Thanksgiving, Dia de Minero Dinners and Christmas Baking

We celebrated our third Thanksgiving here in Chile.  Thanksgiving 2010 (celebrated the Saturday after Thanksgiving) was spent for the second year in a row, at the home of Josh and Tracey Olmsted.  We were joined by the new expat arrivals: Cory and Tammy Stevens and their two children, Jack and Alex, and Casey and Michelle Clayton.  The three instructors for the international school joined us again (they are learning to enjoy the strange foods we serve at Thanksgiving) as did Elana.  Elana is Chilean, speaks excellent English and assists the expat children in their transition into the Chilean classroom. 

Although three of us baked a turkey and all of us brought side dishes, Tracey and Norma spent a lot of time in the kitchen.

I grabbed a photo before we all dug in....

Following this Thanksgiving feast, several of us tried to nap because that night was the first of the three Dia de Minero (Miner's Day) dinners.  They started at 8:30 p.m. with the mine managers and spouses standing in a line to greet each person attending.  Anticipated attendance for each dinner was 250 people -- that is a lot of cheek kissing let me tell you!  We headed to our table at 10 p.m. and the festivities began.  We were served appetizers, a before dinner drink (or two), raffles were conducted, and then dinner was served, followed by the crowning of the queen for each mine area (think back to the days of prom.)

I grabbed a photo before the attendees arrived.

On the left are Cory and Tammy Stevens and on the right are Johnny and Susan Blizzard, our new expat arrivals.  Susan is pretty darn incredible.  She arrived on Thur. and attended the third (and final!) dinner that Saturday -- imagine moving to a new country, don't know the language or customs (remember the part about having to kiss a bunch of people you don't know on the cheek) and listening to a comedian who must have gone on for at least 45 minutes (and you don't understand a word.)











This young lady was at each dinner as well.  Her job was to collect the raffle tickets. 

We had a famous Chilean recording artist (Mario Guerrero) that all of the Chilean women (and some men) wanted their pictures taken with.  (FYI: didn't and haven't bought any of his music...)









Michelle and Casey

And, there were a few glasses on the table

Odessa, my expat buddy when I first arrived in Calama (she moved away in January -- gosh I miss her!) started the tradition of baking Christmas goodies for the people that do so much for us here in the compound where we live.  So, between Tammy, Michelle, Susan and me -- the tradition lives on!

After we loaded up the plates and delivered them, we returned to the patio for a cup of tea (yes! tea...).

Today is Thursday, December 16.  Larry and I leave Calama on the evening of Tuesday, December 21 -- destination -- Easter Island.  What a way to spend my birthday (#55 - ouch!) and Christmas.  We return to Calama on the 27th with plans of hosting a New Year's gathering of some sort at our home on New Year's Day.  Until then ...Merry Christmas to all and do believe my next post will be in 2011! 

Puerto Varas November 2010

We've now lived in Chile for two years, one month, and 18 days as I write this blog.  It has taken nearly that long for me to get that the approximately 3,000 miles of Chile (north to south), with an average of 112 miles wide, is divided into 15 regions.  We live in El Region de Antofagasta, Region II, in the northern part of Chile.  Puerto Varas is located in El Region de Los Lagos in Region X.  The regions are numbered using Roman numerals beginning in the north and continuing south.  Total flying time would be approximately three hours if we could fly nonstop from Calama; however, we had a short wait in Santiago before catching our plane to Puerto Montt and then took a 20 minute taxi ride to Puerto Varas leaving Calama around 7:30 a.m. arriving Puerto Varas around 12:30 p.m. leaving us an afternoon to being our vacation.

We previously flew into Puerto Montt early in 2009 on our way to Torres del Paine and knew we wanted to return after seeing a huge, perfectly cone-shaped, snow-covered volcano at the end of a beautiful sapphire blue lake.  We later learned the volcanoes name is Osorno and the lake's name is Llanquihue (sounds like: yankeyway).  There is also another volcano clearly visible from Puerto Varas called Calbuco.

Frommer's tells us that, "few destinations in the world rival the lush scenery of Chile's Lake District."  Upon landing in Puerto Montt and experiencing the clean air, seeing vibrant green plant life and flowering plants, I had to question myself as to whether it was as spectacular as it seemed or was it that we'd just left Calama in the Atacama Desert?  By the end of our four-night stay, I no longer wondered, I knew my thinking had become warped as a result of living in the Atacama and that this was truly a special location.

