Happily Homeless

Day 194/196 – To explore more of Chile while we waited for our car, we took a bus from Santiago to Valparaiso. It was a nice change of pace from the city. Valparaiso is not a small town, but it can feel like a small town due to the landscape; there are forty-two different hills (cerros in Spanish). They surround the bay and look over ‘El Plan’, the flat part of the city, located right by the port, which is also the business district. The hills break the city up into different neighborhoods which are scattered with numerous shops, crooked streets, stairs, random art, and a diversity of housing, which ranges from mansions to shacks. All throughout the hills are sleeping dogs, and wandering cats, who really give just the right personality to the city. One morning as we wandered the streets, one of the dogs was our companion, announcing our arrival at every corner. We were told his name was Julio, and he likes to guide the tourists.

Julio our guide dog 😉 waiting for us as we look at the views

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Views of streets and beyond

If you don’t want to climb the steps up the hill you can take this lift up.

The main focus of tourism here are Cerros Concepcion and Alegre, which are two hills that are world heritage sites. These hills are full of restaurants, cafes, bed & breakfasts, hostels, and art shops. It has a very bohemian feel, as does most of the city, due to the laid back character and empty streets. We stayed at Luna Sonrisa Hostal (www.lunasonrisa.cl – tel. 032734117 – Templeman 833, Cerro Alegre) which is a nice, clean, small hostel located off of a cobblestone road, facing the bay. Breakfast is included, and is made up of homemade jams, bread, cheese, and fruit – very delicious. I would recommend for anyone to stay there while visiting Valparaiso.

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Luna Sonrisa Hostel and the view down the street from the hostel

Most of our time has been spent wandering the streets and enjoying colorful homes, murals, and art galleries. We did our one tourist responsibility and stopped at Casa La Sebastiana to tour the former house of Pablo Neruda, a 1971 Noble Prize winner and poet. It was an interesting house with a lot of old artifacts, but I thought the admission was a little steep ($2500 pesos – $5 usd). After that, we walked through the ‘open sky museum’, which is a neighborhood down the hill from Casa La Sebastiana that has a lot of different murals painted on the buildings. They are randomly placed so you have to explore the neighborhood to see them all.

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Us at Casa La Sebastiana – if it wasn’t cloudy the view would be great!

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Murals at the Sky Musuem

Since we have arrived in Chile we have enjoyed cooking all of our own meals at the hostels, adding avocado and tomatoes to everything. Our favorite meal so far is the lunch that we’ve had the last two days; a sandwich made of fresh bread with avocado, tomatoes, and cheese. It is soooo delicious with all the fresh ingredients bought from the local farmers and bakeries!

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newspaper stand

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cloudy views of the city

Lastly, a warning to anyone needing to do laundry while staying on Cerros Concepcion or Alegre ~ the laundry service has a monopoly and charges $4500 pesos (about $9 usd) to wash and dry a load of laundry! It is a nice shop, but pricey, and they mixed up our some of our clothes with someone else’s – so check your laundry before you leave.

A building in El Plan that was modernized but kept historic

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Day 189/193 – We made it to Santiago Chile, and have been staying at the Casa Roja hostel for the past three nights. They only have one computer, and our computer was out of commission because we mistakenly left our converters in the van. We didn’t really prepare very well for our backpacking trip, but it all worked out. We bought a converter for it last night, so now we are good to go.

Our Super Bowl day was wonderful. We spent it with our new found friends, Ali & Phin (from England/Scotland), and introduced them to the food, celebrations, and all of the ins and outs of American Football. Ali and I made 7 layer dip, guacamole, and had a few other dips, which filled us all up until we couldn’t lift one more chip! The outcome of the game was very depressing, but there is next year, right?

Phin & Ali

The next day, early in the morning, we took off for Santiago by way of plane. We left the hostel an hour late, 4.00am, because our alarm decided all the sudden not to work, but we made the flight with plenty of time. We spent the next 20 hours on the plane and in the airports of San Jose, Costa Rica, and Lima, Peru and finally made our way to Santiago, Chile. Then we waited another 4.5 hours for the buses to start running (we arrived in Santiago about 3.00am) so we could go find a hostel.

