Tom and Allie in Chile

Mountains and Lakes and Volcanos, Oh My!

aculbertson — Thu, 20 Sep 2012 23:01:00 -0300

So after a wonderful, amazing, thrilling, fast paced month long trip through Patagonia, Tom and I were so ready to settle down and relax for a few months. As previously mentioned we chose Pucón, our favorite little mountain village, as the perfect spot to satisfy our craving.

We had already visited Pucón on two separate occasions and had thoroughly fallen in love with the small town lifestyle. We started our Patagonia trip in Pucón, and during our brief stay we happened upon a wonderful apartment that would be available just as we were ending our Patagonia trip. Perfect! So we returned with high hopes, uncertain expectations, and no plans. Here are a few of the things that happened while we were living in Pucón.

Fall happened. Autumn in Pucón is so breathtakingly beautiful it’s difficult to put into words.

One of the best things about Autumn in Pucón is that all of the tourists leave and its just locals. Well, locals and us. The streets were empty, the restaurants were never crowded, the rent was cheap, and the town was quiet. So quiet and peaceful. Just what the doctor ordered after a long stay in Santiago and a jam packed month long vacation.

My favorite part about Pucón is that there is a volcano. An active volcano. It smokes pretty much constantly and at night when it’s dark you can see the very tippy top of the volcano glowing. Also, you can see the volcano from pretty much anywhere in town.

I like to think it’s watching over me wherever I am :)

The woman who rents our apartment to us in Pucón likes to say that the people of Pucón are more creative and spiritual than most people because they were born under the volcano. They have the volcano in their blood.

I tend to agree with her. The number of artisans in Pucón is staggering and their works of art are as beautiful as they are varied. But not only are they an extra artistic people but they are also an extra friendly people. I think that when you live your whole life in a town that’s about five square miles with no stop lights you tend to appreciate the community, and there is a real sense of friendliness and hospitality that you just can’t find in a big city like Santiago.

Or maybe they’re just really happy people because they live in such an amazingly beautiful place.

With trees that actually change color in the Fall!! What?!?! Seasons?!?! I’m from Southern California so this is pretty exciting! Seriously.

Another perk of living in Pucón is that there is a really big, awesome lake. This isn’t one of those icky lakes with the squishy mossy stuff on the bottom (YUCK). This is one of those crystal clear sandy bottom lakes comprised of snow melt from the surrounding mountains. Way better and way more fun to swim in. Especially if you are afraid of sharks. Like I am. No sharks in lakes. I can swim and swim as much as my little heart desires with no fear of being eaten by Jaws. Awesome!

Also awesome is the fact that our apartment was right in front of said shark-free lake. So this was our view whenever we left the apartment. Which did actually become harder and harder to do as we got closer and closer to winter. It gets real cold in Pucón and we had a wood burning fire place, which was pretty hard to leave when it was pouring rain outside and the temperature was hovering around freezing. But still super cool to have seasons. Seriously!

Okay another thing that happened is that we decided to climb the volcano. Yes the gigantic one that you can see from anywhere in town. We were pretty ambitious with this adventure. I think the Torres Del Paine hike went to our heads. This was way more difficult. As in we couldn’t walk for a week afterwards. But totally, completely worth it.

We started very early in the morning. You have to start your hike around 8 am because it takes about 6 hours to go up and back down and you can’t be on the volcano late in the day because of weather issues. Speaking of weather issues it is best to set a few days aside in which you would be available to climb the volcano. The tour companies have to use a weather forecast to estimate when you will be able to climb and, as we all know, weather forecasts can be wrong. Oh so wrong.

We had a beautiful, sunny day for our climb. The air was clear with no clouds to obstruct our view. Perfection!

We went with a company called Summit Chile. They came highly recommended by our landlords. Summit Chile is run by a Canadian woman, Suzie, and her Chilean husband, Claudio. Claudio is the main guide and has been mountain climbing all over the world for over 20 years. He speaks English very well too, which is always a plus!

A word about safety (Safety? boooring, I know). This hike is really quite dangerous. This is not a mountain trail, skipping along, unicorns and rainbows type of hike. This is a crampons, icepick, struggling up a sheet of frozen solid ice type of hike. And I have to say, I don’t think anyone makes that clear to you before you go. They have a serious injury or loss of life about once a year, that being said they take thousands of tourists up every year. I guess that I foolishly thought that it couldn’t possibly be that difficult/dangerous/strenuous if they were taking a bunch of inexperienced tourists up, but I really was wrong.

My intention is not to scare anyone away from attempting the climb. As you can see we had some really breathtaking views that I wouldn’t have missed for the world. It’s just really important that you choose the right agency. Summit Chile was really the best! They have very high standards for their guides, their equipment, and their safety. They only allow a maximum number of three climbers per guide, all of their equipment is new and well maintained, they use ropes to tie everyone together for safety, and their guides are extremely experienced. In fact they are so experienced that earlier in the year when they had a tragic and fatal climbing accident on the volcano, they called Claudio to lead the rescue team.

Not to get too down on the other agencies, but the other companies take like 20 people to one guide, their equipment is old, ill fitting, and sometimes just the wrong equipment, they don’t tie anyone together, and they just don’t take the risks of the climb seriously. Claudio was very, very focused on our safety. We were only allowed to take pictures when we stopped for breaks, we were only able to stop for breaks at certain safe areas on the mountain, we had to focus on what we were doing at all times. We saw one very large group being led by only one guide and one of the women in the party slipped and started to slide and her guide made NO attempt to help her! Another tourist from a different group of climbers had to help her. Ugh! Definitely go with Summit Chile! I wouldn’t trust my safety to anyone else!

Okay enough with the danger talk, how about some pretty pictures :)

Look at that professional equipment. We look like real mountain climbers :)

Summit chile provides all of the equipment including the backpacks for carrying snacks and water. All you have to do is grab a few suggested things to eat and drink and show up with your game face on! Bright and EARLY!

Okay one more thing happened while we were in Pucón.

This happened

Oh yes. He is the cutest puppy in the WHOLE world. No I’m not exaggerating.

I have mentioned before that Chile has a very large population of stray street dogs. They are super awesome. They don’t, bark, bite, sniff at you, beg for food, or in any way bother humans or leashed dogs at all. Plus they know how to cross the street safely by watching the stoplights. Which makes them smarted than some humans!

People in Chile seem to really like having them around. In the winter they put coats and scarves on them. It’s pretty cute/hilarious!

So back to this guy…

On Easter Tom and I were out for an afternoon stroll on the outskirts of town out in the country or “Campo” as the residents fondly call it, when all of a sudden we stumbled upon this little fellow. And I’ll be darned if he wasn’t the cutest, most pathetic sight I’d ever seen. He was so tiny (only about 4 weeks old) and covered from head to paw in dirt, fleas, and who knows what else. Obviously I had to have him. I begged Tom to let me take him home and clean him up. So after a feeble attempt at finding out if he belonged to any of the neighbors, Tom relented and let me take him home. After a couple of days of pampering, vet visits, and long walks, he was all ready for a new home. Heartbreakingly, I couldn’t keep him.

But fortunately with the help of a few homemade signs around town we found him a permanent home with a sweet little 7 year old boy. And shouldn’t every little boy grow up with a dog?!?! I just wish it didn’t have to be my dog. Darn kid stole my puppy! As hard as it was to say goodbye, I’m so glad that we were able to rescue him and find him a loving family!

So there’s a few things that happened while we were living in Pucón. A couple of other things happened like a stay in our landlord’s awesome lakeside treehouse which you can read about here and a trip over the Andes to San Martin De Los Andes. I’ll write about that next, because it was a pretty cool little weekend getaway!

***AND…super EXCITING news! After a short, 3 month stint back in the States where we got married, visited with family and friends, and enjoyed some much missed Mexican food, Tom and I are heading back to Pucón and our little apartment on the lake for more fun-filled adventures! In fact we are packing up as we speak. Which reminds me, I gotta go pack. See ya!

Planes, Trains, and Automobiles; Patagonia Part Four

aculbertson — Mon, 10 Sep 2012 18:36:58 -0300

It’s been a bit hectic lately with being back in the States, getting married, and looking for our next step (hopefully a return to Chile, fingers crossed!!), so it’s been awhile since I’ve written. Sorry. Luckily here we are, so let’s get going.

The last leg of our month long journey through Patagonia was a trip to Ushaia, the southernmost city in the world.

When Tom and I first entertained the possibility of adding this to our trip, we were so focused on the novelty of it that we didn’t fully appreciate what it would take to get there. It is a LONG trip. There are multiple buses and a boat involved. Which is fun, don’t get me wrong, but it really does feel like an epic adventure by the time it’s over. No, I’m not being dramatic. Okay maybe a tiny bit dramatic. But I mean look at how far we’d already come!!

Anyway, we started this leg of our trip in Punta Arenas. As soon as we got into town we headed to Buses Pacheco which makes multiple trips to Ushuaia each week. Tecni-Austral also makes several trips weekly. Each company tends to run trips on different days of the week, so you may want to call both companies to find out which one runs on the day you intend to leave for Ushuaia. We hopped on a bus VERY early in the morning and headed to the Strait of Magellan. That’s right, remember those history lessons? This is where those came in handy.

And this is the boat that we took to cross the famous passage.

The Strait of Magellan is the most important natural passage between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, but it is considered a difficult route to navigate because of the unpredictable winds and currents and the narrowness of the passage. Ferdinand Magellan, a Portuguese sailor in the service of Charles I of Spain became the first European to navigate the strait in 1520 during his global circumnavigation voyage. Almost 500 years later, it’s a bit easier to cross these days, but boy they weren’t kidding about that unpredictable wind!

After a wind swept crossing we landed on the island of Tierra Del Fuego or “The Land of Fire”. It had been a life long dream of Tom’s to travel to this remote part of the world, which made it all the more exciting and special. We immediately boarded another bus (probably about the 20th bus we’d been on throughout this trip) and started our all day journey through an absolutely stunning albeit desolate strip of land at the end of the world.

12 hours later…we arrived in Ushuaia at the very tippy tip of South America. Ushuaia is just across the Beagle Channel from Antarctica so it was cold. Real cold!

And beautiful…

It looks a bit like an alpine village. The architecture tends toward the Germanic style which makes it all the more charming.

Ushuaia does have a very large working port which has been used throughout history to shelter ships making the long, hard journey around Cape Horn. The Beagle Channel was named after the HMS Beagle, the ship that transported Charles Darwin in 1833 on his exploration of Tierra Del Fuego. Upon seeing glaciers in Ushuaia for the first time, Darwin wrote “In many parts, magnificent glaciers extend from the mountain side to the water’s edge. It is scarcely possible to imagine anything more beautiful than the beryl-like blue of these glaciers, and especially as contrasted with the dead white of the upper expanse of snow.”

One of the very first things we did upon reaching this distant land was take a boat tour out onto the water. I really wanted to see penguins. I’d really been wanting to see penguins the entire trip. We missed the penguins in Chiloe, but I was certain that this was the place. After all we were so close to Antarctica! So we got on a boat to go out and see the Penguins in their natural habitat. There is a row of tourist companies set up on the waterfront that offer any number of tours, so you can just walk around and pick the one that is perfect for you!

The boat ride was breathtaking! We passed several small rocky islands that were home to Cormorants (birds that look like Penguins but can actually fly) and sea lions.

Don’t they look like penguins?!?! But they’re not.

We even got a beautiful view of the famous Les Eclaireurs Lighthouse.

Have you ever seen a more perfect lighthouse? I think not.

So here we are out on a boat in the Beagle Channel on our way to see some much anticipated Penguins when all of a suden out of the blue…

Our boat gets a notice from the Coast Guard that there’s a storm a brewin’. Alas, we cannot visit the penguins after all and must instead head back to the mainland. The sea was angry that day my friends. But at least on the way back they let us disembark and explore a beautiful island close to shore.

Pretty cool shack right? I’d like to think that Darwin stayed in this shack while exploring the islands. Possible right? Totally.

The island was beautiful and we got an amazing view of the Martial Mountain Range and the little town of Ushuaia nestled in among the snowcapped peaks. Plus the flora on the island was so pretty and colorful!

And the Fauna wasn’t too hard on the eyes either…

Oh wait, that’s just Tom.

Anyway, our boat ride was really a beautiful experience. We were able to get a really good sense of the surrounding landscape, check out some stunning wildlife, and explore a unique island.

The next day we took a hike up to the Martial Glacier, which arguably isn’t much of a glacier these days, stupid global warming, but was still really pretty.

And it offered us more fantastic views of the channel and the lands beyond…

Technically you can hike up onto the “glacier”, but we came a bit unprepared for that sort of snow climbing

so we opted to stay down below and just take pictures of ourselves in front of the glacier. Pretty much the same coolness factor right? Right.

After only a few days in Ushuaia we headed back to Punta Arenas to catch our plane back to Santiago. A few days was just about the right amount of time for us. There is a lot of natural beauty and there is an awesome National Park that we were unable to visit, but more than four days in such a remote town probably would have been pushing it. The bus ride from Punta Arenas to Ushuaia including the Strait of Magellan crossing takes about 12 hours, so if you only stay in Ushuaia for a few days it may not seem worth it. But like I said it was just about perfect for us. We were there in late March and as you can see there was already snow. If you want to be able to enjoy the hiking and actually see the Penguins it’s probably best to go in January or February when the weather is warmer and less… shall we say temperamental?!?!

We stayed at a hostal called Viento Del Sur B. It was an awesome Hostal and we had a wonderful experience. I would highly recommend it. It is run by two very friendly brothers who keep the place neat and clean and cook you a lovely breakfast every morning.

After a month long trip through Patagonia we were exhausted but exhilarated. We learned a lot about the country that we both love so much, met a lot of interesting people both natives and tourists, ate some wonderful food, and saw some amazing things.

As hard as it was to end our journey we were ready for the next adventure, which as I mentioned in my first post about our Patagonia trip was moving to the tiny (and I mean tiny) town of Pucon. So that’s what I’ll write about next, out time in Pucon. Stay tuned!

A Message from Our Sponsors

tvaughan — Wed, 06 Jun 2012 16:15:24 -0400

Hi, this is Tom. I’m taking a break from my usual duty of paying for these adventures to write a little bit about a special weekend get away we took recently to a cabin near Parque Huerquehue, a national park just outside of Pucón.

We’ve been renting an apartment in Pucón since 1 April from a really awesome Chilean couple. They’ve just been really wonderful hosts. When we started our Patagonian adventure in March we, on a whim, walked into an apartment complex on the lake in Pucón and asked if there were any short-term rentals available. As luck would have it, we caught Lucía and German as they were walking out with bags in hand. They own and make use of the apartment from time to time, but rent it out to friends and family, and thankfully wandering vagabonds too.

Lucía and German live in a cabin they built themselves on a lake in a national park underneath an active volcano. Yup, it’s that awesome. They call the cabin “La Polverita” which means “the perfect place to make love.” Yup, they’re that awesome.

They have a smaller cabin, we like to call it The Tree House, on the same property that they rent too. This cabin is really well built, exceptionally clean, fully equiped, incredibly cozy, and comes with complimentary kayaks, row boat, and its own deck on the lake.

For full details, like contact details, rates and availability, please see: http://www.huerquehuevacationrental.com.

