is your honest opinion on man buns?

Do your hips lie?

Do uninvited bugs in your clothes freak you out? Notice I said uninvited…

Valparaíso to Easter Island, Chile 1/18/2017 W

We had to get up early to drive south from Valparaiso to the airport in Santiago to catch our flight to Easter Island. It wasn’t hard to wake up early as we barely slept. The gulls outside our windows drove us crazy all night long! Wake up call at 5:30 for a 6:00 car pickup.

Good bye Valparaiso graffiti!

This was a picture of a haunted street. I really didn’t understand the story but you were not supposed to linger here, but to drive by fast. So we did.

The sun began to rise on our way to Santiago.

Steve tried to sleep in the car as he had a bad night’s sleep. Between no air conditioning, the gulls, and my snoring-I mean purring, and a sore throat Steve had a very bad night. Even with the soothing sounds of a fan on the app on his iPhone, he slept very poorly. He went to bed at 9:30. I went to bed at 10:30. I woke up at 12:30, and thought great, I have five more hours to sleep. Which I told myself every hour decreasing the amount of time to sleep the rest of the night!

The pretty drive to the airport.

Steve got us some coffee so we could stay awake on our flight. As the hotel was not open for our early breakfast we were given a bag breakfast of a ham and cheese on stale bread and a nectarine. All we really wanted was coffee! The Dunkin’ Donuts had no milk and only artificial sweetener. I tried to pretend I was drinking a large espresso.

Orange juice and ibuprofen. Manna from Heaven for a sore throat.

You can see the smog hiding the mountains! The doodles represent the mountain edges!

We were flying business class to Easter Island. Did you know that it will take us 5 hours to get there?

I loved seeing our plane’s shadow as we ascended!

We leave the mainland. Next stop Easter Island! It is called Easter Island as it was discovered by Jacob Roggeveen,a Dutch Explorer, on Easter Sunday in 1722.

Plane breakfast. Easter Island is in the middle of nowhere! It is a long way from there to any other inhabited land.

You can see where Valparaiso was. On the coast and north of Santiago. Look at all the mountains!

Easter Island.

Yay! We have arrived! We have landed! Looks like I could use a brow lift and possibly an under eye tuck. Would you believe that a hair dresser I once went to suggested I get an eye lift, and Botox in my cheek folds? I always call them Fred Flintstone’s as his face had some really big ones.

Wilma doesn’t have any at all. Maybe she had Botox! Her hairdresser will never tell!

Steve looks like his hair has a lot of volume today. Do you see my grey hair? Not bad for 60, turning 61 in May. Although I am really 62 in real life as I am blogging about a trip that happened two years ago.

Just follow the signs.

We leave the airport and head to our hotel. There are many kids camping here. Not for me!

After a very bumpy ride we reach Explora Rapa Nui. https://www.explora.com/easter-island-chile/

There are other Explora hotels. One is in Antacama, the Chilean Dessert in Northern Chile. It’s elevation is very high so it is doubtful that I will ever visit there. Another location is in Torres Del Paine in the south of Chile. We hope to visit there someday. Two more are in Argentina and another in Bolivia. They are all boutique all inclusive hotels with guided group activities. There appear to be about 20 guests here now. Each day a few leave and a few arrive. The largest hotel on the island has 90 rooms (not Explora).

There is wifi service only in the main bar and lounge. Each day you can select two half day or one full day activity. The one full day activity is a strenuous 7 hour hike which includes a pack lunch. You can be assured that I will not be doing that!

Here is Steve checking us in. Everybody gets a lei!

Don’t I look lovely with my beautiful lei? At least my chin looks firm! Unfortunately the flowers looked good for only about 30 minutes!

The walkway between the buildings is thankfully covered. They get a lot of rain here. It is a good thing that I bought my Patagucci rain jacket. It is very humid here. My hair doesn’t know if it should lie flat or rebound! Oh, my rain jacket was found and it is being sent to the Ritz Carlton in Santiago where we will pick it up on our return trip from here.

Let’s see what our room looks like. We were staying in room 12.

The view out our window. Thankfully the room was air conditioned as it was quite humid here. There was a lovely chaise built into the window.

The view of the ocean and the pool out our window. Do you see the rain cloud? Rain, rain go away.

Our room with luggage all over. We had to hurry to unpack as we were going to have lunch and then go on our first hike. Were we going to wear our sneakers our Keens and socks, or Keen’s and no socks. We decided on sneakers.

We had lots of nice storage on the shelves. Behind the bamboo portions was a toilet on the left, sinks in the middle and a shower to the left.

We had iced tea, it was very lemony.

Lunch started with a lovely green salad.

Followed by ham and cheese on a baguette.

After lunch we met in the lobby with the other guests who will go on our walk in the quarry. We arrive at the park entrance where our guide Natalie produces our park passes, and we set up for what is supposed to be a short walk. This area is called Rano Raraku.

The quarry is not a big hole, but the side of a hill. All of the Moai on the island are from this quarry except for one that was made of basalt. We do not know where that one was from yet. The Moai are made of tuff, a rock made of compressed volcanic ash.

There are 840 Moai on the island. 400 are located in the quarry. We didn’t see that many, and there are bits and pieces of some that are broken. All the Moai that were finished have been toppled . The only erect finished ones that you can see have been restored.

It was very moving for me to come to Easter Island. As a young girl I read the book Kon-Tiki by Thor Heyerdahl. Steve has read it also and was quite excited to come here also.