El Volcan Osorno



El Volcan Calbuco

We had read that Puerto Varas had a "European" feel to it.  Although I love traveling Chile, many of the cities we've visted aren't always clean (think dogs running at large and people not always recognizing the purpose of a garbage can) and therefore, Puerto Varas stands out regarding cleanliness as well as building architecture, which is attributed to the influence of the German population, which began arriving (by invitation from the Chilean government) in the mid 1800s.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_Chilean

We began our 3 1/2 day stay in Puerto Varas upon arrival by renting a car and driving to the Parque Nacional Vicente Perez Rosales and the Saltos del Rio Petrohue, Todos los Santos Lake and a trip as far as the road would take us up the Osorno volcano -- where there is a ski area.  It is a steep road and the trip down made us glad we weren't doing this during the snowy season.  (I think you can click on each photo to see a larger view?)  The collage pictures are all from the Saltos del Rio Petrohue.

This is a picture of Todos los Santos Lake which feeds the Petrohue River.  The Todos los Santos Lake is the route you can take by boat to Argentina and ultimately Bariloche which we'd like to do ... someday.

This is a photo taken from the end of the road on the drive up Osorno with Lake LLanquihue and Calbuco in the background.

 The Osorno Ski Area

The reason for this particular vacation was in celebration of Larry's birthday -- November 13th.  We started the day with a walking tour of Puerto Varas to see homes constructed in the early 1900s.  The walking tour was marked with arrows on the sidewalks to guide us, and each home had a sign in front describing what type of wood was used to construct the home, when it was constructed and for what family.  The home in the photo below was the most grand and named Casa Kuschel, constructed in 1915.

Our walking tour included a visit to Iglesia del Sagrado Corazon de Jesus (Church of the Sacred Heart of Jesus) which was built between 1915 and 1918.  The church is made entirely of oak and modeled after a church in the Black Forest.

Following our walking tour, we drove to the little village of Frutillar (founded in 1856) also located on Lake Llanquihue.  It is known for its unique German immigrant influenced architecture as well as views of Osorno and Calbuco.  Frutillar has a newly constructed huge concert hall and the influence of music in this little town is evident along the walkway adjacent to the lake.  On this day, there was a bit of cloud cover over the volcanos.  Osorno's top is barely visible on the other side of the lake in the middle of this picture.  We found a little restaurant here to enjoy our first kuchen and latte but only after I talked Larry into posing for this picture.



Cattle grazing in fields was seen on all of our drives and what a view they have -- that is Osorno on the horizon.



Upon return to Puerto Varas, our mission was to find a pub with a great view and, of course, good beer.  Mission accomplished!

The Birthday Boy

We had schedued a kayak tour of the Reconcavi Fjord on our second full day -- a 90 minute drive from Puerto Varas.  Juan, our guide, provided us with a thorough safety lesson on how to recover from a kayak that tips over only encouraging me to make sure that our kayak did not tip over.  Our trip began with smooth water and a siteing of a dolphin.  The trip was relaxing spent enjoying the scenery.  We stopped for lunch on a beach after a hour or so of paddling and while we lunched, the wind came up.  Juan talked a lot about not allowing the kayak to be parallel to the waves (which by this time were complete with white caps!) and the need to keep an oar in the water at all times (think constant paddling) to ensure stability.  It was around this time we saw a sea lion but my focus was on paddling -- keeping that oar in the water.  We made it without tipping.  Juan constantly reminded me that the most that would happen was that I'd get wet but it was his prior beach instructions regarding extracting myself from the skirted kayak while upside down that held my attention.  So, since we didn't tip, it was a great experience, but I find I prefer smooth water versus the surfing Juan said we were actually doing on the return trip.

Our third full day involved a road trip south to catch a ferry that would take us to the island of Chiloe. (Chiloe is seen on the horizon on the right.)   Chiloe showed us rolling green hills, coastal views and colorful wooden fishing skiffs.  The eastern part of the island faces the Gulf of Ancud and the western side of the island faces the Pacific.  Scattered across the island are antique wooden churches named as World Hertiage Monuments.

I threw in a picture of the church in Puerto Varas (bottom right) and one picture from a church in Frutillar (bottom left) but othewise, these pictures of churches are from Chiloe and the La Ruta De Las Iglesias (Church Route).  (Again, I think you can click on a picture to see a larger view of it?)

This was quite the trek to reach this little island where the tiny church in the top middle collage is located as well as one of the cemeteries (top left.)  It is called La Isla de Las Almas Navegantes (The Island of the Seafarers Souls.)

Puerto Varas was filled with flowers -- mostly roses but I found several Lilac bushes and enjoyed smelling each and every one. 

You may be able to tell that I had a very difficult time eliminating pictures from this blog which is where the collages come in so handy.  So, the day arrived requiring our return to Calamaland.  The trip went smoothly and I'll end this post with a picture I took after landing in Calama -- what a contrast!

Larry's Chilean Medical Experience, Despedida, Halloween and Misc.

