Valdivia

Southern Chile in the Summer is so beautiful. We had a long drive south yesterday (Sunday the 25 of January) from the Colchagua Valley (near Santa Cruz, Chile) to Valdivia in the "River District." This is a "new" region in Chile that was carved out of the "Lake District." I guess they decided that this would be better marketing for the northern part of the old "Lake District."

We couldn't tell you but the scenery here is beautiful. Valdivia is a very old city, founded by, you guessed it, Pedro de Valdivia, in 1552. There are lots of old Spanish forts around the city and we drove to the coast today to visit one of them. In researching what to do, we discovered something else about this city. It was the site (or we should say the closest good size city) to the site of the largest earthquake ever recorded - a 9.5 in 1960. We are both glad we weren't there for that experience!

Tomorrow we head off to Puerto Varas, Chile and on Thursday we will hook up with our bicycle group for about 8 days of riding. Wahooo!

Colchagua Valley

Imagine staying in the Napa Valley in a beautiful "casita" located on a hillside high above a sea of grape vines. Now imagine it is 40 years ago and there are virtually no tourists. That is what the Colchagua Valley, Chile is like today.

Vineyards are everywhere but there is still lots of land that is undeveloped. And tourism is still in its infancy here though fantastic places to stay and eat can easily be found. Deborah especially felt like she landed in heaven for four days when we stayed at the Lapostolle Residence on their Clos Apalta winery in the Colchagua Valley. The owner of the vineyards is a member of the Lapostolle family (the makers of Grand Marnier) and she left the family business and entered the Chilean wine business about 15 years ago.

We were very impressed with the residence and the amenities here. In fact, Deborah thought it was just about her favorite place she ever stayed (we'll post pictures sometime soon). And, the wine is heavenly as well. We've drank all of the Lapostolle Chilean wines at home in Seattle except the flagship "Clos Apalta" wine. We didn't realize what we were missing until we got here! Yes, it is very expensive and not an everyday wine. But, we can say that the 2006 was very excellent (having enjoyed in 3 of our 4 nights here). The 2005 just won #1 wine of the year in the Wine Spectator so they are clearly doing something right.

On Friday, at about 10AM local time, we were enjoying time in our casita when all of a sudden there was quite a bit of shaking. Turns out, there was a 5.2 earthquake that occurred about 100 miles southwest of us. Our first Chilean earthquake! Que divertido!

On Saturday, we did a beautiful hike on the property up to an old Incan wall. The wall is something like 40 miles long and it is a simple wall with no obvious purpose. It is only 3 feet tall so wouldn't stop anyone. People think that it was a marker for a boundary of Incan territory and a group of people that lived in the Colchagua Valley and were considered very difficult. They didn't want to be subjugated by the Incas and were resistant to the idea of agriculture. So, rather than fight them, they marked the no man's land. Seems like it kept the peace and it would be interesting to know more about the wall.

After our hike, we hopped in the car and drove to Pichilemu. Surfing capital of Chile and maybe South America. The pictures we saw on the internet of the surf wave were impressive but the actual in-person experience was not as impressive. It is a beautiful beach and the wave is nice to look at, for sure, but Saturday's surf conditions were not ideal so we didn't get to see it in all of its glory. When we have more internet bandwidth, we'll watch some of the surf videos on youtube to know more about what we missed!

We were both very sad when we packed our bags yesterday morning and began driving south. We'll be back before too long...

Santiago

We spent a couple of very pleasant days in Santiago in Las Condes. We had been to Santiago twice before - once in 2003 and once in 2006. In fact, Arn spent 4 weeks in Seattle in 2006 in Spanish school.

After our time there this year, we were struck by how far Santiago has come in the past 6 years. The city is definitely cleaner than before and there is a massive amount of construction going on. We were both surprised to see how much construction of new universities (or expanded campuses) is happening right now. It has to be a good sign of things to come if more and more young people are going to college here. The economy here overall seems to really be moving forward. As a point of comparison, GDP per capita here in Chile is roughly where the US was during the Kennedy administration. That compares favorably with Ecuador and Peru which are stuck with a GDP per capita akin to the US around 1900.

We had another great dinner at "Las Vacas Gordas" - our favorite steak place here in Chile. We also had an opportunity to try another location of the Peruvian "Astrid y Gaston" and it was also yummy!

It isn't really summer until you get to Chile...