None of these Moai have eyes as they are unfinished. They did not get eyes until they reached their final location elsewhere. If you get a chance watch the video on you tube that discusses the theories on how the Moai were moved.

Here we see half of the Brazilian couple that went on the hike with us. The lady on the left is from Quebec. We think that she was in her 80’s. She was in tremendous shape. She leaves her husband for two weeks at a time and travels the world with her girlfriend. Her husband stays home with the dogs and tells her to “hurry back home!”.

Several of the Moai were toppled over and broken into many pieces.

Down below you will see a rider on horseback. He is there to make sure that people stay on the path.

Here you can see a Moai in the process of carving. It was probably half done before it was abandoned. You can make out the face and the body.

This Moai was different than all the other Moai on the island as it was kneeling. It had been excavated. Originally only the head was visible.

I persuaded the Brazilian woman to sit sideways and to pretend to kiss the Moai. It made a great picture. I would rate this picture as adequate.

Far away you can see the 15 Moai. I hope we will learn more about them!

Moai were carved both vertically and horizontally out of the rock.

A view down the hill and toward the ocean. Somehow my walk turned into a hike!

You can see how eroded this Moai is.

You can see how big the quarry is in this picture.

There are lots of horses on Easter Island. More about them on another blog post.

We were supposed to go on a walk to a crater filled with fresh water, but due to all the recent rain it was forbidden. It was declared unsafe due to all the red clay mud.

We had to drive through a humongous puddle on the way back to Explora.

Back to the hotel.

Let’s take a walk to the pool. The man swimming was from Korea. He and his friend elected to have massages and hang out at the pool instead of doing an activity this afternoon.

The pool was too cold for me. I had read in one of my guide books that it was supposed to be a surreal experience to be in the pool and look at the stars at night. Perhaps I will do that from the hot tub instead.

The water looks inviting but it was so cold!

The hot tub looked very inviting.

We arrived at the bar to discuss our next day’s activities with our next day’s guide. I had a scallop on something green and creamy to whet my appetite before dinner. Doesn’t it look disgusting? It was yummy. I want to vomit just looking at it now. I actually ate that thing? Yuck!

The tortilla chips in the bar got stale quickly in this humidity.

Steve ready for dinner. Lots of wine glasses to drink out of, and windows to enjoy the view. I think that Steve is looking at me like Fred looked at Wilma!

We met a lovely couple from England before dinner and had fun talking politics with them.

Bread to start.

There is always a salad isn’t there?

Followed by soup. Before and after they ladled the soup in the bowl. I love soup that is a production in the presentation!

Our fish.

Yummy dessert.

Look how far west we are!

Did you read Kon-Tiki as a child?

Do you like two part soups?

Do you need Botox injections in your fore head, cheeks, lips, an eye lift and a tummy tuck?

Valparaíso, Chile 1/17/2017 Tu

After a fitful sleep at we woke up and went to breakfast. Unfortunately the room had no air conditioning and it was quite warm outside. We left the windows open so that we could have a breeze, but the gulls were always squawking! In addition, there was a park below with lots of people hanging out late into the night!

Here is another view of the hotel. Our room is on the third floor of the building on the upper left by the arched window.

This is a picture of the outside of the restaurant where we had dinner last night and breakfast this morning.

Off we went with JP, and Maxima our driver in our Peugeot van. Valparaíso is so colorful!

I am used to signs showing evacuation routes from super highways due to snow closures. This was the first time I saw a sign for a Tsunami escape route.

Houses were built anywhere there was a place to support a house. Even though Chile has lots of earthquakes, there are not many deaths, due to the strict construction guidelines.

The sun was blinding here. JP and Steve are shielding their eyes from the glare.

JP was into crazy poses. I’m not really into them, and don’t do crazy well, but I am a good sport. Here we are anyway at the famous floral clock doing a crazy pose.

We are now in Viña Del Mar, it is known for its beautiful gardens. It is within the Valparaíso region, and is Chile’s fourth largest city. The chef at the hotel last night called Valparaíso the San Francisco of the third world!

Here we are, on the Promenade. It is early, so not many people are out and about.

Here is JP pointing toward Valparaiso.

Here is the other direction, toward Con Con.

Here is the Casino, as I don’t gamble and it was early in the morning; we didn’t go inside. Plus the men in tuxedos, and the women in gowns and fine jewelry are probably still asleep, so there would be nothing to look at and report on!

We continue our stroll along the Promenade like the two love birds that we are. I smartly suggested we remove our dorky hats for the picture. See that white shirt I am wearing? Well, I will leave it in the hotel tomorrow by mistake and not ever see it again!

Ah, some energetic joggers. The rock in the background is called the “Michael Jackson” rock as it started out black. #imjustrepeatingthejoke

Above the u shaped rocks, there were seals playing. They were fun to watch jumping and diving into the water. That is Valparaíso in the background.

Here are Steve and JP watching the seals. Maxima, our driver, is keeping an eye on me!

We depart the beach with JP and Steve looking for babes in bikinis.

Let’s go into the park Vina Del Mar which was named after Jose Francisco Delvarga.

This is an old house across the street from the park. This is what many of the houses looked like when the city was founded. Now it is mostly skyscrapers.

They host many concerts here. Preparations were underway for a concert in two weeks.

Inside the concert arena.

We could not understand this sculpture hanging down from the rooftop of the amphitheater.

