30 October 2010

Not the most restful nights sleep that I’ve ever had! Everything about the room and hotel was excellent, with the exception of the other guests, some of which included a couple from a room somewhere on the floor, who seemed to spend most of the night chatting (initially) in the corridor outside the door of my room. OK, so you expect a bit of noise from the corridors as people go back to their rooms after being out for the evening, but you don’t really expect looooong chats, nor do you expect that the chat might turn into sobbing, nor full-on crying, followed by gentle but persistent arguing, more sobbing/crying and so on.

To start with, I thought OK, it won’t last for much longer. Then, once the sobbing/crying started, well, who wants to go busting in on that sort of thing in the middle of the night? Who knows what it might be about… By the second round of sobbing, I’d had enough! I was out of my bed, clothes on, practicing my lines in Spanish. I reach for the door… My neighbour had also had enough by this stage and as my hand commenced its journey to the door handle, his commenced banging on his door and (I think) yelling at them to shut up and take their problems elsewhere. Oooh, that was exciting… It had an effect for the first few seconds, then the wailing continued, but it also began to lessen in volume, suggesting that the culprits were on the move to somewhere else. Thank goodness for that. Back to bed, and back to sleep. I hope.

I head downstairs for breakfast, rather than take the elevator, as it’s only a couple of floors. Not so big a challenge? Wrong. The hotel stairwell is made for hobbits, rather than Australians. The first flight down was not so bad. The second required a little bit of a lowering of my head to avoid a blow in the middle of the forehead at the bottom of the flight, however the third flight requires full on ducking and hunched shoulders to avoid not only belting my head, but also from scraping the top of my shoulders on the roof. The last flight requires a hunched and crab-like gait (i.e. sideways) down the stairs – not possible to move forwards and hunched over without losing my balance! I also have to turn sideways to fit through the door to the reception area. It’s all rather funny to me and I have a broad grin as I emerge sideways through the door, to the complete confusion of the staff in the lobby.

Breakfast is OK, despite the adventure of the broken toaster, requiring me to unplug it and get my knife from the table in order to lever out the toast from one end. It seems the pop-up mechanism only functioned at one end and I had chosen the wrong end for putting my toast into. No big deal, but another opportunity for the locals to wonder at the sanity of crazy gringo’s… Tee hee hee!

After brekky, it’s off to wander the streets around the city centre of Temuco to see what I can see. The weather is cool (but not so cool as to make hats, scarves and gloves necessary), it’s raining intermittently, and thus things are quite grey. There are a lot of people out and about doing their Saturday morning thing, so it’s fun to just float along with the crowd, exploring randomly. It doesn’t take too many blocks and I’m out of the main hustle and bustle in the city centre, so I turn and sort of circle through the streets around the outskirts of the busy area. There isn’t a lot to see – things turn residential fairly quickly, but before too long, I’m fortunate enough to stumble across a little park. Big trees, lots of bushes/shrubs in flower, and all dripping wet with the mornings rain. Despite the smell of the city and its traffic, I can also smell the flowers and the rain on the earth and grass of the park – it’s somewhat intoxicating, or perhaps that’s just the car and bus fumes making me feel dizzy…?

Back in through the city centre and I find a stall selling what look to be fresh strawberries for about A$2 per kilo. Despite not remotely needing that many strawberries, I buy a kilo and then head off in the direction of my hotel to munch my way though a few of them. Delicious, although closer inspection does reveal a few that are not quite so fresh as I might have thought, but a bit of simple cutting removes the more objectionable bits. Aaah, but to have access to this for making strawberry jam! Not that I’ve made it before, but I have a recipe book for preserves that I’m keen to try out, but just need access to the right produce in Copiapo and a bit of time to have a go. Perhaps home-made green tomato pickle might be more appropriate in Copiapo… mmmm.

So, it’s about time to head for Pucon. The road to Pucon departs Temuco to the south down a toll road for a distance that I can’t remember, and not being particularly used to toll roads, it’s just a matter of luck that I have some small notes and coins suitable for payment – certainly not a case of conscious planning for the eventuality! The countryside is again a brilliant green, there are trees everywhere, and despite the topography being “only” gently rolling, I’m still as happy as can be. Green, green, green, as far as you choose to look.