It is so good to be in Chile! Why? Let us tell you:
- We can drink the tap water! Wahoooooo! Brush your teeth and drink the water. Yummy!
- We can eat anything we want, anywhere! Wahoooo! The fruits and vegetables are soooo good here!
- The sun doesn't set until at least 9PM. Wahooooo! It is really summer. After five weeks of summer warmth and sunsets at 6:15PM in Ecuador and Peru, it is good to have the long days of summer.
- We can walk everywhere at night. Wahooooo! No bandits (or at least not any more than at home!)
- We don't have to say "sin hielo" anymore. Bring on the ice! Wahooooo!
- Pisco Sours. Wahooooo!
- We've played our last games of Flushin' Roulette. Wahoooooo!
- You can walk down the street and look someplace other than the six inches in front of you without fear of breaking your neck on some "crack" in the sidewalk. Wahoooo!
- You don't have to play "Frogger" when crossing the road. The drivers actually show a degree of respect for pedestrians. Wahoooooo!
- They peel their tomatoes here or as Deborah likes to say, we are eating tomatoes like kings. Wahoooooo!
- The shopkeepers don't look at you as a counterfeiter when you hand them the equivalent of a $20 bill. Wahoooooo!
- The #1 cause of fatalities isn't driving. Wahoooooo!
- Wine isn't taxed through the roof. Less than $20 for a great bottle of wine with dinner. Wahoooooo!
- Starbucks! Wahoooooo!
- No rain for 3 days. Wahoooooo!
- There are rules. And the people respect them. Wahooooo!

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Kayaking in Ecuador

Another great week of kayaking in Ecuador! They say that in the dry season in Ecuador, it rains every day. In the rainy season, it rains all day. Well, we arrived in the dry season only to find that our first kayaking destination – the Quijos Valley – seems a bit confused about what season it really is. River levels were high so after a short warm-up run on the Quijos, we beat a hasty retreat towards Tena in the jungle.

Last year in Tena, we received the full jungle treatment. Crazy hot and humid during the day but while yo are on the river, you hardly notice the heat. What a change a year made! This year, temperatures were quite moderate for all but about 7 hours in Tena this year. The overcast weather made river selection a bit tricky but we managed fun runs on the Upper Mis, the Jatanyacu at very high water, and the Lower Jondachi/Hollin. Arn had been looking forward to the Jondachi/Hollin run for an entire year – since we ran it last year. Without question, his favorite kayak run ever for quality of scenery and fun whitewater too! While in Tena, we went to the Marquis for a $6 steak virtually every night we were in town. The meal would be cheap at 4x the price and we still can’t figure out how it is possible to deliver a delicious filet for that price. We even ordered off the menu as Arn was craving chimichurri sauce on his steak and the chef was more than happy to accommodate him!

After our time in Tena, it was back over the hill for a run on the Cosanga – the town run followed by the continuation of the town run into the “warm up” run for the canyon stretch. We took out before the canyon and had a glorious (but rare) sunny day on the water in the cloud forest. Instead of kayaking on our last day, we took a long care ride to see the tallest waterfall in Ecuador. The entire Quijos river does a spectacular double drop and falls over 500 feet to the floor below.

Back to School

We spent the past 5 days here in Quito in Vida Verde language school.  We quickly got into a routine here.  Wake up at 6:30 or 7:00 AM.  Breakfast at the pastry shop in the hotel - great chocolate pastries - and then off to school.  School was 1:1 instruction at $6.50 an hour and would go till 12:30.  Then it was lunch at a tasty pizza place.  Some days we'd go over to Parque La Carolina and Deborah would walk while Arn ran around the park.  Running at over 9000 feet is painful.  If you start running too quickly, you pay for it.

We had the good fortune of finding some very good restaurants here in Quito.  Sadly, one of the keys to finding great food in Ecuador is to go to a restaurant with a Peruvian chef!  Our favorite place by far is a restaurant called Zazu.  It is easily the best food we've had in South America and one of our top five meals of the past year.  Other good places include Mare Nostrum, Astrid y Gaston and Noe.

On Thursday, as we were wandering around Gringo-landia (an area with lots of foreigners), we heard someone call "ARN."  Imagine our surprise when we saw our friend Becky in the internet cafe there.  We knew she would be in Ecuador but were very surprised to run into her by accident in Quito.  We were hoping to see her and another friend in Tena next week.  Small world!

Tomorrow we head off for a week of kayaking in the cloud forest (Baeza) and in the jungle (Tena).  It will be a repeat of the trip we did here last year.  After that, it is off to Chile on the 18th.

