Elqui Valley: Awesome

I haven't blogged much recently. I just can't really be bothered- I love my life here but it's not all that exciting. It's usually just a mix of walking the dogs, hanging out with friends and going to Santiago every now and again. I would be blogging about the flat renovations in Santiago but they're on hold for about a month, so we'll probably restart when I get back from England after Christmas.

But I went last week to Elqui with a lady friend and it's such an awesome place that I really thought I should share.

It's a bit of a drive to get there from Santiago, which is where we started out from on Tuesday morning. It's even more of a drive when you decide to take the scenic route through Ovalle and over the mountains direct to Vicuna, instead of the 5 Norte via La Serena. Still, it was worth the extra time and the 140km of single track dirt road with sheer drops to one side and goats running around trying to force you off the edge every now and again. The views were amazing the constant changes in the colour of the ground was interesting.

See- pretty.

We arrived late afternoon in Pisco Elqui, the last village in the valley with paved roads and a really gorgeous little place full of well-maintained adobe houses.

There's lots of accommodation around as well and we got lucky with the first place we tried. Los Datiles has pretty decent cabanas but the grounds and the garden are incredible, a real oasis of loveliness.

We didn't really do all that much apart hang out, relax and admire the stunning scenery. The green vines against the backdrop of the dry mountains, which look like cardboard cut-outs is just amazing.

But we did make it the 5 km down the road to Montegrande, birthplace of one of Chile's two Nobel Prize winners, Gabriela Mistral (the other being Pablo Neruda, obvio). The museum/house devoted to her is pretty poor but the Plaza and church are nice for a few minutes.

And a few more minutes down the road is the valley's only winery, Cavas del Valle (well, Falernia's also in Elqui but much closer to La Serena. The rest of the vines are all to make Pisco, for which the valley is famous). They make an interesting Syrah which I enjoyed enough to buy a bottle of and a couple of less than interesting whites, both of which I found to be almost undrinkable (although some people really like them). It's well worth a drop in as there are very few truly boutique wineries in Chile and they need to be supported.

We also spent a few hours in La Serena- a very pretty historic centre and a windy as hell beach.

That's Coquimbo giving La Serena the finger.

And that's about all for now.

Top 5 Wanders In Valparaiso

• Around Cerro Concepcion and Cerro Alegre.

-Start at the bottom of Ascensor Concepcion on calle Prat and take a ride on the oldest funicular in Valparaiso. Wander along Paseo Gervasoni, past the hotel and then double back on calle Papudo and then take a left towards Paseo Atkinson. Walk along Paseo Atkinson, avoid going into the horribly over-rated and terribly run Brighton and then go right on Beethoven. You'll see the Iglesia Luterana on your right; if it's open go in and have a look, it's worth a few minutes. Walk right out of the church until calle Templeman and take a left past the Iglesia Anglicana (only open on Sundays). Take a right down Pasaje Templeman (there's a silver workshop on the corner) and walk down the steps. Stop at the bottom and look up at the awesome red casa crucero, a house completely renovated by yours truly.

Go left down Pasaje Galvez, down the steps and across Urriola. Walk up through Pasaje Bavestrello and at the top you'll find the other casa crucero in the neighbourhood. Continue down towards the sea to Paseo Yugoslavia and admire the embarrassingly crumbly Palacios Astoreca and Barburizza.

Walk back around and up calle Miramar, taking a left on calle Lautaro Rosas, Valpo's fanciest street. At the end, turn left down Alte Montt and head back down to Cerro Concepcion.

• Along Avenida Alemania to Cerro Bellavista.

Start at the top of Cerro Alegre in Plazuela San Luis and walk left along Avenida Alemania. There's not much to see along this route apart from the incredible views of the port, Andes and Pacific. Do take a look at the clown museum on Plaza Bismark, though. Keep going until you reach Neruda's house, La Sebastiana, on Cerro Bellavista.

• The cemeteries and ex-prison.

An essential walk to get a feeling for Valpo's history. Start in Plaza Anibal Pinto and walk up calle Cumming. After a few minutes walk, you'll find three cemeteries on your left, Numero 1, Numero 2 and Disidentes. Take an hour or more to wander through the graves of Valparaiso's oldest and most illustrious families and look at all the different nationalities who came to make Valpo one of the richest and more cosmopolitan cities in South America.

After the cemeteries, head across the street to the ex-carcel to see some fantastic graffiti and the cultural centre.

• Plaza Sotomayor to Cerro Artilleria

Start off in Plaza Sotomayor and walk along calle Serrano. Poke your head into the awesome Bar La Playa for a quick beer. Just past the bar on the same side of the street there's a huge wooden door- if it's open, walk up the marble steps to see what was once one of the grandest offices in Valpo...