One big advantage, among its many, to staying in this cabin is that you’ll be able to enter the park before sunrise. This is a really special experience as you get to hear the wilderness transition from nighttime to daytime, plus sunrise over the volcano is pretty cool too. :) Just walk into the park, and pay as you leave (about 1.500 CLP per person if you have a Chilean ID, or about 3.000 CLP otherwise). Cash in Chilean pesos only. Corrections to these amounts are welcomed.

Be sure to bring all of your food and drink needs. There are no stores, or anything else for that matter, anywhere nearby. There is some cell phone service at the cabin, but not in the park. During the high-season (Dec. - Feb.) there are some ammenities in the park. But we were there in late April and everything seemed pretty much shut.

The hike up to the lakes; Laguna Toro, Laguna Verde, and Lago Chico, is about four hours up, and two hours down. I’d recommend about another two hours to hang-out, eat lunch, go for a swim, etc. Please “Pack it in. Pack it out.”

Seriously, you should do this!

The Tree House

The cabin on Lago Tinquilco.

Parque Huerquehue

Looking down on Lago Tinquilco. The cabin is on the left.

One of the Tres Lagos inside the park.

One of the Tres Lagos inside the park.

Getting There

Just jump on a minibus. The minibus stop is on Palguín about a block and a half south of O’Higgins, the main street in Pucón, next to the JAC bus terminal. Or just flag one down. Each minibus has it’s main destination displayed on a sign placed in the front window. Just look for one marked Parque Huerquehue. At peak times you may wind-up standing up the whole trip (about an hour). Go to the minibus stop to ensure yourself a seat. And yes literally just jump on.

The minibuses leave frequently. There’s not much need to try and figure out the schedule. But you’ll probably want to ask the driver when the last bus back to Pucón is. The whole minibus system throughout Chile is reliable, and runs on schedule.

Tickets are purchased from the driver. Usually people pay as they leave the minibus, especially if they jump on from a street corner and the bus is crowded - whatever keeps the minibus moving. You’ll save a little if you buy a round-trip ticket (about 3.600 CLP per person). Cash in Chilean pesos only. A ticket doesn’t tie you to a particular day or time, and there are no assigned seats. All a round-trip ticket means is that you’ve already paid.

The minibus stops at the park entrance. The cabin is about half a kilometer before the park entrance. Either walk back from the park entrance, or tell the driver to stop once you see signs for Eco-Huerquehue or see the turkeys. Lucía and German are next door to, to the left of, the turkeys. Yup, turkeys.

Planes, Trains, and Automobiles; Patagonia Part Three

aculbertson — Mon, 04 Jun 2012 15:58:07 -0400

Half a month of travelling through Patagonia from Pucon to Puerto Varas to Chiloe and we still had half an adventure ahead of us! Next up was Torres Del Paine, the highlight of our trip. We had been looking forward to visiting Torres Del Paine from the moment we decided to move to Chile. Torres Del Paine is a very special spot in the world, there aren’t many places like it these days. It’s become a Mecca for hikers, trekkers, climbers, and outdoorsmen. People come from all over the world to play in this stunning park, and some never leave. Which is why the closest town, Puerto Natales, is not only full of gringos but also full of interesting shops and restaurants selling foreign goods.

After a quick plane ride from Puerto Montt to Punta Arenas and a short bus ride from Punta Arenas to Puerto Natales, we settled in for the night at a hostel in Puerto Natales. But not before we took a leisurely walk along the waterfront and enjoyed this breathtaking view of the lake and Torres Del Paine on the opposite shore.

Standing there on the cold shore that evening looking across at the wildness and beauty that would be our proving ground for the next 5 days felt like staring into the heart of darkness. Breathtaking beauty and savage wilderness joined to create an adventure unlike anything I had ever experienced before. A bit dramatic? Perhaps, but this really was unchartered territory for me, and I had no idea what to expect. You see it all started a few month before when Tom casually (yet, as I would find out later, seriously) suggested that we complete the “W” trek in Torres Del Paine. The “W” trek is a five day, 60+ kilometer, hike through the park. We had no experience with this kind of multi day hiking and in addition we were both terribly out of shape. So naturally you can see why standing there on that shore that night looking across a dark lake covered with dark clouds at a dark, foreboding, and very mountainous opposite shore caused me to leap to some slightly dramatic conclusions.

But, true to our intentions, we got up bright and early the next morning, boarded a bus, and set off into the unknown. This is what we found

[Grey Glacier]

[Looking up into the French Valley]

[Looking down from the top of the French Valley]

[The Torres]

Words cannot begin to describe the journey. It was challenging, I will say that. But by the second day of hiking I couldn’t wait to keep walking just to see what was around the next bend. I couldn’t wait to climb up a mountain just so I could see what was on the other side. This park inspires rigorous activity, and turns an otherwise unlikable chore (exercise) into a joyous, discovery filled, treat.

Torres Del Paine was everything we’d hoped it would be and so much more. We are already eagerly planning a return trip to the park so that we can complete the even more challenging 9 day circuit trek that goes around the back side (and from what we’ve herd the more beautiful side) of the park. Although looking back at our pictures I really can’t imagine anything more beautiful. I guess we’ll just have to find out!

Next up on our adventure is a trip through Tierra Del Fuego to Ushuaia, the Southernmost city in the world. Stay Tuned!

**This next section is for those who are planning a trip to the park**

A few tips about the park. We decided that since this was our first time doing anything this physically strenuous, and since we really had no idea what to expect and were unable to find much information online, that we’d just use a booking agency to set up our trip and we’d just stay in refugios (cabin-hostels) rather than try to camp. Not that we don’t love camping, camping rocks! But carrying camping gear plus out of shape lazy couch potatoes plus 60+ kilometers sounded like a recipe for disaster. The booking agency we ended up using was not so great. But never fear, I have the information you need.

First off, you can complete the “W” one of two ways. You can go east to west or west to east. We went west to east, which means that we started at the Grey Glacier side of the park. I don’t know anything about moving East to West so I’ll just stick with what I know. To enter the park you must pay a park entrance fee which was about 15,000 chilean pesos per foreigner (5,000 pesos for people with a Chilean identification card). Then you have to board a boat to cross the lake to get to the start of the trail which is another 12,000 pesos per person. Both of these fees are only accepted in cash and there is no way to get cash once you leave Puerto Natales. You also cannot use a card to buy anything in any of the refugios (except at Las Torres Central, which is the last refugio if you go West to East), so if you plan on buying food or drinks from the refugios you must bring cash. And let me tell you, after an 8 hour hike that box of wine behind the counter looks pretty darn good. I’d say each person should bring about 40,000 pesos in cash if you have already paid for a meal plan at the refugios. Some people opt to stay at the campground but eat in the refugios to avoid carrying the extra food weight. In this case you would need additional cash for meals at the refugios. The company that we booked through set up the refugios and the meal plans for us so we just paid a large lump sum for everything and we only needed cash for park entrance fees, the boat, and wine, glorious wine :)

A word on food. Refugio Grey was wonderful! Definitely eat here. Refugio Paine Grande was awful. This was not worth the money. If you can avoid eating here I’d say do it. Unfortunately the campground is closed due to the recent fire, so there is no place to cook your own food, but even a good ol’ PB&J would have been better than the food they served us.

We went in March which is technically the end of their season. The best times to go are in January and February. These are also the most crowded times. The refugios can be difficult to get during these months because they fill up so quickly, so book well in advance if you are planning on going during these months. We actually had wonderful weather while we were there, but March can be rainy. Also important to understand about going late in the season is that some of the refugios will be closed. Refugio Chileno which is at the base of the Torres closes around March 17th. Because of this and (and because of our booking agency’s poor planning skills) we were unable to make the climb up to the Torres. You can still make the climb without staying at Refugio Chileno, but you have to plan to stay two nights at Refugio Las Torres Central because the hike to the Torres is a 9 hour hike.

If you are moving West to East on the trail you will get off the boat at Refugio Paine Grande and spend your first day hiking 7 km (4 hrs) to Refugio Grey. You’ll spend the night in Refugio Grey. On day two you will hike back on the same trail another 7 km (4 hrs.) and spend the night at Refugio Paine Grande. On day three you will walk to Los Cuernos Refugio via the French Valley. This is about a 22km (10 hrs.) walk. On the forth day you will walk from Los Cuernos to either Refugio Chileno (if it’s open) or Las Torres Central (11Km, 4 hrs.). There is a shortcut from Los Cuernos to Refugio chileno which shaves off an hour or so. You can pick up the shortcut on the trail between Los Cuernos and Las Torres Central. The shortcut is clearly marked on the trail (not on the map) and easy to find. If you take the shortcut from Los Cuernos to Refugio Chileno it takes about 3.5 hours, however it is a mostly uphill hike. On the fifth day you will either start from Refugio Chileno or Las Torres Central and walk up to the Torres and then back down to Las Torres Central. If you started at Refugio Chileno and you got an early start (7am) you can catch a shuttle bus at Las Torres Central that same day back to Puerto Natales. If you got an early start (7am) from Las Torres Central you can catch the later shuttle bus at 7:30 back to Puerto Natales. You will pick up a shuttle at Refugio Las Torres Central which takes you to the bus which takes you back to Puerto Natales. You need a few thousand pesos per person for the shuttle.

Bring rain gear, including rain covers for your packs. We didn’t have any covers for our packs, and suffered the consequences when we had rain almost our entire third day (15km).

Bring toilet paper. Gross, yes, but bring it anyway. There are toilets at campgrounds but they don’t come equipped with toilet paper.

The park has a strict pack it in pack it out rule. this applies to EVERYTHING from human waste to candy bar wrappers. Even the refugios will not allow you to leave trash behind. Bring a bag for trash.

Pain relievers are good. Muscle relaxer might me nice.

Ear plugs are necessary. The refugios are hostel type situations. You are assigned to a room with a bunch of bunk beds and a bunch of other people. Los Cuernos was especially interesting, I felt like a book on a shelf. Earplugs!

Layers! You might start out with a scarf and heavy jacket, but give it twenty minutes with a heavy pack on your back and you’ll be stripping down to that t-shirt.

Stainless Steel reusable water bottles. These are perfect for Torres Del Paine. The river and stream water is clean enough to drink here. All you need is a reusable water bottle and you have an endless supply of delicious, icy cold, glacier water. Seriously there are streams everywhere!

There is no cell phone service, no wireless service, and no place to charge any electronic devices. The refugios will not allow you to charge any electronic devices. Some refugios do not have lights at all in the rooms and those that do are turned out pretty early, so bring a head lamp or a flashlight for late night activities in the rooms. Head lamps are also good for midnight bathroom runs, since they also turn the lights out in the bathrooms at night.

Okay so there’s a few tips to get you off to a great adventure. Have fun and be safe!

Planes, Trains, and Automobiles; Patagonia Part Two

aculbertson — Thu, 24 May 2012 15:08:00 -0400

After a wonderful week spent in Pucon and Puerto Varas, we hopped on a boat and headed to the nearby island of Chiloe. I’d really been looking forward to this part of the trip because Chiloe is not just any old island. Stepping foot on Chiloe is a bit like stepping in a time machine and heading back in time a hundred years or so. It’s an island made up primarily of tiny fishing villages, sprawling farms, family owned eateries, and lots and lots of sheep. You won’t find any modern cities or luxury hotels on the island, but you will find friendly people living simply off unspoiled land that has been passed down through families for hundreds of years.

Oh and you’ll find more hand crafted wooden churches than you can shake a stick at. Seriously, Chiloe is famous for its unique collection of wooden churches.

We decided to rent a car in order to see as much of the island as possible. This idea was both good and bad. We did get to see some remote parts of the island that would not have been practical to visit without a car (although not impossible, as Chiloe has one of the most thorough bus systems I have ever seen.), but because we had a car we had to stop every time we passed a wooden church so I could snap a picture which meant we were stopping pretty much every 5 minutes, much to Tom’s chagrin. Still I would recommend renting a car for at least one day, especially if you want to visit some of the more remote churches on the Island like the church in Calen or San Juan.

The bus is great if you just want to see some of the more major churches, but on the bus you can’t make your fiance stop every five minutes to take pictures of all the churches you will pass on the side of the road on your way to the major churches, and really who wouldn’t want to annoy their traveling partner just a tiny bit?!? Rent the car in Castro (the largest city on the Island) at Sulfa Sur. It’s really the only car rental service on the island. There is also a great little tourist information center in Castro located in the park across the street from Castro’s giant wooden cathedral. You can’t miss the cathedral, you can see its wooden spires from almost anywhere in Castro. We spent a few days “chasing churches” which took us to pretty much every corner of the island.

Including Quellon, the southernmost city on the island, where we enjoyed this view of the bay and the mainland beyond from a shipyard

and where we saw this awesome turquoise church

We also visited the national park where we walked along a stretch of untouched beach as far as the eye could see

We also ran across this adorable little church near the beach

and followed a friend’s recommendation to eat at a restaurant/hostel just outside the park called Parador Darwin, and boy are we glad we did! The food was great, but what really made it special was the collection of homemade spreads they served you with bread while you waited for your meal. I know, not usually the thing that people rave about at a restaurant, but when the spread includes homemade olive tapenade, herbed goat cheese, onions pickled in red wine vinegar, ahi salsa, garlicky cucumbers, and jam, who can blame me?!? It’s all served up in simple mussel shells with homemade crusty bread.

A few other places we visited included Delcahue

where we got on a ferry and crossed the channel to a small island and the city of Curaco de Velez where I enjoyed the biggest oyster I’ve ever seen.

Further along the island we stopped in a town called Quinchao where we walked the shoreline

and visited this beautiful church

Wooden on the outside and on the inside, that’s some craftsmanship!

Several other churches we saw included

This last church was in a tiny village called Calen. Many of the churches that we came across were not open, but I really wanted to try and get inside of this one. Being in the town felt like we’d gone back in time

We went to the one room schoolhouse and asked if we could get inside the church. A few of the children ran off to the house of the woman who held the key to the church. A few minutes later a tiny, ancient woman came walking down the dirt road to let us into her church. It was such a strange and wonderful feeling being in such a unique and rare place. Plus the little old lady let me climb up into the belltower

We stayed in a hostel in Castro in the Palofito (stilt house) section.

Our Hostel was called Palafito Sur and it was wonderful, in fact it was our favorite hostel of the entire trip. It was brand new, super clean, and in a great location. Plus it’s painted in fun colors!

There are great big windows in the front that offer a beautiful view of the canal.

I would highly recommend this hostel. The walls are super thin, but it’s super clean and comfortable and the views and location totally make up for it!

All in all our time on Chiloe was really relaxing and even enlightening. In a world that seems to be moving a hundred miles a minute and is always looking for the next newest thing, it was incredibly refreshing to find a place that is still pure and seemingly untouched by time. Next up on our trip south is Torres Del Paine, the highlight of our trip! Stay tuned!

Planes, Trains, and Automobiles; Patagonia Part One

aculbertson — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 17:08:00 -0300

In March Tom’s contract with Start Up Chile (our reason for being in Chile) ended. But instead of heading back to the States we decided that it was high time for a serious vacation. So we packed up our stuff, moved out of our apartment in Santiago, and set off on the road for a month long adventure through Patagonia (Chile and Argentina’s Southern tip). Tom had been dreaming about this vacation for a long time, a really long time. Since childhood it had been a dream of Tom’s to travel through Patagonia. And after having been there I can see why.

We started our trip by returning to the scene of a much loved previous vacation; Pucon.

