Moments We´d Rather Forget…
Highlights…
Memorable Quotes…
This is a bad time of year to visit Santiago. Surrounded by the Andes, it’s kind of like a cesspool of pollution. The air is thick and nasty and you can’t actually see the mountains. Apparently there’s a thermal inversion here - a phenomenon whereby a stable layer of warm air holds down colder air close to the ground and causes high levels of smog and pollution to concentrate in the valley. Call it what you want Wikipedia, it’s still kind of gross.
Santiago is home to a lot vineyards, and we visit Concha y Toro, makers of the world-famous Casillero del Diablo. We’re in Cabernet Sauvignon land now, and our livers are co-operating nicely. Chile is also home to a lot of salsa clubs, and we’re surprised to find that we actually remember some of the moves we learned in Costa Rica.
As Chile is the world’s 2nd largest exporter of salmon, fish and seafood are everywhere. B is in food heaven. Mel is eating a lot of chicken.
Not sure we love Santiago. Well at least not at this time of year.
We´ve crossed the Andes and entered Chile at a most interesting time - the Chaiten volcano is erupting for the first time in over 9,000 years and it´s all over the international news. The smoke and ash is being blown 12 miles into the sky, and it´s quite a site. While there are 2,000 volcanos in Chile, 70 of which are currently considered active, the area hasn´t seen activity like Chaiten in recent memory.
We are staying in Puerto Varas, and aren´t actually that far from the volcano - just over 200 km away in fact. Chaiten residents are being evacuated to Puerto Montt, just 20 km´s away.
The volcano we have come here to see - Osono - is historically one of the most active in Chile. At 8,701 feet, Osono´s perfect conical shape is easily recognizable - and the snow-capped mountains surrounding it are impressive. Thankfully, it hasn´t erupted since 1869, so you won´t be seeing us on CNN anytime soon.
By The Numbers
Moments We’d Rather Forget
Highlights
Memorable Quotes
Bariloche, in northern Patagonia, Argentina, is home to more than 50 artesan chocolate shops and over a dozen microbreweries.
How do you spell Brel heaven? B-A-R-I-L-O-C-H-E.
Set amidst the Andes, Bariloche is also a world-reknowned ski destination. Though it isn´t ski season yet, the mountains are snow-capped and it´s -2 degrees Celsius. We´ve clearly left our bikinis and Havaianas behind, and for the first time in a long time, are longing for Canadian weather. Is the Foggy Dew patio open yet?
Bariloche is a great town with a great vibe, and deserves a much longer visit than we have planned. The chocolate shops provide free samples, the micro-brew is $2, and fondue is served everywhere. We love fondue. And chocolate. And beer, of course.
And for those of you who caught the Homer Simpson quote in this blog´s title, here´s the link to that famous scene where Homer visits the Land of Chocolate…an inspiration to us all…
You know Mel is the one writing this blog when this photo actually makes it onto the site. I just can´t help laughing out loud every time I see it…do I actually date this person?
Of course this photo begs the question…is this the worst photo of Brendan EVER? I´d love to receive your submissions for a future post… pichemelanie@hotmail.com.
Gaining an understanding of Argentina means more than just hanging out in trendy restaurants and binging on beef and wine in Buenos Aires. (Not that there´s anything wrong with that.)
And so we journeyed to the province of Salta, way up north near the Bolivian border and encountered an Argentina we hadn´t yet seen . We traveled north along an Inca Road to Humahuaca, through Indian villages, andean markets and old-school cemetaries. We went south to Cafayate, and gawked at the colourful rock formations caused by millions of years of erosion. And of course, we visited the wineries and sampled Torrontes, the white wine Cafayate is famous for. Did I mention the llamas? They were everywhere.
Back in Salta, we checked out the world´s best preserved mummy - a child sacrificed to the Apus (sacred mountain gods) in the 15th century. A little freaky, but cool.
We clearly have only just begun to scratch the surface of Argentina. Next stop: Bariloche.
An open letter to Ted Rogers:
One would think that being out of the country for 4 months would translate to fewer issues with you, the cable and internet provider from hell. I’m sure you understand our surprise then, to find out that our Rogers woes continue. It seems you have misplaced our PVR and decided to charge $700 to our Visa until WE can prove to you that we returned it. And to add insult to injury, you’ve now decided to send our account to collections for a new, mystery $279 bill you say we haven’t paid – despite the automatic credit card payments you have been taking from us for the last 10 years.
Rogers, allow us to remind you: we have no house. We have no cable TV or internet. In fact, we don’t even have an address. Enough already!
And by the way, did you teach your business practices to Primus? If so, you’ll be pleased to know that they too are still looking for our VOIP gateway, which we also returned. Rogers and Primus: you suck.
P.S. Ted – we know where you live. The UCC boys were the ones throwing all those cigarette butts on your lawn in the late 80’s.
We are going to Grooooove Armada! Right now!! In Buenos Aires!
Wicked.
Since the City Slickers movies of the early 90’s, Mel has dreamed of staying at a working dude ranch – learning to ride while living the cowboy life. (Surely this is coincidental to her ongoing attraction to men in cowboy hats and boots). What better place to experience this, than in Northern Argentina, home of the Argentinian cowboy, the gaucho?
We are spending the weekend at Sayta (www.sayta.com.ar), an authentic estancia (or dude ranch in North American terms). Sayta is about an hour’s drive from the city of Salta, which itself is a 22-hour bus ride (or 2.5 hour flight in the Brel world), from Buenos Aires. Our estancia is everything we could want and more – gauchos in chaps chewing coca leaves, random chickens and geese running about, legends and myths, a tobacco plantation and a pasture of gorgeous horses.
Our host, Enrique, is a hard-core gaucho – think Curly but with an incredible positive energy and spirit - the kind of guy who makes you instantly feel like you’ve been friends for years. His hosting style is one Brel can appreciate – bottomless glasses of wine, copious amounts of home-cooked food and a sense of humour second-to-none. Our lunches are cooked on a huge outdoor asado – endless, perfectly grilled meats arrive at our table for what seems like (and probably is) hours. Enrique goes to great effort to make sure we feel we are truly guests in his home. For dinner, we join him in his kitchen. We are served (and sometimes force-fed) beautiful Salteño wines until late into the night. In the afternoons, we join Enrique and his friends for mate.
Riding is obviously a big part of staying at Sayta – there are morning and afternoon rides, through trails, up streams or into the mountains. Our delicate bottoms, too accustomed to our recent life of leisure, protest after every ride.
We won’t soon forget our stay at Sayta. Enrique and his team have given us a welcomed sneak-peak into the world of the gaucho. Gracias!