We continued our walk in the park and examined many of the old specimen trees.

JP was very upset that so many of the tree limbs had to be cut down due to the rot that the old tree had.

This is a photo of the house where Senor Delvarga lived.

You can see damage from the earthquake that is being repaired.

We depart Vina Del Mar and all its flowers.

We go to the Mueso La Sebastiana next. fundacionneruda.org This was the home of the Nobel wining Chilean poet, statesman and womanizer Pablo Neruda.

Neruda’s home had charming views of Valparaíso. He loved to get together with friends, especially on New Year’s Eve when the bay lit up with fireworks. During the summer at our house in Lake George, I am always running up and down our deck looking at the fireworks over the lake. I am easily entertained.

The colorful house from below.

Here we are in a normal pose.

We left the museum as the crowds began to gather.

Mural of a young boy fishing.

The houses are all a mishmash of styles. JP told us that a number of the houses are built right on top of each other, so it can be difficult finding the right address!

Panoramic view of Valparaíso.

I spy something.

The murals have many different themes.

Many of the murals were commissioned by business people or the city.

I found this one creepy.

All through the neighborhoods were murals.

To get to our restaurant Maxima had to back the van up a narrow street. Well, it was that or back up after he dropped us off. I think he wanted to impress us. He did!

Lunch was at Maralegre, (maralegre.cl) located in the boutique hotel Casa Higueres. casahigueres.cl

Steve and I were pretty hot and tired from all the walking around in the sun. It was nice to take some ibuprofen and not be on our feet. Steve has felt a sore throat for the past few days. I think it’s all the smog. We shall see when we get to Easter Island as there won’t be any smog there!

Here I am equally happy, this vacation has been so wonderful!

My view over Steve’s shoulder.

A closeup shows a house with earthquake damage, or ready for renovation or both!

We were offered tomato berry watermelon gazpacho to start. I drank Steve’s as he doesn’t care for tomato juice, or fruits. It really helped to cool me off.

Fresh rolls and butter, much better than stale rolls! As the lunch went on the butter melted completely in the hot sun.

Salad was greens with cheese, thinly sliced pear and quail eggs.

I ate half before the waiter brought out the dressing!

Steve had a Pisco Sour, I had an Aperol Spritz.

We were offered a palate cleanser of apple anise ice. It was quite refreshing.

Steve had the tagliatelle, sun dried tomatoes, sage and almonds.

I had the wagyu beef, shrimp angel hair pasta with truffle oil. No I did not finish!

Before dessert I had Steve and I change seats, just like at my fancy candle lit dinner parties!

My new view.

The dessert was called chocolate vanilla or vanilla chocolate in Spanish!

The waiter poured hot chocolate on the mousse so it melted like a reverse volcano. This might be my Vulcan Hudson afterall!

More graffiti.

Steve with improper arm placement for my picture taking. I could however, ask him to move his arm at any time and he would do so. I just like to make fun of him!

This is called the English section. When the English immigrants came to Valparaíso they married the Spanish aristocracy and stayed in this area. They were considered of higher status because they were English. The Germans moved to the Lake District. These homes were painted pastels: blues, purples, whites and greens.

A panoramic view of the port.

We could see four cranes constantly moving containers.

Here I made JP and Steve do a crazy pose.

This house was in very bad shape, but it had an amazing view.

Graffiti and laundry hung out upstairs to dry.

The main square. There was an artisan market under the canopies.

Because the city is a UNESCO site the original outsides of buildings are protected. You must keep the outer facade protected, but can erect a modern building inside! The result is bizarre.

A tomb in honor of the naval war heroes that died in a battle in 1879 against Peru. It is continually protected by a sailor, who you can see on the left of the statute wearing dark pants and a white shirt.

#thisiswhyitakethepictures

Have you ever ridden on a funicular in Valparaíso? Come along.

First you met the previous riders of the funicular.

Our car enters the station.

Enter brunette bombshell. Steve keeps his eyes properly elevated. When he is married to a bombshell like me, what more does he need?

We are off! Higher we shall go.

Still higher.

We finally reach the top and exit and it returns to the hotel.

After our ascent in the funicular, we walked to our hotel. hotelpalacioastoreca.cl I was delighted to find that our hotel was just across the street! We asked JP if he would be our guest for dinner tonight. First Steve and I were going to go for a swim at the hotel.

We wanted to soak in the wood fired hot tub, but the fire was out and the water was cold.

Instead we went for a swim in the indoor pool at the hotel and I tried to stand in front of the water jets. I wish the pool was a little bit warmer.

We went back to the room and while we were changing we heard sirens going off. We weren’t sure if it was pre warning for an earthquake or a fire in the hotel. We were in hysterics trying to decide if it was better to run out of the room naked, or to put your clothes on first. By the time we put our clothes on the second set of sirens was over. Phew!

We went to dinner at the little restaurant across the park from our hotel. The place where the all night revelers held court!

Steve was his usually happy self at dinner. He only gets grumpy in the morning after he has had a bad night’s sleep. Then, once he gets his coffee he is good to go. I must admit that whenever I say or do something I shouldn’t,he gets disappointed in me. Of course, that rarely happens. Ha Ha! Well, maybe once a month. Would you believe week? Okay, maybe I misbehave once a day, but then it is an accident!

I must admit that I find Steve terribly handsome. When Scott Brown was running for the Senate seat in Massachusetts I said that I thought “Scott Brown is terribly handsome!”. Steve of course has never let me forget that. Every time he is on television Steve mentions my quote. I am lucky that Senator Brown was not re-elected. I think I have told this story several times already, but I never tire of it!

