Thirty Something Traveller

The bus left La Serena at 4pm and i watched the views on the journey until the sun set. I’m not a great sleeper on overnight busses and I avoid them as much as I can so watched Netflix into the night finishing La Casa del Papel. I awoke early and confused to see the sun rise across the desert.

The bus arrived in San Pedro and my hostel had been kind enough to offer me breakfast. It’s the best one I’ve had in four months with pancakes, fruit, eggs, bread and a whole buffet. I couldn’t check in until 12 so they let me use a shower and I headed into town for the free tour at 10am. This time there were just two English speakers on the tour but it was good to get an understanding of the town and it’s history. It’s now mostly a tourist town but people have lived here for thousands of years before being conquered by the Incas, the Spanish, the Chilean government amber and finally the tourists.

I returned to the hostel and spoke with a few people about hiring a car, which never really go off the ground. I spent the afternoon with Tamasin, who lives down the road from me in London, and was being as indecisive as I was. She had been here a week already and I wanted to do everything but couldn’t work out how. She showed me the amazing French bakery in town and suggested that we hire bikes the following day and see The Devils Gorge. By the end of the day a few others from the hostel had decided to join us and I was happy that one day at least was sorted.

That night we went to the cheapest and arguably best bar in town, it played rock music after all and drank too much ale. Luckily the bars all close at midnight so when I crawled into my top bunk it wasn’t too late!

The next day I had an easy day and started trying to plan my week before the set off on the bike ride in the afternoon. I then received a message from Melodie, from Adela Luna, as she and Romain were in town and they were hiring a car with their friends Lucy and Marine. That worked out really well for me and as I wanted to see everything I tagged along and let them set the agenda.

At midday we went to one of the bike hire places in town, there are many, and hired some really state of the art bikes. It’s been a while since I’ve seen a new bike so for me they were pretty special. I was given a luminous yellow helmet and a yellow jacket and I think I looked amazing.

Quebrada del Diablo (Devil’s Throat Gorge)

Five of us cycled north through the town towards the gorge. It’s not a long ride and you can easily do this yourself in an afternoon. Everything is marked on Maps.Me so you don’t need a tour. I later met another guy who cycled both the Valle de Marte and this valley in one day so if you are a proficient cyclist. Again all the routes are on Maps.Me.

There are a couple of streams to cross , the first had a decent bridge and the second has more stepping stones. We didn’t see them to begin with so I just trundled thought the stream with the bike. Not me in the picture.

The road to the valey is fairly easy but there are a few sandy parts. When you arrive you must pay a 2000 peso entry fee but that buys you a map and a quick explanation as to what you can see. Ignore the times they give you as we cycled slowly and still beat all of the times by a long long way.

Tamsain and her Brazilian friend wanted to see the tunnel as had done this cycle before so we split up at the cross roads and I headed to the gorge with the rest of the party-I’m so bad but I can’t remember their names! Upon reaching the gorge we saw there were lots of people cycling all dressed in red and found out it was some kind of Coca-Cola event which they were filming so I might end up in a Latin American advert one day.

As we cycled through the gorge i felt like i was on an Indiana Jones set.

We soon reached the end of the gorge and ended up having a really interesting conservation about our disposable society and how it’s harming the environment. We all agreed that it was a randomly heavy conservation to have in such a beautiful place. I think the Coca-Cola riders induced this.

We headed back down the gorge as there were some other things in the valley we wanted to see. This time it was much easier as I hadn’t noticed that riding here we were on a steady incline the entire time so now it was all down hill.

When we reached the end of the gorge the American girl had to head back to catch her flight so me and the British girl from Bristol (I’m so embarrassingly bad with names) headed to the next stop an Archeological site. I’m not sure what is was called or what was there but it did offer some beautiful views of the valley. It was a bit of a steep climb to get there but worth it.

I was struggling to take photos so I took off my helmet and in comedy fashion as I put it down on the slope it started to roll down the very steep hill. Both myself and my new friend failed to stop it and everyone found it very funny. I was writing it off when someone suggested it would be easy for me to retrieve it. I want so sure but didn’t want to pay a fine or leave it in the desert so I climbed down some steep slopes. Followed a dry steam bed and retrieved it!