Continue to Plaza Echaurren and take a vistazo in Iglesia La Matriz, Valpo's oldest church. Afterwards, keep walking along Serrano until you hit ascensor Artilleria. Take the funicular up to Paseo 21 de Mayo and pay 500 pesos to go into the surprisingly good Naval Museum.

• Plaza Anibal Pinto to Plaza O'Higgins.

This is a Sunday walk. Wander across Plaza de la Intendencia towards Plaza Victoria. Spend a few minutes in Plaza Victoria admiring the trees and fountain. Walk all the way along Avenida Pedro Montt until you reach Plaza O'Higgins, taking in the Teatro Victoria on the way. Upon reaching your destination, you'll find the stunningly ugly Congress building and a small antiques market.

Punta Arenas, Puerto Natales and Torres del Paine.

Well, I have been a really bad blogger of late. A mix of work and feeling like I just couldn't be bothered have meant I haven't posted for a long time. The latter feeling hasn't really gone away, to be honest, but as I've got nothing else to do at the present moment...

A couple of weeks ago I went down to Punta Arenas with a friend so we could go visit Torres del Paine National Park. This was my first trip down to Patagonia, having been no further than Chiloe before, and it was very last minute.

We arrived on a Tuesday afternoon in pouring rain. It was cold. I remarked, quite cheerfully, that 'it's just like England'. When it got dark, soon after, the remark changed to, 'My god, it's just like England. Gah!' My first impressions were not great.

Next day, however, there was a bit of sunshine and we went for a walk around town and to the awesome cemetery. Punta Arenas was settled by British, French, German and Italians. But it was the Croatians who really left their mark. Croatian business names abound and the cemetery is full of Croatian tombs.

From the cemetery there are fantastic views out across the Magellan Straights over to Tierra del Fuego.


Santo Popular, Indiecito




After the cemetery, we wandered to the town centre with the inevitable Plaza de Armas. This was when I realised that Punta Arenas is actually a pretty beautiful town. The architecture all around the plaza is gorgeous, all reflecting the European influence in the town's history. Some of the wrought iron work reminded me of Buenos Aires and the complete lack of graffiti made a refreshing change from the rest of Chile. Punta Arenas is also a very safe place to wander around at pretty much anytime of the day or night. If it weren't for the driving rain, wind and snow, it might be a pretty cool place to live...

I thought this place had been shut down by the US government.

On the Plaza



One of the architects who designed the Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires also designed the theatre in Punta Arenas. Not quite so special, really.




If you touch the indio's foot, you'll be returning to Punta Arenas. Dan was very excited.




Punta Arena's most spectacular attraction: A pole.


Our lovely host, Crissa.


Rainbow Part I


Rainbow Part II

That afternoon we set off for Puerto Natales, the gateway town to Torres del Paine. The yellow pampas for the entire 3 hour bus ride get old quite quickly but the sky, which you feel as though you can actually touch it's so close, is a constant wonder. Also, back in 1978, Chile and Argentina came this close to war. The Chilean military laid mine fields and massed most of its forces, waiting for an Argentine attack that was only averted by the Pope getting involved. Argentina decided to attack the Falklands instead in 1982 to drum up nationalistic pride, but that didn't end very well for them.

Anyway, Argentina didn't invade Patagonia by force. It found a more insidious way of conquering Chile: through technology. I received the following text message whilst still deep inside Chilean territory.

Puerto Natales has a reputation of being nothing more than a jumping-off point to Torres del Paine but I quite liked the place. The views across the water are spectacular, there are some decent restaurants (in particular the incredibly good pizza place on the corner of the Plaza) and there's a very laid back feel to everything. Still, we left early the next morning.

On the way to the park, the yellow pampas slowly gave way to greenery and towering mountains. Guanacos and sheep intermingled and we passed a lake full of flamingoes. Out of nowhere, the Torres del Paine revealed themselves. The bus driver slammed his brakes on and suggested everyone get out and take a photo as we probably wouldn't see them again; bad weather was on its way. Oh.

The hostel workers said the same thing. So we set off immediately on the trek up to the viewing point. It's about a 4 hour hike up and 2 or so back down. We started off in sunshine. It didn't last. The wind picked up, it started to rain and I was forced to put my 400 peso hi-vis plastic mac on. It turned out to be the best 400 I ever spent as it kept me dry-ish until we hit the...snow on the last 45 minutes. That soaked through all my clothes and left me shivering until we arrived back at the hostel in the dark.