View from Costa Rica’s airport outside of San Jose

It was a very long trip, with only a few hours of sleep, but we saved over $200usd by taking a longer flight. Normally, I would vouch for spending a bit more money for less traveling hours. Though I am happy we took this route, because there is a reciprocity tax when someone from the USA flies into Chile, and we ended up giving Chile all of our savings, $100usd a head. Ouch, did that hurt our budget! Since we hadn’t bought our travel book for South America yet we hadn’t done the research on entry via plane. It didn’t cross my mind that it would cost so much. It has been tough finding travel books, and when we did find one it was outrageously priced ($80usd) – we were told Argentina has better prices. We’ll just jot down the information we need until we get there. 😉

It was been said about Santiago that it is not a great city; because of it being dirty and very smoggy. Personally, I don’t think Santiago is very dirty, and have really enjoyed walking around and exploring the city. It is smoggy, but nothing worse than the other big cities I have been to, or lived in (NYC). Our first day in Santiago was tiring. We didn’t take naps so that we could sleep really well that night. We weren’t able to check into the hostel until 1.00pm – so we went to a movie to relax our bodies.

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downtown street in Santiago________sculpture at a pedestrian bridge

Below pics from Plaza de Armas
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there are a line of artists painting and selling work.

On our second day we took a small wine tour of the Cousino-Macul winery, www.cousinomacul.com. It was fun to tour the processing area and the cellars, and the wine wasn’t bad.

The orginal wine barrels

New age technology

the reserve wines

That night we met up for dinner with a friend of a friend’s. Funny how those connections can work! Ale is a friend of my friend Sarah, who used to live in Chile – but is now in wonderful Seattle. 🙂 Sarah got us in contact with each other. Thanks soo much Sarah! Ale, Claudio, and their friend took us to a really good pizza place, and we had great time. We spent the next afternoon exploring the city with Ale and Claudio – they have been so generous and nice, spending time with us. Thank you guys soo much and we are really having fun with you!

Claudio, Ale, and Jason in Santiago

This morning we found out that the ship Henry is on will be arriving six days late, on Wednesday. 🙁 This is horrible news for us because now we will be late meeting the Brookhouse-Gil family in Uruguay. We expected the ship to be a few days late, but not this many. We can only hope for a smooth journey once he arrives, so we can get to Uruguay as soon as possible, until then we will continue to enjoy Chile.

at the hostel with all the great people we are meeting.

Day 188 – Today is the day that most Americans, whether they like it or not, are watching TV to see the Super Bowl!!! Or is it really to see all the new high-tech, new wave commercials? Of course having tons of party food and eating all day while watching is fun too. BUT the most exciting aspect of today is that the Seattle Seahawks will be playing, yes playing, in the Super Bowl!! Cool, cool – and even though we are in Panama, we can still watch it live with everyone else in the states, due to the technology of cable TV. 😉

Day 186/187 – We are spending the next two days at the Mamallena Hostel. Nice beds, dorm rooms only, a small quaint place. I really enjoyed the people here and the size of the hostel. The breakfast is included, but it is very simple. They advertise WIFI, but do not allow one to access it via their laptop, but they have two computers and one cable to plug into a laptop. Overall, we really enjoyed our stay here.

Urban Art Exihibition in Panama City – taken by Phineas Kibbey

We have hit the third city that is doing construction on their water system. The water was shut off for a day and a half, not too bad, and though it is never fun, it is livable. A day of relaxing at the hostel and learning how to play backgammon was just perfect for us. The next day we wandered around the old part of town with Ali and Phin – whom we met at the hostel. The city has an art exhibit going on near that part of town, which has photos blown up on plastic banners and posted on all the abandoned buildings and doors. Currently the old town is being restored and looks to be geared towards tourism.

really cute gatos chillin under a car – taken by Phineas Kibbey

Urban Art Exihibition in Panama City – all taken by Phineas Kibbey

Day 185 – A tiring night en route to Panama City. We got on a local bus for the border of Costa Rica and Panama, since the Tica bus was sold out for days and the Panaline bus is expensive. The ride was pleasant, with assigned seats, stops for food, bathroom breaks, and operable windows (which can be a blessing). We met three Australians that were on the same route as us and were enjoyable traveling companions. We went through immigrations at the border, which took some time because a bus arrived to cross at the same time as us. The people on board were headed to Panama City, on the Panaline bus (a more expensive bus, but the same type as the Tica). When I asked the driver if there was any room for us on the bus, he said no. After buying our $5 tourist card and our $1 tourist tax, we were stamped into Panama. We also found out that the next bus for Panama City leaves at 7.00am; it is 11.00pm right now. So, Matt (one of the Australians) went over to do some sweet talking to the bus operators. He got us on the bus for $15 each, but we had to take a cab one mile down the road, where it would pick us up – I think that had to do with customs. With both of our bus fares together it ended up being the same price as the Tica bus – not bad, and the bus operators were happy 😉 Though it wasn’t the most comfortable ride, because they were full. But a few seats opened up as people disembarked at stops before Panama City. Jason and I ended up laying down in a small compartment that I think the second bus driver uses to sleep in – it was long and narrow. A bit cramped with two people but better than standing. One of our traveling companions ended up sleeping on the floor 🙁 . We arrived in Panama City around 6.00.