We were told it was only another 1.8k to the little church, that you might be able to see in the back of some of the above photos, so we decided to go as it’s really quick on a bike. There was a really pretty tiny white church in the middle of nowhere which seems typical for this region but sadly as it was closed we were unable to go inside.

As we cycled back and again realised we were cycling downhill that explained why I felt so tired on the way to the church. We reached the turnoff to the tunnel, which forms part of the old road that went to Calama but has not been used since the 50s. We decided to give it a go and started cycling up the hill before realising it was too steep and pushing the bikes up the hill.

The sin was setting and we wanted to get back before it was dark but the scenery was beautiful so we kept pushing on around each corner until we saw the tunnel.

Afterwards it only seemed polite to cycle through. I underestimated how dark it would be especially as I was still wearing my sunglasses. But we made it to the other side and found that we were in the Valle de Marte.

Afterwards we could enjoy the long ride down the steal hill and made it back before the sunset where we saw the moon in all its glory.

I didn’t realise how hot it was that afternoon and how much the sun had taken out of me so I had to lie down with a headache and i had an early night ready for the next day as I was meeting the guys to pick up the car at 8:30.

Valle del Arcoíris

Our first stop in the car was Valle del Arcoíris a valley made up of different colour rocks. It’s actually a good thing to do on your second day as at an elevation of 3000 metres it allows you to become acclimatised to the altitude. It’s about an hour drive from San Pedro and when we got out the car I could feel the extra chill in the air and the altitude when walking. On the way we made friends with some llamas.

And the drive through the valleys to get there is also very pretty.

Once we arrived we were in a really dry valley full of different colour rocks jutting our at different angles. There is a dry river bed running along the valley and we went for a short walk.

On the way out of the valley we saw some more llamas in the road.

Afterwards we went to Yerbas Buenas which is a place where there are ancient paintings on the rocks. It’s quite amazing to see how they have been preserved in the desert.

We headed back to San Pedro for a quick break and then to the lakes to visit the sunset. There are three lakes in the area to the south of the town. Laguna Cejar, Ojos de Salar and Laguna Tebinquinche. Laguna Cejar is one that you can swim in for the price of 15000 pesos. It’s really salty so you float but we had been told there were some other less healthy things in the water and opted to skip it.

Ojos de Salar

A little further along the same road are two small pools with beauty blue water and the volcano in the background. A dog was running around and at one moment I thought he would done what any dog does when it sees water and jump in. Luckily this guy had some sense as it wouldn’t be so easy for them to get out again!

Laguna Tebinquinche

Then it was on to the next Laguna to watch the sunset. This will set you back 3000 pesos but it’s worth it to watch the sunset as we did.

There was sadly only one flamingo and you have to stick to the pases so that the landscape is not destroyed by humans but there are some really good viewpoints.

And here are the views from the side of the lake as the sun goes down. The reflections in the water are something else.

Then we settled in to watch the sun set.

And took some pictures of me.

And Melodie and Romain.

And as it became dark we drove back to San Pedro just in time to see the moon rise over the Andes.

Geyser del Tatio

The next morning i had a wake up call of 4am. It was lay as I was so tired I went to bed around 9pm but it’s still an early and cold awakening. The geysers are up at around 4000 metres in altitude and at this time in the day it’s cold. At that altitude it’s always cold. So cold that all the cats windows froze on the 90minute dice there. The reason that it is good to go early is that during the sunrise the geysers are at their most active. There is some science that I am unaware of but all I can say is that it’s one of the coldest places I’ve visited in my entire life. But it was beautiful.

And then here is the gang and some pictures of me.

The others decided to check out the thermal springs but i was too cold and had a little sleep in the car. When I awoke all the other tours had left and we were treated to some wildlife who must have waited until the Valley was empty. It was great as we had the entire pace to ourselves and some four legged friends.

We then set a slow pace back to town stopping at some interesting places. Firstly some mountain shots.

Then we saw an ostrich.

And we passed by a river with lots of wildlife.

And a frozen stream

A small church

And more flamingos at a lake

Some goats

And then the view of the dessert valley from 4000 metres.

After some well deserved rest we headed to a viewpoint over the Valle de la Luna to drink some wine and watch the sun set.

And time for another photo shoot of me.