Forty years ago, I mentioned that I thought one of the male members at the gym was also good looking. Steve promptly replied ” I have seen a better head on a cabbage!” So now I generally keep my thoughts to myself!

Here is our waitress telling JP, “No, that is not available.” We could only choose from a third of the menu!

I ordered a blueberry Pisco sour. They also offered ginger, mint, or regular.

We had the salmon with potatoes and it looked disgusting. It was delicious. You might call it salmon with glop sauce!

Here is a view out my window in the restaurant.

Close up we can see that these people had a dinner party going on. How lovely!

For dessert I had the strawberry mousse. Of course I finished the whole thing! Unfortunately there was no chocolate anything or ice cream on the menu for Steve.

JP had apple pie for dessert. We had a nice discussion about politics and taxes. The previous mayor of Valparaiso was accused of corruption and the new mayor is only 31! He was elected because everyone thought he was too young to be corrupt!

In Chile there is income tax, property tax, and a 19% sales tax. All our extras at the hotels were billed in American dollars and we were exempt from sales tax on that. (Our hotels were all prepaid by our travel advisor.) The Chileans have free health care and there are many places for the homeless to live, so we rarely saw someone sleeping on the street. There were many people hustling at traffic intersections hawking goods, and people performing juggling for tips. The street artists and vendors pop up all over and the police are always asking for their permits. If you don’t have one, you say it is your first time, or that you didn’t know it was required, pack and then return ten minutes later.

What flavor Pisco Sour would you order?

What do you think about a 19% sales tax?

What looks better, your head or a cabbage?

Valparaiso Chile. 1/16/2017 M

So this will be an overview of the trip so far. We flew from JFK in New York City nonstop to SCL Santiago Chile on January 5.

We stayed one night in Santiago and then flew the next day to Balmaceda via Puerto Montt. That was the black line on the map. We were then driven to Coyhaique where we stayed a week at the lodge. Then we flew to Puerto Montt (the red line) where we drove to Puerto Varas and saw Lake LLanquihue and all the volcanos with Isabel (except when it was cloudy!). We then flew back to Santiago and drove northwest to Valparaiso which is on the coast. Then we will fly to Easter Island. I will keep the rest secret for now!

Santiago is inland and surrounded by mountains. There are three major tunnels between the interior of Santiago and the outskirts. Smog gets progressively worse as you near the city center.

As we say good bye to Puerto Montt, I will give you a little more Chilean history. Chile was declared independent from Spain in 1818. The government felt that it was important to exert sovereignty over the south of Chile and 212 German colonists came to Lake LLanquihue to farm. It is interesting to note that what you and I consider middle Chile, is considered South Chile to Chileans. Further south, where the Fjords and Patagonia are was not colonized until the middle area was established, and was already considered the South! Confused? I am. Just remember Patagonia is south of south Chile.

Good bye Lake LLanquihue! Good bye Volcano Orsono!

Hello clouds!

The clouds lifted the further north we flew. You can see the Andes again.

A closer view of some of the volcanoes. The one on the left already blew its top off and a glacier sits in the cone. You can tell the volcano is inactive as you can see the glacier.

When we landed I found out that the large group with us on the plane was an Alumni group from Harvard. Even though they went to Harvard, they had to board the bus with us to go to the terminal.

JP, (Juan Pablo, who was our guide earlier during our stay in Santiago) and our driver picked up and drove us to Valparaiso. It took about a 90 minute drive from the airport. Did you know that there are 5 Valparaiso’s in the world? Valparaiso is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and Valparaíso is also the third largest metropolitan area in the country. Before the Panama Canal was created, the city was a major port for those traveling between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. The city is known for its funiculars, graffiti, cobblestone streets, and colorful clifftop homes. There is lots of graffiti here, the city has not banned spray cans yet. Valparaíso is in the process of installing street cameras in hopes of decreasing the amount of graffiti.

There are beautiful murals all over.

After winding through many narrow streets and hills we arrived at our hotel. You can see how narrow and steep some of the streets are.

Hotel Palacio Astoreca hotelpalacioastoreca.cl will be our hotel for the next few days. Steve and I have been enjoying our stays at these smaller boutique hotels as opposed to the many hundred room hotels. These smaller hotels are all quite unique. Our hotel has only 24 rooms. The entrance to the hotel is near the front of the uppermost van in the picture.

The hotel was damaged in an earthquake about ten years ago. The inside has been renovated and it has a quite modern style. I don’t really know how to describe the outer architectural style.

This is a reception area off the lobby. The reception desk is off to the left.

There was a lovely library in the hotel and Steve climbed the movable stairs to get a couple of books. He now knows many facts about Picasso.

Our room was on the third floor. Thankfully there was an elevator! We were assigned room #17. It was the receptionist’s favorite room. We liked it too!

Steve examining the rooms before our bags got unpacked and spoiled the pristine room.

This was another view of the bed. For some strange unexplained reason there was a strange wooden frame around the side of the bed. It made it very difficult to get in and out of the bed. Steve considered this an “unfriendly bed”.

The bath with a waterfall shower head.

Hmm, should we see if this leads to the outside?

It does! Steve is a good sport and imitates an exhausted traveler lying on the chaise lounge. Now I must tell you that some of these clever posed pictures are not Steve’s ideas, but mine. He takes great pictures of his fingers so I have to direct him in the poses that I want commemorated. He is a good husband and plays along with me, I think that I will keep him.

