IX Region de la Araucania with 3 of the many volcanoes (Jan26 to Feb2,2011)

We have now left Oscar and Alicia at 10:30 am. It is sad to leave them, but our trip has to continue. We went to Chillan and the Chillan terms but the weather not being great, we decided to move on. We ended up camping in a small village. We are the only campers and paid $ 4,000 pesos for the night. Cold showers, hens, chickens, cows, horses and dogs, we have it all in this campground. It's like being in a farm !We did not sleep much either again, as the dogs barked almost all night. These small inconveniences are greatly compensated by the kindness of the owners of the campground, who invited us last night for an Asado (chilean BBQ)

Today, we decided that our next destination would be the Volcanoe Lonquimay. By 3 pm, we have already found our campsite, much more expensive, but much cleaner, with hot showers. Yeah ! The scenery from the campground already is spectacular and we have enough time to hike up a trail, The Navidad Crater in the Reserva Nacional Malalcahuello-Nalcas. Malalcahuello means ''Horse Corral" in Mapundungun and Nalcas refers to a native plant found in the reserve that has an edible stalk. Crater Navidad takes its name from its last eruption on December 25, 1988. The views from the top of the crater are absolutely spectacular and this time, we feel like we have seen and walked on the moon !

The following day, despite a grey sky (we woke up literally in the clouds), we decide to stay a second night and to have our first real outing in the mountains of Chile. Therefore, for once, wearing jeans and dressed a little bit warmer than usual, we go on a 7 hour hike (about 20-25 kms), Sendero Pierra Santa. The hike was worth it, wonderful scenery all the way. A little cold, a little long, very tiring, but how lucky we feel to discover Chile from the top. Below the Lonquimay Volcano.

Our second day camping close to the Reserva Malalcahuello-Nalcas, we wake up under a bright blue sky and we take the road to Melipeuco to meet our third volcano. The road is magnificent, even if we are getting some sweats because of the Chilean drivers. On the road, we can see from far another volcano, which is a little bit like a cigarette, and let some smoke out. We arrive at the Pension Negrita, which was recommended to us by Arturo, a guide we met in Santiago. This pension is by far the most economical so far, 10,000 pesos for two for one night, including breakfast. The place is clean and we have our own bathroom with a view directly on the Llaima volcano. We have internet too, although not in the bedroom. The shower is cold in the morning, but nonetheless, this wakes us up and after a hearty breakfast, we head to the Conguillio park in order to view the Llaima Volcano at 3125 m. Its last eruption took place January 1st, 1988. In fact, the road leading to our trail was carved in lava. Our trail, Sierra Nevada, (about 7 hour total again) took us to about 2000 meters. The trail was relatively easy, except at the end, where it was more climbing than hiking. We had a wonderful view from the top.

Back at the Pension Negrita, we do enjoy a warm shower this time and after a good bottle of beer, (we have seen somewhere it was good to drink beer after an effort !), we also decide to have supper there for 4000 pesos for both of us. A deal and it is good!

The following day, we leave for Pucon and find another camping ! We are at the foot of the smoking volcano, the Villerica Volcano and we pay 7,500 pesos for a night, after ensuring that we would be given an extra blanket... We are starting to get smart and the locals understand that coming from Canada, we may not have absolutely everything we need. The city of Pucon lacks any originality : it almost looks like Whistler or St-Sauveur, the perfect spot for someone who has 8 days of vacation and a ton of money to spend. Not our case ! No real local taste. Anyway, our first night of camping close to Pucon is great thanks to the blanket... except that once again, our neighbours live at night and until 2pm, there are talking, singing, listening to music. Anyway, we head up in a good mood in the morning to the volcan Villericay and for us the ''smoking volcano''. At the entrance of the park, we are being told that it is the perfect day and after paying 6000 pesos for the park fee, we happily drive the car to the trail start ! The view is splendid. We are first surprised by the temperature, but we tell ourselves that we will get warmer as we walk. One hour later, the sky gets darker, the wind is freezing and of course, the view on the summit stays out of sight. In short, after a 3 hour walk, we head back. We are happy anyway, as this was our training of the day.