Turning left towards the holiday/resort town of Villarica and the same continues, with the exception of the road being narrower. Still loving it. Puddles of water on the road to splash through, little showers of rain, during which I catch myself watching the windscreen wipers moving their way backwards and forwards – am I being hypnotised? Best to pay attention to the scenery…

Villarica is on the edge of a rather large lake. There’s restaurants, impressive looking shops, many apartments and holiday villas, beaches and so on. Looks like a reasonable place to visit, although the mountains/hills don’t come right down to the edge of the lake here. It’s a bit of a trick to find the road to Pucon, but eventually it reveals itself. Just have to stay focused on keeping the lake to the left of the car! There are more hills here, right to the edge of the lake. The trees are also bigger and thicker, the grass is longer – altogether more lush. I’m in love! There are quite a number of houses and the occasional hotel along the edge of the lake. The road runs behind them, so they have lake frontage, which I hazard a guess to mean that they would be rather expensive, and judging by the size of the hotel I whiz past, complete with manicured gardens, I reckon I’m right. Perhaps “expensive for Chile” would be a better description? Generally speaking, things aren’t too expensive, at least with the comparison of Australian prices.

On arrival into Pucon, I immediately have a sense of similarity to the town that I grew up in (Bright, Victoria), in that it is clearly a tourist town and out of tourist season, it feels quite deserted. Sure, there’s the occasional strays (like me) wandering around, but it’s pretty empty. The facilities present give the sense that the town can cope with many more people here. The fact that it is raining and the cloud base is quite low also takes me back to my days in Bright. It’s really quite beautiful, the air is clean, and I feel at peace with the world. A bit corny perhaps, but hey, it’s my blog, so I’ll dribble on as I see fit!

Given that it feels like Bright, it seems only reasonable that I should visit the supermarket (one of my jobs in Bright was to work in the supermarket re-filling shelves). Yes, just like Bright, it’s busy with people stocking up on supplies for the weekend. Bottle of wine and a few snacks for me, then get out and get on my way.

The accommodation that has been booked for me is the Maison Nomade Ecolodge, about 15km out of Pucon on the road to Lake Caburgua. The Lodge is run by a friend of Andrea and her husband and is only relatively new. At present, I’m also going to be the only guest, which will mean being able to sleep as much as I feel like! The lodge is true to the descriptions – beautiful building, well made and very friendly multi-lingual hosts (Castillan, French, English and possibly more).

Given that the outside weather is still rainy and grey and I’m feeling a little weary, I take the opportunity for an afternoon siesta…

I think I should’ve set the alarm, as all of a sudden, it’s 6.30pm. The last few hours have disappeared, but I feel better for it! After a shower (in hot water supplied by the roaring fire place in the dining room), it’s time to disappear into Pucon for dinner. I find a nice looking restaurant and try a cheese fondue with vegetables to dip into the cheese. It’s my first time with a fondue and I have to say I’ve enjoyed it.

Back to the Maison, where a very comfortable bed awaits. Let’s hope the weather lifts a little tomorrow to allow for some sightseeing, as it is still raining tonight!

Buenas noches!

Andrew

29 October 2010

A few weekends ago, I spent the weekend with some people from the southern half of Chile (Victor, Claudia, Andrea and Alma) being their tour guide (sort of) around the mountains and desert in the vicinity of Copiapo. Because I’m such and all-round nice guy, I’ve been invited (generically) to visit them in the south and see what that is about. They come from Temuco, a city of around 250,000 people about 800km to the south of Santiago – i.e. about the same distance to the south of the capital that Copiapo is to the north. They have painted such a picture of rural beauty - lots of trees, greenery, mountains, volcanoes and lakes – that it feels compelling to make the trip south and see what Chile can offer in this regard. The good ol’ Lonely Planet guide also paints a pretty nice picture, so given that I’ll be leaving Chile for Christmas holidays in early December, it seems like I should “strike while the iron is hot” (as they say), head south and see what Spring is like in the vicinity of Temuco.


So, tickets booked, long weekend in place (Chile appears to be the home of the long weekend ), and off I go. I’ve got a 3 hour wait between flights in Santiago – perfect for a chai latte at the airport Starbucks, and then to Temuco. It’s raining in Temuco, but the clouds aren’t a solidly grey sheet, so there are plenty of gaps through which to see the countryside, and I’m in raptures. It is so green in comparison to the grey deserts of the north that I find it hard to believe the colour. While there are green patches in Copiapo, the grey and brown tones of the desert surround you and permeate your consciousness, such that the change to verdant green is, for me, startling. The paddocks are divided into irregular geometric shapes by borders of trees and hedges that are a delight to me. It looks like there has been lots of rain lately, with silvery pools of water scattered about, not to mention the ribbons of water in the rivers and wow, that’s a big river! The little hills around Temuco are also covered in trees. Beautiful.