Laguna Chaxa

We had another 4am start to watch the sunrise over Laguna Chaxa. This is where the flamingos come to feed but they leave as the sun rises so we wanted to get there early. And early we did. Too early in fact as the reserve didn’t open until 7am. It was a simple 1 hour wait in the freezing cold car but it paid off as I got to see so many flamingos in all their glory.

Valle de la Luna

In the afternoon we returned to the Valle de la Luna to see if properly this time. Apparently it’s so like the moon that NASA uses it to test. Our firststop was a set of caves that gets so tight you have to crawl through the spaces. It was really fun and it definitely wouldn’t pass UK health and safety standards.

The next stop was some rocks that look like things. one is the Virgin Mary but I preferred the dinosaur rock.

We drove though the valley to a view point and took some more shots.

And then went to the spot to watch the sun set.

Even all the way up here here there were dogs.

On the Friday i decided to relax ahead of my Red Rocks tour the following day. It was another early start as we have many things to see. First in the agenda was Laguna Chaxa. As I had already seen this I didn’t take any more photos and this time there were very few flamingos so remember if you do go with a tour they arrive later than I did and there will not be so many birds.

Next up we drove to some red mountains situated at 4000 metres next to some salt lakes.

I’m going to have to cut this post short as it’s crashing with all the photos. But we saw some lakes.

And then took photos in the road before returning home. I had a rest day and then I was heading to Bolivia. There is so much more I’d like to write but I’ll have to update another time.

Patty and I headed back to Santiago via San Antono, where we killed a couple of hours in the mall. I had decided I wanted to buy a laptop as I’m starting to think it would be a good idea to earn some cash whilst I’m here. I rejected that idea when I saw the price of laptops. Also finding shorts here is just as hard as finding them in London in the winter. It makes sense! The third thing on my list was a charger for my head lamp. It uses a weird plug and ideally I need one of these. If anyone has any ideas where I can get one in South America it would be super handy as despite searching in Santiago I still don’t have one to replace the broken wire. Anyways…

Camilo was nice enough to let me crash at his apartment again and greeted us with Completos. Apparently Chileans are mad for hotdogs, someone will correct me on this, and I had not tried any yet. With massive lashings of every sauce, tomatoes, onions, cheese and avocado (apparently they are called Italianos if you have them with avocado). It was delicious and I had more than everyone else.

The next day was a little slow and I wanted to get myself equipped in Santiago before I headed north, as in my head it was a barren wasteland with very few shops, you should have seen my face when I saw the size of the malls in La Serena. But this is jumping ahead. In Santiago I needed to get a haircut, supplies, shorts and the wire mentioned above. The haircut went smoothly, the shorts were a challenge but I found some and the wire was a failure.

So Camilo and I ate some Thai food for lunch and then accidentally brought too much frozen yoghurt. It was help yourself to everything and the tubs were sized big or bigger. I took big and filled it up not really thinking or realising that it’s charged by weight. So I ate half a kilo of ice cream to myself.

That evening the three of us headed out for some Indian food. I had been told there was a good restaurant and wanted to try. After we went for some goodbye drinks before getting up stupidly early in the morning for the bus to La Serena. Camilo and Patty came with to say goodbye which was really sweet and I didn’t know what to do as it’s the first time anyone has come to see me off since I had a last minute encounter with Sharon, my Aunty, at Gatwick. I was appropriately awkward and got on the bus to enjoy the scenery during the six hour trip to La Serena.

I arrived, ignored the people trying to get my attention outside the bus terminal and found the local bus to take me to my hostel just outside of town. It was a nice family run hostel and I booked myself on a tour of the Elqui Valley the next day. I also decided that I had been lacking veg in my diet so took a trip to the supermarket and cooked dinner.

When I arrived the weather in La Serena was cold and overcast. I’m starting to realise that when a place is overcast I seem to like it much less. But the Elqui Valley was the opposite. It’s one of the driest places and has the least amount of clouds anywhere on earth which is why it is home to many observatories, including NASA and the EU. They actually share the same hill. It’s also where most of Chile’s Pisco is grown.

So four of us jumped into the car with the hostel owner and headed into the valley where as predicted the weather was beautiful. Our first stop was Molle Town where we sampled traditional pastries. In the shop we visited the customers all write reviews and then staple them to the walls.

We then visited a dam and artificial lake which is used to stockpile water for the Pisco growers. I was desperate for a wee and I think I’ve found the toilet with the best view in Chile.