Back to our campground, Alain is lucky enough to get a hot shower, but somehow I don't get any hot water anymore ! Nevertheless, I shower in freezing water and after this, we head up to a local restaurant, La Yunta, where we eat for the first time, the ''Humitas'', a kind of corn puree cooked in the carn leaves with a bottle of ''Gato San Pedro''. The owner of the restaurant even comes to greet us and explain that one of his friend has left Chile to live in Canada. The meal is excellent, the wine is decent and thanks to our extra blanket, we are almost eager to go back to our tent and get warm !

Our night was not as good as anticipate, as despite the extra comforter, we have been cold during the night. As decided the evening before, we leave for Frutillar !

Our first days on the Road in Chile (Jan18-25,2011)

When we left Santiago with our rental car, it did not start ! We called Europcar and within a car, we had a new car at our disposal ! No problem to exit Santiago and we had decided to start with the Road of Wines ! The first property we wanted to visit was called Vina Santa Cruz, it is a magnificent property with a teleferic to take you to an observatory. However, the cost for the visit including 4 tastings of wine was 19,000 pesos per person ! Wow ! not cheap, considering we will probably buy one or two bottles for our own pleasure ! In the end, we left...

We crossed the picturesque village of Lolol with his wooden sidewalk. Lolol was heavily struck by last year earthquake. Many houses have been marked for demolition.

This is their church...

We have decided again to camp as often as possible in Chile. For our first night of camping, we found a camping ground close to a lake. They wanted us to pay 26,000 pesos for a night which is more than what we had paid in our hostal in Santiago. We said it was far too expensive and pretended to leave. The price went down to 10,000 pesos. We are not very well organized yet for camping and thought we might be able to find a place to buy some food. However, the campground was in the woods, therefore no store on the horizon. Luckily for us, at the campground, there was a mini store, where they were able to prepare some churrascos for us, the chilean version of a hamburger, a bun with some beef, avocado, tomatoes and mayonnaise.

...plus the local beer, of course...

Now that we are again on the road. We have noticed the price of gas at around 720 pesos, about $ 1.50 per liter... not cheap !

On our second day, we visited a winery, Vina Balduzzi in San Javier. It is a small family business. They started producing wine for export in 1980. They now produce 2 million liters per year and 90% of the production is exported in Asia. San Javier was also struck heavily by the earthquake (8.8 on the Richter scale) and they lost 20% of their production.
At the end of the day, we started looking for a campground and took a side road. It is a gravel road and we don't really know where it is heading to. We don't even know if there is a campground somewhere in the area and it is already 7 pm. As I was tired, Alain and I decided to stop. I am the designated volunteer to ask. I get out of the car and with my 2 words of Spanish, I say that my name is Francoise and say : ,,Buscamos un sitio per nosotros carpa,,. The lady looked at me with a blank stare, I am not sure whether it is my Spanish or my accent, and therefore I ask : ,,Do you speak English?,,. She answers : ''Je ne parle pas anglais mais francais''. Isn't this incredible ? I explain that we are lost and she says : ''no problem, you can stay here for tonight''. And this is how we met with this couple, Alicia and Oscar. See our ''Faces and Places'' to discover more about this French Lady and this Chilean man. Our one night has turned into a 6 day stay with them and we have been lucky enough to discover how rural life (campos) is organized here in Chile. Their house is relatively isolated, about 20 kilometers away from Linares, a city with about 70,000 inhabitants. On these rural roads, neighbours help each other, exchange services, pay some small fees to each other, like 2000 pesos for cheese or the use of the pool. The bus (El Micro) drives by twice a day, there are some small restaurants along this gravel road. You don't receive mail here either and need to have a postal box in Linares. The life is very slow and tough, here. Finding eggs is even sometimes a problem. Oscar prepares cheese every day and lately it has been difficult for him to get his 50 liters of milk per day to produce it.

For the celebration of San Sebastian, Oscar took us to another rural road. People arrive with their car, their dusty truck or even with their horses. Children participate as much as the adults and many wear their Chilean traditional clothes.

