One day during our first week in Chile, Suzie and I, and
our friends Sylvin, Cendrine and baby Paul drove up miles of twisty turny hairpin
bends into the cordillera (Andes mountains). We ended up 3.5km above sea level
ontop of a mountain surrounded by vast gaping valleys on all sides. I took
a series of photos in an attempt to capture the panoramic view that
surrounded us:
There were some wild horses that ran away, so no pics of
them then, but there were lots of pretty flowers, so here's one for your (or my)
Mum:
Here are some shots gazing down into the huge chasm of a
valley below us. It must have been thousands of feet down. Very pretty, but
I was too scared to go right to the edge. Suzie of course was pretending
to throw herself off the cliff at every available oppourtunity, when she
wasn't fiddling with her camera that is.
On the way back down the twisty road we stopped off at a
small valley with a huge cactus (CACTUUUUUUUUUUSSSSS!!!!!!),
and nearly ran over a massive tarantula
like spider as it ran across the road. We almost caused an RTA as Suzie
leapt out of the car and ran after the poor arachnid in order to get the
slightly fuzzy pics below.
On another day out (new years eve infact!) we drove up to some hot springs, or
Banos Salinas. It was way up into Andes, past lots of snow capped peaks,
and different coloured mountains. Due to the volvanic history of the local
geology, the area is rich in metal ores, such as copper and iron. This
makes different mountains shades of either green or red. We saw a condor
really high up in the air, too high for a photo though. Well, we think it
was a condor, not a vulture....
On the way back down the mountains to Santiago we stopped
at a waterfall (of which there seemed top be counteless numbers of all
over Chile, apart from the desert!). We had a look under the shelf and got
a bit wet, but not as wet as Sylvin, as you can see below. It was really
cool!
Next we arrived home in Santiago just in time to jump in
the shower, the open the champagne for New Year 2000! We stayed in and ate
then watched the 45 min of fireworks over the roof tops of downtown Santiagofrom the balcony
window. Bit of a contrast to most other people I know were doing new year! Didn't even get
plastered!!!!! In the two pics below you can see us at the window (well,
not me I was holding the camera!) at the fall of the millenium. Some nice
pics of Manu, Sylvin, Suzie and Cendrine!
A couple of days after new year we went up into the
Cordillera again and stayed the night in a valley next to a stream beloew a
cooper mine. The streams in this area are
a striking bright blue-green from a distance. Up close you can see the copper
containing rocks on the stream bed have become oxidised giving rise to the
bright colouration. Isn't metal chemistry pretty! At one point we nearly got
stuck up the side of the valley during an attempt to climb to the top of
the valley side to see the view. But we did find a really cool massive
cactus!!! CAAACCCCTTTUUUUUUUUUUUUSSSSS!!!!! Suzie took about 10 minutes to take this
photo as she kept making me climb further up the crack (?) and shifiting
postion to acjhieve the perfect pose. This explains my slightly strained expression.
Anyway, it was well nice up there, so much so that when Sylvin,
Cendrine and baby Paul came to get us in the morning we styayed for
dinner. Sylvin is half Spanish, or something, so he is adept in the art of
impromptu paella construction. He brought a paella dish and some squid
and rice, some other vegies and the magic ingredient saffron, and we
made a really nice meal on an open fire next to the green stream. Brilliant!
Here's a bunch of pics taken at a small fishing
village near Valparaiso (the port of Santiago). They still dive for shellfish
from the typically Chilean little yellow boats, using an air hose instead
of modern sub aqua breathing equipment. A characteristically insane type
of Chilean thing to do! We ate in a resturant right next to the beach, and
it was the first time I'd ever eaten molluscs. Very nice they were too!
Coincidentally, thare was a university marine
biology/aquaculture research station there too, on the site of an old whale
processing factory. They had lots of tanks full of flatfish and shell
fish. Rather fishy if you ask me. Chileans seem to like painting their
houses in bright colours, and this place was a good example. All very
pretty. Your mum would like it!
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