We walked along the dam a little and sampled the views.

Next on the agenda was Vicuña which is the biggest town in the region. We visited the museum of Gabriela Mistral, who won the Nobel Prize for Literature. She’s a bit of a legend around these pets especially as she helped put education for girls on the map. So check her out on Wikipedia.

After we had a wonder around the town and visited the plaza and church which of course had some dogs chilling outside.

We then had lunch at a traditional Chilean restaurant and sampled a traditional dish of which I can’t remember the name, but it was delicious.

Next up was the big show and we visited the Aba Pisco distillery. Pisco is a big deal in Chile, where they disagree with Peru as to who invented the drink. You have probably heard of a Pisco Sour but you can drink Pisco with anything, coke, sprite etc. They basically treat it as vodka and it’s great. So we had a little tour.

And then we got to sample some of the Pisco. Sadly for me the shots were a little strong and it brought back memories of the day after my birthday so I didn’t try much but everyone assured me it was good.

We then drove to Montegrande which is where Gabriela was born.

Before driving to Pisco Elqui a town full of hippies.

Whist there I had more icecream. Note that mint and toffee don’t really mix.

And then we headed back to the hostel. On the journey I took a lot of photos from the car as I loved the colours of the sunset on the mountains and water.

The next day I was pretty grumpy as I had been told that there was no hiking in the Elqui Valley, this was completely wrong so if you do want to hike go there, and I was desperate to hike. I decided not to spend a night in the valley as I felt I had seen everything the day before. It also seemed that I would have to miss the Parque National Nevado Tres Cruses as no tours were going and I was the only one interested. It’s apparently off the beaten track, no idea why as it looks amazing, and it’s not the season. I didn’t want to go as there were only hotels and with no guarantee of a tour I didn’t want to waste money. A little defeated I booked a bus ticket to San Pedro which was overnight, again not to my liking and as I was exhausted I thought I should take a rest day but again felt I was wasting time.

I headed into La Serena with a plan to see the sites and do some research. It was freezing and grey so I skipped the sites, found a cafe, and then found Lemongrass Thai gem for lunch. It’s delicious and you should go if you can. Cheap and lots of food.

I then retreated to the hostel after visiting the biggest supermarket I’ve ever seen and had a Netflix afternoon.

The next day I decided to sample some seafood. Typically the sky had cleared and it was warm but I had a delicious lunch before catching the night bus to San Pedro.

And here is La Serena in the sun.

I headed back to Santiago go meet Patty so we could head to La Boca where her uncle had a house. It’s a small seaside town situated on the Pacific coast with sandy beaches and close to the mouth of a river. I was excited to get away from the tourist circuit and see where Chileans go to escape the city for the weekend.

I met Patty at the bus station and we headed out of Santiago for 2 1/2 bus ride to La Boca. Upon arriving we had to go and locate some firewood to keep us warm. There was a log fire in the house, as there seems to be in many of the buildings here. Following her uncles instructions we met a man who sold us a lot of very cheap logs. By this time it was dark so we headed back to the house, getting food and beer supplies on the way, and I started making fire. To my credit I had a roaring fire going very quickly but I think a lot of it was down to be very dry wood I was burning.

The next day we decided to visit the beach.

I was memorised by the waves in the ocean as they were much bigger than I would usually see. I took far too many photos but I liked the way they curled and crashed into the beach.

As we walked along the shore rocks appeared and I was then equally mesmerised by the waves crashing into the rocks and making spray. At this point Patty went to stand close to where the waves were coming in and quickly ran away as the water closed in on her.

There was an abundance of wildlife, especially birds flying over head. This little chap perched on some rocks but soon found out that wasn’t the best idea. I managed to snap a photo before he flew and I ran away from the incoming water.

As usual I did my closeup shots. Crab claw, crab remains, sand and sea shell. There was also an abandoned rusting container so I included that in the shots.

There were lots of birds flying overhead but the most spectacular were Jote Cabrza Colorada’s. A paid flew close overhead and I was able to photograph.

After the beach we took a path up the cliff to see the river from high up. We tried to work our way down but realising the trail was headed in a different direction climbed back up to the top. I had great fun running and jumping up steep banks. Patty had less fun but after a few attempts she made it up.

