1 November 2010

After a long sleep in (again), today is a bit of a lazy day to look around Temuco before my flight home in the afternoon. There’s not really a lot to report from today other than a visit to Cerro Nielol, which is the hill around which the town is built and provides generous views across the countryside, despite not being particularly elevated. It is mostly forested and quite a nice drive up to the summit lookout.

Probably the highlight of the day is the flight back to Santiago, which features the clearest air that I’ve had for any of my flights around Chile so far. It seems I can see forever, and the snow-capped peaks are fantastic. I play “spot the volcano”, which isn’t particularly challenging, as there is a line of them along the Andes (obviously enough), but at one stage, I reckon I can see 7 of them in my field of view. I get a buzz out of that!

The paddocks we fly over are also pleasing to the eye with their irregular geometric patterns, not to mention the patches of starkly yellow crop, which I will presume to be canola until someone tell eventually tells me differently. Suffice to say that for the one hour flight, I spend most of my time glued to the window with my camera.

Not much to report about Santiago (other than the clear air and the view of the mountains over the city), other than indulging again in yet another chai latte from Starbucks. I still haven’t found one outside of Santiago and Valparaiso, despite being convinced that in a tourist haven like Pucon I’d be sure to find one, there was none to be found there.

Back to reality in Copiapo… I catch the transfer bus back to town, rather than the private taxi I normally take. All goes well to begin with, with the exception of the bloke who decides he wants to be dropped off along the way. The bus driver seems to think that he means just on the side of the road, but no, that isn’t what was meant. Just down this side road. OK, so down the side road we go. Just up to this corner, then turn left. Then along for a while, then turn right. OK, now down this road to the left. Yep, a bit further, then the road on the right. Yeah, that house over there on the left, yep, perfect. Thanks very much. Only 5 minutes off the road – a couple of kilometres. Without a navigator now, it takes 10 minutes to find our way back to the highway. Suffice to say, no-one is impressed…

Nonetheless, back to Copiapo, back to my apartment and back to my own bed. Ted isn’t impressed with the hours that I keep and gives me the silent treatment…

Another weekend of adventure and excitement comes to an end.

Saludos,

Andrew