Flushin' Roulette

Another five days in Quito, another five days of Flushin' Roulette.  That is the game we play every time we go to the bathroom.  At the risk of taking this blog further into the toilet, the game works like this.

Step #1: Go to the bathroom.

Step #2: Flush toilet.

Step #3: Hope everything disappears - realizing that paper is never tossed in the toilet here or you are an automatic loser.

Now then, here is when the game gets really interesting.  After one person plays, it is the next person's turn.  And the fact that one person survived the flush means that the next person is playing with what you might call a "loaded chamber" - if you know what we mean.  

Just like a pistol has only six chambers, you can only play "Flushin' Roulette" a few times before switching rooms or finding new locations to try your luck.  That said, changing rooms often means you are joining a "game" in progress.  Just today, we inadvertently checked into a room in which the last resident was clearly a big loser as there was plenty of "water" on the floor of the bathroom and the toilet didn't even flush.  Needless to say, we had to switch locales quickly.

Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain...

During our recent tour of the Galapagos, we were often reminded of that climactic line in "The Wizard of Oz."  We wanted to click our heels together and be back home, even more often than Dorothy.  But we digress to the end and we should begin at the beginning.

Countless people have told us over the years how much we would enjoy a trip to the Galapagos.  The animals and scenery would surely impress us.  As card carrying members of the "bird eater" club instead of the "bird watcher" club, we were very hesitant about commiting to a week on board a boat watching blue-footed boobies do their thing.

Still, with a long trip planned to South America, we felt a trip to the Galapagos could be fun.  Furthermore, we were delighted to find a premium tour company that offered a new multi-sport trip to the Galapagos.  By day we would snorkel, hike, sea kayak and cruise.  And, at night, we'd stay in hotels and eat in restaurants.  This had lots of appeal to us as we don't really like spending lots of time on boats and Deborah wasn't all that keen on snorkeling as she has had trouble breathing through a snorkel in the past.

What a mistake we made.

Our trip was often frustrating and at times rewarding.  The rewarding parts included seeing all of the animals, of course (see some pictures).  The turtles and iguanas - on both land and sea were impressive.  Getting to swim with the turtles and marine iguanas was very cool.  We also enjoyed snorkeling with sea lions and literally dozens of white tipped reef sharks and Galapagos sharks.  Surprisingly, Deborah learned how to use the snorkels we had purchased and actually enjoyed the snorkeling more than any other activity.  We think the dry snorkel (basically a type of snorkel that inhibits sucking in water) really helped make the experience enjoyable.  And, the marine life was really beautiful - as nice as people described.  We had the good fortune to enjoy a beautiful all day hike on Isabela to the second largest caldera (volcano) in the world.  The landscape there was really other-worldly.  And, our all-too-brief sea kayak excursion off of San Cristobal Island was also quite enjoyable.

Sadly, those highlights were mixed with the worst logistics we ever experienced on an "organized" trip.  The Galapagos are a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma - or something like that as Churchill would say.  If you are a tourist on a boat, what is happening on land is largely shielded from your view.  You motor from isolated spot to isolated spot on the islands - believing the illusion that this is a pristine place - it is as it was in Darwin's time.  Sadly, the mystery is revealed as you spend time on land.  On land, you are treated to the enigma of both too little and too much development.  Too little to support the kind of eco-tourism that is thriving in other parts of the world and too much haphazard introduction of alien plant/animal species as well as just really ugly development.  And, while this may sound really harsh, we came away thinking that in some places over there, the now "native" population is suffering from too much in-breeding (remember, there are no indigenous people on the Galapagos).  As two process oriented people that love to optimize things, never have we witnessed the array of idiotic planning and execution as we witnessed at every level while on the islands - the government, the businesses, etc.  We also came away feeling that there was something really missing in how we saw the animals.  It was wonderful to get so close to them and interact with animals that don't have an inate fear of man.  But it felt like a zoo and the sense of discovery that one gets from happening on that herd of mountain goat while backpacking or glancing that bear in the woods while mountain biking just doesn't exist.

So, for us, this was a one-time excusion.  We would strongly advise against a land based trip to anyone considering it and have lots of reservations about recommending a trip there in general.  That said, we are sure that families with kids would love a trip to the Galapagos.  We also know that our view is in sharp contrast to many who view the Galapagos as the most magical place on earth.  We'll stick with our stolen glances of true wildlife encounters in the future.