And then rewarded myself after a short hike with a very similar dish to fish and chips. There was so much that we took the remaining for dinner and it was just as delicious heated up.

I’ve not mentioned this before but in Chile there is a salas called Pebre that is served before any meal. It delicious and served with bread so you can imagine I always eat a tonne and then I’m not really hungry when dinner arrives. We decided to make some more at the house so brought the ingredients.

The second night was very relaxed. I lit another fire and then spent several hours sat in bed researching where I would go next. It was luxury just to sit in a house with no strangers around and relax.

Afterwards we went outside to see the stars but a thick fog had rolled in from the sea which prevented that from happening.

The next day we went down to the river and jumped on the tourist boat. It’s the same boat that takes the fisherman, who catch fish in the river, to their spots and at one point we delivered coke and cigarettes to one of the fisherman.

I was very excited to see the mouth of the river. It’s something I’ve never seen before and you can see the waves crashing into the water from the river in the distance.

We had one final trip back to the beach where I posed for photos before we caught the bus back to Santiago.

I was told about this trek on the bus from Mendoza to Santiago by Miri. I was told to get the metro to the end and then a bus to the park, which was enough for me. I did no further research as I figured I’d be able to pick up a trail when I arrived. I asked at the hostel and Juan also confirmed that it was the way to go.

When I mentioned the park to Jasmin she googled straight away and told me we would be walking up to the top of a 2000 metre mountain. Which is famous as you can see Borge the Pacific and the Andes. Now I was excited and she convinced me to leave later than I had planned, which is good as I later found out you really needed to start the trek at 9:30am. We arrived at 10:40. So we work up too early for breakfast and I was lucky that I had prepared food the day before but sadly for Jasmin she hadn’t and despite me trying to share my heavily cantered chicken sandwiches were not that appealing to a vegetarian.

The metro from Valparaíso to Limache takes around an hour. Immediately outside the station there are busses and you can catch on to La Campaña park. It’s the end of the line and I think it’s the number 38 but the busses will say this on the front. I have no idea as to the frequency but it takes around 40mins and they run until 9pm so you have plenty of time to catch one back. After you get off the busses the entrance is another kilometre but there are clear signs to the park.

We paid the 4000 peso entrance fee and registered with the park rangers who told us that it was too late to go all the way to the summer but we decided to go anyway. The map they gave us said it would take 4.5 hours, which I think is slightly overstated but not by much.

We set off and despite me trying to take us on a few wrong turns we quickly found the correct trail and both realised there was going to be a lot of up. I was content with reaching the first main viewpoint. On the way to the first stop we met a cow. It took us an hour to reach the first point I the map which is the exact time specified and we could see a lot of mountain to climb ahead of us. We sped up and reached the main viewpoint with an hour to spare and there was only 2km left. I predicted that we could reach the top on another half an hour. I’m an idiot and I was wrong.

After the second viewpoint the path became en more steep which made the path that we had rushed through look like child’s play. We went slower and eventually reached the Darwin sign. Oh yeah I forgot to mention that Darwin also did this trek back in the day. I expect he didn’t have to worry about the spark closing at 5:30 so it would have been easier for him.

After the Darwin sign there was only about 800 metres left to go and I thought how hard can it really be? The answer. Really hard. I’ve done Torres del Paine and a bunch of other treks in Patagonia and the last part of this is the hardest. At Fitz Roy the last part is just up but there is a path that has been cut, however scary. This was literally scrambling over rocks at more than a 45 degree angle, looking for the red posts. Where there were no rocks there was dust.

However as we approached the summit the views turned to this and I saw the Andes again.

I went in ahead as I’m not a gentleman and also if I stop going up I worry that I won’t be able to regain the momentum. I reached the summit exhausted and a little friend came to try and share my sandwich.

And the hard climb was totally worth it. I think we managed the summit in around 3:30 hours which is still less time than suggested.

And then we sat down for some photos by the flags at the top.

The biggest challenge we faced was going back down and I’d argue that going down is harder. Sadly we did not have long at the top because we started the track late. If Ku can get here for 9am as you can take it slower and appreciate the views. I could have stayed for hours.

Also going down takes time. It is a precarious climb and decent. Go slowly as if you slip in the wrong place you will be getting down a lot quicker than you might like. I realised that for the first time be heights did not really bother me and crossed that off the list of things to be scared of. I’ve been up a fair few trials now I’m used to this. It took a lot longer than I remembered going down and we battled to beat the sunset as I didn’t want to be on the trails in the dark.