It would be difficult to explain the beauty and uniqueness of Pucon, so I’ll let our actions speak for themselves. By the second day of our stay in Pucon we had found an apartment and decided to return there to live for a few months after our Patagonia trip was concluded. More about that in future posts.

After a few wonderful and relaxing days in Pucon we hopped on a bus and headed to Puerto Varas about 4 hours south of Pucon.

Puerto Varas is a small waterfront city. There is no shipping port here, so it feels pretty quaint and quiet. The area around the waterfront is really fancy and well developed with plenty of upscale hotels and restaurants. We stayed at a wonderful little hostel called Casa Azul at the recommendation of some friends. The hostel was clean, eclectic, well located, and the owners were very friendly. I would definitely pass this recommendation along. On our second day in Puerto Varas we decided to take a day trip to a nearby German village called Frutillar.

Frutillar was founded in 1856 by German immigrants. During the 1840s and 1850s the Chilean Government initiated a colonization program with Germany which encouraged German families of middle socio-economic status to immigrate to the southern cities of Chile. Thusly, it is not uncommon to stumble across villages with German inspired architecture and German speaking citizens throughout southern Chile.

In addition to it’s unique architecture and interesting history, Frutillar recently became well known for building its Teatro del Lago, or Lake Theatre.

Besides it’s breathtaking modern architecture, it is also the largest theatre in the country and it is considered to have the best acoustics of any theatre ever built in South America. If you ever find yourself in the area during the last week of January or the first week of February make sure to visit the theatre for it’s famous music festival, “Semanas Musicales”.

On our third day in Puerto Varas we decided to do an activity through our awesome hostel. The owner, a German born immigrant, took us on a day excursion to Puerto Varas’s nearby Osorno volcano, on a hike through the forest at the base of the volcano, and to some awe inspiring waterfalls.

We took a chairlift part of the way up so we could walk around on this active volcano (which erupts every hundred years and is currently several years overdue for an eruption) and check out its many red craters.

We also got some spectacular views of the valley below, the Andes mountains, and even a few volcanos on the Argentina side.

Tom and our guide had to drag me off of the volcano. I could have stayed up there and taken pictures all day. But we had a hike to get to. A hike through a lava field.

And after that, a trip to the most amazing waterfalls I have ever seen.

With the volcano visible in the background and several raging waterfalls all converging in a lushly forested surrounding, “spectacular” just doesn’t cut it. In the end I was glad they dragged me off that volcano so that I could experience the Petrohue waterfalls. This is perhaps my most most highly recommended guided tour of our trip. If you are planning a trip to Puerto Varas, do not miss this tour. Many hostels and tour companies offer this package, you do not have to do it through Casa Azul, although our guide was both friendly and knowledgable.

We wrapped up our stay in Puerto Varas with a waterfront stroll and a visit to the church.

Built in 1915 by a German immigrant, it has become a landmark due to it’s striking German architecture. It’s impossible to miss this massive church, which stands on a hill overlooking the bay.

[photo courtesy Equifase 2012 Chile]

After a few days in Pucon and a few days in Puerto Varas we were starting to get into the hang of the nomadic lifestyle. There is something incredibly freeing about carrying your daily necessities on your back and being free to move from place to place at a whim. After only a week we were off to a pretty darn good start. And really our journey into “true” Patagonia was only beginning. But I’ll save that for the next post. Stay tuned for Chiloe!

Into the Wild: Laguna del Laja and Pucón

aculbertson — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 18:50:20 -0300

A couple of weekends ago Tom and I decided to take a last minute trip out of town. We weren’t sure where to go so we asked our Chilean friend, Alex, who didn’t hesitate for a second to recommend Pucón. We grabbed another couple, rented a car, made some tentative plans and sleeping arrangements, and took off into the wild with pretty much no idea what we were up against. I cannot possibly thank Alex enough for the recommendation. Pucón was absolutely one of the most incredible and beautiful places I have ever had the privilege of visiting. We are already planning to go back before we leave Chile. So, buckle up and come along on our awesome road trip into the wild!

Pucón is about 8-10 hours south of Santiago and is the gateway to Patagonia. Sort of like a Patagonia teaser. Since the drive is so long we decided to split it into two days and stay over a night on the way there. I did a little research online and found a suggestion from a fellow traveler to stay overnight at a national park about 6 hours South of Santiago. We rented a cabin in Parque Nacional Laguna del Laja, crossed our fingers, and hoped for the best. Parque Nacional Laguna del Laja is about an hour to an hour and a half off the highway. It’s quite the detour, but we all agreed that it was worth it. The park’s volcano can be seen long before you reach the park and our first glimpse of it was breathtaking. I think it was at this point that we realized we were in for quite a treat.

Our cabin was picturesquely perched among pine trees and snow capped mountains. We took a quick tour of the park that evening.

The park was really beautiful. It reminded me a lot of Mammoth in California, where I spent most of my summers growing up. There were incredibly old pine trees, delightful little roadside waterfalls, majestic mountains, and a roaring river winding gracefully through the valley.

That evening we decided to BBQ some meat that we had picked up in the grocery store in Los Angeles. Los Angeles is on the 5 freeway and you have to drive through it in order to get to Laguna Del Laja. It is pretty much the last place to get food before you head off the highway to the park. There are no restaurants in the park, so getting food in Los Angeles is a must.

The next morning we decided to head to the lake which is one of the park’s main attractions. The park’s other main attraction is the huge Antuco volcano, which last erupted in 1869. Over a course of 6,000 years and countless eruptions, the volcano slowly transformed the surrounding area into what can only be described as a “lunar landscape”.

This coupled with the giant lake makes for a truly unique landscape that aught not to me missed.

Tom and our friend Francesca were the gutsy ones, they braved the frigid water for the opportunity to swim in this beautiful lake.

After our fun at the lake we decided to get on the road to Pucón which was about another 3 hours South. On our way out of the park we ran into these guys

and a few minutes later, these guys

This park was totally off the beaten path, don’t expect to find much here beyond peace, quiet, beauty, and a few stray farm animals here and there.

And then there was Pucón…

As soon as we got close enough to see the massive lake that stretches from Villarica to Pucón we knew that this place was special.

We arrived late in the afternoon and our first order of business was to get down to the lake. Swimming in the lake with the snow capped volcano spewing smoke in the not too distant distance, was a really special experience. It felt remote and unique with a black sand beach that is both uncrowded and unspoiled; it was heavenly.

That night we wandered through the quaint, alpine-esque, village looking for a place to eat.

We stumbled upon a place called Trawen where we enjoyed these delicious plates

(Olive risotto with grilled octopus)

(Bacon wrapped lamb with polenta)

The average food in Chile is not usually quite this gourmet, so this was really the last thing we were expecting to find in a town as small and remote as Pucón. And yet, there it was. Trawen has wonderful, and more importantly, innovative food with a charming atmosphere; highly recommended!

On our way back to our hostel we caught this glimpse of the Villarica Volcano just peaking over the tops of some trees.

Yes it is smoking, we are told that it does this often. Fortunately our hostel was very near the town’s volcano alarm, which changes from green to yellow, and finally to red as the volcano’s activity increases. It was green while we were there despite the very obvious smoke, but I think if it ever turned yellow I’d high tail it out of there. I mean if it’s smoking at green, what must red be like?!?!

The next day we headed out for a morning excursion to some nearby waterfalls that had been suggested to us by a local. When in doubt, do what the locals do!

The Los Ojos waterfalls were really beautiful and best of all we were able to go on a little hike through the surrounding forest area, which afforded us access to this amazing lagoon called “Laguna Azul” or the “Blue Lagoon”.

(It really is this blue, this is straight out of the camera. In fact, it’s even bluer in person)

After our morning of hiking through a lush Chilean forest and exploring its breathtakingly blue waterfalls, we decided to do a little river rafting in the nearby Trancura River. No big deal, it’s just Pucón.

Three of us were river rafting virgins, but this trip was perfect for the inexperienced rafter.

The rapids were exciting without feeling overwhelming or out of control. The rapids were all about class 3 rapids, but I never felt like I was in danger of falling out of the raft. We went with the Andesmar River Rafting Company which was really great. We got about an hour and a half to two hours in the water, all of our gear including wetsuit, wind breaker, helmet, life vest, and shorts, and even a soda at the end of the trip for $30 US per person. The crew was helpful, knowledgeable, and fun. Our guide even let us jump out of the raft at one point and float down the river a ways. It was a really great trip, a really good value, and a perfect mix of adventure and fun for us first timers.

Later that night after a very full day we decided to unwind at the Termas los Pozones.

(These pictures are courtesy of google)

The termas are very popular in Pucón and basically consist of large pools of water that are heated by the earth’s thermal activity, in this case volcanic activity. It was neat to go at night when you can enjoy the hot springs while looking at the stars. I would definitely recommend this as a nighttime activity. Cost is around $10US per person and the termas stay open until 2am.

On the final day of our trip we decided to go for a morning horseback ride before getting on the road to drive home. This was sort of a last minute, meet the guy on the side of the road, get on the horses and go sort of thing. Literally.

We pulled over to the side of a dirt road, the horses were saddled and ready to go. Our guide was very relaxed and he pretty much let us do whatever we wanted, which included Tom and I racing our horses along the path at a full gallop (our horses were suspiciously competitive).

We rode through endless green fields while the fog rolled slowly over the surrounding mountains.

The ride was indescribably beautiful and full of surprises…like this one

After dismounting and tying our horses to some nearby trees, we hiked down the side of a mountain several hundred feet to this magnificent waterfall. We had been told that we would be seeing a waterfall on the ride, but none of us were prepared for THIS waterfall.

Our guides (a father and son) were really kind and helpful. They run a small family business called Cabalgatas de Salta and our guide’s name was Raúl. Please give them your business, they will show you a good time! The cost of the ride was $24US dollars. They can be reached at 90119359.

Our ride, like everything else on this trip seriously exceeded our expectations. It was the first time that Tom and I had seen a part of the country that is so lush and green and wild. Living in Santiago, an incredibly modern city, makes it easy to forget that Chile is an amazingly unique country with a drastically varied ecosystem. From the world’s driest dessert in the North of Chile, to the California-esque coastal region in the middle, to the glaciers in the South, Chile has a little something for everyone.

A Hop, Skip, and a Jump Over the Andes

aculbertson — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 20:52:00 -0300

A couple of weeks ago Tom and I boarded a plane bound for Buenos Aires, Argentina. One of our goals of moving to Chile was to travel as much as possible in South America. Tom has already traveled extensively throughout South America, but I have much to explore still! So, although he has already been to Buenos Aires twice before, when the opportunity came up, Tom jumped at the chance to take me to one of his favorite cities in South America.

I was excited. Very, very excited. Many of our friends from Chile and the Start Up Chile program that we are participating in had recently been to Buenos Aires and their reviews were very promising. As usual in South America, I had no idea what to expect. As we boarded the plane Tom told me that Buenos Aires is known as “the Paris of South America”. Promising right?

Buenos Aires is certainly a unique and interesting city. The architecture is very Parisian, the food is wonderful, the people are friendly, the shopping is phenomenal and there is a lot to see! We only had a few days to explore, but I think I got the gist of the city, and I definitely see a return trip in our future.

We stayed in an apartment in Palermo Soho, which is sort of the shopping district of Buenos Aires. It is a very pretty part of town with lots of shops and wonderful restaurants. The streets are tree lined and there are plenty of sidewalk cafes, very Parisian.

Complete with cobblestones and cats perched on rooftops, oh how very old world.

There was also plenty of beautiful street art. My favorite!

After exploring our own neighborhood we decided to get out and see the city a bit. We did a lot of walking on this trip which was a nice way to go. Walking ensures that you will stumble upon lovely little bakeries like this one in Palermo.

I mentioned to Tom several times that I wanted to sample everything in this bakery. I’m pretty sure that in my blissful delirium I also told him that I wanted to live there. Piccolo Pane Bakery was a wonderful affirmation of our firm belief that walking is the best way to get to know a city. We sampled several very interesting flavors of empanadas (famous in Argentina and very different than the ones in Chile) including a Gruyere cheese empanada, a garlic and munster cheese empanada, and this spinach, Gruyere, and hard boiled egg empanada. WEIRD/YUM!

There were also some very beautiful desserts that looked out of this world!

And then there were these ridiculously adorable, bizarrely retro loaf cakes.

Walking was definitely the way to go on our first day. It eased us into our trip, made for a very delicious and relaxing first day, and gave us a nice feel for the neighborhood.

That night we met up with some friends who were also in town. We ate at a local Palermo steak house that came highly recommended. “La Dorita” did not disappoint. The steak was wonderful and the sides were both interesting and plentiful.

This was my first steak in seven years! Yes that’s right I’m a masochist :) I have been a “pescetarian” (meaning that as far as meat goes I only eat fish) for seven years, but I decided before our trip, after much soul searching, that I would go ahead and have a steak in Buenos Aires. Because I love to eat and I love to travel it seems a shame to travel to a place that is famous for a meat dish and not actually eat it. So, I had my first steak in seven years, and as it turns our, steak is delicious! Or at least famous Argentinian steak is delicious. So delicious that a couple of nights later I had another one. But we’ll get to that later.

On the second day of our trip we followed a tip from a Buenos Aires native (now living in Chile and part of the program with us) and took a tour bus! Yes, much to Tom’s chagrin we hopped on a big yellow, blatantly touristy, double-decker bus (it doesn’t get much worse than that) and spent the day viewing Buenos Aires from above.

I haven’t been into photography for very long, but one thing that I realized fairly quickly was that when photographing a city always look up. That’s where all the fun is.

Because of this simple fact, riding a double decker bus was perfect for viewing and photographing the city. The bus that we took was simply called the Buenos Aires Bus and it is a hop on hop off system. You buy a ticket that is good for either 24 or 48 hours and then you can get on and off the bus at various stops along a fixed route that pretty much covers the entire city.

Our first stop on the bus was the Recoleta Cemetery. I had heard a lot about this cemetery but I wasn’t prepared for what I saw upon arrival. In my head it was going to be a very large cemetery with lots of interesting headstones like something you’d see at an old cemetery in the States. Wrong, oh so very wrong.

The cemetery is actually a collection of 4,800 mausoleums. Built in 1822 it covers over 54,000 square meters and resembles a city of tombs complete with streets and pathways so that visitors can find there way through this rather morbid albeit beautiful maze.

This was easily and without question my favorite part of our trip!

Peering into a tomb, I see a face!

This is the tomb of a young woman who lived at the end of the 19th century. Rufina was the daughter of wealthy and famous parents and she was renowned for her beauty. Her 19th birthday was to be a grand affair but on the day of the big party one of Rufina’s friends confessed a terrible secret, namely that Rufina’s own mother was having an affair with Rufina’s fiance. Heartbroken, Rufina suffered an epileptic seizure and was pronounced dead on her 19th birthday. Her family ordered her to be buried at the cemetery but shortly after her funeral people reported scratching noises coming from her tomb. Rufina had awakened from her death-like comma to find herself buried alive. Upon re-opening the tomb they found scratch marks on the inside of the coffin, but it was too late. The shock from awaking inside a coffin had caused Rufina to have a heart attack and die, really die this time. The statue was commissioned to show Rufina opening the door to her tomb to escape her horrible fate.

Then there is Eva Peron of course. Most visitors to the Cemetery come for one reason and one reason alone, to see Evita’s tomb. To me, her tomb is very underwhelming especially when compared to those directly surrounding it.