Here is one of the views from our patio. Con Con on the top left, Reñaca a little to the right. Vina Del Mar is across the water above the large salmon building in the center of the picture. Valparaiso follows to the right and the bottom of the picture. Our room had a beautiful view of the bay, although I think all the views from the hotel were fabulous!

Here is a video from our balcony during the daytime.

Let’s go to dinner at the hotel, shall we? We need to descend the spiral staircase to the restaurant on the first floor. (I hate spiral staircases!)

It’s 7:30, and we are ready for dinner. Most people in South America don’t eat dinner until 8 p.m. Your eyes are in focus, I am trying the blurred shot to soften the wrinkles in Steve’s face. Just kidding, I don’t know what went wrong!

A lovely Pisco Sour, the orange on the foam is a dash of bitters, which cuts the sweetness of the drink.

Our rolls couple, ready to be slathered with butter and eaten!

For his starter, Steve had the house special. Bacon foam, mashed potatoes, and Scallops topped with a saffron foam. It was ethereal!

My skinny knife for my beef entree.

I had the beef filet with gratin dauphinois potatoes, topped with a muleteer salad and pickled zucchini cubes. Steve had the salmon. I forgot to take a picture of it!

It’s years later, and I look at this menu, wishing I could have one of everything right now. However we were too full that night to order anything more. However, if the menu was prix fixe, no doubt I would have insisted that Steve and I each try something different and share! The pricing was in Chilean Pesos. Now 1000 pesos is equivalent to about $1.50.

The sun had set before I got a chance to take a picture of it glittering over the water. I sure didn’t miss the street signs, and utility poles! Does this win the prize of worst picture ever? No! It doesn’t have a finger in the view!

Back up to the room, I discover our special treat!

I love pistachio macaroons ! In fact, I love all macaroons!

Here is the video from our balcony at night.

Good night Valparaíso!

Have you enjoyed my trip so far?

Have you ever been on a college alumni travel tour?

One of my readers has, can she figure out how to reply to the question?

Her initials are JLB, in case she has not figured out the answer to question number 2!

Wish me luck on her answering question number 3! As she doesn’t read old blogs, I rate my chances slim to none.

Puerto Varas, Chile. 1/16/2017 M

Good morning!

Once again a lovely breakfast spread.

We didn’t have champagne at breakfast, but we might have if we wanted to.

The rain clouds rolled in and their were no volcanos to be found anywhere. You can’t expect beautiful weather every day while on vacation!

Good bye to one of the staff. She was the waitress at breakfast this morning and not the bruja. Notice the lack of broom.

Good bye beautiful front gardens.

Open Sesame and good-bye Quincho.

We are off now to see Fruitillar. This was a community like Puerto Varas that was settled by Germans in the early 19th century. After the Napoleonic Wars Spain had little money left and said to Chile that they could have their independence. It costs too much money to take care of you!

So the government of Chile asked people to come. The British and Germans came gladly to settle the country. The British stayed in the cities and the Germans went to farm in the country. They fell in love with the Lake District as would you if you came to visit.

This farm had the cows grazing right next to the house!

The farmland goes right down to the lake. Farming has so many challenges and it is difficult to earn money as dairy farmers. The farming life is not so popular and many of the farmers are selling some of the land for vacation homes, or for those that want to start new businesses in Puerto Varas.

This house was being gutted from the inside and the frame was kept. These. are not tear downs as the owners want to keep the historic outside.

Another house in need of repair.

So we arrive in Fruitillar. This house is owned by someone very wealthy. They have a great view of the lake. The living room drapes were up inviting passers by to cross the street and admire the furniture.

Of course I would cross the street! Here the lady of the house would sit with her friends and eat Pflaumenkuchen (plum cake) and keep up with all the news. I think I could fit in very well. I could seriously have a good time here!

(The New York Times has the recipe. Google-Recipe Original Plum Torte New York Times. It is easy and delicious)

So Isabel is explaining to Steve why Fruitillar is so well preserved. Something about some wealthy families who own a lot of the land and don’t want development. Or at least I think so.

Really neat old houses.

This one was also an inn.

More explaining. If I didn’t take so many pictures, I would know what is going on!

It’s a cake store, but not open yet.

It was cool and the weatherman predicted rain at 11:00.

See how visible my new red Patagucci jacket is? Now Steve will always be able to find me.

Isabel is short, but the hydrangeas are still big!

Yankee-Way! Now you can speak Chilean also!

Orsono is someplace behind the clouds!

Red Hot Pokers?

Love it!

Off to the museum to see how the German immigrants lived. museoastral.cl

A closeup of the famous shingles that the area homes used in their. construction. These were from a tree that was more widespread in the past, but is now a protected species. They no longer make shingles with this wood. You could get a lot of money on a tear down of one of the homes with these shingles.

This map shows you the development of the community on Lago LLanquihue. Lago is Spanish for Lake. The dark brown is the original town.

Steve giving you a demonstration on how light the slats were. He does have the top of a head, I just didn’t center my picture properly.

A fuchsia bush!

A carriage from a later era than my Regency Romance novels. This gentleman was rich, the seat cushions look well padded, and the carriage looked like it was well sprung!

These hydrangeas are even bigger than I am posing in my lovely red Patagucci jacket!

The kitchen in one of the old house replicas.