Lovely sunshine:

But, at the top, the view that greeted us was this:

Apparently, on a nice day it looks like this (from www.visitchile.com):

The painfully inevitable graffiti (that's all there is but still...)

Still, it was worth the hike. The views when the sun was out at the start were pretty cool and I needed the exercise. I'd fueled up by eating several lambs (best in South America but still not as good as NZ or Welsh lamb), pizza, crisps, chocolate milk and biscuits. I'd assumed we'd be doing at least 3 days hiking. We did just the one.

Next day, we decided to head back to Puerto Natales as the weather forecast was poor for the next few days. The early morning views of two of the three Torres was spectacular from the hostel, but it soon disappeared.

The following day, we set off on a boat tour to see a couple of glaciers. Dan was obsessed with the things for some reason and was very excited. Personally, I just see them as extremely slow moving rivers. However, the boat trip was very cool, the scenery was amazing and at the end of the day, I got to eat another couple of lambs.

Serrano Glacier

Balmaceda Glacier (just 20 years ago it reached all the way to the water)

Back in Punta Arenas later that night we headed out for Australs with Crissa. And then the next day we wandered around town a bit more, saw the sights and did what any self-respecting person does on a cold, wintry Sunday; cake and coffee.

And then we flew home. Patagonia, when the sun comes out, is stunningly beautiful. When it's cold, wet and windy it's like England on a December afternoon. Not so great. But not so bad when you're drinking in a warm pub.

Next stop: La Carretera Austral.

Life in General

So as I mentioned before, I've been really busy with work and play over the past few weeks. I still am pretty busy so this might be my last post for another short while.

First off, a couple of weeks ago I went with some friends to see Radiohead. I love Radiohead and will happily name them as my favourite band of all time. Completely awesome. I'd last seen them live in 1995, at the quite fantastic Glastonbury festival (before they erected the giant concentration camp fence to stop people like me sneaking in for free). It was just a month or so after they'd released OK, Computer and they put on a pretty amazing show.

The Santiago show was better. In Rainbows, their last album is probably their best. I can't believe that after almost 20 years they're still getting better. They played for almost two hours and thankfully avoided playing Creep, my least liked Radiohead song. They did play Just, though, one of my favourites and the song that spawned my favourite music video. Watch and make sure you read the text along the bottom.



After Radiohead, we went down to Santa Cruz for the weekend and once again stayed in the quite lovely Hotel Casa de Campo. I finally got to eat in one of the best Peruvian restaurants in Chile, La Casita de Barreales. So good...We also met up with some friends in Curico, which was nice.

Curico, on top of the hill:


And then I got an email from an old friend from university saying that she needed a holiday and could she come and visit for Easter. I asked whether she realised Easter was 10 days away, she said 'yes' and then bought a ticket. Her short trip actually made me realise that you can do a lot in a very short time here in Chile. Anne arrived on Thursday morning and left on Tuesday evening. In that time, we toured Valparaiso, had lunch at El Chiringuito in Zapallar, met up with friends, went for dinner at Pastis (a new French restaurant on Cerro Concepcion- pricey but highly recommended), spent an afternoon lazing around on a friend's terrace drinking wine, headed back down to Santa Cruz for two days and then did lunch in Puerto Peru in Santiago followed by an afternoon of Santiago touring. That's actually quite a lot of stuff. And quite a lot of eating and drinking as well. It's taken me two days to be able to eat anything heavy.

Zapallar


One of the things we did in Valparaiso was go to the Museo Lukas, the former home of Renzo Pecchenino, cartoonist for several newspapers in Chile and in Latin America. The house is on Paseo Gervasoni, on Cerro Concepcion and has been beautifully restored to house a museum of Lukas' drawings, a cafe and an art-house cinema. I highly recommend a visit. Some of his cartoons are hilarious and really accurately satirise Chilean society. Here are a few I enjoyed (click to enlarge and read the text on them) :






Down in Santa Cruz this time, we went on a tour of Viña las Niñas, a French, all female owned vineyard in the Apalta Valley. There you can do a tour of the vineyard on bikes, run by the friendly and knowledgeable Claudia. As it's out of season, there were no other tourists so we spent two hours lying around and then tasting wine in the sun by a duck-filled lagoon. I really recommend the tours there and Claudia is also trying to get a rent-a-bike and wine tour business off the ground, something I think should be supported. They also produce the only Chardonnay I have ever liked. I even came home with a bottle.





It was really nice having Anne to visit. Not only did we have a fantastic time, but it's also good to be with people who have known me for a long time. Everyone I know in South America I've known for a maximum of 5 and a half years. Old friends are easier to be with sometimes.

I've also made quite a monumental decision over the past few weeks. You'll have to wait to hear that news though.