I left my last blog with mention of how our Mendoza trip ended with Larry experiencing a healthcare issue.  We've now done expat in South America for more than six years counting the two years spent in Bolivia and the two years spent in Peru and the now two years, two months and 25 days here in Chile.  If we were going to have to deal with a healthcare issue while in S.A., I'm glad it was Chile. 

Larry said that when we left Argentina for the approximately one hour flight to Santiago, his stomach started bothering him.  While waiting for our flight from Santiago to Calama, he mentioned that his stomach was bothering him but we figured it was something he ate.  However, during the approximately two hour flight to Calama, the discomfort became progressively worse.  Upon arrival in Calama, he was very uncomfortable.  I do believe we were both a tad in denial because upon arrival to our home at 10:30 p.m., he immediately went to bed and I brought him a hot water bottle.  I then proceeded to Google, "severe stomach pain" at which time we determined that he was experiencing a gallbladder attack.  At 1:00 a.m., we bit the bullet and accepted that it was truly more than an upset stomach and headed off to the emergency room of the hospital we thought would be the best.  For any of you who have experienced a gallbladder attack, you must think we were totally in denial...we were.

He was given a small IV with pain meds and felt better quickly and we were home by 2:30 a.m. with instructions to return the following day if he didn't feel better.  He woke at 7 a.m. with severe discomfort again.  Following a long-distance telephone consultation with the international insurance provider nurse, we were advised to return to the emergency room and specifically request a blood test to test for infection and an ultrasound to confirm gall stones.  In the meantime, the El Abra Controller, another expat and friend, Julie, had made airline reservations for us to fly out that evening to Santiago.  The Chilean independence day celebration (September 18) was fast approaching and she was concerned we would not be able to fly out of Calama.  The ultrasound confirmed gall stones.  Larry had been given another IV with pain medication which allowed him to be able to fly to Santiago.  We arrived at 2:30 a.m. and went directly to the Clinica Las Condes emergency room and immediately felt like he was in good hands.  He was admitted at 5 a.m. and had surgery to remove the gallbladder at 4 p.m.  His surgeon is from Germany and spoke excellent English and once again, we felt that he was in very good hands.  His gallbladder attack was on a Monday, he had the surgery on Wednesday and was released from the hospital on Sat. a.m. (which was the Chilean independence day) -- and we went for a walk that afternoon which was so enjoyed because since it was the holiday, a lot of the Chileans had left Santiago for the countryside meaning -- no traffic. 

When we left for Santiago, I looked at my camera but decided that I didn't think I'd be taking a lot of pictures so when we saw the Wisteria and Iris blooming, we put Larry's cell phone camera to work --

The Sunday after Larry was released, we ventured out to Los Dominicos, built on the grounds of a Dominican monestary -- a shopping destination featuring Chilean artisanal products which is where we found the Iris blooming.

That evening we were invited to the home of a friend from our Yuma days -- Tim Miller and his wife Hannah to celebrate Chilean Independence Day.  We enjoyed getting to know Hannah and two of their daughters and catching up with Tim.

Larry did meet with his surgeon Tuesday -- was given a clean bill of health and we returned to Calama on Thursday with Larry returning to work on Monday and now, he is recovered and the experience is but a dim memory.

Mid-September brought Julie's despedida (going-away party.)  Julie was here when we arrived.  She was the first female controller for a Freeport South American mining property.  She had been here approximately three years when the company requested that she move to the other Freeport mining operation located in Copiapo.  Julie's been a great friend, has contributed greatly to a positive expat experience.  I'll miss her but we plan on venturing her way (about an 8 hour drive) in December.

Despedidas are interesting -- always involved lots of food, Chilean wine, entertainment, speeches and gifts for the person going away.

Julie is the blond standing behind the right shoulder of the guy -- he provided the entertainment -- a singer.

Halloween arrived to the Condominum with more little kids living here since we arrived.  But even then, we only had four trick-o-treaters.

Calama grocery stores carry lots of salt, lots of mayo, lots of rice, lots of pasta, lots of juice.  I recently was on an outing (really the only kind of outing in Calama) with a couple other of the expat wives at one of the grocery stores.  I happened to have my camera along so decided to document with a picture a couple of the rows with lots of a particular produce. 

Next post:  Puerto Varas! to celebrate Larry turning 55!

Mendoza, Argentina September 2010

We've had our eye on a trip to Mendoza since our arrival in Chile, which incidentally, was two years ago today -- October 1, 2010. 

