Unseasonal greetings

I was a bit confused as to what to celebrate this year. As an evangelical atheist I'm not happy doing Christmas, but as most of the traditions we associate with it are generally derived from the older yuletide/solstice/Saturnalia festivals I can find enough of a technicality to still enjoy myself. The last time we were in the southern hemisphere in December in Oz there were no real local traditions to conflict with, so I stuck with the northern hemisphere schedule.

This year in South America however, there is a competing tradition for the shortest day, called Inti Raymi. Problem is, that was in June when we were still in the northern hemisphere, and just like the north there is no real festival for the longest day. So, we'll have to improvise.

Common to all solstice festivals seems to be eating and drinking too much, so that is always a good start. We usually try to do local food and drink and as Chile is primarily wine country we decided to let that set the agenda, so:

Brunch
Vina Mar sparkling rose from the Casablanca valley - we visited the winery a couple of weeks ago. Supported by hot smoked salmon from the Patagonian Fjordlands down south and scrambled eggs - Maria's favourite.

Lunch
Vina Cousino Macul rose - the winery is in south eastern Santiago and we visited yesterday so Kevin could do his first winery tour. Accompanied by fresh asparagus with hollandaise sauce, and Patagonian mussels mariniere.

Vina Cousina Macul 1989 Cabernet Sauvignon - Kevin's treat - with local pork pate stuffed mushrooms.

Vina Cousina Macul quirky Merlot - again, Kevin's choice from his tasting and very different to most Merlots in that it is very tannic with a strong wood influences, almost like a port. With slow cooked pork ribs as the closest we could get to belly pork in the local supermarket, and in a complete bizarre twist, a light marinade of barbecue sauce from Tiptree in Essex, all of 15 miles from where Kevin and I grew up. How this happens to be in a supermarket in deepest darkest Chile we have yet to work out.

Vina Cousina Macul Syrah - still my favourite grape. And something to go with the variety of local cheeses.

Unfortunately they don't have a big tradition of fortified or sweet dessert wines here, but I did knock up a seasonal summer pudding as there is a lot of soft fruit grown here, including the first redcurrants we have seen in years. Kevin created a mini tree, complete with flashing lights, which made it feel more festive.

We decided to forgo the pasta and broad beans as we have to get up early tomorrow for our flight to Rapa Nui.

Run out of tarmac

This is as far south as we will be driving on the Chilean mainland - the first ferry on the Carretera Austral. After this it becomes a mostly dirt road with a few campsites and a lot more ferries. Alternatively you have to cross over the Andes into Argentina to find roads going south, and it would have been at least another 10 days of driving to loop further south into Patagonia proper, and it would have just been too much to fit in before heading back to Santiago and Rapa Nui.

We may technically get slightly further south on Thursday when we head over to Isla Chiloe on the ferry to see the penguins with Kevin, and it's possible we could still fly down to Southern Argentina after Kevin goes back and we have sold the car at Iguazu, but this is the end of the main road south.

Southern Chile - coast and rivers

From Vina del Mar on the coast we took route 66 south and by-passed the capital Santiago as we'll be back there for Christmas. We then picked up the main highway, route 5 through Curico, and visited Radal Siete Tazas National Park on the way. We had a nice hike to Siete Tazas (seven cups) which is made up of seven consecutive natural pools and their respective waterfalls.

There are also two high waterfalls, La Leona (the Lioness) with a 20m drop

and the Velo da la Novia (the Bridal Veil) with a 40m drop

 

From here we continued down to Chillan then back to the coast/Biobio river mouth at Concepcion.  Just south of the city is the geographic centre of Chile, so only halfway down. We had a few relaxing days in Concepcion, discovering the city and the coast. We visited the Huascar, an ironclad turret ship built in England for Peru in 1864 for the war against Spain. It was the flagship of the Peruvian navy and participated in a number of battles before being captured and commissioned into the Chilean Navy in 1879. It is one of the few surviving ships of its type, has been restored and is now a memorial ship.

accessing the ship

Along the pier there were a number of very large sea lions, including these that wanted to come onshore but the gate blocked their path. 

 hanging out with the boys on a Sunday afternoon and making lots of noise

From Concepcion we continued our journey south and visited Salto del Laja, or Laja Falls on the way. The tallest drop is 35m but it's 455m wide. It certainly makes the top 5 waterfalls in the world that we've seen so far. Mark went in for a closer look and got a bit damp

Further south into the Los Rios (the river) region of southern Chile and the town of Valdivia. Its at the juncture of three rivers, the Calle-calle, Valdivia and Cruces and near the coast. The town was founded in 1552 by the Spanish conquistadors and some years later the Fort System south of Corral Bay were built to protect Valdivia. We took a ferry across the bay to Corral to see one of them. 

Tomorrow we head further south to Patagonia and Puerto Montt.

Northern Chile

The last 3 weeks travelling down northern Chile has been interesting. The landscape was very arid and desolate.

We stayed in Arica for two nights to get established in the country (i.e. get a local phone, currency, etc.) It was nice to be back in civilisation again as Chile is the only developed country in South America - and it shows. Mark had to revert to being a polite driver again i.e. stopping at crossings for pedestrians and so on. Arica is a port city only 18kms/11miles south of the Peru border and is also known as the driest inhabited place on earth with an annual rainfall of only 0.76mm/0.03 inches, although the town of Antofagasta also makes a claim on this title (see below).