The bedroom upstairs with the bed warmer sitting on the coverlet and the chamber pot on the floor.

Somehow Isabel got me to climb a small hill and some stairs.

Here are some of the blossoms, all on one Hydrangea plant!

By this time I had enough of wandering around in the cold. “No Mas!” I told Isabel. So Fernando brought the car around and we went off for coffee.

Our next stop was the Performing Arts Center in Fruitillar, Teatro del Lago. It cost $25 million to build. The outside is a replica of the wooden sheds that the Germans who bounded this community built to store their boats. This picture was from a cover of a book in the lobby of the Center.

So off we went for a coffee.

The outside of the building looked so pretty with many types of wood.

A Cappuccinni Cappuccino! It tasted as good as it looked!

Steve was so happy.

Isabel was pretending to be interested in what Steve had to say.

We had a plane to catch, but first we had a tour of the building scheduled. We were getting worried. In Chile you don’t have to be too early to catch your flight. We were still worried.

This art work hanging form the ceiling represents piano keys.

The man on the right is the artistic director for the center. He got us into see the main auditorium instead of having to wait with the rest of the big group. Check out the leg room and the width of the seats!

The main theatre seats 1178 people.

Upper floor seating is best for seeing the dance patterns in a ballet. The front is best for seeing the hands of pianists and the musical instruments. All seats are equally great to hear the music.

We got to take a peak at a youth choir practicing. Children from all over Chile receive dance and music scholarships. On a beautiful day you can see the lake and the volcanos through the glass windows behind this stage surround.

Good bye LLanquihue Lake!

Goodby German Museum.

Goodby humongous white hydrangeas by utility poles.

On the way to the airport Isabel showed us some pictures of the volcanic eruption that they had a view years ago.

Incredible.

Isabel’s husband on LLanquihue cool as a cucumber.

Neat!

This is from Isabel’s girlfriend from Puerto Montt. It looks like computer generated images from a movie.

Hello pouring rain on the way to the airport.

We finally got through all the airport lines and got to our gate to wait for the plane. Isabelle had asked her favorite baker to make us a lunch with love. Steve wanted to eat it in the car, or at least check it out, but I shook my head no. I told him we couldn’t, we had to check it out at the airport. I didn’t want Isabel to see unhappy faces if we hated the lunch.

I had a sneaking suspicion that I would not enjoy the sack lunch. I was right, it did not appeal to me at all. Dark bread, cream cheese, tomato and dill. Where is there a good deli when you need one?

The pumpkin muffin was meh.

I saved the raisin nut mix for later.

Of course the water bottle that I opened was not still water, but water with gas. So much gas, that the water bottle gushed water all over. My pants got wet, but not my upper body as that was protected by my Patagucci Gore-Tex jacket!

Steve bought some almonds for his lunch. He didn’t eat any of the sack lunch Isabel provided.

Our plane finally showed up. The gate for our tripmkept on changing and we had to keep a sharp eye on that.

We were amused by the snack cart. I can’t imagine anyone buying a cheese wheel to bring with them on the plane. Perhaps it was a gift to be brought to someone when you got off the plane.

What I did find amusing was this lady trying to bring pool noodles on the plane!

Steve was happy the lady with the noodles wasn’t sitting next to him.

What time do you usually have your first drink made from alcohol?

When was the last time a cow was in your front yard?

Don’t you thank God everyday that inside plumbing was invented?

This will be the last part of the South American trip for a week. Steve and I are off to Abaco again, so I will be blogging about that. We are bringing our friends M and G with us. Hopefully M will get in lots of interesting situations that I can blog about.

Puerto Varas, Chile. 1/15/2017 Su

Here is a recently active volcano. It is called Calbucco. It erupted two years ago. It spewed ash, not lava. Unlike Orsono is does not have a glacier on the summit as it has erupted frequently. No one died as all residents behaved properly and evacuated.

You can see how unafraid we are. We have a very fast and competent driver!

This is the ash.

The pumice was quite light.

Today we are going to see the first national park of Chile, walk in the lava fields of Orsono, and go to see some waterfalls!

Next we drive to the first National Park in Chile. The Green Lagoon.

Very tall beech trees.

The water was so green.

I loved the reflection of the trees.

The Laguna Verde has gotten stagnant due to the lowering of the lake levels. As this is a national park they can not enlarge the channel.

Here Isabel is telling us the myth of LLanquihue.

Once there was a beautiful maiden. Her head is the right part of the mountain. She was laid to to appease the spirits of the mountains. (Her breasts are in the cloud bank.) Her heart was removed and tossed into the volcano. Her loving prince who couldn’t save her in time turned himself into a condor and circles the volcanos to this day looking for her heart. Very sad.

Orsono is in the background. Getting closer!

We stop to examine a fissure where excess steam can escape. More husbands need this. This is a linear volcanic vent through which lava erupts, usually without any explosive activity.

Here is what is called a false volcano. It is not the main eruption point.

Almost to the parking lot where we will start our hike.

The parking lot elevation, longitude and latitude. We’ve are at almost the exact latitude as Poughkeepsie, except south of the equator. It could be downhill from here, but of course it is not.

The ski area on the side of the Volcano Orsono. It’s summer now, so only hiking, no skiing.

Volcanic ash.

Let’s follow the ash road and see where it shall lead us.

Steve in his sexy floppy hat to keep his face protected from the sun. Mine is just as bad!

There was a rain storm and much of the ash eroded.