We arrived exhausted, took the long journey back to the hostel and pretty much went straight to bed. But this is one of my favourite things I’ve done for a while.

The day after Sewell I headed to the bus station in Santiago a little later than usual and managed to get a ticket for a bus leaving 15mins later. After 2 1/2 hours I had arrived and had checked into the hostel which was stupidly close to the bus terminal and is one of my favourites of the trip so far.

I messaged Joselyn, who took the picture I’m using at the top of this post and I included it because it’s so beautiful, and she came and me at the hostel. We jumped on a local bus and headed into the centre and started walking up one of the hills. Valparaíso is the arty town of Chile. Think Brighton/Bristol. It’s such a hub that the department for culture is based in the city. As a result the buildings and streets are covered in grafiti. There are lots of bars, coffee shops, universities, musicians and street performances. It’s a really fun place to be. You can also get the metro to some of the towns to the north, all of which have great beaches. Valpo, as it is called by the locals, is spread over many hills so if you want to walk around it’s a good place to get fit.

i tried to visit one of the cafes that had been recommended but it was closed so we went somewhere nearby and I had a local type sandwich.

Halfway up a hill we found a playground so I jumped in as that’s what all respectable adults would do.

We kept walking up the hill and reached a viewpoint which overlooked the whole of the town. The Sun was setting at this time and it cast the town in beautiful colours.

A little bit was walking a puppy so we stopped to say hello. The problem was that he wouldn’t stop moving but this photos came out okay.

After we jumped on another bus for a scenic tour of the hills. The busses drive really fast and the turns are right so it’s a bit of a ride in itself. The bus took us back to the bottom and we headed to the market but I spotted some more graffiti first.

We took a short trip through the local market where I brought some delicious cheap grapes. As usual in Chile there were cats sleeping on everything and I saw this little guy curled up in a box.

After we walked up another hill behind my hostel to watch the sunset.i didn’t take any photos as we weren’t 100% sure how safe it was to take out the camera.

I returned to the Hostel and then took a quick trip to the supermarket next door where I ended up buying a whole cooked chicken. To be honest I’d been thinking about getting one since the O Trek. It was going to be my first treat when I hit civilisation and of course there were none left. So With it being my birthday eve and all I decided to treat myself along with a 6 pack of beer.

On returning to the Hostel I met Kathi and Lucas. I ate a good proportion of my chicken and retreated to my room for Netflix. I was determined that for one year I would not be ridiculously hungover on my birthday!

I woke up early the next day for the free walking tour and was happy not to be hungover. My first win at being 37! Ouch… Kathi joined me and we walked to the meeting place where there were a lot of dog. And I mean a lot. There were loads for South America where there seems to be a stray dog for each person in every town. One to follow you around all day. This bunch were particularly vocal. The tour started and as there were only eight of us one guide took us all in English and about 10 dogs started following us, whilst simultaneously chasing bikes, barking at other dogs, cars and pretty much anything that did and didn’t move. Our guide Juan did a really good job of being heard over the noise. At one point I bend down to take the photo below and as I did my face was locked, yes by a dog, which is why it has that rustic blurry effect.

The tour encompasses lots of graffiti and views as we traversed the two main tourist hills of the town and were told a lot about the history, current events, places to visit eat and drink at. Far much more than I could ever do in the time I had in the city.

Then of course there was the slide, which I had seen the day before but this time I was determined to use. There was a whole school group that had just gone down and when I sat at the top they were all delighted and started chanting encouraging me to slide down. So I did!

After the tour a few of us decided to visit Pablo Neruda house on the hill. Pablo Neruda is a famous poet who won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1971 he had three houses, one in Santiago, one on the Isla Negra and one here in Valparaiso. It’s an interesting house full of artefacts that show off the poets eccentric lifestyle. The house also has great views over the city.

We headed back to my hostel and Kathi and Cecilia kindly decided to join me to celebrate with some birthday drinks. We headed to a bar and ordered some Pisco Sours before heading to Ecuador Street, which is known as the street with the cheap student bars and ordered a Pisco and Sprite.