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A square in San Jose, Costa Rica__________Pedestrian Street mall

Phone calls to get information about shipping our car.

We grabbed some breakfast from a Chinese fast food place at the bus station, which served pancakes. It is interesting how Chinese and Italian culture is part of Panama’s and Costa Rica’s culture. I didn’t know that they have been immigrating into these countries for a very long time. We have seen a lot of Chinese restaurants in the past few days.

We took off to Miraflores to see the Panama Canal, and ended up arriving early. We weren’t the only ones, we watched quite a few other people do the same. Just so you know, it opens at 9.00am. They have a nice museum and viewing deck, entry fee of $5-8 depending on how much you want to see. The museum explains the building of the canal, the environment and ecosystem around it, and how the canal works mechanically. Four to five floors of exhibits, and a viewing deck of the canal that is four stories up. It was interesting to see the museum and the history of such a huge project. Watching the locks wasn’t as amazing as I thought they would be. I think it is because I had already seen lock establishments before. It was at a much grander scale though, it was neat to see huge cargo ships float through, but it was more interesting to see the history and the huge scale of the mechanisms.

the enterance from the Pacific Ocean to the Panama Canal

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Fill’er up! These gates are 7 stories tall

the ship is coming through the first lock, the one with the school children watching, and the tug tanks on the side pulling it through.

Exiting the second lock and going into the Panama Canal

Next we were off to the airport to try and find last minute airfares. Alas; no luck. They don’t do last minute fares down here, so we spent a long day comparing prices, talking to reservation centers, getting prices, having them raise on us, and finally not buying any tickets. We had great help from Trent Hendrickson, http://www.velocitytours.com Tel. 877-608-3704, through email and phone and got some good prices and information on buying tickets down here. Thanks for you help Trent!! It is amazing how technology has changed traveling. It still blows me away all the time, I guess I am getting old, but to be able to keep in contact through email and IM with friends and family instead of a four week travel letter that might, or might not, make it to the states. Having a voicemail system that emails you the messages via wave file. Also, being able to call a family member and have them check online prices while talking to them on the phone at the airport – silly but useful, saved us over $200, which is almost a week on the road. Thank you Holly for helping me out over the phone! Ironically enough, we finally got our computer to pick up a WIFI signal after getting our information. I will also take this chance to say Thanks to Holly for editing the blog for us. If she wasn’t doing that, you guys would probably get fed up with my horrible grammar and the misspellings that weren’t caught by Word. 🙂
You’re Welcome April! 🙂 ~ Holly

So, after hanging out all day at the airport, we ended up going back into town. We spent last night in Hotel Marparaiso (calle34 este y avenida justo arosemena, tel. 227-7970) which offers a free ride from the airport to their hotel (saving you $20usd). The hotel was a budget hotel, $22usd for two people for one night; with free internet, AC, decently clean, and a restaurant. It was okay, worth the savings if you are on a budget.

Day 182/184 – Good news, bad news, good news. Henry is locked up secure in his own personal hotel room for the next ten days or so. I hope he enjoys his solitude and the rest from driving. We didn’t get to go on the ship with Henry. The port was backed up and the captain wouldn’t be coming ashore for another day or two – so we decided it was a better use of our time to backpack it by bus and plane to Chile, especially since we had no idea if the captain would even let us come with them. We get to visit the Panama Canal and see the Seahawks kick butt in the Superbowl, which we would have missed if we went on the ship. 🙂

waiting and sunset at Caldera

We spent two full days of sweating, waiting, doing paperwork, and drinking coffee at the port of Caldera, until we loaded up the van and locked it up. Not too exciting.

loading Henry up into his temporary casa.

tied down and locked up

now fully homeless with just our bags and two feet

We met a nice gentleman who offered to give us a cheap ride to San Jose from the port, in one of the nice turismo vans. It was a very pleasant ride and our first time being in the rain since leaving Seattle. Now we are in San Jose at a youth hostel; man, seeing all the young ‘kids’ makes me feel old! We are now looking for bus tickets to Panama City. The Tica bus is full for the next nine days! That was the bus we wanted to get on, but now we are looking into others. Once we get down to Panama we are planning on trying to get a standby ticket at the airport, to fly down to Santiago, Chile. This is the cheapest way we can think of getting down there. Any suggestions or help on cheap flights to Chile would be wonderful!!! 😉

there was a line of ants outside our hotel that were carrying leaves and petals back home, it was really cartoon like to see.