The beauty of this cemetery is truly awe inspiring. The most relevant members of Argentine history rest in Recoleta Cemetery: politicians, military men, states-men, explorers, priests, leaders, writers, and poets lie here in silent testimony to the creativity and magnificence of human creation.

After Tom was finally able to pry me away from the cemetery, we hopped back on the bus and hopped back off at San Telmo.

San Telmo seems like a quaint little island unto itself. It felt a bit like stepping back in time and I loved every minute of it. I truly enjoyed staying in Palermo, but I think next time I’ll petition Tom to stay in San Telmo!

In San Telmo we found a pair of shoes that I have been lusting after for weeks. Paez shoes are made locally in Argentina, they resemble the traditional Gaucho shoe (better known as the Toms shoe design), and they are half the price of Toms. Unfortunately they do not come with the “one for one” guarantee like Toms do, but as a proud owner of several pairs of Toms shoes, I figured it was okay to buy a few pairs of the cheaper version. Sometimes a girl’s gotta save.

I got these yellow ones (among others) appropriately named “sun”!

After my joyous discovery we stopped at an Argentinian staple, Freddo, for some delicious ice cream. Several unfortunate events including the warm weather and my inability to not eat ice cream immediately conspired to keep me from taking a picture of the most amazing dulce de leche (their signature flavor) ice cream in the world! Yes I am an authority on dulce de leche ice cream. Suffice it to say that I have eaten way too much dulce de leche ice cream in a total of three different South American countries and Freddo’s is the best!

After ice cream we headed to the main square in San Telmo, which by Tom’s standards was way too touristy. I really wanted to snap a couple of pictures of the tango dancers that are always present in the square, so finally after some pleading and empty promises I convinced Tom to take a quick detour to check out this little piece of “old Argentina”.

The tango and the dancers were beautiful. I was and still am thoroughly jealous :)

Next we hopped back on the bus and headed to La Boca. We had already decided not to get off the bus at this stop. I mean when you’ve got the advantage of a bright yellow, double-decker bus, there’s really no need to get off :) Tom had been there before and it wasn’t an area that I was interested in seeing. I had been warned that it was both extreemly touristy (like Disneyland style) and that it was rather dangerous after dark. Since it was getting late in the evening and the line to get back on the bus was about 100 people long, we decided to skip this stop. You’ll have to read about La Boca elsewhere, enjoy :)

After La Boca the bus took us through the main parts of the city which included La Casa Rosada, or The Pink House. It’s like our White House, but with more style.

This is the balcony in La Casa Rosada where Eva Peron (Evita) made her famous speech to the people of Argentina who had gathered to protest the arrest of Eva’s husband, Juan Peron. Some credit Eva with organizing the protest that freed her husband who would later become one of Argentina’s most famous Presidents. Eva also became famous and wildly popular among Argentinian’s for both her involvement in politics and her charitable work.

The area immediately surrounding La Casa Rosada is littered with historic buildings built in the Parisian style.

This is the Teatro Colon, the main opera house in Beunos Aires and acoustically considered to be among the five best concert venues in the world. It was built over a 20 year period and opened in 1908.

Nearby La Casa Rosada is the harbor area of the city called Puerto Madero.

This area is mostly famous for this rather odd foot bridge called Puente De La Mujer or The Woman’s Bridge built in 2001.

We finished our bus trip with a drive through the lovely, tree-lined Belgrano neighborhood. The Buenos Aires Bus was a really interesting and efficient (although perhaps not unique) way to see the city. I would highly recommend this sight seeing option.

The final full day of our trip we decided to return to an area that we had seen on the bus ride. On our way to Belgrano we stopped for breakfast at Oui Oui, which our Buenos Aires native friend told us was an absolute MUST.

It is in a quiet, out of the way neighborhood in Palermo, and it is as adorable as it is delicious. Upon entering this quaint Parisian cafe we were met with a stunning array of pastries.

I ordered a delicious and rare (in South America) breakfast of eggs, bacon, and toast.

I realize it sounds boring, but when you haven’t had the luxury of the thousands of breakfast diners that inhabit every corner of America for four long months, this breakfast is pretty dang thrilling. Breakfast is not a big deal in Chile, apparently they haven’t heard the news “breakfast is the most important meal of the day”.

Tom ordered a roast beef sandwich, such a rebel.

The food was really special at this place. If you’re ever in Buenos Aires you absolutely MUST go to this charming Parisian cafe.

Next it was on to Belgrano.

On the way to Belgrano we caught a glimpse of this gigantic and rather startling work of art.

It is a gigantic metal flower who’s petals open and close in time with the sun. In the morning the petals open as the sun rises and in the evening they close as the sun fades, just like a real flower! It was created by Eduardo Catalano in 2002 and donated to the city of Buenos Aires.

Belgrano also houses the city’s China Town, which sounded worth exploring.

In China Town we stumbled upon these roasted duck heads, which we did not try. I’m adventurous, but I’m not crazy.

poor duckies!

We spent a few hours walking through the quiet neighborhoods of Belgrano, where we stumbled upon this house/museum, home to late sculptor Rogelio Irurtia.

Irurtia is one of Argentian’s most famous sculptors.

His house was also really beautiful, and it is home to an original Picasso painting complete with a personal note from Picasso addressed to Irurtia.

After a bit more wandering through Belgrano we decided to rest for a bit at Capisci located in the Plaza de Belgrano next to the “Rotunda”, or round church.

We did a little of this…

and a little of that…

After resting our tired feet and enjoying a couple of beers we decided to head out to dinner. We picked a place based on Lonely Planet reviews, which is always a bit of a toss up. Fortunately we were not disappointed with this charming old school steak house.

Rio Alba is famous for it’s traditional atmosphere as much as for it’s steaks. The waiters all wear bow ties and they never write your order down.

They are very attentive and friendly and the meat was amazing. That’s right I had another steak. And this time it was gigantic…

Shockingly large really.

But also really delicious especially when topped with some salsa criolla! I loved this steak house, the price was right, the portions were large, and after the meal there was this glorious creation

The dulce de leche crepe. This was another item on our Buenos Aires MUST list, so even though we were both uncomfortably full from our giant steaks (I’d like to note here that I didn’t actually eat that entire steak), when we saw this on the dessert menu there was no way to refuse. As much as I hated myself afterwards I am so glad we sucked it up and tried this dessert. AMAZING!

There were many amazing things about this trip, and I already cannot wait to go back. Since we only had a few days in Buenos Aires we chose to stay within the city and focus on eating, drinking, relaxing, and sight seeing. I think this was the ticket for this trip, but when we go back we’ll definitely plan to get out of the city and see the nearby Tigre Delta and take a trip across the water to Uruguay.

As interesting and cultural as Buenos Aires is, I am not of the opinion that it is better than Santiago as many people claim. Buenos Aires is charming in it’s own historical way, but it is also a massively large, surprisingly dirty, seriously crowded, rather unkempt city. It was amazing to visit Buenos Aires and like I have said, I cannot wait to go back and see more. But after having lived in Santiago, a beautiful, clean, uncrowded, well kept city, I could never live in a city like Buenos Aires.

Still, it does have it’s charms…

Please Folks Step Right This Way...

aculbertson — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 16:13:00 -0300

That’s right, I’ve become a tour guide in my spare time :)

A couple of weeks ago Tom’s family came to visit us in Santiago. This was exciting for a couple of different reasons. First, it was only my second time meeting them and since Tom had to focus on the business and work during the day it was my responsibility to show them Santiago. I was both excited and nervous about this prospect. Secondly, they brought me an early Christmas present from my parents…a new camera!!!! And it’s a big girl camera! No more point and shoot for me. It’s all about the SLR baby!

I love, love, love my new camera! It takes the most beautiful pictures. All the picture in this post are SOOC (straight out of camera), no Photoshop. at present I’m just using the auto setting on the camera because it seems to pretty much be able to figure things out on it’s own, but soon I will start studying how to use it and control the settings myself :) Yay!

Since I spent the weekend touring Santiago with the future in-laws I got to revisit many of the places I’ve already been and retake some pictures with my brand new camera! We also visited a few places that I haven’t been to and have been meaning to visit like Viña Del Mar and Pablo Neruda’s house in Santiago.

I’ll admit that I was pretty nervous about showing Tom’s parents and sister around Santiago. First of all I’ve only been here for a few months myself so I’m certainly no expert. Secondly, I tend to rely on Tom for most of my Spanish communication. Thirdly, I have an absolutely shameful sense of direction. Oh and lastly I’m pretty shy. But remarkably, it all turned out beautifully! Tom’s family is very easy to get along with. They are all very kind and laid back. No, I’m not sucking up here, they already love me so there’s really no need ;o) But seriously, we had a great week getting to know each other better and I have to say I think that we may just have put together a model week long trip to Santiago. so here it is:

Day 1. We spent the first day walking around Bella Vista, exploring the local street art and quiet neighborhoods, and eating lunch at Patio Bella Vista.

My camera has a function that lets you know if someone blinked in the picture. After I took the above picture it said “blink detected” :) Ha

We ate at “Backstage” at Patio Bella Vista. I don’t love how touristy Patio Bella Vista is (you know it’s touristy when pretty much every waiter speaks some English), but I have to say that it’s a great place to go for a nice variety of food options. They have sushi restaurants, hamburger joints, pizza, peruvian, steak houses, gelato, and a whole lot more. The restaurant that we ate at, Backstage, has a nice variety of most of the types of food listed above all on one menu.

After lunch we took a trip up to Cerro San Cristobal on the funicular. I really wanted to make sure that we did this on their first day here because you get a panoramic view of the entire city, which I think is a nice way to start! Unfortunately, during the spring and summer months the smog in Santiago is palpable. So we got a very smoggy view. If at all possible it’s best to visit Cerro San Cristobal in the fall or winter after a rain when the smog is at a minimum.

We ate dinner in charming Lastaria. Lastaria is a very old part of town with small sidewalk cafes, walk streets, starving artists, and great food. With a little imagination you could be in Paris.

Tom joined us for dinner at Vitorino Lastaria. It’s a cute and eclectic little Italian restaurant with outdoor seating and a decorating style which, while a little bizarre, feels right at home in this artistic neighborhood.

After dinner we made a required stop at nearby Emporio La Rosa. Emporio La Rosa has been named the best ice cream in Santiago, and in a city where you can find homemade gelato and ice cream on just about every corner that is really saying something. The flavors are as interesting as they are delicious!

Day 2. Mercado Central! I had been to the famous fish market once before without Tom but I had yet to actually eat there.

Mercado Central was built in 1872 and has become famous both for its interesting architecture and it’s preservation of ancient Chilean recipes. In 1984 it was named a National Historical Monument. This is definitely a must see and a must eat!

There are several small stalls selling produce and dried goods in the middle of the market, but most people come here for one thing…

Fish! Glorious fresh fish! We had a wonderful fish meal here at one of the many restaurants that prepare the freshly caught fish with traditional Chilean methods. Don’t let the pestering of the restaurant owners and the hard sell fool you, this place sees a lot of tourists sure, but it’s also some of the most authentic Chilean food you can find in Chile.

As much as I loved the food, it is the architecture of the building that made my heart skip a beat.

After a lovely lunch at Mercado Central we headed over to nearby Plaza De Armas. Tom and I had both been there before during Dieciocho, but we had never been inside the ages old Metropolitan Cathedral.

It is just about the gaudiest and most gorgeous church I’ve ever seen. The Europeans ain’t got nothin’ on these Catholics!

This alter was breathtaking and blinding.

We also made a quick stop by the President’s house.

Normally the courtyard within the outer wall is open for people to explore the many statues created by various artists. Unfortunately the day that we went they weren’t letting anyone into the courtyard. This is probably due to the student protests that have taken hold of the city over the last several months.

Day 3. We spent the third day of the trip in Tom’s and my neighborhood, Las Condes! We started the day at Pueblito Los Dominicos which is home to a quaint and surprisingly untouristy craft market. It is appended to Los Dominicos Church and has a decidedly Spanish influence in its architecture.

It is a bit on the pricey side and definitely not the place to pick up those plastic key chains and shot glasses. But the stuff here is hecho a mano, like for real…

If you want a keepsake that is handmade by a Chileno in Chile, then this is the place to go.

We also saw this guy at the market

I’ve never seen a peacock with his feathers all spread out in real life…neato!

After the craft market we stopped by Parque Arauco for a completely opposite experience. Parque Arauco is a shockingly expensive and absolutely gorgeous indoor/outdoor mall in Las Condes. This is most certainly the nicest mall I have ever been to (and that includes many nice malls in the States). I have never seen so many designers stores in one place. It’s heaven for the rich and torture for me :)

Next stop was the Las Condes Cultural Center.

This is a nice stop to make if you are in the neighborhood but probably not something to go out of your way to see. Don’t get me wrong I have really enjoyed my visits here so far, but it’s a very small museum and our limited time may have been better spent at a larger, more famous museum like The Chilean National Museum of Fine Arts near Lastaria.

I did really enjoy this display of giant hearts painted by various local artists and contributors to the museum.

That night I made dinner for the first time for my future family in law. It was exciting and nerve racking. I am a big believer in the old adage “the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach”, and I firmly believe that this is how I won Tom. So cooking for Tom’s family was a big moment in my life (yeah this may sound ridiculous, but truth be told, I’m just a 60s housewife at heart). Anyway, it went wonderfully! They loved what I made: parmesan crusted pork chops, baked pasta with homemade pasta sauce, garlic bread, and homemade apple pie with caramel sauce. To be honest it’s really my apple pie that forced Tom to tie the knot, it’s impossible to resist :)

Day 4. Concha Y Torro! Tom and I visited this famous Chilean winery a few weeks after I arrived in August. It was an interesting wine tour, but it was in the middle of winter and the winery itself was not beautiful. No grapes, no green, drizzly, grey sky, blah. Not at all the way a winery ought to be viewed. Fortunately I had the opportunity to go again in Spring with Tom’s family!

It was beautiful and there were sheep!

And grapes!

Lots of teeny tiny baby grapes. I’ll catch you guys later! Yum!

We also had a really great lunch at the winery restaurant. It was reasonably priced and the food was fresh and delicious. I would definitely recommend a meal here!

Day 5. This was the last full day of the trip and Tom took the day off so that we could all take a trip out to Valparaiso and Viña Del Mar. We had both been to Valparaiso before, but Viña Del Mar was a new experience for us both.

Like much of Chile, Viña Del Mar is a fascinating mix of new and old architecture set on a beautiful beach. I will be spending the next several months begging Tom to let us move there once our lease in Las Condes is up. Sometimes I miss the ocean so much it hurts :)

We took the bus (Turbus! My favorite!) to get out there. It was easy, quick (about 2 hours), and relatively cheap when you consider the cost of renting a car and paying the many toll fees along the way.

We ate at a restaurant next to this famous seaside casino.

The restaurant, “Enjoy”, had both an amazing seaside view complete with outdoor seating and absolutely wonderful seafood. Tom lives by the mantra that a restaurant with a view will never bother to have good food too, but boy was he wrong about this one.

Here are a few of our dishes

The food was even more delicious than it looks. Totally worth the price and the view included not only the sparkling ocean but also this castle perched on the shore.

We will definitely be visiting Viña Del Mar again this summer to explore further and enjoy the very popular beaches.

After lunch in Viña Del Mar and a nice walk along the beach we headed to neighboring Valparaiso.