This expat assignment has gone fast.  During this two years, we've visited the many locations near Calama.  We've visited Antofagasta (on the coast west of Calama) on multiple occasions where we've met up with Maria Gracia and Jeremy and greatly missed having David with us (La Paz, Bolivia days) but that just left more wine for the rest of us anyway!  We've driven across the Andes to Salta, Argentina, and we've driven up the coast to Iquique.  We've driven through the Atacama to Arica and crossed the border into Peru to Tacna. We've visited Valparaiso and Vina del Mar located on the coast west of Santiago. We've been wine tasting in the vineyards both west and south of Santiago. We traveled to the extreme south of Chile to Punta Arenas and then drove the five hours into Torres del Paine.

We've also been blessed with being able to spend time here in Chile with friends from our previous U.S. and expat assignments: Miguel and Eliana (Cajamarca, Peru days), Mike and Laurie (Cajamarca), Simon and Billie (Cajamarca), Bill and Leesyl and Laurese (Washington State and La Paz, Bolivia), Ed Kirwan (La Paz, Bolivia) and most recently, Tim Miller (Yuma, AZ days) and wife Hannah.

But, this post is suppose to be about our four-day weekend trip to Mendoza! We left Calama by plane early morning of Friday, September 10, arriving first in Santiago and then boarded another plane -- destination: Mendoza!

Our hotel was located across the street from the Plaza Italia and a short walk to Calle Sarmiento where many of Mendoza's restaurants and shops are located. We spent a lot of time on that street. That skinny building was our hotel. I've become a worrier about buildings and their ability to withstand earthquakes -- this one had me concerned.

Saturday a.m., we had scheduled a wine tour and were picked up at our hotel at 8:30 and we were wine tasting by 9 a.m.  Alta Vista was our first stop...  Alta Vista is an old winery that has recently been purchased by a large French wine producer. Oui Oui!

This was our view with olive tree branches framing the photo.

I love these photos when we go down into the bodega.

We ended our tour at Alta Vista outside with a tasting of their sparkling wine.

The fellow on the left was our English speaking guide. Darn! I've lost the contact information I had for the daughter and her father from Canada who joined us on the tour and the woman in blue (hmmm, have I ever shared that I'm terrible with names?) was our English speaking Alta Vista guide - she was great!

Above was the entry way to the second winery we visited.  Below is was the neat door to enter the winery.  Bellasco de Baquedano was recently purchased by a Spanish wine producer.

And isn't this a grand view of the Andes...

Okay you ask, how many pictures can you take of wine tanks.  My answer - never too many ha!

We were rewarded with this neat tasting room after our tour - I love this part of wine tours!

The woman behind Larry was our tour guide.

Below are the wines we tried. We bought a bottle of the Swinto to bring back to Chile.



We finished the second tour with the above shot and then headed off for our third winery and lunch! Loved the landscaping at this winery - Melipal, which is the native word for the Southern Cross

However, even better than the landscaping was the lunch! The winery Melipal paired our wine tastings to each course of the lunch - it was excellent!

And we ended out tour at this winery.

I liked Clos de Chacras in that they let us taste before the tour...

This photo reflects how they stored the wine they produced in the old days.  They would pick all of the grapes and separate skins and seeds after the stomping method and then put the product in these concrete vats.  Their objective was to produce large volumes of  very low quality wine.  In fact, the wine used to dissolve the inside of the tanks and so the wine would have a caustic taste.  The wine from this winery was not bottled but instead sold locally.  The surrounding community members would bring containers and fill directly from the vats. In has just been in the last 20 - 30 years that they changed their method and objectives regarding producing wine and are now are producing less volume and better quality with new equipment and modern facilities.

Here, Larry demonstrates some of the more recently produced wines that are aging.

So, four wineries later and 9 1/2 hours later, we were returned to our hotel -- great day!

The following day we took to the streets to discover Mendoza. It is springtime so we were treated to lots of flowering trees and plants.

Neat architecture in the homes we saw and loved the gates.

Mendoza's central part consists of the Plaza Independencia in the middle with four smaller plazas making up a square around the main plaza: Espana, Italia, Chile and San Martin.

Below is Plaza Espana.

Below is a Catholic Church

Below is the Plaza Chile.  Notice the fellow using a palm frond to sweep...

Mendoza has an irrigation system throughout the city that is pre-Columbian. It uses runoff from the Andes to provide water to the city as well as a water source to all the trees lining the streets - lots and lots of trees, every street is tree-lined in a desert city.

Plaza Independencia. Loved all the water fountains that worked!

So here we were.  We had enjoyed a great tour of some of Mendoza's finest wineries.  We had walked the central part of the city enjoying the plants, plazas, and building architecture so here was our last lunch and one more glass of Argentinian Malbec before catching our flight back to Santiago and ultimately -- Calamaland.  Little did we know that Larry's gall bladder was just starting to think about rebelling.  More on that later...

Bye-bye Mendoza. Next time, our plan is to fly to Santiago and then drive over the Andes to visit Mendoza again.