Hello Everyone!! We hope everyone is well and happy. We are well and happy… happier if all goes well tomorrow. So, if you don’t see any new posts on our blog it is because we are riding on the ship down to Chile, with our van Henry. We will post ASAP when we get there (around the 11th of Feb. maybe). Please check back around then! If we end up not getting on the ship, you will hear from us in a few days. 🙂 Wish us luck, and cross you fingers…

Day 180/181 – We spent this Saturday in Jaco, a beach resort town that was having a big beach party this weekend. A beach volleyball tournament was going on all weekend and a live concert on Sunday afternoon. We came here to sell our surf board in order to get some cash to help with our shipping costs, and because we’ve been told there isn’t as much surf in South America. After accomplishing this task we spent our time wandering the beach and slept in a campground for the night. The campground was one big party! I believe there were people that never went to bed, the cars just kept coming in. It was impressive.

A big community of campers! A very great culture, even if it was noisy 🙂

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A river of Crocodiles

Today we are looking for a cheap place to shower, sleep, and use the internet 🙂 We are packing our bags for either a trip on the ship or backpacking our way to Chile. Henry even got his first bath since we bought him! We want him to look pretty for the customs officials in Chile!

A clean shiny Henry in Puntarenas!!

Day 179 – An eventful a day as any, but at the same time it was uneventful. We crossed the Costa Rican border with no helpers and no troubles. It was the most peaceful, and the easiest of all borders we’ve crossed. I don’t have much to say, except follow the signs and the official’s instructions. We crossed within an hour at the most; record time for a border crossing! Unless you count the crossing from the USA into Baja, Mexico (taking only 1 second).

Lago de Nicaragua

Costa Rica. This road looks nice, but this country has the worst roads we’ve driven on so far…. talk about potholes!

We drove down to Caldera, a port on the Pacific Coast side, and spent all day there. Jason started making inquires about shipping our van to South America. We knew a couple that shipped their car from here, on a roll-on roll-off (RORO) ship and it was very cheap. Unfortunately, there were no RORO boats coming into port. A helpful gentleman gave Jason some shipping agents that we could contact to request information about the schedule for next few days. We found out that there is a ship leaving on the 31st for Chile, and arriving in San Antonio, Chile around the 9th, which was very good news. That is exactly what we were looking for, but it was more expensive than we wanted. It is going to end up costing $1150 USD, which includes taxes, customs, and everything – about the same price as most people have paid to ship to Ecuador. After numerous phone calls and in talking with the customs officials, we decided that this was the route we wanted to take. We want to meet up with some good friends of ours in Uruguay in the middle of February, and this boat will put us there right on time. It was perfect, how everything was working out at the port. We will have just enough time to get our paperwork done before loading the car on the ship, and we have the possibility of riding on the ship with our car. If we can do that, it would be the most ideal situation. We have to wait until Monday to get our shipping container number. Once we have that, our van is secured for shipping, and we just have to convince the captain to let us join them for the ride.

greenery!!

Day 178 – We took a day off from traveling and stayed in San Juan del Sur, which is just an hour or so away from the Costa Rican border. It is an attractive bay off the Pacific Coast, with mild waves, clean sand, and lots of gringos. This town just recently received it’s first bank and ATM machines, about 6 months ago. It is starting to boom, with gringo owned homes and businesses – watch out Costa Rica! It is a very nice, small coastal town, and I can understand why people want to move here. The land is being bought like there is no tomorrow. I just hope it doesn’t effect the locals in a negative way. That is the hard thing about development anywhere in the world, how do you keep the economical balance?

San Juan del Sur

Tomorrow is our next border. We will see how tough Costa Rica is on us. I have heard they are quite efficient and professional; I like that. Though I also heard I need the original title to the car, which we only have photocopies of – but we haven’t had any problems yet, and we are hoping our original registration and a nice border official will let us through.

The perfect sunset: pacific ocean with kids playing soccer on the beach!