Under a 'tonnelle', there are two small sanctuaries dedicated to San Sebastian and surrounded by flowers.

Everybody brings something, beer, a drink of peaches with white wine. We dance, we sing, we drink, we drink a lot and even too much. The eyes are lightened by the alcohol, the words don't go out easily. We are the only two tourists and obviously the attraction of the day. I am invited to dance and all of a sudden, I find myself alone, at the middle of the piste, with my cavallero dancing the Queco, the handkerchief swirling around me... Everybody tries to communicate with us, one way or the other, as our ''Castillan'' is more than limited. I get invited for a tour on a horse and before we leave, hugs and kisses to all the orgazinators. They tell us that thanks to San Sebastian, we will be back next year ! and 300 meters furthers, at the local bar, we find everybody again, so that the party can go on with a bottle of beer, not one....To be able to escape this ''trap'', we end up having to pretend that we need to phone in France ! We know that the party will end up only at dawn for many of them, some sitting with their eyes closed on their horses.

Yesterday morning, we have lived our second earthquake since we have arrived in Chile. This one was a little bit longer than the first one, 7 on the Richter scale, but we were in bed and no problem. Speaking with Oscar and Alicia, last year's terre motto has been a trauma. For weeks, Alicia did not want Oscar to leave her alone in the house. It happened at 4 o'clock in the morning and their house has not suffered much damage, as it was really well built. Their pool was emptied by half by the earthquake ! Unbelievable !

Last evening, their family visited them and we had a BBQ ! The atmosphere reminds us of the family gatherings in France where everybody is relaxed, share stories and jokes with each other.

Between Oscar and Chimena, his niece, they jokingly argue about who makes the best pizza and they have agreed to hold a competition with 4 judges in the very near future ! By the way, Oscar used to be a cook. See in Faces and Places the recipe for the Pudding of  Sapajos Italiano (zucchinis)

It is with sincere regret that we are leaving our friendsOscar and Alicia, but we have promised them that we will stop by on our way back...

C - - - - (January 11-17, 2011)

Back in Los Angeles, we decided to check on our motorcycles, plug our battery chargers (thank you Christine and Vincent for shipping them from Montreal) and a few hours later, back to the airport on the way to Dallas, then next to Santiago, Chile !

After a delay due to maintenance on the plane, we ended up spending one night in Dallas. Long trip and nine and a half hours from Dallas to Santiago. 2 hours to pay the ''reciprocado fee'' ($ 132.00 per person for Canadian citizens as Canada charges Chilean citizens when they enter Canada), go through immigration and get our rental car... We arrived at our hostal at 11:30pm and found our host, Christian, with some other guests having a drink outside. We joined them right away and also got a drink, time to relax ! the temperature is 22 degres at night.

Our first day is Saturday and of course, we need to withdraw money, but surprise, surprise, this is not the United States ! All the banks are closed and with our credit card, we don't seem to be even able to enter inside the ATM room. After 5 or 6 unsuccessful attempts, we finally got lucky with.... Scotia Bank ! Scotia Bank seems to have many branches in Santiago. We also bought a couple of adaptors for our laptop and camera. Unforgivable, I had forgotten that Chile uses 220V-50Hz... how many years did I work in relocation ???

We found the ambiance of Santiago very alive, a little bit like Spain at night ! People live outside at night, eat, drink and party, go to bed late or early in the morning. They get up late in the morning ! We had forgotten that this is summer here, the darkness comes only at around 9:30pm and we find ourselves perfectly awake at 1 o'clock in the morning and adjusting actually quite well to this new rhythm ! After all, we are supposed to be taking our time, let's get up late !

Because of the proximity of our hostal to downtown Santiago and to an ideal location close to the artistic neighborhood, Bellavista, we spent our first day discovering our new decor ! We went up the funicular to discover Santiago from the hill at 284 meters first. What we really enjoyed is the Mercado Central, we have been back a couple of times there since then. We are astonished by the quantities of little shops, boutiques, and stands that sell juicy, colorful fruits as well as all kinds of vegetables, fish, meat, cheese, eggs...