We decided to stick with showing Tom’s family the neighborhood that we explored the last time we visited rather that trying to explore a new neighborhood that we weren’t sure about. We did walk down a street we hadn’t visited before that had some really nice street art.

Including these piano stairs!

This last picture is one of my favorites that I have ever taken and will surely find a place in our home once we settle down. It says “turn off the T.V., live your life”.

Day 6. I had read that going to Pablo Neruda’s house in the Bella Vista neighborhood of Santiago was an interesting and important thing to do while visiting the city.

We hadn’t gotten a chance to go ourselves, so we decided that the last day Tom’s family was in Chile would be reserved for viewing this famous casa and the Nobel Peace Prize housed within. I wasn’t sure what to expect as I did not know much about Pablo Neruda, but I mostly just expected a regular old house that had been turned into a rather dull and boring museum for tourists. I could not have been more wrong. His house is indescribably fascinating.

Visitors are not allowed to take pictures inside the house so these three interior pictures are courtesy of the internet. Pablo Neruda was a world traveler and his house reflects that. He became a successful poet as a young man and so, while many famous poets die poor and only become famous posthumously, Pablo Neruda lived a very wealthy life. He has three houses throughout Chile that are all open to visitors, but the house in Santiago is the one that holds his Nobel Peace Prize.

He built the house in 1953 for a woman named Matilde Urrutia, who he was having an affair with. Their relationship continued for many years and he eventually made her his wife. She was the love of his life and stayed with him until the end. Many of his poems were written for her and his devotion to her is plain to see throughout their home.

Neruda was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1971, but despite his fame and fortune he was forced to spend much time in exile due to his Communist beliefs. A few short years after he received the Nobel Prize and in the wake of the Pinochet military coup, Neruda died of heart failure at a hospital near his home. Although he had been diagnosed with prostate cancer shortly before his death, his rapid decline and the correlation between his death and Pinochet’s rise, has caused many Chileans to believe that foul play was at hand. His body was recently exhumed and autopsied to determine whether or not he was poisoned by Pinochet’s order.

The house is made of three different and unconnected sections and built on different levels. Pablo Neruda was obsessed with the ocean and all thing nautical and it is said that many of the rooms in his house resemble the inside of a ship. He even had an above ground pool of sorts built that covered the windows of his dinning room giving you the effect that you were in a ship below deck.

The house was the perfect reflection of a fascinating man.

Our last stop before leaving the Bella Vista neighborhood was lunch at Ciudad Vieja. I taked about visiting this place before in my post on Dieceocho. I had the most delicious fish sandwich

This place is a MUST visit! MUST! Delicious!

All in all we had a wonderful and adventure packed week with Tom’s family. I think that we were able to include a lot of the important sights and tastes of Santiago. If I could do it again there are a few other things I would include like the Fine Arts Museum, Sculpture Park, Cementario General where all but two of Chile’s president’s (O’Higgins and Pinochet) are buried, and Cerro Santa Lucia.

Of course it’s always better to have too much to do in a city than not enough!

[…] it follows that I am, because you are:
it follows from ‘you are’, that I am, and we:
and, because of love, you will, I will,
We will, come to be.

-Pablo Neruda

Some "Real" Chile

aculbertson — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 00:52:00 -0300

A couple weekends ago Tom and I decided it was finally time to leave the city and see some “real” Chile. We picked a beach town called La Serena about 6 hours north of Santiago for our maiden voyage. We didn’t do much research before we set out. Tom and I both enjoy as much spontaneity as possible when we travel. So we weren’t really sure what to expect when we got there. We bought our bus tickets a couple of days before departure and booked a hostel the day before we left. Spontaneity baby! What we ended up with was a totally awesome, much needed, thoroughly enjoyable weekend get away.

First off the bus ride was totally wonderful and clearly the way to go if you want to travel cheaply and comfortably. And really who doesn’t? We decided on an overnight bus ride on the way there, leaving at midnight and arriving at 6 am. We booked seats in the “sleeper car” which consists of about 6 seats that convert into beds. I wasn’t expecting much from this especially considering that it only cost 30 bucks per person. But boy was I in for a treat!

This picture doesn’t quite give you the full affect, but these seats fully reclined. And when I say “fully” I mean totally flat, no uncomfortable bar digging into your lower back, no dangling legs. And we got a pillow, blanket, they turned out the lights, and provided a snack for when we woke up. Best 30 bucks I have ever spent! I went to sleep shortly after boarding the bus and woke up when we got there. Perfect! Apparently since long distance bus travel is so common in Chile the buses are very well maintained and very cheap. We took Turbus and I would highly recommend them any day!

Upon arrival we headed to our hostel. I was a little wary of this as it would be my first time in a hostel and I had no idea what to expect. But like our bus ride I was again in for a pleasant surprise!

We had a private room with a private bathroom and patio. We got a delicious, albeit simple, breakfast of freshly baked bread, coffee, homemade jam, and meats every morning included in the cost of the hostel. They came in and cleaned our room and provided us with clean towels everyday. The staff was friendly and willing to help with suggestions for restaurants and setting up tours. To be honest I’m still not sure what the difference between this delightfully wonderful hostel and a hotel was, other than the fact that the hostel was less than half the price of the hotel of course. We had a very comfortable stay and Tom had to remind me more than once that this was not a normal hostel and that I was getting seriously spoiled :) If you ever get the chance to visit La Serena, Hostal El Punto is the bees knees!

We ended up spending very little time in La Serena. It wasn’t exactly what we expected. We were thinking that it would be a small beach town, but in actuality it is a pretty large city on the beach.

The town itself is the second oldest city in Chile, after Santiago, and was founded by Pedro De Vadivia in 1544 to be used as a sea link between Chile and Peru. Over the years it became an important naval base and suffered many attacks by pirates including Francis Drake who opened the Pacific Route to English Pirates in 1578. The naval base still exists and is still in operation today, which Tom and I found out when we tried to enter it thinking it was a museum…oops :)

Since we went in early spring the weather was pretty overcast, but La Serena is one of Chile’s most popular summer destination for those living in Santiago. The beach is said to be beautiful!

Instead of hanging around in La Serena we decided to go on a few local tours. La Serena offers many tours to local wineries, Pisco distilleries, Elqui Valley, local observatories, horseback riding, Damas Island where you can see penguins and sea lions, Fray Jorge National Park, and many more. Since we only had a few days in La Serena we picked two tours that sounded the most interesting to us. The first of these was a trip to a local observatory called Mamaluca. The observatory tour is late at night (sometimes starting at 7pm sometimes at 9pm). Our tour started at 9pm, when we were picked up by the bus driver outside our hostel and transported about an hour and a half to the observatory which sits deep in the valley and high up on a hill. As soon as we got out of the bus the full magnitude of the stars above hit us and it absolutely took my breath away. La Serena is one of the best places to see stars in Chile and Chile is one of the best places to see stars in the world. So good in fact that it was recently chosen to be the location of the worlds largest observatory and telescope. I have never seen a more beautiful sky in my life. The memory will stay with me forever. The Milky Way was so clearly visible it looked like a cloud, while shooting stars danced playfully across the sky, and Jupiter rose in the East.

Our tour was wonderful and the guide was very knowledgeable, showing us many different constellations, clusters, planets, and the moon which I shot this picture of…

through this telescope.

I would highly recommend the Mamaluca Observatory tour, it felt like a once in a lifetime experience to me.

The next day we decided to head deeper into the valley where they make Pisco, the famous Chilean (and Peruvian!) liquor made from grapes. There is an age old argument between Chileans and Peruvians about who invented Pisco and who’s is better. I personally do not enjoy the sweetness of Pisco liquor, but the Chileans feel very strongly about it and it is EVERYWHERE!

The valley was very beautiful and very unique. It was an interesting mixture of barren hills dotted here and there with stunning greenery. The town that we went to, Pisco Elqui, was definitely a departure from the norm. It was about two hours from La Serena by bus but it felt like a different world. As soon as we got off the bus we felt the calming effect of a sleepy town where no one is ever in a hurry and life just slowly passes you by.

The town was very quaint and exceedingly charming. The village square is made up of a small park and the town’s only church. Pisco Elqui was given to Francisco de Aguirre, Spanish conqueror, by Pedro de Valdivia, his direct superior and the founder of Santiago in the mid 1500s. The town was immediately recognized for it’s strong agricultural potential. Today it is famous for the production of it’s namesake. It is also famous among the villagers and locals for its frequent UFO sightings, and you would be hard pressed to find an inhabitant of this small town that hadn’t seen at least one UFO in his or her lifetime :)

We arrived a little late in the day (due to our late night star adventure the evening before) so we missed the pisco tour at the town’s distillery. Tom was particularly upset about this missed opportunity as he has taken a liking to Pisco. We did catch a glimpse inside the distillery where they store the Pisco in these large vats.

After our missed trip to the distillery we decided to just stroll around the town and do some exploring.

We hiked along the highway that led even deeper into the valley until we found this vantage point and really got the full effect of the magic of this valley.

We also stumbled upon this picture perfect farm that offered horseback riding and camping

We both agreed that if we ever get the chance to come back to this magical place we will make sure to spend a night on this ranch sleeping in a straw tee-pee, tucked away in this most relaxing of places.

We ended our night in the town square listening to the church bells ring and watching as the town, old grandmothers and young children alike, slowly made their way towards the church, up the steps, and into evening mass. It truly felt like we had stepped back in time, to a simpler, more honest past. It has been called the “Jewel of the Elqui Valley”, and I couldn’t possibly think of a more fitting title.

On our final day in La Serena we took a risk and decided to go to a small town just south. We hadn’t heard much about this town except that they had good seafood, and we figured we’d already had such a great trip that if it turned out to be a dud it wouldn’t really effect our trip. Coquimbo is a quick 20 minute bus ride south of La Serena. It is rather famous for a large, and decidedly bizarre cross perched on one of it’s hills. The town itself is very poor and a bit rough around the edges, but Tom and I both enjoy that sort of travel just as much and often times more than the fancy places, so we set off to find out what this town by the sea had to offer.

And once again we were in for an unexpected treat. We stumbled upon (although I think it would be difficult to miss as long as you head towards the water) an AMAZING fish market.

The fishing boats literally pull right up to the dock and unload their fish into the fish market. The market is built on a dock overlooking the ocean which is dotted with brightly colored fishing vessels of all shapes and sizes.

Also present, and in large number, outside the fish market were these guys

This particular fellow was my favorite. I’ve never seen a white pelican before.

Inside the fish market we walked around and stopped at each booth, gawking at the variety of seafood, some of which we had never seen before. I bought and quickly devoured some deliciously fresh ceviche.

Not only was it remarkably cheap but the variety of seafood was a pleasant surprise. This wasn’t your typical shrimp and pico de gallo ceviche, that’s for sure! While enjoying my ceviche (Tom doesn’t enjoy raw fish, more for me!) we got a visit from these playful sea lions

We also spied a pair of sea otters swimming a couple of yards from us. I’d never seen otters in the wild so this was a real treat! They were just about as adorable as you’d imagine :)

We decided to take a quick stroll through town before coming back to the fish market for a proper seafood meal. Nearby the fish market was a farmers market of sorts

complete with chickens, bunnies, and guinea pigs (?) for sale. I’m a bit worried about the later two animals and why they were being sold at a farmers market in the food section.

Tom assured me that they were probably just being sold as pets. I love him :)

We climbed through the city up to a hill that held a particularly interesting looking church. Since coming to South America I have developed a curiosity for their Catholic churches. They are particularly gaudy and flashy which makes them all the more fascinating to behold. Once I have a good collection going I will write a post about Catholic churches in South America.

As it turns out this particular church was not a church at all but a Muslim Mosque. More specifically it is the Mohammed VI Center for the Dialogue of Civilizations and it was built only a few years ago.

It’s mission is to enhance values of openness and understanding between different religions and civilizations. It was the most bizarre and also the most incredible thing to come across in this very poor, rather small, fishing village in the middle of a predominantly Catholic country. If you’re ever in the neighborhood and it’s open (it was closed when we were there) definitely stop in for a look around. I have a feeling that not many people have ever been inside this place.

After our hike up to the mosque we decided it was high time for some delicious seafood. Tom had a whole fish fried with rice and a Chilean salad (which always consist of chopped tomatoes, onions, olive oil, lemon, and cilantro…never lettuce!)

And I had two wonderful seafood empanadas.

A word about empanadas. They are amazing in Chile. They are everywhere in Chile. They are often times the only vegetarian option at a restaurant (queso y champiñón). They have become about 90% of my diet. I am quickly becoming an empanada connoisseur.

I had a crab empanada and a scallop empanada. These were my first seafood empanadas and although they were fried instead of baked (the baked ones rule!) I was still mighty pleased with my chioces.

This crab empanada was un.be.lievable!

We both thoroughly enjoyed our fresh, right off the boats, fish meal and our day of exploring Coquimbo. We took a chance on Coquimbo and definitely won big, but that’s what travelling is all about.

Our Maiden Voyage was a major success. I remarked to Tom that this trip really felt like we had visited a foreign country. Often times we find ourselves forgetting and taking for granted the fact that we live in a foreign country because Santiago feels so Westernized. It is difficult to find any real Chilean culture in Santiago outside of the occasional Chilean flag hanging in someone’s front yard. It’s not to say that they aren’t proud of their country and their roots, but even the taxi drivers play American music here. This trip was a refreshing, and much needed reminder that we are in fact living in a completely different part of the world, unlike anything we have know before, with it’s own unique culture, beliefs, and traditions.

A Fonda and an Earth-Shaking Drink

aculbertson — Wed, 05 Oct 2011 13:59:26 -0300

Despite our pretty disappointing adventure on Saturday at the Yein Fonda, we decided to give the holiday festivities one more try. After all, the entire city was closed down for the weekend, so searching out a Fonda was really our only option. We caught the news Saturday night and found that where we should have been that day was at the Parque O’Higgins Fonda. All the cool kids where there including President Piñera who officially opened Santiago’s largest Fonda by dancing the Cueca.

That’s him on the right being a rooster :)

Once we saw this on the news we knew that this was most definitely our next move in our little game of Fonda hunting. As I mentioned in my previous post, Tom and I were really looking for a big party with lots of traditional food, drinks, music, people, and maybe some dancing to watch. After our Saturday misadventure we were a little wary of venturing into another Fonda and getting our hopes and dreams dashed, but fortunately for us, Parque O’Higgins did not disappoint!

It was most definitely one gigantic party! My first impression (and still the best way to describe it I think) is that it was like the L.A. county fair with a Latin flair and a lot more dancing.

There was a ton of really delicious, unhealthy food and drink…just what we had in mind :)

Tom and some of the friends that we went with had these meat skewers which seem to be a very popular street food in Chile since you can find them just about everywhere.

There was meat being grilled on makeshift grills, sopapillas browning in hot oil, empanadas being kept warm on heated slabs, a food lovers paradise! Well at least if you’re a food lover of horribly bad for you fried foods :) Which we are, of course.

My absolute favorite treat to get in this type pf situation is a sopapilla. I didn’t get a picture but here’s what they look like:

They are made from pumpkin and deep fried. Chileans have been eating these deep fried pumpkin treats since 1726, and traditionally they are only prepared and eaten on rainy days…best rainy day food ever! Fortunately these days they don’t reserve this deliciousness for rainy days only. They can be served as a sweet or a savory depending on the type of sauce they are served with; dulce de leche for sweet, and pebre, mustard, or ketchup for savory. I’ve never had a sweet one before but I have had more than my share of savory sopapillas with delicious Chilean pebre sauce.

