Heyalp! Heyalp!

Unfortunately our final day in Valparaiso didn't end well, due to a 'school boy' error on our part.

After dark when we were on our way back to the hostel we decided to get off the main drag which was incredibly busy.... can you see where this is going?

We took one of the really sweet narrow stairways up the hill, we stepped over the young couple who were snogging at the bottom, walked inbetween the two boys who were smoking halfway up and when we got to the top Abs asked a very smartly dressed man if he knew the way to Concepcion..... 

He moved and gestured for us to follow and the next moment he started shouting "BAG!" at Abby and grabbed her bag which she was wearing across her body. He pulled and pulled and after a short tussle the bag strap broke, Abs was on the floor and he ran off.... and then he ran back.... gave the bag back and disappeared.

I have, in idle moments, wondered how I would react in this kind of situation and whether I would be able to scream, (which is the recommended action to take if you are mugged or attacked) turns out I absolutely can I was screaming "Heyalp, Heyalp!" like Penelope Pitstop, and when Abby shouted "Run!" I ran and screamed "Heyalp!".

I'm glad to say that two people did help they called the police who arrived within five minutes and gave us a lift back to our hostel, not a hope of catching the mugger - who incidentally I hope gets better at his chosen profession.

Apart from Abby having a grazed elbow and a broken bag everything's fine - we're just angry that we made a bad decision one that could have had a worse outcome that it did.

Lesson learnt......

Raine x

Oh Christmas tree! Oh Christmas tree!

Christmas Tree at Caleta Portales

If Carlsberg did graffiti.....

We arrived in Valparaiso at 10pm on Tuesday, it's always hard to get your bearings when you arrive in a city at night and so we just walked a couple of blocks to a bar for a couple of beers and some salmon ceviche before hitting the hay.

Valparaiso is a crazy labyrinth of streets and passageways with houses of a  hundred different colours stacked on top of each other high in to the hills. Between 1883 and 1915 a number of 'ascensores' or funiculars were installed to help people up the steep gradients - without our 'wasp waisted' dresses, full skirts and delicate dispositions Abby and I were easily able to walk up, though we did take a ride on the oldest one just for the experience.

One of the 15 'Ascensores de Valparaiso'

In 1906 there was a huge earthquake and a tsunami here which reportedly killed 5000 people and resulted in the vast majority of Valparaiso's buildings being destroyed which I guess explains the apparently random approach to construction here, it really is a higgledy piggledy city and I really like it.

We're staying in an area called Conception on Cerro Alegre in the bohemian quarter, it is jam packed with cool little bars, restaurants, cafes and shops. Almost every wall you walk past is covered in graffiti some of it basic and ill thought through but a lot of it really is art and I apologise to the purists out there but it definitely adds to the charm of this city.

Not just graffiti

Today we took the metro to Caleta Portales a small fishing village where we watched Seagulls, pelicans and seal lions fighting over the fish gut scraps that the Fishermen threw to them.

Food Fight......

Afterwards we went on to Vina del Mar, supposedly a relaxing seaside town but in my opinion it was dull and over developed so we hopped back on the metro to Valparaiso where our walk to the hostel was made all the more pleasurable by a Chocolate & Churros stop. 

However I try and describe this sweet treat I will not be able to do it justice...... Imagine the very best hot chocolate that you have ever dreamt of but have probably never had, thick and creamy and sweet but not too sweet and then into this sweet treat fantasy add the finest lightest fried sticks of doughnutty deliciousness, not heavy or greasy but light on the inside and crispy and sugar dusted on the outside...... I can only imagine that if they had a 'wheel of health' on them they would be 'so red they'd be purple' but fortunately the south Americans have sweet teeth and no food police.

Tomorrow morning we'll be taking the relatively short bus ride to Santiago where we'll be celebrating Abby's birthday on Saturday and Christmas shopping before heading in to Argentina.

See you there.

Raine x

I think we're going to get Piscoed!

We arrived in La Serena just before mid day after our epic 16 hour bus journey where we passed the time by watching Four Weddings and a Funeral and eating Avocado, Cheese and Crisp rolls - the journey was fine and uneventful for us but unfortunately not for the guy sat behind us who had his bag stolen at the first stop. 

