Fiesta

The Fiesta Nacional de la Vendimia (The National Grape Harvest Festival) is held in early March every year. It is basically a very elaborate beauty pageant where 17 beauty queens from various areas of the Mendoza province compete for the title of Queen.
Here are a few highlights of the weekend including candidates, the parade, gauchos and a living statue - Enjoy.....

 

 

 

 

 

 

That Was How Many Switchbacks?

Aconcagua Mountain is 6,959 meters tall and is the highest mountain in the Americas situated in Argentina. We drove through this area crossing the border from Chile on our way back to Mendoza. OH MY GOD - this is a drive of a lifetime. On the Chilean side there is something like 40 switchbacks (they are numbered) up an unbelievable climb to the pass. Fantastic drive!

Love and Emotion

Exploring a cemetery in Valpariso we came across the area where children are buried. The expression of love and emotion through color, words and objects is profound and beautiful.

Room With A View

Valpariso is a port city on Chile's pacific coast. The city sidewalks and streets go straight up ........or........straight down! The view from our room in Sutherland House is awesome. It feels like we are in a beautiful fortress protected from the hordes of people and insane traffic - very tranquil.

Parque Nacional Nahuelbuta

The road is gravel, very steep, it takes us 1.5 hours to travel 47 kilometers to Parque Nacional Nahuelbuta in the Nahuelbuta range situated between 800 - 1,500 metres high. The campsite is primitive, the forest is magnificent and our hike amongst the ancient Araucarias (Monkey Puzzle Trees) and Coigues is fantastic. One of the Araucarias we pass is marked 2,000 years old. Imagine, walking through a forest this ancient!! It has witnessed historical change in civilization, industry, politics - EVERYTHING. This area has been protected since 1939 and I hope t will remain in tack for another 2,000 years........

Nancy, Do You Want To Drive?

Highway driving I'm good to go, city driving - well - that one I am more uneasy about. So, when Nick asked if I wanted to drive into Valdivia I thought sure, small city, not much traffic, what could be so bad. Well, one lane turned into two, then three, heck who needs lanes, just drive without hitting the other guy! Although this is somewhat normal, I soon realize the traffic is nothing but NORMAL. The flow of vehicles moved like lava squishing through a tube! Popping out the other side of Valdivia we pull into a campground. The attendant suggests that if we can find a patch of grass to put our tent on to take it; Valdivia is celebrating La Semena, the founding of their city in February 1552. What a festival celebration it is - street performers, food vendors, craft markets, a decorated boat parade and midnight fireworks!

Vultures

The fence-line is close to the rivers edge and all along the first rung is a string of vultures. As we move closer to the venue they raise their shoulders and peer at us with black beady eyes. A few swoop down towards the river squawking with annoyance and proceed to peck and eat the dead pig.

Aqua-culture Heartland

It is impressive, to say the least, to watch transport truck after transport truck haul aqua-cultured salmon from the Chiloe archipelago to Peurto Montt on the Chilean mainland where fish is flown out daily to world markets. Chile is the second largest salmon producer of the world behind Norway. After the aqua-culture crises in 2000, which resulted in massive unemployment, researchers started testing aqua-cultured seaweed for commercial purposes. Did you know that the virus in the chilean salmon that caused the crises has only recently been discovered in BC salmon and that our conservative government will not allow Canadian Fisheries Scientists to speak publicly and about their findings?

Burn Baby Burn

Determined to find a bit of wilderness we drove to Parque National Chiloe via Cucao. Although the park ended up not being very accessible to us there was a lookout and a hiking trail that took about an hour to hike. The best part were the 15 well treed private campsites and we could have a fire. So for 6 bucks we bought some wood, which was wet, and worked for over two hours to get the darn thing going. Once lit we had a soothing flame to cook our sausage and sit by until late into the evening.

Old Man and the Sea

The people of Chiloe Island are 100 percent connected to the sea in one way or another. Walking out to the Pier in Ancud one afternoon we came across this man repairing an old skiff. Not once did he glance up to see the people who gathered to watch him carve and shave pieces of wood to replace the old rotten timbers.

Colorful Wooden Houses

Nestled by the sea is Chiloe's capital city Castro. It is full of charm and character. Nick and I especially liked the colorful wooden houses built on stilts to accommodate the dramatic tidal fluctuation that can be as much as 20 vertical feet.

Chacao Channel

After spending a night in a cabaña, just inside Chile's border, we head directly south to Chiloe Island. The Chacao Channel is not very wide and it only takes us about 30 minutes to cross by ferry. The channel is bursting with sea life and birds, seals, sea lions and jelly fish are easy to spot. The evening air is refreshing and gives us the energy we need to drive into the evening to look for a campsite.

Quicksand

Heading towards Paso Cardinal A. Samore along highway 231 to Chile, we pass what looks like ponds of sand. Taking a side road we stop the car and take a closer look. The first thing we notice is that there is absolutely no disturbance on the surface of the sand - not one footprint of any kind. As we approach the edge of the sand pond the ground becomes more and more spongy. OK, this is quicksand! Suddenly old Tarzan movies replay in my mind of Jane in distress sinking out of sight in quicksand with every move she makes until just as her nose is about to go under she is saved by her hero. Ummmmm - I think in this situation it may be best to step away and carry on........

Cerro Lopez

The sun is shinning, there is no wind, we decide it is the perfect time to climb Cerro Lopez. The mountain in 2076 meters tall and has a refugia near the top where people can rest of stay if they plan on longer treks. The vantage and viewpoints are fantastic all along the trail. At one point we lose the main trail, find another Canadian hiker and together we bushwhack until we find the right path once again. Great company, super hike, overall a fantastic day.

Swishing Bums

BOOM, BOOM, BOOM, one drum beat overlaps another and the sound draws our attention. We head down the street to an area where people have lined the street on both sides. It appears to be a parade and a competition of sorts - groups of girls of all ages dressed in costume dancing and twisting as boys drum out a rhythm competing with the next procession of girls and boys doing the same thing. The older girls are wearing skimpy wee skirts showing off there booty and at times bare naked bums!

Plaza Italia

Bariloche feels like walking through a typical Canadian national park townsite. Architecturally beautiful, stunning scenery and in this case has tranquil plaza's. Right alongside the lake is Plaza Italia and this church stands as sentinel right smack in the middle - impressive!

Lago Nahuel Huapi

The day is cool, dark and it is pouring with rain. We make our way to Bariloche situated in the lake district on the shores of Lago Nahuel Huapi and look forward to having a few days of rest. The setting is lovely with the Andes backdropping one side of the city and the lake on the other. Lago Nahuel Huapi is a glacial fed lake that is over 100 kilometers long and covers an area of 500 square kilometers. It is beautiful and completely in tack without any hydro development on it whatsoever.