While I was busy picking up a sopapilla at each and every sopapilla stand we passed, Tom decided to get these frightfully shiny papas fritas

Papas fritas (or french fries) are also a super popular and common food in Chile, except that in my opinion they aren’t quite doing it right (note the unbelievable shininess of the pictured fries). Now, I certainly do not have a problem with deep fried things, grease is not necessarily a turn off for me, but this is just too much. And they seem to be like this everywhere. The papas fritas in Chile are very greasy and seemingly underfried since they are floppy and not at all crisp like the fries elsewhere. Which, is fine, of course they can fry potatoes however they darn well please, I’m just not so sure I’m on board with it. Tom however, seemed, totally pleased with his floppy fry purchase, but that could have had something to do with these

The legendary Terremoto. The terremoto is a bizarrely fascinating combination of sweet fermented whine called pipeño and pineapple ice cream. Oh yes, that’s right. To call it a cocktail would be a stretching the term far too far. However it’s uniqueness and creativity cannot be denied. It is an awful drink. I had heard many a warning about the power and the terrible taste of this legendary drink, but unfortunately I had to find out for myself. And boy, were the terremotos flowing in Parque O’Higgins.

It is believed that the terremoto was born at a well known Santiago bar called El Hoyo (or the hole). The story goes that some German reporters came to Santiago to report about the damages caused by the major earthquake that had struck the city in March 1985. Due to the heat, the reporters asked for something refreshing so a waiter called Guillermo Valenzuela added some ice-cream to a glass of pipeño. When they tried the concoction, they supposedly said “Esto sí que es un Terremoto” (This truly is an earthquake) due to how strong it was and the name stuck even since.

Teremotos come in a variety of “flavors” with different combinations of various liquors and pineapple ice cream. We also had an even more awful variation with Chicha, a fermented wine made from apples, which was kept in these comically large casks

As soon as this guy started pouring I knew I’d made a mistake :)

and later two of our more adventurous friends got one with a mint flavor. The mint was by far the worst of the bunch; just imagine creme de menthe, sweet fermented wine, and pineapple ice cream. Seriously, who comes up with this stuff?

After our earthshaking terremoto experience some of us (not me) decided to try our hand at some very obviously rigged carnival games (again I believe this lack of judgement was due to the aforementioned terremotos).

This strange and confusing game seemed to be a sort of “spin the bottle” with bottles type game. I couldn’t quite understand how this one worked, but I sure hope that they were giving away those bottles of booze as prizes because there was clearly not enough alcohol involved in this fonda (insert sarcasm here).

After a few failed attempts to knock over something with something or get a ring around something or throw a ball into whatever, we decided to stick to what we know best. More food. I knew going into this thing that there would be churros stuffed with dulce de leche and I would be having one. After scouting out a few churro vendors I finally decided on this churro truck

They were making them on site, it smelled delicious, and they had the blender with spout contraption (on the left) that dispenses that delicious life giving dulce de leche. Done and done!

I haven’t actually seen it done this way before here, but I loved the giant churro wheel that he pulled out of the fryer. Isn’t she lovely? Then the other guy cuts them into manageable pieces with scissors and uses the awesome blender and spout contraption to fill them with deliciousness

I took a picture of me eating this delicious mess but I have decided that it is not a flattering or accurate portrayal of my love of churros (or maybe the problem is that it’s too accurate), anyway suffice it to say I enjoyed it thoroughly. If you are ever in Chile and you see a churro truck parked on the side of the road, stop what you are doing and buy one immediately…you will not be sorry.

Our Parque O’Higgins Fonda adventure was a wonderful departure from the ordinary and a much needed reminder that we are living in a beautiful country with a lot of really fun and interesting cultural differences. Santiago tends to be so westernized that often we can forget that there is a Chile outside of this city that has wonderfully unique traditions. Despite our disappointing fonda fiasco on Saturday we ended our weekend on a high note with some fantastic food, earth shaking drinks, confusing carnival games, and good times with friends.

Two Foreigners loose in Santiago During the Biggest Party of the Year

aculbertson — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 16:04:00 -0300

This past weekend Tom and I celebrated our first Chilean Holiday, and my was it a BIG holiday! Dieciocho (eighteen in Spanish) is the day traditionally heralded as Chilean independence from Spain. It is celebrated on the 18th of September every year, which is actually the start of their war for independence. Technically the war didn’t end until 1826, when the last Spanish troops surrendered and the Chiloé Archipelago was incorporated to the Chilean republic. One of the founding fathers and a crucial military leader was Bernardo O’Higgins who has left his name and his legacy all over Santiago including with the famous Bernardo O’Higgins Escuela Militar. If you’re wondering how he got the name O’Higgins (I know I was), he was of Irish and Basque descent.

Tom and I had been told that this holiday was a pretty big deal in Chile, but I’m not sure we were prepared for how serious it really was. We were thinking like 4th of July in the states, lots of BBQs, a few fireworks here and there, spend a few hours with family or friends, drink too much, and go home. A big day, but only one day and nothing too crazy.

In Chile, their independence day is not just one day but more like a 4-5 day celebration. Apparently they really didn’t enjoy being ruled by Spain because they celebrate in a big way. We had some hits and misses throughout the weekend. Some things were great and others not so much. I think the key to spending Dieciocho in the city is to have a Chilean family. If you don’t have a Chilean family then you probably aren’t going to get the most out of the weekend. Unfortunately we have yet to be adopted by a Chilean family, so we were on our own this weekend. I suggested that we just go to one of the many family gatherings in our building and try to blend in or just say that we are here with (fill in the blank) but Tom vetoed this idea. Personally I think an “Hola, commo estas” could have gone a long way to help our adoption cause! But despite our lack of a food sharing Chilean family to guide us I think we did a pretty good job on our own. After all it’s not called an adventure for nothin’!

We kicked the weekend off on Friday with a very fun office party at the Start Up Chile office where the staff tried (somewhat unsuccessfully) to teach us foreigners about the Chilean traditions surrounding the weekend. I say unsuccessfully not because I thought they did a bad job, but more because everyone was mostly just interested in the free beer and homemade empanadas. This is the office that we get to work in everyday. Jealous right?!?! ;o)

It’s part really old mansion type house, part super new state of the art technology. A very cool and aesthetically pleasing mix if you ask me!

Anyway, at the office party there was a lot of this

Which I think is how every office party should be. I mean can you really call it an office party if there’s no beer involved…I don’t think so. Anyway, this

is what said beer led to. Which was pretty great. Some traditional Chilean folk dancing. This particular dance is called Cueca and it is the national dance of Chile. This dance has rich historical roots in both African and Native American cultures. Even though Chileans have been dancing the Cueca for years, it wasn’t declared the official dance of Chile until September, 1979. The Cueca is a parody of the courtship of a chicken and rooster. The dancers wave handkerchiefs above their heads during the dance. These handkerchiefs can symbolize the feathers of the bird or the rooster’s comb. As one of our Chilean friends pointed out, it is a very sexist dance, but it’s pretty neat to watch either way.

Then it was our turn to learn the dance. Which was interesting considering the aforementioned beer.

The afternoon was really fun and everyone had a great time learning a little about Chilean culture. We even learned how to play some fun traditional Chilean games. At some point during the course of the afternoon they mentioned that many Chileans leave the city for the holiday and that it tends to be sort of empty during the day. We shrugged this off thinking that in such a large city there was no way that would be possible. In hindsight I’m not sure why we chose to believe that we knew better than the native Chileans. Surprise, surprise, they were right! The city was totally empty during the day with many Chileans going on vacation and the rest spending the day among family and friends at asados (BBQs). Which leads me to our rather disapointing Saturday adventure. Like I said, they weren’t all winners this weekend.

We had been hearing about a really awesome Fonda called La Yein Fonda for weeks. It’s literally pronounced “the Jane Fonda” (“y” is pronounced “j” in Spanish) and they definitely play up the pun

Traditionally in Chile a “fonda” is a temporary food and drink establishment set up to sell local food and drink to revelers and passersby. This type of temporary establishment dates back hundreds of years and traditionally is a small stall that stands in an empty lot with sticks, branches of eucalyptus and a roof of reeds. It looks something like this

(I didn’t take this picture, thanks Wikipedia!) This is a picture of a traditional Fonda. This Fonda was taken in a commune of Carahue.

Since they began celebrating Chilean independence and Dieciocho was born, these small individual Fondas have turned into huge gatherings of many different small independent eateries that set up their temporary stalls (sometimes just a hollowed out metal drum for BBQing) and sell their wares to hungry and thirsty revelers. So we had been told by many people including many Chileans that La Yein Fonda was the place to be. The name of this fonda comes from a band called Los Tres who released an album by the same name in 1996. The album consisted of songs the band had played in a park during the Deiciocho celebrations. The gathering of the band and soon many other bands became known as La Yein Fonda and has been a favorite destination for Chileans ever since.

Now, let me preface this my saying that we obviously went at the wrong time of day, we had something entirely different in mind, and I’m sure if you were Chilean and you had been doing the traditional Chilean celebration since birth it would be much more fun to go to a giant concert with a bunch on Chilean bands. Unfortunately for us, we did not grow up celebrating in the traditional Chilean way, we are not bored with the traditions and looking for something new and exciting, and we wouldn’t be able to understand a Chilean band even if we were. Tom and I really wanted to go to something with a bunch of different local vendors, cheap food and drink, lots of people celebrating, a festive vibe, with some traditional dance or like activities included. We had never been to a fonda before, so this is what we were hoping for and expecting from La Yein Fonda. Instead this is what we got

A big tent with a bunch of empty tables (remember how I said that the city was empty during the day because everyone was enjoying their asados?), a giant empty stage that wouldn’t be occupied for several more hours, an admission fee, grossly overpriced tiny portions of food and beer, and a very disappointed me

So we struck out on this one. We could have come back in the evening but the admission price was exorbitant, there was only one overpriced food and drink vendor, there was none of the tradition and local spirit that we’d been looking for, and we were both feeling a little down after our first failed attempt at joining in the weekend’s festivities.

So Instead we took a leisurely stroll through the city to Bella Vista for some dinner and micheladas.Along the way we saw a few interesting sights. There was a giant and rather ominous looking church at the end of the park that drew our attention.

This thing was truly massive.This church is formally called The Sanctuary and Basilica of Our Lady of Lourdes and it was built in the early 1880s. It appeared to be closed perhaps due to the obvious earthquake damage it had sustained in recent years. But no earthquake damage could stop these persistent Catholics. Adjacent to the closed church were these two outdoor structures the first of which appears to be built into the side of a rock wall

The nearby vendors were also selling these

for those so inclined.

After leaving the park we walked several miles (even though Tom assured me that it wasn’t that far) through a mostly deserted city, with the exception of Plaza de Armas, which was pretty busy. Nearly every Latin American city has a “Plaza De Armas” which is the name for the main square. It is comprised of a large open square peppered with statues of famous presidents/political leaders and surrounded on all sides by historically important military, political, and/or religious buildings.

Correo Central or “Central Post Office”, standing at the former site of the city governors’ residence.

Originally the Central Post Office, now it is the Museo Histórico Nacional or National History Museum.

Catedral Metropolitana, one of four churches that has stood here. This one was built in 1747. The three before were each destroyed by a different calamity.

After our brief stop in Plaza De Armas and our epic journey (did I mention several miles?!?) through some beautiful old neighborhoods

we arrived here

and on this quiet balcony, in the early evening, with the heat of the day finally starting to lift we enjoyed some refreshing micheladas and this delicious champiñón pil-pil.

We also had some awesome sandwiches which I didn’t get a picture of because I was way too busy devouring mine. This restaurant is located in Bella Vista and it is called Ciudad Vieja which means “city view”. And boy does it have a great view of both the Bella Vista neighborhood as well as nearby Cerro San Cristobal. This place has been recommended to us by several of our friends and when we told them that we sat out on the balcony they were so jealous. Aparently when it is not a holiday weekend and the city isn’t deserted during the day this place is packed, so be prepared to wait. I think I can say without any doubt that it would be worth the wait. I had a smoked salmon sandwich with avocado on a warm croissant. And Tom had a Lomo Saltado sandwich which is a Peruvian dish consisting of slices of steak marinated in vinegar, soy sauce, and spices, then stir fried with red onions, parsley and tomatoes. It is traditionally served over white rice with homemade french fries that look more like potato wedges. Sound like a delicious idea for a sandwich? Tom confirms that it was indeed!

So that was the first half of our first Chilean Independence weekend. Like I said there were some definite hits (Start Up Chile office party and introduction to the Cueca) and some serious misses (La Yein Fonda), but there was also a healthy dose of exploration which resulted in some delicious rewards. “What about the second half of the weekend” you ask?

On Sunday, we went to the Fonda at Parque O’Higgins and found what we had been seeking all weekend, but I’ll save that for my next post…

We Put the "Fun" in Funicular

aculbertson — Thu, 08 Sep 2011 15:39:35 -0300

That’s right! It’s another funicular fiasco :)

As far as I can tell funiculars are pretty popular down here in Chile. Which is fun for Tom and not so fun for me. I think it’s the fact that I can’t quite conceptualize how two cars could counterbalance each other so perfectly that they would be capable of pulling a group of people up and down a steep and very long incline. Somehow that doesn’t seem natural to me. Of course they’ve been functioning perfectly well since 1515 when the first funicular was built in Austria, so there’s probably nothing to worry about. Nothing to worry about unless you are faced with this terrifying looking incline which will haul you up to the peak, 300 meters above the city.

Gulp! Luckily I had this guy to take care of me.

Who, upon my asking what he would do in the case of a cable snapping situation, informed me that he would jump out the side and “try to grab me on his way out”. Good to know we, or rather you, have an exit strategy…thanks for lookin’ out babe ;)

This particular funicular was built in 1925 and has a track length of 485 meters. Which basically means it’s really old and it takes awhile to get to the top. I was okay for the first half of the ascent but at about the halfway point I began to feel a bit uncomfortable. Unfortunately, they don’t stop the funicular for slightly panicky foreigners so onward and upwards!

Fortunately, upon reaching the summit (unharmed although still slightly frazzled) I was rewarded for my perseverance and unyielding bravely with this gorgeous sight.

So this is Santiago. It feels big when you’re down in it, but I don’t think I realized how big it really was until we got to the top of Cerro San Cristobal. Cerro San Cristobal is the tallest peak in Santiago and is best known for the 22 meter tall statue of the Virgin Mary perched atop it’s peak.

She was donated by France in the 1920s. What is it with France donating giant statues of women to other countries? It’s a little showy. Anyway she is a big draw for tourists and natives alike. They are very Catholic down here, so Mary’s a pretty popular gal.

There is also a church honoring Saint Christopher, the eponym of this historic hill. In 1987 during a visit to Chile, Pope John Paul II led a mass here.

In addition to the numerous religious buildings and monuments on Cerro San Cristobal there is also the metropolitan zoo, a Japanese style garden, and of course the ever present, always interesting, rarely unique “tourist trap”! Every city in the world has them, and Chile is no exception, although they do seem to be fairly rare here. Best known characteristics of the “tourist trap” include but are not limited to: mass produced key chains and magnets, “hand crafted” statues of famous monuments, brochures, maps, postcards, and numerous other paper products, popular native foods, and this man, who from what I could tell was offering children the opportunity to pose atop his artificial horse for a picture.