We cannot leave Santiago without visiting Pablo Neruda's (1927-1973) second house called la Chascona.

For those who know Jean Ferrat et Aragon, Pablo Neruda is not an unknown poet (on pense a toi, Serge !) La Chascona is situated in Bellavista, but at the time, in 1953, this neighborhood was like a paradise, not urban, close to nature. The name ''La Chascona'' is dedicated to Matilde Urrutia who had unruly hair. He loved women and La Chascona was built so that he could visit his mistress, Matilde. His relation with Matilde was kept secret until 1958 and she became eventually his last and third wife. Pablo Neruda has always been inspired and fascinated by the sea, although he disliked sailing. He wanted to feel he was navigating in his homes and therefore had included many items providing from ships in all his houses. The dining room is modelled on a ship's cabin and the living room on a lighthouse. Neruda loved life in general and it is no wonder that our visit in his house started with a bar. He loved having friends around him like Picasso, Diego Rivera, Aragon... Pablo Neruda started to write poems at 12 years old, wrote ''veinte Poemas de amor y une cancion desperada'' at the age of 19 years old. He travelled a lot during his life, in France, where he was ambassador and in the Eastern block. He was in exile for 3 years between 1955 and 1958. He received the Nobel price of literature in 1971. His house was partially ransacked after Pinochet's coup d etat. Chocked by the death of Salvador Allende, Pablo Neruda died from a heart attack 12 days after the coup d'etat. Neruda's funeral was the first spontaneous public manifestation against Pinochet.

We have started tasting Chilean food, fish with sea food and ''porotos granados'', beans with mashed corn, pumpkin, basil and red pepper. So far, the food is not fancy, but tasty !

Tomorrow, we are On the Road Again...

Big Island, Hawaii (December 28 to January 10, 2011)

Big Island is the third island we have decided to visit in Hawaii. We arrived as scheduled on December 28, 2010. We wanted to ensure that we would have enough time to prepare for the arrival of our son from Calgary. We have rented a car and this has been the bad surprise of the trip. We had booked the car on Hotwire and the cost quoted for 13 days was $ 1700.00. That hurts ! Guide books do tell you that the cost increase over the holidays, and they typically say they double, but in this case, the price was multiplied by 4 and the car rentals are scarse on this island. The large companies have reduced their fleet. Anyway, the first thing we did after our arrival, was to find a local car rental dealer, other than the Alamo, Budget and Hertz of this world. In the end, we did find something much cheaper, although the car was scratched everywhere... Otherwise, we have rented a fully furnished condominium on the East side of the Island, the Sunny side, in Kailua-Kona to provide some comfort to our big baby. The appartment was very clean, well maintained and really had everything required to have a pleasant stay. Beach towels were provided too as well as cleaning services twice during our stay.

Alain and I decided to sleep on the sofa and we left the room to Thomas. Before Thomas arrived, we stocked up the fridge, too... We had not seen Thomas for over a year, so this is a good time to spoil him a little bit. Our son has arrived safely !

Tired ! and in addition, his bag has not arrived at the same time as him from Calgary. It did arrive the following day though, which was a relief for him.

Our stay with Thomas was spent mainly on the beach, snorkeling, swimming, resting, sun-tanning. Coming from minus 20 degres Celsius and snow, needless to say that Thomas has enjoyed the sunny and warm weather we got.

                                                                  Before !

                                                       After !
Snorkeling on Big Island is great ! There are 2 main hot spots for snorkeling : at Captain Cook s memorial where you can see a multitude of fishes, all sizes, all shapes, all colors. It is almost like being in an aquarium. The second spot is located close to the Place of Refuge and although you see less fishes, you can swim with the turtles around you.

Hawaii Volcanoes National Park : Kilauea and Mauna Loa, two of the word's most active volcanoes are still adding land to the Island of Hawaii. We decided to hike the Kilauea Iki Trail, a four mile loop, that descends through rain forest to Kilauaea Iki s frozen, but still steaming crater floor. It is like walking on the moon...

The trails leading to Halema'uma'u Crate have been closed for about two years now due to high amounts of dangerous sulfur dioxide gas.