Juan form the walking tour joined us and took us to an even cheaper bar where I tried several shots and some Terremotos, which is earthquakes in Spanish because the drinks are so strong that when you stand up it feels as if there is an earthquake going on. After we headed to a club which played a mix of punk and indie music and I made my way back to the hostel at around 4am.

Let’s just say that I had a much less productive day on the day after my birthday and I managed to get out of my room at around 6pm to hunt for some pizza, which turned out to be not so great so I won’t mention the restaurant.

The next day I had arranged to meet Karla as she promised to show me some beaches that were in some of the towns to the north of Valparaiso. It was slightly daunting as she spoke no English and me very little Spanish. I went to meet her in Viña del Mar and despite the limited conversation had a really fun day.

She drove me to several beaches and we had a hot chocolate and ate some shrimp and queso empanadas. It was a good test of my Spanish and proved I knew at least something but Google Translator did get a lot of action.

I arrived back to the hostel and had a delicious burger, the restaurant attached to the hostel was actually pretty good and I had seen the food the night before. After I headed to my room and met my new room mates Sam and Jasmin who invited me out for drinks. I was hesitant to say yes after the day before but I did and we met up with some friends they had made during the day front he walking tour. There I ran into a girl I had climbed Fitz Roy with and had a good catchup. I mentioned to Jasmin about my planned hike tomorrow at La Campana and she wanted to come along. As a cat had decided to make my lap its bed we waited a while and then headed back to the hostel for an earliest night for the big hike which I’ll serial in the next post.

Typically Santiago was covered in cloud when I awoke early to catch the tourist bus to Sewell. After Mendoza i was desperate to see more of the Andes and I was torn between going to Cajon del Maipo, which looked beautiful but difficult to get to and Sewell. I opted for Sewell because it was a ghost town and I wanted to see ghosts.

So I jumped in an uber which arrived quickly despite my worries of not having an uber available at that time on a Sunday morning and i waited outside of the Starbucks as instructed. It was cold and there were a couple of other tourist busses, none of whom wanted me to join their tour. Soon a man came and found me and he did want me on his tour, at least I think as the conservation was in Spanish and i didn’t really know what was happening. He addressed everyone in Spanish and soon we were off. I was a little disconcerted as I was promised and English speaking guide but I thought I would role with it.

The bus journey to the site was about three hours. We travelled to a town called Rancagua. Where a bunch more people got on the bus and also did our actual guide who did speak English. It was only when we arrived at the town that I realised I was the only person speaking English so she said everything twice just for the benefit of me.

There was another hour to travel to the town and this is where it started to get beautiful. As we climbed the most started to clear and blue skies appeared. The mountains for higher and we drove along the private road into the mine. This is exclusively used by mining traffic.

It was at this point that I realised Sewell is actually above a working mine, El Teniente. It is the worlds largest underground copper mine with over 3000 kilometres of underground tunnels. The whole operation is huge and it makes for an interesting setting with the industry set against the natural beauty of the mountains.

After driving past all of the mining operation we finally arrived at the town. It was finally abandoned in the 80s. Originally constructed for the minters and their families, and for a long time it had the best facilities in Chile, it became easier for people to live in Rancagua after the construction of the road in the 1960s, especially with the harsh environments at 2000 metres. Now it has been particularly reconstructed by the mining company and doing tours via the company is the only way to visit as it is all private property.

We were treated to a video of old footage of people living in the town and then started the tour.

There were three types of citizens in the town. The US who owned the company initially, it is now in Chillen hands after being nationalised, the engineers and then the Chilean workers. This Pool is in a building that was exclusive to the US workers.

After seeing the main building we were shown around the town. You can see how high up the town is in relation to the mountains. You might also notice a lack of roads and this is because there were none. At time of construction it was not possible to get cars up this high so the town centred around a main set of steps and this is where the population met and interacted.

I also took some more arty photos.

We were invited to look at how the miners would have lived in the 60s.

And walked more around the town. As you can see, much of it is still in ruins.

They also have a bowling alley.

And there is a museum. All is in Spanish so I didn’t really read much about the items. I did take photos of some pretty metals.

After which we headed back to Rancagua to have lunch. A late lunch as it was 4pm by this stage. I did think it was pointless but it gave me the change to talk to some people. I met Joselyn, a Mexican who lived in Valparaiso, and she offered to give me a tour when I arrived there the next day.

