Chillin' in Chile

Next stop on our trip was Chile. We took a 2+ hour flight from Asunsion, Paraguay to Santiago, Chile. It was a clear day and you could see the flat green lands of Argentina before arriving at the Andes mountains. I considered telling the pilots to ascend a bit more because I thought the plane would scrape its belly on those towering Andes.


Spent one night in Santiago at a classic 70s style hotel. It was on Avenida Libertador which was like Chicago's Michigan Ave or NY City's Broadway. The hotel has no apparent parking so I had to dash in and get directions for a garage. It was all quite challenging, but Tom and Dan told me to calm down, we're on vacation, reminding me that this little glitch wasn't the end of the world. Soon we were in the Bellavista neighborhood eating dinner at an Argentine steak house.

Santiago is quite a big city and we weren't expecting that. And what made it extra challenging was that the street names change even though you never made a turn. One street we traveled changed names 5 times!! Somehow, though, we navigated our way out of the city and into the Andes mountains for our next night.


Stayed at a beautiful resort in a little cabin about 1.5 hours outside of Santiago. The Andes are some of the highest mountains in the world soaring as high as 22,000 feet! You can click on these photos for a closer look. The snow capped mountains were wonderful.





Here is Tom in front of our cabin in the moutains. We loved this stop on our trip.








Hike to a waterfall in the Andes.









Here is Dan on the zip line crossing from one side of the Maipo River to the other.








The next day we drove out of the mountains and down through the Central Valley which is the country's main agicultural region. We saw large-scale farms raising corn, grapes, veggies, etc. Somehow we passed by numerous Chilean wineries and didn't even stop! After 3+ hours we arrived at Pichilemu, a surfing town on the black sand coast. This area is renowned for its great surfing. The water temperature was a crisp 55 degrees.



Dan and I signed up for surfing lessons. We didn't know it but our teacher, Ramon Navarro, is the number 1 professional surfer in the entire country!!! I googled him and sure enough there he was being interviewed on You.tube and surfing in the very area we visited!! We had to wear full wet suits to go surfing. The mere act of putting on and taking off a wet suit is eventful enough, and that doesn't even include the surfing!



Here is Dan with Ramon. Dan did a lot better than I did. I asked Dan what he and Ramon talked about when they were having their lesson. Dan said that he talked about how to get up on the board and balance yourself. Ramon mostly talked to me about how I shouldn't worry, that I was safe with him, and that I should relax and have fun. Hum.




Dan the surfer dude.

Visiting Karen in Paraguay

At last the road dried up so Karen could take us to her little town of Monte Rosario. We drove an hour from Villarrica on asphalt and another hour on dirt/mud before making the 4 km hike. On our walk we passed an entire family who was cutting sugar cane. Only the ones who were too little to work sat waiting in the shade on a blanket. It was a toasty walk for us, and I couldn't imagine being out there cutting cane!




Karen showed us several demonstration fields that she's planted on her own. Tom was impressed to see her thriving corn field. After the corn reaches a certain height or stage she will add in the green manures to fortify the soil and help the corn grow.





The host mom greeted us with hugs and kisses. A little sweat and mud didn't bother her! They invited us over for terere which is drunk communal style...you can see Dan partaking in the picture. He drank and ate all that was offered to him. Karen's family invited us to eat lunch with them which was rice, broth, and a chicken leg...and boiled sweet potato on the side! It was all tasty, especially after that hot walk.



Karen has a veggie garden right outside her house. Since my visit in May she's done a lot to fortify the surrounding fence from those hungry chickens. Dan enjoyed all the animals at the homestead - chickens and chicks, pigs (one was already dubbed "the Christmas Pig"), cows, Lassie and Lassie (all dogs are called Lassie), cats, and Karen's horse which Dan mounted...but the horse didn't go. That might have been a good thing.


One interesting creature in Villarrica is the cayabara, the largest rodent in the world. These buck toothed, short-legged 100+ pound babes are native to South America's floodplains and humid forests, you know, just like the city park in Villarrica! Karen knew this would be of great interest to Dan and so, after three trips to the park we finally encountered one!



Dan said he wants to go back and spend a week with Karen and help her in her fields, enjoy the animals, and hang out with her family. She has such a hard-working, giving family who can make anyone feel a part of the family.






In house-keeping news, I delivered several airline tickets to Karen who, in turn, was to deliver them to her Peace Corps pals at the Thanksgiving feast. It was a great trip and we can't wait to see her at Christmas!


Here is a short video clip of Dan crossing the log into Karen's community. Click the play button twice to start.

There goes VW Bug # 46!!

Greetings from Villarrica, Paraguay! Dan has been punch-bugging us for the last 3 days (he´s up to 46). Who wudda thunk there would be Volkswagon "punch bugs" down here!!??

It is the rainy season here, no doubt about it. That hasn´t stopped us from having a great time. Karen narrowly made it out of her site during a huge rainstorm before the buses stopped running. Once again (like in May), we met at the bus terminal during a tiny shower!

Everything so far (food, South American wine, highways, you know...the basics etc.) has been great. The rain has kept us from visiting Karen´s community, but we´re going to make a concerted effort to get there tomorrow. In the meantime we've been visiting Villarrica, eating well, playing cards, and visiting with Karen!

Today we started down her road to just check out the conditions...it became obvious that we should turn back when, all of the sudden, a white VW bug went slipping by which sent us into gales of laughter only to be followed by Dan´s report that...there goes number 40!
Having lots of fun getting caught up with Karen. She is one tough but sweet cookie!

Arrived in Santiago de Chile

Had 2 great flights and now we are in Santiago for a few hours before going to Paraguay this afternoon. Dan enjoyed the big plane, movies, etc. It is beautiful here. The mountains are amazing. This airport is much nicer than Sao Paulo, Brazil. Very modern and appealing. Next stop, Asuncion, Paraguay!

Getting Ready for South America

We leave to visit Karen in Paraguay on Friday, November 16th! We'll spend half the trip with Karen and then we'll visit Chile for the other half. Dan will miss 3 days of school (which he doesn't mind) and 8 days of basketball (which he minds a lot). I think Shadow will probably take up residence with Duke and Homer during our absence.