La Serena is Chile's second oldest city and we arrived to blue skies and 30 degrees. The B&B was great but La Serena is definitely only a one night stop for us. 

We went for lunch at a great little organic cafe and then walked down to the beach it was so nice to see and hear the sea but it is not an attractive place so we headed back in to the city in time for beer o'clock. An immediate difference that we both noticed is that there are no indigenous people here, everyone is dressed in western clothes with lots of people carrying bags full of Christmas presents and wrapping paper.

After a fairly lazy start to the day on Saturday we checked out of the B&B and walked to the bus station via the organic cafe (Ayawasi) where we stopped for a coffee and a piece of apple pie. 

Our destination, Pisco Elqui was only a two hour bus ride away and we'd been warned that without the sea breeze we should expect a 10 degree increase in the temperature in the valley.

Wahoo! Guess what, we arrived in Pisco Elqui and it was 35C and guess what else, we've booked another night.

 

We have a small cabin, a big pool and access to locally produced ice cold Sauvignon Blanc (Vina Falernia), we're a very short walk from the tiny village which, after last night we know has at least one very good restaurant we shared: bean ceviche (beans, olives and Heart of Palm marinated in lime juice), Squeaky cheese (like Halloumi) served with sun dried tomatoes and a bitter sweet honey dressing and lamb chops with mashed broad beans (how is it that people can not like broad beans) all washed down with a few Pisco's.....

For those of you not on Twitter here's a picture of the garden in our hotel.

It's like an English country garden

Right, I must away as it's almost time for our tour of the Pisco Distilliery - expect either a completely nonsensical blog update later or radio silence for the next 24 hours.

Raine x 

Diego, wake up it's time to go......

On Tuesday we decided to have a slow start to the day..... 

When we'd confirmed our Star Gazing Tour the previous day Ben and I had booked us all on a trip to go Sand Boarding and then on to visit Moon Valley and it wasn't starting until 2pm so it was lie-ins and late breakfasts all round.

We all met up at the pick up point for our tour, unfortunately the one person who didn't turn up was our guide but after an hour or so the agent that we'd booked through managed to find a reserve in Diego who looked about 15 with smashed glasses and the most peculiar beard, grown I imagine to make him look 15.

Whilst he was quite possibly the least effective guide and low energy person I've met we had a great day. 

Sand Boarding was hard work, so much so that Abs and I only did it once - walking up hill on sand, madness! Ben and Anthony went a few times before we called time and decided to wake Diego up to take us to Moon Valley.

Natural!

Naturals!

Moon Valley is a strange barren landscape with sand and stone formations that have been shaped over time by the wind - there hasn't been a single drop of rain in Atacama for over 400 years... It's credited as being the driest place in the world after Antarctica. These are facts that I found out before we arrived I don't get the impression that Diego had got to this part of his studies, or perhaps he fell asleep in that class......

The walk to the Great Sand Dune

At each point of interest Diego dropped us off and told us to be back in 10 minutes, it was very funny and not a problem he'll never know it but he pretty much made the day for me and to be fair when we asked to go to watch the sunset he pulled it out of the bag.

Sun setting Moon Valley

Sunset Moon Valley

After drinking our Cristal (remember it's a beer) sundowner it was pack to town for dinner and then Abs, Phoebe and I sat outside a bar close to our hostels and drank too many too strong Caipirinhas which resulted in my first hangover of the trip, I wasn't in a fit state to do anything other than drink fruit juice and eat ice cream the next day and can only imagine how Phoebe got through her 13 hour bus journey to Salta in Argentina.

Last supper....

Next is our first 16 hour bus journey which is to La Serena it will break the back of our trip to Santiago which is where we need to cross over in to Mendoza in Argentina.

Raine x

Starry starry nights

Monday was  one of those days that seemed to go on forever but for a day that started badly it ended beautifully.

Without knowing the shape that our day was going to take Abs and I had booked a star gazing tour in Atacama at 9pm on Monday evening, something that I've been looking forward to since I left England. 

