Mike & Sue Visit Chile

A definate highlight of our time in Chile will be Mike and Sue's visit.  They were troopers regarding the travel bumps they encountered on their way to visit us as well as the travel we subjected them to. 

Their flight was cancelled out of Dallas due to mechanical problems, resulting in them leaving 12 hours later.  Larry and I couldn't help but wonder why this never happens to us when we are returning to Chile?  They arrived in Santiago that night but had missed their flight to Calama.  After moving through immigration and customs and then arranging for their flight out the following morning at 4:55 a.m., it was around 11 p.m. so they decided to just hang out in the airport.  They arrived in Calama at 7 a.m. the following morning with smiles on their faces and just happy to have arrived at their destination. 

Larry was able to get away from work early that evening so collected us and took us out of town to watch an Andes sunset while sippping a Chilean malbec.

The following morning, Larry headed off to work and we headed for downtown Calama.

We returned to the house after a full day to sit on the back porch and sip some Chilean red.

On Wednesday of their arrival week, we arranged for a taxi to take us to the village of Chiu Chiu (featured in a earlier post probably in 2009?).  The taxi driver showed us the conflux of the El Rio Salado (on the right in this picture) and El Rio Loa.  Hard to imagine El Rio Loa having the ability to provide hydroelectric power eh?!

*El Rio Loa is the longest river in Chile, it rises in the Andes at the base of Miño Volcano, near the Bolivian border, and flows southwest through the mountains, emerging at the oasis of Calama; it then veers westward and northward across the Atacama Desert. About 45 miles (70 km) north of Tocopilla it turns westward again, crosses the coastal mountain range, and empties into the Pacific Ocean after a course of 275 miles (about 440 km). Before it receives the runoff of the Saládo River, its waters irrigate Calama and other oases, provide drinking water, and are used to generate hydroelectric power for nearby copper and nitrate mines. I pulled this information from the Britannica Encylopedia.)



Former priests of this church in Chiu Chiu are buried here.

After visiting inside the church where Sue had me take pictures of the statues of Jesus dressed in a skirt (all of which were blurry), we then headed to the Pukara de Lasana (featured in our Flat Stanley post in 2009?) a pre-Inca fortress.

We returned home to once again sit on the patio and sip on Chilean wine.



The following day, Larry had meetings in town so we had access to his truck and headed for La Laguna Chaxa where we would see flamingos, and then we back-tracked to San Pedro de Atacama allowing Sue some shopping time as well as lunch (empanadas), and then we headed for La Valle de la Luna (The Valley of the Moon or Moon Valley?)  We returned to Calama in time for Julie (from Copiapo) to stop by.  She had returned to Calama for a visit, and stopped by for a Pisco and to meet Mike and Sue.  We ended the day packing for our trip the following morning for Los Geisers del Tatio and then onto Salta, Argentina.   



The following morning, we headed out for the Geisers at 5:30 a.m. for the two hour trip to arrive before dawn to experience the best effects of the steam plumes.  We're thankful to Mike and Sue for coming this way which allowed us a reason to see the Geisers again -- as Sue said, it was magical.

We then headed for immigration in San Pedro de Atacama allowing us to cross into Argentina.  Below is a photo of Mike abd Sue at the highest elevation we reach while making this trip to Salta.

The trip to Salta across the Andes provides for all types of scenery.  This is one of the two salt flats we crossed.


We arrived in Salta just after dark after having left Calama at 5:30 a.m. -- long, long day for Larry -- he did all of the driving.  We got settled into our hotel and headed out for the Plaza for a sip or two of some fine Argentina malbec.  The following morning we headed out to see the sites and happened upon the changing of the guard in the Plaza.  Parts of the event were viewed from a street-side table sipping on a Argentinian brew.

We couldn't help making Larry and Mike stand by the small cars we came upon.

Much of our time in Salta was spent sitting at street-side tables enjoying wine, beer, and food.

Our Salta hotel.

After a relaxing two days in Salta, we reversed the trip returning to Calama.  The following morning, Mike and Sue said good-bye to Calama and we all boarded a plane -- destination: Santiago.  We rented a car and headed south for the Colchagua Valley wine region for a one night stay.  Fall (in April!) in the wine region was beautiful as were the many fruit stands we came upon enroute to Santa Cruz.