I love this shot. I want to grandpa adopt him! He just looks like the sweetest old man :)

We had a lovely time exploring Cerro San Cristobal. Of course we still had the descent to look forward to. It looked something like this

and was for some reason less scary than on the way up. Perhaps I’ve been converted and am now able to see the “fun” in funicular!

Wine and Cheese Please!

aculbertson — Tue, 30 Aug 2011 15:30:52 -0300

Tom and I made an agreement before moving to Chile that the weekends would be about us. Which meant absolutely, under no circumstances, would there be work done on the weekends. Our weekends would be about spending time together and exploring our new home. So far we’ve done an excellent job sticking to our promise. Tom works so hard during the week to make our dream a reality and I do my best to help him, so when the weekends roll around we really try to make the best of them.

So here’s to one recent weekend activity that added a little spice to our otherwise AWESOME life :o)

A few weekends ago (I’ve actually only been in Chile for a month even though it feels like I’ve been here forever) we took the amazing metro to a famous Chilean winery just outside the city. Since I’ve been here, I’ve often thought that if Los Angeles and New York had a baby, Santiago would be the result. Santiago is a charming mix of old, stately skyscrapers and urban sprawl. The architecture is reminiscent of old New York but the expansive suburban layout is very obviously Los Angeles. And as is the case with many cities, including Los Angeles, the downtown area has an air of bustling importance

while the urban sprawl reminds one of a past forgotten.

Stepping off the metro in Puente Alto felt like stepping into another country; a poorer country certainly, but also a country more willing to enjoy a simpler albeit more challenging life.

While in the city they are rioting and setting fire to things, protesting the high cost of their education,

out here they are just being kids.

Once off the metro in Puente Alto we took a quick taxi to the nearby winery. Concha Y Torro is the largest distributor of wine in South America, founded in 1883 by Don Melchor, it has become famous for its Carménère grape which was believed to be extinct.

In 1883 Don Melchor bought a variety of grapes from the Bordeaux region of France. The grapes included Cabernet Sauvignon, Sauvignon Blanc, Semillon, Merlot, and Carménère. Throughout the years as the vineyard changed owners, the Carménère grape was thought to have been lost until it was rediscovered in 1994 at a most opportune time. In 1867 a Phylloxera plague destroyed the Carménère grape and it was believed to be extinct. No one knew or remembered that it had ever been grown outside of the Bordeaux region of France. Unbeknownst to the owners of Concha Y Toro, they had been harvesting the grape along with the Merlot grape believing that the Carménère was simply a variation of the Merlot grape. The differences between Chilean Merlot and Merlot produced in France were certainly noticible (the Chilean version was nearly 50% Carménère), but it was not until Professor Jean-Michel Boursiquot studied the mysterious vine in 1994 that Carménère was “reborn”. Now Chile and Concha Y Toro are famous for their Carménère wine which is found in very few other places around the world. Because of Chile’s natural borders, this precious grape was able to escape the devastating disease that deprived the world of delicious Carménère wine for nearly 130 years.

So, of course, we had to try some :o)

It was pretty delicious. Of course I cannot tell the difference between Carménère and Merlot, I’m no wine expert (and, of course, even they couldn’t tell the difference). But maybe this guys can

He seems right at home in a room full of casks. Here’s Tom romancing the wine ;o)

Part of the tour was a look into the famous Concha Y Toro cellar known as “Casillero Del Diablo” or “the Devil’s cellar”.

As the legend goes, Don Melchor began noticing that casks of his most expensive wine were continually going missing. Perplexed, he investigated the matter and discovered that the local townspeople were sneaking into his cellars and rolling away barrels of his precious wine. Knowing that the townspeople were both very Catholic and very superstitious, he began circulating a rumor that the Devil lived in one of his wine cellars. The rumor worked like a charm and he never lost another cask of wine again. To this day the cellar houses the most expensive wines and is called Casillero Del Diablo.

After the wine tour we relaxed on the patio and treated ourselves to a little more wine and cheese! Delicious cheese :)

Before boarding the metro and making our way back home, we took a walk around Puente Alto. In an earlier post I mentioned that Santiago was not at all what I expected it to be. I didn’t explain that well, so I’m going to attempt to do that now.

I have not done much travelling in South America outside of a trip earlier this year to Colombia, so I think I made the same mistake that many America’s make which is that South America looks like Mexico, or more specifically like the poor parts of Mexico that most American’s are familiar with due to it’s recent prominence in the news on the drug wars (please don’t misunderstand, there are parts of Mexico that are gorgeous). I think it is a real shame that we have all but written South America off as the ugly step-sister to the shiny, modern North America. Because the 70s, 80s, and 90s were filled with images of drug wars, corrupt governments, and poverty stricken people, South America has been unable to shed it’s ugly albeit distant past. The South America that I have come to know (and this absolutely includes Colombia) is beautiful, modern, and safe. These are not third world countries and there is not a drug lord waiting around every corner to jump out and kidnap Americans. There are parts that are poorer and less modern which is the case in every country, and in Santiago Puente Alto is one of these places. So, before I came to Chile, with no idea of what it looked like, I fell into what I’m going to call “the Nixon trap”(since he was the one who coined the term “war on drugs” and began indoctrinating Americans with the idea that South America was an incurably evil, drug infested country).

Because I didn’t want to get my hopes up about a place I’d never seen before and because I was going to have to make it my home whether I liked it or not, I set my expectations pretty low. Meaning I thought that Santiago was going to look like this

(Puente Alto)

Instead of this.

(Downtown Santiago)

Which would have been fine, of course, but perhaps now it’s a bit clearer as to why I am so absolutely delighted with my new city :) I just love pleasant surprises.

The trip to the winery was a wonderful little excuse to get out of the city, see a bit of the “country”, and enjoy some good wine. It made me appreciate the beauty and stateliness of Santiago proper, and it gave me a broader view of what life outside Chile’s modern epicenter is like. I cannot say often enough how much I love Chile. It is beautiful, unique, modern and it teaches me something new every day. I hope that eventually it will be able to wash off the stain that our government broadcast for so many years and that people will try to understand South America and Chile for what it is now instead of what it once was. If we, as Americans, continue to look at the world through eyes that wear “media colored glasses”, we will miss out on making journeys and discovering places that have the ability to transform us.

(Colombia, February 2011)

A Drive to the Coast

aculbertson — Sun, 14 Aug 2011 23:30:00 -0400

Today we hitched a ride with some Start Up Chile friends and headed for the coast. For the last seven or eight years I have lived about a mile from the ocean, first in San Diego and then in the South Bay Los Angeles area, so I’ve really been missing the ocean since we moved to Chile. Yes, it’s only been about two weeks, yes, I am spoiled. Anyway, as it turns out a couple of other Los Angeles natives were also missing the ocean, so we all piled into a rental car and set off for Valparaiso.

It’s a short drive, about an hour and a half from Santiago, and it’s a pleasant one too. The landscape is really lush and green, and dotted with a few farms and wineries. The roads were surprisingly well kept, litter and pot-hole free. I am continuously amazed by the cleanliness of this city. Los Angeles could learn a thing or two from the Chileans about cleanliness!

In Valparaiso we parked in a big town square type thing in front of this rather curious and imposing building. I think it had something to do with the navy or the ocean or… Anyway, Valparaiso was once a very important port for ships making their way around the tip of South America, but of course once the Panama Canal was completed in 1914 it became less frequented. People just love a good shortcut :) It does still seems to be in use and on a fairly large scale though.

Valparaiso, like many cities on a bay, is built up into the surrounding hills. This makes for a very interesting looking city as well as offering many wonderful vantage points to take in the bay and the ocean beyond.

Valparaiso is composed of many tiny, steep, winding streets that pass for two lane roads (somehow). There are also very steep flights of stairs…

And this frightening contraption

Which we rode, even though I was pretty sure this wasn’t going to end well :) This funicular is at a 45 degree angle and was built in 1883 (There is another funicular in the city that is at a 70 degree angle!). The funicular car is the original and is made entirely of wood. The creaking was a bit disconcerting. And when we got to the top we found that our fate rested in this man’s hands

With the help of this wheel contraption he hand cranked us up and down the hill

After disembarking from the nearly hundred and thirty year old wooden box and kissing solid ground a few times, we proceeded to stroll through a very neat and highly artistic neighborhood in search of some good seafood.

Now I am a pescetarian (meaning as far as meat goes I only eat fish), and I was a bit worried that moving to Chile would make it difficult to keep up this lifestyle. But when I found out that Santiago was awfully close to the coast, I figured seafood would be both plentiful and of good quality. Sadly, this was not a very good assumption. To be fair Iv’e only been in Santiago for two weeks, but there has been a notable lack of seafood on the menus that I have come across. Additionally, the selection of seafood in the grocery stores had been rather disappointing. Suffice it to say, I had very high hopes for great seafood in Valparaiso. And I was not disappointed. We found a little restaurant tucked away on a tiny cobblestone street that was packed when we got there (always a good sign). We ordered ceviche and a dish called camarones al pil pil to start. The ceviche was not only beautiful, but absolutely delicious. And the camarones al pil pil was tender, with a rich olive oil and garlic sauce.

This was a wonderful and exciting surprise as I think it certainly exceeded everybody’s expectations. Tom and I both ordered albacore steaks. Mine came with a mixed seafood sauce (nobody at our table was able to understand what was in the sauce even though the waitresses described it to us several times and in many different ways including with hand gestures and miming) that was a little sweet and very earthy. I also ordered papas fritas, because even though papas fritas are big in Chile and you can get them pretty much anywhere, I have yet to get an impressive batch and I am not one to give up on fried food. These fries were not a let down :)

Tom’s albacore came with a coconut curry type sauce with shrimp and lentils. Both of our tuna steaks were cooked perfectly, unbelievably tender and juicy.

This was easily the best meal that I’ve had in Chile and actually the best seafood I’ve had in quite awhile.

We did see more interesting street art in the city. I’m finding that Chileans really do love their street art, and who could blame them. It’s really beautiful.

Valparaiso is a bit underdeveloped and rough around the edges. It’s clear that when the port became less vital and subsequently less frequented the city suffered. However it still has it’s old world charm and it is easy to imagine what it must have looked like in the 1800s when it was a bustling hub of commerce and culture. The various maritime and naval buildings sprinkled throughout the city are a constant reminder of its illustrious role in the building of the western hemisphere.

We genuinely enjoyed our day by the coast and look forward to visiting Valparaiso’s less historical and more modern sister city Vina Del Mar, where hopefully we will run into more delicious seafood! And since I can’t survive for long without getting a little taste of that cool ocean breeze, I’m sure we’ll be back to explore even more tiny side street restaurants in this charming seaside town, Valparaiso!

All I know about Chile is...

aculbertson — Thu, 11 Aug 2011 12:36:08 -0400

I have been in Chile for a week and a half now, and I have avoided writing this post because I’m not sure what to say or where to begin…

I’d like to be able to say that Chile is exactly as I expected, but it’s not at all. I’m not sure what I thought it would be like; Tom has asked me that several times and I haven’t really been able to describe it. All I know is that Chile is beautiful, vibrant, exciting, alive, cold, modern, old, friendly, intimidating, different, clean, eclectic, and completely fascinating. That’s not to say that I thought it would be ugly or dirty or anything like that, it’s just that I’ve never lived in a big city before so I don’t think I really had any concept at all of what it would be like.

I’m rambling a bit here and I think it’s pretty clear from the tardiness of this post and it’s aimless nature that it’s difficult for me to put into words what I’ve seen so far and how I’ve felt about it, so I think I’ll rely on the old adage “a picture is worth a thousand words”…

View of the city from the balcony of our apartment

View of the Andes from the other side of our apartment building

Various statues…pretty much every city has them :)

There are stray dogs everywhere in Chile and in the winter people buy them jackets…

And scarves!

There is a neighborhood called Bellas Artes that is covered in street art. I mean everything is covered in it, including houses and businesses.

Someone’s house…neat!

Some of it is truly stunning

Tom thinks the city looks like what Paris must have looked like in the 70s. Here he is modeling for you ;)

I love this building. It looks Parisian…and haunted :)

This is in a beautiful park called Santa Lucia. It’s actually a park built into and on top of a giant hill in the middle of the city…gorgeous views and very old architecture.

Here he is again, pretending to be a model…I had no idea about this when I agreed to marry him ;)

From the top of Santa Lucia

So this is Chile, or at least what I know of it so far. Not bad, eh?

It's time for Dodger Baseball (and the best tacos in L.A.)

aculbertson — Fri, 15 Jul 2011 14:43:54 -0400

This sign is misleading

This sign is misleading because it is next to the freeway and it is in Baldwin Park.

Because I am homeless I have moved back to Covina to stay with my parents while I wait for my real life to begin.

A few weeks ago Tom and I tackled one of the most important things on our bucket list. I have to admit, a few of our bucket list items got lost in the shuffle and madness of our last few weeks in L.A. But there was no way we were going to let this one slip through the cracks! This post is actually about the second half of the giant pancake day. This is also the day that Tom had tacos for breakfast, lunch, and dinner…amazing! This is why I’m marrying him :) Low maintenence

Tom made the unfortunate mistake of ordering breakfast tacos at The Griddle. He was disappointed. Not because they were bad, but rather because he was used to getting the “man vs. food”-esque monstrosity “Poached y Papas” Benedict which is basically two poached eggs sitting atop a very think slice of ham which in turn sits atop fried potato skins and the whole ridiculous mess is covered in Hollandaise sauce. And you must remember that this is The Griddle we are talking about so everything is giant sized.

I’m sure you can understand Tom’s disappointment.

I didn’t actually take this picture by the way. This particular menu item is so beloved that there are pictures of it all over the internet…check it!

Later in the day as we were heading to the Dodgers game, we decided to stop by our favorite (and the BEST) taco stand in all of Los Angeles. I know everyone has a favorite place that is the “best” in Los Angeles, but we are serious about this one. If Tom and I could eat street tacos every day we would, so in other words, listen up people, we know what we’re talking about here :)

Cactus Tacos!

Tom has been coming to this tacos stand on Vine in Hollywood for years. He took me here when we first started dating and it was love at first bite! We absolutely have to come here whenever we are in Hollywood and often we make up excuses to go to Hollywood just because we want to go to Cactus.

Tom had a dog for fifteen years named Sally. Sally passed away just a few months before Tom and I met. Tom used to stop by Cactus a couple of times a week to grab an al pastor burrito on his way home form Grad school. One day he left his precious burrito in the car with Sally and can you guess what happened? She ate the whole thing including the brown paper bag and the foil wrapper. So basically, this food is so damn good that it’s worth eating paper and foil for, well at least if you’re a dog it’s worth it :)

This food is very authentic. No frills, just meat, really good salsa, and maybe some lettuce if you order shrimp or fish tacos like I do. Tom would suggest that you get there after sundown if you want the al pastor. They don’t start making a fresh batch until the sun goes down. And by fresh batch I mean a giant chunk of glistening meat spinning slowly on a vertical spit like you see at the sidewalk vendors in Tijuana.

Paper plates, old picnic benches, tiny roadside shack, always a line, simple and cheap, perfection!

Observe the joy and satisfaction on that face. Plus they serve Cactus Cooler here…rad!