We had a few hours to kill and after checking in to our respective hostels we met up with Martin & Jeanine, Ben & Phoebe and Gabby & Anthony in the Plaza de Armas for a couple of beers, lunch and a Pisco.

The events of 10 hours before are long forgotten.....

Les, who was the Astonomer and Guide on the Space Obs tour was both funny and interesting, there were a number of telescopes set up so that we could see amongst other things, Sirius the sky's brightest star which is beautiful when you look at it through a telescope and the 'Spider' constellation, which is without a doubt the sparkliest most appealing spider that I've ever seen.

It was so interesting to learn a little of the 'history' of stars - the tour finished with a cup of hot chocolate and bed just before 1am.

It was a long day and one that will stay in my memory for lots of reasons, primarily because it was the first time I'd seen Sirius up close - truly an amazing and captivating sight.

Raine x

Our driver's been drinking all night????

As we were sleeping in a dorm as soon as Martin's Swiss Army Knife App alarm went off at 4:30 we were all up and trying to dress by the light of a head-torch without exposing bits of ourselves.

I thought  it was strange that there was no one in the kitchen making breakfast when I went to brush my teeth (in the shared bathroom) at 04:45am as breakfast was due to be at 5am. I mentioned it in passing when I got back to the room and Jeanine joked about the fact that the previous night she had bet that we wouldn't leave before 7am.

Then a little after 5am Israel was banging on a door down the hall, clearly without much success as about 10 minutes later he told us that the lady who was supposed to be making our breakfast had overslept and that we would get breakfast at the Hot Springs which was going to be our first stop of the day followed by the Geysers and then the Green Lake before being dropped at the border for our crossing in to Chile.

Shortly after that I commented that I hadn't seen any of the drivers and Richard went to see if he could find them, returning five minutes later having seen no sign of them. A few minutes later I went to see if I could find Israel or the drivers to find out what the plan was.... no sign of anyone..... It's important to remember that we were in the middle of the desert more than 2 hours from the border with Chile and 8 hours from Uyuni with no mobile or radio communication....

As I was about to go back in to the refuge a 4X4 pulled up with six people in it, I was looking to see if I could see our drivers in the car when the driver got out and stumbled towards me saying "Tienes un Problema?" (Do you have a problem?) I responded sarcastically saying "do I have a problem?" and then realised that probably wasn't the best thing to do, he was falling down drunk, as it turns out were all of the other drivers who quite literally fell out of the car behind him.

Then I'm not quite sure what happened next but our driver from the previous day walked up to Israel our guide and poured a can of beer over his head, Israel lamped him and then there was blood everywhere and we changed from tour group in to UN peace keeping mission trying to negotiate a good outcome for everyone - it's not easy to negotiate with angry drunks. 

Ben, Emanuelle and Martin took the lead in trying to negotiate our collective way out of the situation, 

Abs, Phoebe and I walked the length of the refuge (four other buildings) asking if any cars were going to Chile with spaces but there weren't any. Then we found two men at the end of the block who we offered $300 dollars to but they claimed not to have any petrol. 

Ben, Emanuelle and Martin, in between stopping the fighting offered to drive the cars themselves, tried to bribe the drivers and at one point we seriously talked about the possibility of tying the drivers up (I am not joking) and taking the cars.

Eventually another tour group who were on their way to Uyuni offered us their driver to take us to Chile and then return to take them on their tour which was incredibally kind, they were 'paying it forward'.

The two hour trip to the border was quite stressful, there were too many people in it, there was too much luggage on the top of it and the driver was going too fast which made for some hair-raising moments on the bends. I don't think any of us thought we were going to make it, apart from Martin who in his lovely Swiss way kept trying to help everyone through the trip.

With the border in sight we breathed a collective sigh of relief but when we pulled up, the bus driver who coincidentally was our 4x4 drivers boss insisted that we pay $200 and he spoke to the border police who wouldn't stamp us out of Bolivia until we'd paid it - we initially thought it was a scam but it wasn't it. Any way to cut what is becoming a long story short we paid our money, got stamped out of Bolivia and arrived in San Pedro de Atacama in Chile, somewhere that I'm really looking forward to.......

UN Peacekeeping Mission

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Raine x