It is hard to believe it has been almost a month since our last post. It seems the time has flown by until I think of where we have been and what we have done. Then I realize how full each day has been.
We left rainy Auckland, New Zealand and landed in sunny Santiago, Chile after a very long 14 hour flight. I could do without anymore of those endurance events but at least the movie selection helps to pass the time when sleep is squeezed out by the company of economy seating. The cool thing about flying east across the international dateline is that we arrived in Santiago several hours before we left Auckland. Maybe if I keep doing it, the grays on my head will turn brown again.
Our plan was to spend one night in Santiago, then return to the airport for the 4 hour flight to Punta Arenas, in the way south of Chile. We were meeting our friends Amy and her son Keino to backpack in Torres del Paine National Park in southern Patagonia. Having endured several large changes in timezones and the related jet lag, we stayed up all day (no small effort with cratering kids), and were in bed by 7pm. Our flight was scheduled for 2pm the next day. So much for well structured plans; we were up at 2am thinking it was time to go. We all finally managed to get back to sleep and then were abruptly awoken by the cleaning service at noon. We pulled ourselves together and were out the door in about 20 minutes, to the airport by 1pm, and on the flight by 2pm. Phew...that was a close call. Oh, and did I mention that Charlie managed to maintain his record of vomiting in every country we had visited to that point - just when I thought we were out of the hotel lobby there went Charlie keeping his record. Even as we were congratulating him for the consistency of his effort, we had to clean him up before we could get to the airport.
Puntas Arenas seemed like the end of the world. When I think that Magellan sailed through this region in the mid-1500s braving the continuous howling winds, not knowing that he would eventually be the first to circumnavigate the world, I found it easier to disregard the chill I felt as we walked around town for the evening. The winds seem to blow straight from Antarctica with the cold of the icefields wrapping around everything touched. We saw very little of Punta Arenas because we left the next morning by bus for Puerto Natales. From there we would make our way to Torres del Paine National Park.
Why Torres del Paine National Park? In the 80s and 90s, I read about first ascents of some of the towers in Torres del Paine. Ever since I saw those pictures, I have wanted to see those towers for myself. The plan was for Amy, Keino, Lucy, and Aidan to walk the entire "W" trek that provides views of the most spectacular peaks in the park. Charlie and I would do a simpler version of the "W" trek and meet the other four each evening. Overall, the plan worked very well. Each evening we talked about the places we walked and the views we saw as we relaxed in the very comfortable Refugios. Because we were there during the summer solstice, evenings were really long providing plenty of time for the stories to keep flowing. Though I didn't do the entire walk, the views I had were among the most beautiful I have enjoyed from anyplace I have ever traveled. The combination of glacial carving and soft rock has resulted in the most sculpted cluster of mountains I have ever seen. I know I used a lot of superlatives in this description but what else can I say? Go there yourselves, then you can try to describe it differently. Aidan proved to be a very good hiker, covering as much as 16 miles on some days. That portends for good backpacking when we get back to Colorado.
Our time in the deep south of Chile was fairly short. We flew back to Santiago on Christmas eve. Expert planning by Lucy and Amy set us up to catch a bus to Vina del Mar on the Pacific Coast of Chile and arrive in our apartment in Renaca by the mid evening. Only problem was we didn't have any dinner planned and all of the restaurants were closed for Christmas Eve. Slightly desperate, we walked through town along the beach past snoozing sea lions. Maybe we cashed in a luck card but around 10pm we found a small empanada shop nearing closing time. The owner took pity on us (maybe after he saw the fatigue and hunger on our kid's faces) and stayed open a little longer to make us a sack full of empanadas. The wine shop next door was open (no closing for the purveyor of alcohol) so the adults could enjoy a little vino with the Christmas Eve empanadas. What could be better? Having supped, "we settled down for a long winter's nap".
The next morning, we were all surprised to see that Santa had found our Christmas Lamp (Charlie Brown would be very jealous), placing gifts for all the kids around the base. After a little Christmas breakfast, we strolled the beach front past the still snoozing sea lions. The town was completely changed; all the restaurants were open, all the townspeople were out in the summer sunshine, the surf rolled in. For a northerner, this was the funkiest Christmas I have ever had. But we were with our friends so what could be better?
Several days later we made our way back to Santiago where we first said good-bye to Amy and Keino and then two days later, hello to Lucy's Mom. During those two days, we stayed in a hostel located in Barrio Brasil, a neighborhood with clean and manageable streets and small restaurants, close to the central Plaza de Armas in the heart of Santiago. From our hostel, we could walk to Cerro Santa Lucia for a lovely view over Santiago, or to the more hip Barrio Providencia filled with restaurants and cafes.
Peggy came to visit with us for two weeks. We were happy that Peggy made the huge effort to travel so far to visit us but Aidan and Charlie were especially excited to see their grandmother, whom they were both missing very much during our time away. We went back to the beach at Vina del Mar, staying in another apartment a few blocks from the beach. The apartment was in a 23 story building that afforded us an especially fine view of the world's second largest New Year's Eve fire works display. The display takes place in the large harbor that fronts Vina del Mar and Valparaiso, set off from 10 barges on the water. The entire coast for miles was aglow with wildly colorful fireworks. And we didn't even have to leave our building to ring in the New Year, which made it possible for Aidan to be part of the festivities and for Charlie to sleep in our apartment below us.
As much fun as the beach was, the coolest and most interesting experience for me was the day long walking tour we did in Valparaiso. In the 1800s, next to San Francisco, Valpo was the most important port on the west coast of the Americas. It was the first large port after ships rounded "the Horn". At the tip of South America, Cape Horn was the last hurdle for mariners between the South Atlantic and Pacific Oceans and was notoriously difficult, often greeting ships with gale force winds and wild seas. I bet Valparaiso looked like a paradise to sea weary sailors. In its heyday, Valparaiso was a queen of cities, with everything a world port had to offer. Its fortunes changed though when the Panama Canal opened in the early 1900s. With ships no longer having to "round the Horn", Valpo began a slow and steady slide toward decay. But somehow it avoided a total decline and its former regal presence was still apparent as we walked around the city. I suspect it's been the artists (including Pablo Neruda) who, having long considered Valpo home, maintained an elegance to the city even as its fortunes declined. The art scene is alive and vibrant and was very apparent to us as we walked past colorful murals painted on walls lining the streets. Sure there is a gritty side to Valparaiso, but as a native Porteno, Leo our guide glided us through the city filling us with stories as only a native can tell them. While I found the peaks of Torres del Paine National Park beautiful beyond anything I had ever seen, my favorite cultural experience occurred because of that walking tour of Valparaiso and placed it on my list of places to return to and explore in more depth someday.
We spent several more lovely and lazy days along the coast enjoying the seashore before we climbed onto a bus destined for Mendoza, Argentina. But that is another story for another evening...
Ciao,
Paul
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