At the top of Morro Hill the view of entire bay and city below is quite something.

Arica is also the home of the Chinchorro mummies - the remains of people from the Chinchorro culture and are the oldest examples of artificially mummified human remains, dating from around 5050 BC. The earliest Egyptian mummy found is dated around 3000 BC. The remains were found as builders dug the ground works for a new hotel - needless to say the hotel never got built. Now the complex is a museum where the remains are still in place covered by glass so as to preserve them. It was really strange walking across the glass floor.

We headed down the coast to the town of Iquique and had a lovely walk along the beach.

From Iquique we headed down to the port of Antofagasta and the most expensive place in Chile so far. It is closely linked to mining activity and has the highest GDP per capita of Chile. The mountains made for a great backdrop for the city. The Atacama desert coast is extremely arid and means the town of Antofagasta only receives an annual average rainfall of less than 0.1mm. On occasion they do get heavy rainfall causing mud flows and landslides.

From Antofagasta we took the inland route 5 and past the Mano Del Desierto or Hand of the Desert. The sculpture is 11m high and can be seen from quite a distance.  

After spending a bit of time by the highway while Mark tinkered with the fan belt, we carried on south to Copiapo, then Coquimbo where the landscape became greener, and on to Valparaiso, a journey of over 1,300 miles.
During the second half of the twentieth century many wealthy families left Valparaisio and the opening of the Panama Canal meant a reduction in ship traffic for the port, serious blows to the economy. The city has slowly recovered over the last 15 years and now attracts artists to the hillside historic districts and there are many buildings with murals and colourful graffiti.

From Valparaiso we had a day trip to the Casablanca valley and visited a couple of wineries. Even though we enjoyed the tastings, it is very expensive here at around US$6 for a quarter of a glass. When we can buy a bottle for around US$15 I think we will take our chances in future and do that instead.

From Valparaiso we moved along the coast a bit to Vina Del Mar and enjoyed a few relaxing days there.

Now we're heading south through the lakes and national parks towards Puerto Montt and Patagonia

Bolivia

The small town of Copacabana is on the shores of Lake Titicaca.

At an altitude of over 3,800m/ 12,500ft, the lake is the world's highest navigable body of water and is 190kms/118miles long by 80kms/50 miles wide and is said to be the birthplace of the Incas. It is also incredibly deep with a maximum depth of 284m/932ft. We took a boat out to the "Floating islands", man-made islands made from thick buoyant reeds by the Uros people. According to legend, the Uru people migrated from the Amazon to the lake area but were oppressed by the local population so built the reed islands so they could be moved into deep water for greater safety.

From Copacabana, we headed to La Paz. The main highway crosses the Strait of Tiquina, separating the big lake from the little lake. The only way across is by ferry which are more like barges. Busses and trucks cross this way too, although the barge we were on needed a bit more attention

We left the car in La Paz and took the overnight bus with sleeper seats to Uyuni (10 hours in which Mark slept most of the way) and joined a 3 day/2 night tour of the salt flats (Salar de Uyuni) and surrounding area. Unfortunately it was Mark's turn to be unwell thanks to a bout of food poisoning from lunch in La Paz, so he didn't really see much of day one. I, on the other hand, took the opportunity to see as much of the area as I could. Salar de Uyuni is the world's largest salt flats at 11,000 sq km compared with Bonneville in the US which is just over 103 sq kms. January 2019 is the fifth year that the Dakar will cross Bolivia.

some trick shots our driver took

 the other three passengers - the boys from Brazil in Fabio's hat

The flats

Incahuasi - an 'island' in the middle of the salt flats where the strange cacti grow

I had a very peaceful walk around the island

Day 2 on the road again into Eduardo Avaroa Andean Fauna National Reserve

Arbol de Piedra, or "stone tree"

No wonder we were out of breath

Day 3 - up at 4am to set out for the geysers at sunrise

and the thermal pools at 38C - 40C were very welcoming in the chilly 6am sunshine

Lago Blanco

 the 'world cup' and other rock formations

 a bear and a dog?

 Lago Negro

At the end of the day we caught the overnight bus from Uyuni back to La Paz. Again, we had sleeper seats but the bus stopped a few times before midnight, and the driver was heard banging bits of metal before setting off again. The last time was fatal and the bus had broken down. To be fair to the company, two other buses turned up before the lights went on and woke every one else up and we found seats and carried on sleeping until we arrived in La Paz on time at 6am. We were lucky enough to be able to check into our Airbnb apartment at 8am, have a nice hot shower and get a few hours sleep before exploring the city again for a few days. This time, the 3,650m altitude didn't seem much of a problem as it had been before.

The next day we decided to ride the various cable car lines and see the city from above

Not sure  where La Paz finished and El Alto began

It was an interesting drive out of La Paz as the steep gradient and altitude meant the car wouldn't do more than 15kph and Mark was on tenterhooks incase it stalled, but we made it out with no problems.
On our way to Chile we passed a number of volcanoes and taking photos out of the window on the move is always interesting. In fact, I couldn't have framed this shot better if I had tried.

Now we are in Chile and the adventure continues...