The vista of Temuco from the air is not so beautiful – it looks like a town/city. Nothing special, and indeed, LP doesn’t have too many good things to say about it as a tourist destination in itself, however it is a “jumping-off point” for the attractions of the region, so we’ll see how we go. Andrea has suggested heading to the tourist town of Pucon for my time here this weekend, rather than bothering with staying in Temuco – nice to have a local’s recommendation! She’s also been able to recommend a place to stay, just out of Pucon, with a former student of hers, who has (with her husband) built a bit of an Eco-Lodge kind of thing. The pictures look pretty nice, and in comparison to what you’d expect to pay for something like this in Australia, it’s very cheap. The Pucon area looks to have lakes, rivers, mountains, trees, volcanoes and all of the good things that come from visiting a tourist-oriented area (good food and other infrastructure).

Once the plane lands, it’s raining lightly, and the short walk to the terminal in the rain is very refreshing after the dryness of the north, not to mention the stuffiness of the plane. LAN again provide me with their special gringo bag delivery service, although standards are a bit lower here in Temuco, and it isn’t quite the last one out. Not that it matters too much, as even when I have collected it and headed out the front of the airport building. Andrea doesn’t have plans for tonight, so she has offered to collect me from the airport, we’ll have dinner with Alma, and then she’ll drop me at my hotel – very kind again!

We go back to her house to collect Alma, and I get a tour of life in Temuco along the way. Firstly, it’s fair to say that the roads are interesting. Often very good, but then there’s little surprises (traps?) waiting for the unwary, with short sections of wicked bumps, unpaved bits and vicious potholes, all waiting to destroy the suspension of an average car. Next, it seems Chileans are fond of (or perhaps they don’t have much choice in terms of what is available?) “estate” type housing. Andrea lives in one such estate – full of new buildings, but all seemingly largely identical. Coming from the Australian context, it’s quite challenging to accept, but it seems to be the way things are done.

Most fascinating to me, the front room of Andrea’s house is a workshop. She teaches art and jewellery design part-time at one of the local high schools (College), part time at one of the Universities, and also gives private jewellery design and manufacture lessons from her house. That means she has all of the necessary facilities, including some kind of press (I don’t understand what it’s for, but it’s an impressive machine), crucibles for melting metals, gas bottles and burners, engraving kits and all of that paraphernalia. I remark that I don’t know too many girls with crucibles and furnaces in their house, but for her it’s normal (and her friend Claudia has a similar set-up) and my joke falls flat. Perhaps it is my delivery?

We collect Alma and off we go. The restaurant the girls have chosen is lovely and we get a little corner of the dining room that is not quite enclosed, but nearly. Part of the dining room, but not. The walls have wine racks that extend to the ceiling (high) and as we settle ourselves in, it looks feels very much like a private dining experience. Very nice, and not what I’d expected to find here at all. The menu is up for the challenge as well, with many tasty looking options.

Chatting is not such a fluid experience, however Andrea is very patient with my Spanglish, has enough English to help out as required (not too often), and so I don’t have to re-explain too much. Alma also knows a little English through school – I have a very large laugh at her delivery of “I am very well, how are you?”, which is delivered with the exact rhythms of Manuel from Fawlty Towers, when he does his “I learn Eeengleesh from a booook”. Just brilliant.

My hotel room is brilliant. Again, very cheap in comparison to what you would pay for an equivalent in Australia – about $60 for the night, including breakfast. I do make a mistake with my registration card, initially putting in my Copiapo address. They kindly advise me that if I do that, my room will cost 20% more, so if I have an Australian address, it would be better to use that! Nice one chaps. Love your work.

The room is comfortable, clean, warm (double glazed windows keep out the cold and noise from the street, the bed is comfortable and the water is hot. Perfect. Goodnight!

A

22 October 2010

10.40PM. Earthquake. Reasonable size, gentle shaking of my apartment, which included lights swinging gently. Lasted for about a minute. Adrenaline pumping… Two minutes later, I'm still swaying, although nothing else is…

Oh yeah!!!!

A