Next we headed out to the Dodgers game. We have been trying to hit up as many games as we can before we leave, and we actually did pretty well! Tom has a great group of guys that he plays baseball with every Sunday, and a couple of them are always willing to go to a Dodgers game. Tom’s buddy Rex has been the manager of their Sunday baseball team for years and he lives right around the corner from the stadium, plus it helps that he is (i think) even more obsessed with baseball than Tom is :) We had the pleasure of going to several games this season with Rex and various other baseball teammates.

As I have said before Tom and I have become acutely and almost painfully aware of how lucky we have been in our life in Los Angeles. I am personally grateful for the time I got to spend with Tom’s baseball team. I have been to almost every game since Tom and I started dating over a year ago. For the first few months I was almost always the only fan in the stands, but eventually other girlfriends and wives started showing up…see what I stared, if you build it they will come ;) They are a wonderful group of men and Rex and his father Doug in particular were incredibly welcoming and kind to me. I really believe that the people that we choose to surround ourselves with and bring into our lives are a reflection of us, and Tom has made some excellent choices. It’s one of the reason’s I love him so much, his judgment is impeccable. I mean obviously it must be, he did pick me after all :)

We actually went to this particular Dodgers game with a different but equally awesome group of Tom’s friends. Tom recently finished Business Grad school at LMU and while he was there he had the opportunity to meet many great people and go on an awesome trip to South America with a few of them to put what they’d learned in business school into practice. We went to this particular game with a couple of these guys, Brandon and Grant. It was a great game! We had great seats (because the Dodgers kinda suck this season and good seats are CHEAP).

Tom likes to really concentrate when he is at baseball games, I like to eat peanuts and drink ridiculously overpriced beer, everybody has their own thing.

Check out that hair…that’s not going anywhere anytime soon ;)

After the game we stopped off at a place that Brandon told us had the hottest salsa he’d ever tasted. Of course our interest was piqued because we are always on the hunt for very hot salsa. Just a few days before that we had gone to the farmers market at the Grove and stopped in at a store that only sold sauces, most of which were hot sauces. Of course we were thrilled to stumble upon such a uniquely bizarre and wonderful store. We purchased a “10” hotness level (on a scale from 1 to 10++), and were sorely disappointed. It was not nearly hot enough, so the promise of the hottest salsa Brandon had ever tasted was irresistible.

Sadly I do not know the name of this place. You’ll have to give me a break, I’m new to blogging and I have not yet figured out how to surgically attach my camera to my hand. I’ll do better next time I promise. The salsa was spicy and the tacos were reportedly very good (I had a quesadilla because they had no fish or other veggie option), but everyone except for Brandon agreed that it was definitely not the hottest hot sauce ever.

It was however a great adventure, a great day, and a day full of tacos, which in our humble opinion is always an awesome day!

However, the hunt for the hottest hot sauce is still on…

any suggestions?

My heart left last night on a plane bound for Chile...

aculbertson — Mon, 11 Jul 2011 20:41:00 -0400

And I don’t get him back for another three weeks

Tom took off last night to kick off the beginning of our journey to Chile. He had to be there by July 14th and I will be staying behind to attend my parent’s 30th wedding anniversary on July 30th. Which means we’ll be spending three weeks apart. It also means that in the five weeks since he asked me to marry him we will be spending less time together as an engaged couple than we will apart on two separate continents. Yes, Tom asked me to marry him two weeks ago, and of course I said “yes”. Because as much as I like to tell him he’s wrong, he does in fact have me “wrapped around his little finger”. This is one of Tom’s favorite phrases to tease me with, probably in part because I always playfully but emphatically deny it and because it is so painfully, obviously true to us both.

I stayed on a friend’s couch last night after dropping Tom off at the airport, because in addition to him leaving we have also moved everything out of our house and given it over to a property management company to be rented as soon as possible. So when I say I feel like a homeless person, I mean I truly feel complete bewilderment at the loss of both Tom (who is my home) and my physical home (which provides a lovely roof over my head). But it’s only temporary, and at the moment I’m holding onto that sentiment for dear life :)

Tom and I both had a difficult time this last week. We have been mercilessly trapped on a roller coaster of emotions, which doesn’t appear to be stopping any time soon. Tom has been extremely stressed out about getting the condo rented, moving, and starting a new business and consequently has been getting very little sleep. I have only just begun to realize the magnitude of what we are doing here and have consequently had panic attacks and long crying spells several times over the last week. Several weeks ago we talked about how we knew that neither of us had really wrapped our minds around the idea of moving to Chile yet, and we were somehow unconcerned or at least unawares of what that would look like when we finally did get it. That moment came for both of us this week, and it was not enjoyable.

We have both talked to so many people who have told us how jealous they are and how they wish that they could do something like what we are doing. But if you had the opportunity, if there was nothing standing in your way, would you actually be able to do it? I don’t think people really realize how scary it is to take such a big risk. We are leaving all of our friends and our families, our happy memories in Los Angeles, our home that we have built together, our stable jobs, our paychecks, our culture, most of our worldly possessions behind in the hope that we will be able to start a new business and a new life on another continent where we don’t know anyone, don’t speak the language, don’t understand the culture, don’t even have a place to live yet.

Scary

People like to say that it will all work out, but we don’t really know that. It’s just a stupid thing that people like to say. I know that Tom and I will make it work no matter what happens around us. Maybe that sounds like the deranged ravings of the newly engaged, but I really do believe in us. We both know that the next year is going to be impossibly hard and will put a big strain on our relationship at times. And I think it is that openness and willingness to have hard discussions like that and be honest with each other about the difficulties that lie ahead that really give me that confidence in us.

So enough of whatever that was…

We have been slowly chipping away at our bucket list over the last few weeks in the final countdown that has become our life. I need to do a few more postings on where we have gone and what we have eaten, but I’ll save those for another time. The other day we did go to the Matsuwa Japanese market for some ramen noodles at a little place called Santouka in Culver City. Even though this place is literally inside of a Japanese market, it was really good. Well actually, I didn’t get to have any because there was no veggie or fish option, but Tom loved it and I sorta tend to trust his opinion on most things, sort of, most of the time. Tom had a pork ramen dish

which certainly looked and smelled delicious. But what really convinced me that this was a special dish was Tom’s uncharacteristically generous observation that “the pork was like butter”. Tom loves pork, maybe not in the same mildly questionable way that Anthony Bourdain loves it, but he loves it all the same, so for him to make such an enticing comment it would have to be pretty damn good pork. And yes that is seaweed on top, yum! This place was authentic, cheap, and delicious.

I went to a nearby vendor in the same part of the store and got a noodle bowl as well. Sadly I do not remember the name of the vendor, but what I got was absolutely heavenly. It’s actually the vendor right next to Santouka, I didn’t have to travel far to find something equally as delicious :)

I got Udon noodle soup with vegetable and shrimp tempura floating on top like a crunchy cloud of awesomeness. Tom and I argued for a few minutes over which of us got a better meal, but in the end we both walked away completely thrilled and satiated. One suggestion, we got there around 11:30 which seemed to be the sweet spot because as soon as we had ordered and sat down the lines became very long. For delicious, un-college-esque ramen noodles, this is your place!

One last thing…

I was pretty sad today, ya know cuz of the whole heart leaving on a jet plane thing we talked about earlier, and when I woke up this morning I was in sort of a daze and at a loss as to what I should do with myself.

When I am sad or lonely I tend to go driving. I don’t know why driving around is so soothing to me, but I think it may have something to do with the fact that I have lots of time to reflect and think, I can observe people and be out in the world without actually having to interact with people, and I get to see new things which helps keep my mind off of my troubles. So upon waking I went to Sloopy’s in Manhattan Beach (my favorite restaurant in Manahattan Beach mostly because of the garden-type atmosphere) and had my very first solo meal. Yes, that’s right, I have never eaten alone in public before. Weird, I know. For some reason it has always been a very intimidating concept for me, but I must say as I sat there alone eating my pancakes and reading Gone With the Wind (it only seems appropriate in my present forlorn state that I read the greatest love story ever told) it actually felt like the most natural thing in the world.

After breakfast I just decided to drive. As I mentioned in an earlier post I have been enjoying the widely varying and sometimes troubling surface streets of Los Angeles recently, so this seemed like the perfect activity to eat up most of my day. I drove aimlessly for a few hours, snapped a few pictures, observed a lot of people, got checked out by male drivers a few times (I always thought that was the stupidest thing until I heard a story from a friend about a time when it actually worked out, as in they got married…wild), and generally enjoyed myself.

gotta love the versatility here

Then I decided to do something that I’ve been meaning to do ever since I moved to Los Angeles.

When I was in college I saw the movie Wonderland about the Wonderland Avenue murders involving the famous male porn star John Holmes. It happened in Los Angeles in ‘81 and for whatever reason the story fascinated me. I think it was the way Los Angeles looked in the eighties, the nonchalance compounded with the cowardice and selfishness of John Holmes, the reckless and desperate loyalty of Dawn Schiller, and the way in which the people were killed so blatantly and recklessly, that really got my attention. Anyway, for whatever reason, it has become my favorite movie and I have been meaning to visit the house on Wonderland Avenue in Laurel Canyon for several years. Today was the day. It looks totally normal of course, it’s on a narrow street surrounded by slightly run down hippie-ish houses.

It looks pretty much exactly the same as it did then

in ‘81

someone lives here now and it looks like a totally normal house. As I drove away I wondered if I would be comfortable living in a house where such an horrific event had taken place. I’m not superstitious, I don’t believe in ghosts or anything, but I still think that it would be bizarre and downright creepy. Of course it’s probably also bizarre and downright creepy that I drove to Laurel Canyon to see a house where four people were murdered thirty years ago. Oh well, it took my mind off of my missing heart for awhile, and right now that’s what it’s all about.

L.A. Bucket List Stop #1

aculbertson — Tue, 14 Jun 2011 16:39:31 -0400

We went to The Griddle this morning for breakfast. Our housekeeper came to clean the condo this morning, which means that we are not allowed to be in the house. Which is fine by me because that means that we got to go out to breakfast and make the first stop on our L.A. bucket list…GIANT pancakes!! I mean seriously giant. But before you even see the giant pancakes and experience the angst over how you will possibly finish them, which comes standard with the pancakes, you have to experience the angst of trying to pick a flavor from about fifteen of the most outrageous and delicious pancake concoctions you could ever imagine. For example, they have Oreo pancakes, OREO PANCAKES!!! They also have Kaluah and Bailey’s pancakes, chocolate something or other pancakes, pumpkin pancakes with caramel filling, raspberry lemon pancakes, and of course the delicious pancakes that I got coconut, pecan, butterscotch chip pancakes!!! And they all have cute names…which I don’t always love, but I actually think they pull it off. My pancakes were called “scotch on the rocks”. This was my glorious breakfast:

Tom insisted that his hand be in the photo for comparative purposes…he was worried that it would be unclear how stupid big these pancakes really are :) So as you can see they are both enormous and delicious. They came with a giant blob of whipped cream on top (which wasn’t really necessary, but I’m not complaining or anything). As soon as this monstrosity was set in front of me I began to formulate a plan of how I could take down these pancakes. Tom and I watch that show Man vs. Food a lot, so I was pretty sure I had the experience to win this food battle. Tom gave me a generous 20 minute time limit in which to finish the pancakes (by the way there are three pancakes there).

It didn’t go so well…

This was after about a half hour AND I felt like I was going to puke. The pancakes were really delicious, but super sweet. As Tom wisely pointed out, it was as if I had eaten cake for breakfast and called it an acceptable alternative to a sensible bowl of cereal. Needless to say I will be eating pancakes for the next few days.

Now we are at the Bourgeois Pig on Franklin across the street from the very scary/menacing Scientology Celebrity Center. I’d like to go knock on the door and ask if I Tom Cruise is in and if he can come out and play. Tom (my Tom) is working and I am playing :) Tonight we are going to a Dodgers game with friends, one of our last baseball games for a couple of years. Tom is looking forward to having a Dodger Dog. It was suggested that he try the relatively new and completely ridiculous hot dog invention that is now standard at Dodgers Stadium: The “Doyer” Dog

This suggestion was quickly vetoed. It’s almost as stupid as those pancakes :) Are those fake grill marks? Really? Nachos on a hotdog? Really?! Anyway, Tom is looking forward to having the comparatively plain fake grill marked Dodger Dog. And I’m looking forward to some peanuts and beer…and Casey Blake :)

We dropped off all of our visa info the other day at the Consulate General of Chile. I had this idea in my head that it would be in this really neat old building downtown, but it wasn’t. It was in a boring bank building. Boring. So no cool pictures of that. Not that it necessarily needed pictures. It wasn’t very eventful. Except that we forgot roughly half of the information that we were required to bring in for the visas, we got in a small fight/loud discussion about this fact, went to Kinkos down the street to attempt to rectify this problem before the office closed at 1:30, did not make it in time, and ended up at the farmers market at the Grove for some tacos and beer. All in all a very lovely morning/afternoon. I did snap this picture of the El Rey theater from across the street at Kinkos

And also this one of Johnie’s Coffee Shop which is across the street from the Consulate General of Chile (now you know where it is in case you also decide to pack up your life and move to Chile) and which Tom tells me is no longer a working coffee shop and is currently only used for filming

Even though I will be the first person to admit that I am over L.A. and the traffic and the people and the pollution and the whole weird hipster/hollywood/gotta get famous vibe, I will also say that now that I am leaving, I have become sentimental. I have started going out of my way to use surface streets instead of the freeways so that I can snap pictures and see parts of L.A. that I otherwise wouldn’t. It’s been interesting and enlightening.

Maybe it’s not so bad :)

This is us on Catalina Island, a couple of months before our...

aculbertson — Tue, 07 Jun 2011 23:01:00 -0400

This is us on Catalina Island, a couple of months before our Chilean adventure begins.

Right now we are getting ready to go. Selling stuff, giving stuff away, visiting friends and family, packing, getting visas (complicated and boring), seeing as much of L.A. as we can, and generally loving the process. We have a bucket list that mostly includes food. We must go to Nichol’s in the Marina for the best egg sandwich ever made, Ronnie’s Dinner on Culver for a Chorizo Bowl, Cactus on Vine for the best tacos in L.A., Father’s Office in Culver City for a burger, and The Griddle on Sunset for some giant pancakes! Also we’d like to get back to The Upright Citizens Brigade before we take off.

I quit my job about a week ago and have become half house-girlfriend-half personal secretary to Tom. It’s been nice and actually much busier than I thought it would be. As it turns out talking to the Chilean Consulate and the Department of Justice and Kaiser and trying to coordinate all of the things we need for a visa is a full time job. Believe it or not, talking to the government is not enjoyable. Especially when you are on a super tight timeline and your future pretty much depends on their cooperation.

It hasn’t been all work though; we go swimming every morning (which is a fantastic way to start the day) and today we had a nice long lunch. Last Friday I got to go to work with Tom because his company was having a lunchtime BBQ to celebrate our going away to Chile and to just generally say goodbye for a bit since everyone in the company seems to be going out of town/the country for awhile at the same time. I like bring your girlfriend to work day, more companies should encourage that :)

I’m pretty excited that my worldly possessions have been narrowed down from what fit into a large moving truck a year ago to about four boxes and about a quarter of the wardrobe I had a year ago. It’s a pretty freeing feeling. As Tom would say I’m “foot loose and fancy free”, which basically just means I can go wherever I want now without having to haul around a bunch of meaningless crap. Like I said, it’s a nice feeling!

Well that’s it for now, first post is done, lots more to come, probably mostly involving food :)