Huilo Huilo Reserva

 

Following a long two months in Calama without escape, we traveled to the Huilo Huilo Reserve (pronounced weelo) on March 4th.  Travel involved flying to Santiago and after a short lay-over, onto Temuco.  A driver was there to meet us and drive us the two hours to the Reserve southeast of Temuco. 

The Reserve was created by a businessman (Victor Petermann) in 1999 and contains 232 sq. miles of forested land and lays claim as a habitat for the Pudu known as the world's smallest deer -- we didn't see him (the Pudu or V. Petermann.)  I loved this hotel.  Just so unique and what an incredible setting.  Can you imagine being here in the winter?!  We only had about 2 1/2 days here and worth every minute.



And here is a view from inside.

And after all that travel, it was time for a cold brew.

The next morning we headed off on our zip-line adventure.  Holy crap!  I don't think I've ever had so much adrenaline pumping through me and evidently my heart is in good shape afterall cause it was a pumpin'!  Holy crap!!  One of our guides offered to serve as photographer while also expertly encouraging me to step off of the platforms (there were five zip-lines with short hikes in between platforms.)  I was thinking for sure by the 5th I'd be able to relax and enjoy the experience more, and not to say I didn't enjoy, just continued to be a bit preoccupied, not so much in the line breaking, but instead being turned sideways due to wind and then slamming into the tree on the other side -- holy crap!

Above is Larry in expert form.  Below is me, just a dot but demonstrates how long and how far up these zip-lines were. 

Along with the exhilarating zip-line experience, we were able to take some really nice walks through the forest.  Below is the El Rio Fuy -- waterfalls everywhere and such clean water.

I think these hugely tall trees are called Coihue.  Below is the view of the pond from our balcony.  That is reflection in the water from the trees surrounding the hotel.

This day we woke to fog.  Larry was to head off to climb a volcano and me for another hike in the forest.

Below is a photo of the volcano with two peaks called Mocho-Choshuenco -- Mocho on the left and which Larry was hiking on the day of my "botanical" hike and Choshuenco is on the right.  

Larry and his two guides began their hike at the snow line and arrived at the top of the Mocho volcano peak approximately two hours later.  This photo was taken before they began their final climb. 

What a view he had.....






And so, our final day at Huilo Huilo came to an end with a trip to the Huilo Huilo Falls followed by dinner with nice young couple we met and a bottle of a fine Chilean Pinot.




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We don't know for sure yet when our next travel will be so, until then....

January and February...

All was quiet in Calama during January and February.  One of the reasons we moved to Chile was Larry's involvement in a project that had been under construction since January 2010 and culminated January 2011 with "start up" which didn't go as smoothly as all involved would have liked.  Larry's been working progressively more and more hours and with the start up, work didn't allow for any escapes from Calama.  Lucky for me, my Northern Arizona University course started during that time period and did a great job of keeping me occupied and provided me with an outlet for making my days have worth!  NAU offered the 3-credit course over 7 weeks instead of 15.

These are summer months in South America which is when a strange weather occurrence presents itself in the Atacama Desert -- called the "Bolivian Winter" or the politically correct label of "Invierno Altiplanico" which creates cold weather and this year, moisture not just in the mountains but Calama too!  We've actually had rain events in February.  I had seen raindrops in the time we've been here but never real rain -- amazing.  There was also so much rain in the mountains that water was released from a dam outside of Calama and El Rio Loa, which runs right by the compound, changed from a stream to a river.  It hasn't run since 2001.  Along with the moisture, clouds, and the river running, we were treated to pretty sunsets! 

We hosted a couple of small gatherings during these months starting with New Year's Eve.  We invited all of our neighbors but the Chileans had all escaped to different locations in Chile along with a couple of the other expat families.  So, those here gathered to welcome 2011!  We also had a happy hour to welcome our newest expat family's arrival. 

I almost forgot!  Something huge that happened was cheddar cheese showing up in one of our local grocery stores -- huge! 

We leave tomorrow for a well-deserved long weekend get-away flying to Santiago and onto Temuco and then a two-hour drive to the Huilo Huilo Nature Reserve.  Wait till you see pictures of the hotel we'll be staying in. 

New Year's Eve.  (l-r) Abby, Susan and Uurna.

Larry obviously quite happy about moving from 2010 to 2011!



I've spent A LOT of time at the local "emergency room" surprisingly enough serving as translator.  This particular visit was a follow-up regarding Jack's stitches he'd received the previous week.  (l-r) Abby, Jack and Susan.  The Blizzards were our most recent expat arrivals but that status has been bumped with the arrival of Graham and Rosemary and their twins, Gemma and Isobel -- what cuties!

Below is a picture of some of the kids in the compound.  (l-r) Abby, Jack, Gemma, Brandon and Isobel.  The chairs were strategically placed to protect my herbs.



Seems to me that we're seeing more artistic graffiti in Calama?

Do believe I must have been hard up for photo opportunities these past couple of months so took pictures of the "housing" developments around Calama.

Do these photos help you understand why vacation destinations with water and green are desired?

And clean air!?  I always like to grab an opportunity of a photo of Chuquicamata spewing whatever it is that is is spewing -- cough, cough....

This is the road heading to the compound -- just a little further ahead is a left turn to get to where we live.  Not sure why I felt the need to share this one?

This is a picture of El Rio Loa that I took when I heard there was going to be water released from the dam.

And here we have the river actually running.

  

And had to share a picture of my herbs.  We've got oregano, cilantro and basil plants.

Here we have the flower bed off our back patio -- I love this area.


 

Very important to record the arrival of cheddar cheese in Calama since we've been here.  I bought four packages.  We've enjoyed cheese crisps, tacos w/cheddar cheese, cheese w/chili, nachos -- all good.  The cheese is now gone from the market -- perhaps never to be seen again...?



Rain arrived in Calama.  El Nino or La Nina, can't remember -- just glad I got to see it, feel it, and smell it!  (I must point out that where we live in Calama is like an oasis -- we're lucky.  And this is the view from our back patio -- not bad, I have to admit.  We just need to get that grocery store to keep cheddar cheese in stock...)

And I'll end this post with another pretty sunset picture.  Next post:  Pictures from our long weekend in Huilo Huilo Nature Reserve and the bizarre hotel we'll be staying in.....