Following a stop at the Montes and MontGras wineries, we headed for our hotel where we were greeted with a complimentary bottle of wine which we enjoyed on the porch this beautiful late afternoon fall day.

We woke the folowing morning to fog as we began our journey south on Ruta 5 Sur -- destination: Pucon/Villarrica.  We encountered rain for probably half of the trip. 

Upon arrival to our cabin, we headed into Pucon for dinner.  I'll have to get a copy of Sue's pictures because you have to see the steaks the guys had to believe how big they were.  The following morning, we woke to clear skies allowing us to enjoy a great hike with beautiful vistas.



We came upon this fellow and his girls along the trail.  He looked big enough to eat us.....

We returned to Pucon for some shopping while the fellows enjoyed a brew at a street-side table and then we headed up to the Villarrica Volcano for a sunset view.

The Villarrica Volcano is an active volcano and a ski area --- hmmmmm.  That is steam coming from the volcano.  We were told we should only worry if the color turns from white to black -- hmmmmm.



We had to leave the following morning for our return journey to Santiago (minus the lay-over in Santa Cruz) but had to capture the setting of where we stayed before we left for future reference.

So, we returned to Santiago and the following morning we took Mike and Sue, via the Metro, to downtown, historic Santiago. 

 

And then, it was time to deliver them to the airport for their return trip to the U.S.  They were great visitors in that they never complained about the long hours required to travel to the destinations we chose (perhaps because there was always wine at the end of the road?)  We're glad they enjoyed the experience and we enjoyed being able to share what we know of Chile (as well as some new experiences for us) with them.

I had to hurry this blog as we are leaving only six days afer having ended this trip with Mike and Sue.  We head for the U.S.  Our first trip back since August!  We're ready for a U.S. fix.  We'll be back for three weeks.  During that time, we'll be traveling to the Grand Canyon for the guys annual rim-to-rim-to-rim hike.  We return to Calama on May 29 -- until then....  

Trip to Copiapo

With 2 years, 5 months and 18 days into this Chile adventure, we've figured out that the secret to maintaining this "adventure" in a positive way is to leave Calama whenever we can.  So, after coordinating which weekend would be good, we loaded up our luggage and a thermos of coffee and hit the road at 6 a.m. to travel the approximately 8 hour drive to visit our friend Julie.  Julie left Calama in October for her new Chile experience in Copiapo where Freeport has another mine.  Copiapo is the city near where the 33 miners were trapped.  We had hoped to travel to that site but with only three days for the trip (two of which were travel), we opted instead to visit the beaches within 45 minutes of Julie's front door.

The trip took us west to just before the city of Antofagasta where we turned south on our route to Copiapo, all new scenery for us.  However, due to the fact that we were still in the Atacama, it meant seeing essentially the same scenery we see around here except with the opportunity to drive along the coast for a lot of the trip.

Finally, the ocean comes into view...in case you're having trouble finding the ocean in the picture -- it is there to the left.

We also passed through a few fishing villages...

We arrived at Julie's home mid-afternoon and enjoyed a tour of her home and the expat living area.  I asked Larry if he was sure there wasn't something he could be doing at Freeport's mine in Copiapo -- I think I could handle expat life indefinitely if we lived there....

Enjoyed a great meal and great wine that evening.  Oh, and again the next evening.  Did I already mention that I think I could deal with life in Copiapo....

On Saturday, Julie took us to the first beach near her home (playa La Virgen.)  It was beautiful.  Summer is over which means no crowds.  It is a small bay with turquoise water and white sand beach.  We enjoyed the peacefulness and sun until hunger called, so we loaded up and headed for a restaurant along the beach at Bahia Inglesa. 

A cute puppy and cute Larry.

And then, it was time to return to Calama.  This scenery reminded us of Arizona.

Our friend Ed, a buddy since our Bolivia days, pops into Calama on a fairly regular basis.  Always a pleasure to catch up.

We are eagerly awaiting our first visitors to Calama!  Mike and Sue from Phoenix will arrive here on our 29th wedding anniversary -- April 17.  We'll have approximately 2 weeks together -- sounds like a lot of blog photo opportunities to me!

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.....