They call this the iron hill, due to the iron deposits.

Some of the steps were tricky. You had to watch where you were going or you could get your foot twisted in the log supports and take a tumble.

Steve admiring the view on the way up. That hat doesn’t look so bad from this angle.

Slow and steady and I just might make it to wherever Isabel says is as high as we will go.

Yay ! We are done! No why didn’t someone reframe the picture so that lady wasn’t in it?

This is as far as we got. Thank heavens! Not the top, but who carries ice crampons in their luggage? That hat looks especially bad from this angle.

Our high point. This ascent was enough for me.

So here Steve and I stand with Argentina behind us. That is Volcan Puntiagudo behind us. Do you know how long that took me to learn? It even looks like we are above the clouds!

This lady is waiting at the zip line jump off spot. No thank you, although I was awfully tired of walking.

Steve and Isabel just before we make a left to head down to the parking lot.

Take that you volcanic pile of dirt!

Isabel is leading us down. She is in terrific shape as she takes guests on this hike a couple of days a week. Maybe this is why she said it was such a short walk!

Here is a lousy job. Volcanic ash shoveler.

Just a little bit more down the hill! Ha!

Wait! Nobody told me we could take the chair lift up!

I swear I am going to kill Isabel!

They are leaving me in the volcanic ash dust.

Almost to the parking lot as we can see plants.

Isabel is telling us that the parking lot is just ahead.

Steve’s sneakers were full of ash.

In the background on the deck is the actor Anthony Daniels, who played C3PO in the Star Wars movies. He had been on the same hike that we did to the Verde Laguna. I did not recognize him as he wasn’t wearing his gold costume from the movie!

Good bye Orsono!

Down to sea level from the slopes of Orsono, we see bamboo trees again.

Lunch will be at Don Salmon.

Isabel leads the way in.

We were ushered to a table with a lovely view of LLanquihue Lake. It was too cold and windy to eat outside.

Empanadas with pico de gallo.

One must always look at the dessert bar first!

Food!

Food!

And more food!

My mixed assortment of a lot of different stuff to eat. No dessert pictures, they were hard to plate and I made a mess.

Steve liked this display, I wonder why!

Gaucho hats used by the staff to wave people driving down the highway into the restaurant parking lot. On our first day in the town of Puerto Varas we noticed many people with signs stating “House to Rent”. Can you imagine? You have no idea what you are getting into. The place could be a dump! Even worse, you could find an axe murderer waiting for you in the house you want to rent for a weekend! No thank you!

This place was similar to an upscale Cracker Barrel Restaurant, except it was a buffet.

Shirts for sale imported from China with Gander Mountain New Jersey label!

Parking lot was halfway full when we left. An hour later when we drove by again it was totally full. The hat wavers had returned to other duties.

So we get back into the car. Francisco our trusted driver will hopefully step on the gas and get us out of trouble if their are any volcanic eruption warnings!

Our next stop is to the famous Chilean waterfalls named after the horse fly! Thankfully we were not bothered by them.

This is an illustration that is hard to read as I had a bad reflection from the sun. The lakes flow from left to right and then into the inner Chilean sea that then flows into the Pacific. The Andes mountains are in the background.

This is just a side channel of the real falls.

The best is still yet to come. This creek was dry a few weeks ago.

Orsono to the left middle. Lago Llanquihue on the bottom. The falls drain from Lagos Todos dos Santos. Aqui is where we are.

Notice the German on the sign. The area was settled by German in the 1850’s. More on that tomorrow.

Todos dos selfies y el Rio in elbackgroundo. Doesn’t that sound Chilean?

Now how pretty is that?

I’m trying to get you to ignore the railing.

A double volcano with double waterfall and double Lant shot. Can this be topped? I don’t think so! Don’t forget the double sunglasses and tan pants! If only I had a plaid shirt.

It was crazy crowded. Isabel says every Chilean visits here once in their lifetime. It was not a bad walk at all. Lots of pretty waterfalls and rushing water. Plus volcanos in the background!

That water was a lovely shade of green.

There were a few guards around to prevent people from being stupid and standing on the fences to take selfies. No guards in this picture, they must have been chasing away somebody else!

Doesn’t Steve look like he is crazy in love with me? Or do you think it is gas?

Can you figure out what this means?

Obviously these Chileans don’t follow the rules. They could be Argentinians on a day trip. Isabel was always shaking her head about people that that. She thought they were from Argentina. Steve’s feet are fully behind the red line. Both of us are sticklers about rules, especially me!

Many salmon live here. Fishing is only allowed further downstream.

Isabel is explaining the rock formations. The lower rocks are in a fan shape. The upper layer is in a horizontal layer. This shows you that there has been geological movement of the rocks.

We headed back to the car as we have had enough hiking.

Isabel needed a pick-me-up, so it was Mate time.

You knew I would take some if offered, didn’t you?

Hmm, looks like I was in need of an upper lip waxing when I got home!

Steve tried it also, he didn’t go for seconds.

We needed to drive back to Puerto Varas before we returned to our hotel as I somehow managed to leave my rain jacket in Coyhaique. I emailed our travel agent to see if it could be located in Coyhaique and then sent to me care of the Ritz Carlton when we returned to Santiago later in the week. We knew that if we brought a new jacket mine would be found and returned. If we didn’t get one it would pour on our trip to Easter Island and the Galapagos. So since I might have accidentally on purpose (not) left my jacket in Coyhaique we went to the Patagucci site in town and got me a beautiful red Goretex jacket. It is so beautiful and has many special flourishes (hidden pockets, an elongated hood to protect my proboscis from the rain)! It is bright red so that Steve will always be able to locate me! I am so in love with it. It was even on sale! Only 219,000 Chilean dollars! I do wish they would do something about all the zeros in their prices!