So after lunch we headed back to Santiago and I prepared to move on her again.

I arrived at the bus terminal in Santiago two weeks ago so I am a little behind with the blogs but will catch up over the next few days. Patty who i met at Queulat in Patagonia met at the station and took me to Camilo’s apartment, who I also met in Patagonia, where I’d be staying during my time in Santiago. I was tired and a little dazed by the big, busy city but I for into the feel of it much quicker than I had before.

We spent the afternoon and evening catching up and the next morning i took some time to relax and but a sim for my phone as I had no way of contacting anyone, which is why I’m faster at messaging now…because obviously that was a big problem for everyone!

I took the photos below are the view from Camilo’s apartment. I’ve been told that in summer you can’t see the mountains through the pollution but I had fairly good views of snow capped peaks.

After buying the SIM card I realised my mistake of not getting the store to ser it up for me. I followed the instructions as best I could but it didn’t work. The Phone number I could call was a menu all in Spanish and I thought I’d have to stay in all afternoon to wait for someone to find me before I realised I could hunt down wifi.

I went to the metro, got off at a random stop in the centre of town and went to look for a WiFi location. After a few minutes I found a mall, made contact, Googled how to get my phone working and met with Patty feeling pretty happy with myself.

I had a tour of centre of the city and we stopped to eat these waffles in the park.

We visited an art museum and annoyingly I didn’t bring my camera so the pictures are lacking for this day.

Patty had to attend a lecture so I wondered off alone in search of a cafe. I found one and had a Nescafé coffee where I helped myself to hit water and started researching what I wanted to do for the next few days. Camilo joined me. Now whereas Patty’s English is good Camilo’s is not so good, I’d argue it’s still better than my Spanish, so we spent a lot of time ponging and using Google Translator.

After the lecture we all went out for dinner and I was delighted to go to a Raman restaurant where I had some of the best Raman I’ve ever had!

The next day I was left to my own devices again. I wanted to book a tour to Sewell, which is a mine with an abandoned town, so for once I decided to book a tour and headed to the offices. Upon arrival I was told that they only operated out of the office part time and I should call them. I hate calling and to my shame I decanted to a nearby Starbucks to use the WIFI. I sent an email and then decided to continue with my day.

I went to the presidential palace and below ground found an exhibition centre. I have no idea what was going on but I managed to get these snaps.

At this point after no reply from the agency I decided to message them. I got an instant reply and over the course of a WhatsApp conversation I booked a tour. I started to realise the power of contacting companies via WhatsApp.

I decided to have lunch at a seafood market that is located in the centre of the city. Unlike Argentina, Chile is known for its seafood and I was despertare to try some. The market was full of fish stores and restaurants with people calling me over for he best deal although all the prices and menus seemed the same. I decided to go for the forth one for no particular reason and had prawns to start and salmon.

This is the salmón!

I also managed to find my favourite sweets in Chile which I devoured later when I had post drunken munchies.

At 3pm I joined the free walking tour. It had been good in Buenos Aires and I think they are a good way to find out more and help you get your bareings in a city. This time the square was full of people waiting but as the groups split up into Spanish, Portuguese and English I was left in a group of six people. It was actually really nice and much easier to chat than in a huge group. The tour lasted for around 4 hours and we ended up in the student district where I went for a few drinks with people from the tour before heading back for an esrlyish night.

The next day was even clearer so I took some more photos from the apartment.

In the afternoon i decided to visit Parque San Cristobal, a rare area of tranquillity in the middle of the metropolis. Again without really knowing anything I hiked to the too where I could see there was a cable car. At the very top is a church and monument of the virgin and I took some pictures to show you along the way.

After the short hike I decided to treat myself to a cable car back down. I was joined by a family who I struggled to speak any Spanish to, but I at least tried and their son who played a video game the entire time-oh misspent youth.

At the bottom i decided to put on more weight and brought another giant ice cream.

And I spotted this grafiti on an advert on the way to the metro station. It pleases me that across the world we can all deface things in a childish manor.

After I met Patty and went to her parents house for her brothers birthday party. They were all really friendly and welcomed me into the party. I was able to sample a lot of Chillen wine. Maybe too much wine and discovered that the clocks agent back an hour. At 2 am we decided to leave and I went back ready to get up early for my tour the following day, which I will detail in another post.