We never did dip our toes in Lago LLanquihue. It did look very popular, with many people frolicking on the beach.

Isabel was enjoying her Mate break. The drink is not served hot, but very warm. It has an herbal taste to it and gives you quite a jolt of alertness. It used to be given to the miners, to keep them alert and happy while they were on the job.

We returned to Quincho with my new love, a red Patagucci rain jacket. In case you don’t know or already know, and want to be reminded, Patagonia products are affectionately or derisively called Patagucci. I must admit that I am not as cool as I thought, as I did not know they were called Patagucci until I met Isabel. It’s a play on the words Patagonia and Gucci!

Let’s take a walk around the grounds before dinner. Come along. Let’s start in the back.

One of the fence posts covered by lichens.

Our room was on the second floor. It had a lovely view of LLanquihue.

Another view of the back of the house. We were the only guests staying there Sunday night, so it was as if we had the whole house for ourselves!

Gorgeous hydrangeas!

There were some red bushes down a path. I told Steve we would not go down the path, as that meant we would have to go back up on the way back!

Another view of the back of the house. I looked up our room on the internet and we are staying in the honeymoon suite!

Pretty pink and whites.

They don’t have deer problems here!

This purple color I am so crazy about!

Steve enjoying the view. He told me we should buy property here. I told him he is nuts. Better to vacation and not have any worries.

Purple.

Purple pink?

Lilac colored.

Fuschia.

These yellow flowers were in a vase in our room. Isabel used to work here and she called the woman on the housekeeping staff a Bruja-a witch who does magic and straightens everything out.

We have now moved to the front of the property.

They even had a soccer field where the young children of the family played when they lived here ten years ago.

The barn where the crew shells were stored. Maybe they had the barbecues here?

The front of the house.

Window on the right is above the jacuzzi in our room and the one on the left is in the walk in closet. The room was humongous!

It was just the two of us at dinner tonight.

The blue white hydrangeas on the dinner sill.

Fresh rolls.

I had the sweet squash pie with blue cheese.

Steve had Chilean Hake Seviche to start.

Steve had the grilled trout, corn pie and grilled vegetables. (Yes, that does look like an omelette!)

I had veal filet for my entree with vegetables, potatoes and Chilean sea weed (bull kelp). I circled the bull kelp for you as I knew you were curious!

We had creme brûlée for dessert. I have never had one so soupy before, but I still finished it!

What color purple do you like the best?

Are you team Star Wars, or team Star Trek?

Did you think bull kelp was seaweed or something else entirely?

Puerto Varas, Chile Saturday January 14, 2017

Our driver and our guide Isabel meet us at the airport in Puerto Montt to bring us to the town of Puerto Varas located on the shore of Lago LLanquihue. Lago means Lake. Llanquihue is pronounced “Yankee-Way”! The town has become quite a popular place to live and the townspeople tell all their friends who don’t live here “You don’t want to come here, it is a terrible place to stay!”. They are hoping that the place does not get bigger and change in a bad way.

We drive down the driveway with beautiful purple hydrangeas to our hotel for the next two nights, Quincho Casa. Quincho means Barbecue, and there is a large barn on the property where the former owners used to host barbecues. Now the house has been renovated to be a four bedroom hotel.

We enter the main room and are offered a glass of Sauvignon blanc.

We are staying in the Ibis room. This is the former owner’s master bedroom.

In the entry way is a tray of fresh fruit.

Too pretty to eat!

Our room before it is trashed with our clothes strewn all over with me looking for my rain slicker that I seem to have misplaced.

The bed with beautiful woven pillows and blanket.

Fresh flowers from the gardens.

Our view of the Orsono Volcano from our room.

Here’s a closer view. You can see this volcano from town also. I think it would be exciting to live near a lake the size of Lake Tahoe, with active volcanos nearby. Orsono is inactive, but there are other active volcanos nearby.

The view towards Lago Llanquihue.

One side of the walk in closet. I am not sure what the racks on the lower left are for. Since I don’t have such a fancy closet at home I wouldn’t know.

The two person bath tub.

Here is a picture of the bathtub. It even has a mirror in it in case you want to shave or reapply your lipstick!

The sink area, no picture of the toilet or the shower that looked like it was big enough for four people! I love those heated towel bars.

We descended the stairs to go to dinner. The staircase was a work of art, with a beautiful curving handrail. This place must have cost a fortune to build!

Our table awaits. It is so nice to be able to eat dinner at the hotel and not run into town and look for a restaurant.

We had a lovely view of the volcano from our table at dinner.

Fresh rolls. We had four, but Steve grabbed one before I could take a picture!

Fresh greens.

I had the venison with squash. It was so tender and yummy!

Steve had the salmon with quinoa.

Dessert was apple strudel and lingonberries with vanilla ice cream. We went upstairs to our room after dinner.

We were told to watch the Volcano Orsono at sunset.

The colors would change every few minutes!

So pretty!

Good night!

Do you prefer your rolls fresh or stale?

Do you have a fancy closet in your house?

Do you think the porcelain sinks above the counters look dated already?