We also stopped to walk through the lava tube, nothing spectacular as it is like walking inside a tunnel, except that it is all made of lava.

There are 2 types of Hawaian lava : Pahoehoe and a'a. Pahoehoe has a smooth and ropy surface. A'a is jagged and clinky.

                                                                  Pahoehoe

We went to the lava viewing point at night.

This is not the running flow or river we expected, but we would not have missed it anyway. In reality (but not on the pictures), you truly see the lava along the slope of the mountain.

We had to finish our day to the Hawaii Volcanoes National Park by going to Hilo and try the world famous Loco Moco (it has been trade marked by the owners of Cafe 100) ! Healthy, not fatty food as you can see below....

Concerning Hilo, apart from a couple of historical building and the statue of the Kamehameha King

, there is not too much to see and do. In addition, it rains quite a bit, in fact, at least once a day, as we have been told.
Surfing is like on Oahu. It starts at dawn : Locals hit the waves before going to work whilejoggers, walkers, bikers invade the road along the sea, Ali Drive, in Kailua-Kona.
We were sad to leave our son Thomas at the airport, but our stay in Hawaii was also coming to an end. One day back in Waikiki where we met Angela Byrd, Miss Hawaii 2011.

We are now back in Los Angeles and are flying on January out to....On the Road Again !

Mele Kalikimaka ! (Merry Christmas in Hawaian)

Alain and I would like  to thank all our blog readers and wish all of you a Merry Christmas, an excellent year in 2011, good health, prosperity, fun and happiness !

Honolulu Marathon (December 12, 2010)

Honolulu's Marathon is The Event of the year here with about 30,000 participants from around the world. Believe it or not, it starts as early as 5 o'clock in the morning with fireworks. And, Yes, we did get up that early to see the runners start their race with enthusiasm, laughter and good spirits. Many participants dress up to complete the race and the atmosphere is very festive. Even newly weds run !

 Below is the video of the first Runners, they are all Africans, they start really strongly and finish first, too...

The organization is massive and you can see tents at the finish line, where you have showers, massages, food, drinks, first aid to treat all the pains...
 

 

The fastest runner finished the race in 2h27 minutes and for many others 7 hours later. Participants were still arriving steadily, one after the other, for some, hands in hands, some limping, some crying, some laughing. The emotions were high, but everybody seemed relieved and thrilled to have completed the race. It is always truly amazing that people can walk or run 42 kms (26 miles), no matter at what pace, what age ! Truly inspiring !

Molokai Island, Hawaii

Our last couple of days on Oahu were spent lazily partly on the beach partly visiting. We saw the beginning of the Christmas preparation in front of the City Hall of Honolulu. We spent our last evening on Oahu with our roommate, Pia. We went to have a drink (maybe two) and we ate some pupus (the Hawaian appetizers) ! Rockefeller Oysters, chicken wings and calamaris ! A nice way to end up our stay.

Some pictures of where we have lived in Waikiki on Ala Moana Boulevard

Molokai :

We took a small plane there, a Cesna, 4 passengers in total and our crew, the captain ! The pilot is the captain, the flight attendant, the mecanician and he also takes out our luggage from the luggage vault. Alain had to almost crawl and twist to be able to enter and fit inside the seat ! After a half hour flight, we made it safely to Molokai ! Molokai is 38 miles long and never more than 10 miles wide. It counts about 8,000 inhabitants. The scenery is very different from the West side of the island (very dry and almost desertic) to the East side, more green and wet. We have rented a car for a week, a Dodge 3.5L. We wanted something smaller but this is all they had available. It was easy to find our Bed and Breakfast as there is really only one main street in the main village of Kanaukakai. We spend our first day going to the far end of the East side, where the beginning of Jurassic Parc 2 was filmed. It is a 32 mile coastal drive to Halawa Valley, very narrow and winding road. It is very beautiful and the road ends up at a beach.

We have talked with a few locals on the Island and learnt that the island is also sometimes called the ''Welfare Island'', as about three quarters of the inhabitants are receiving welfare from the government. The locals here have been fighting any kind of development for many years and really it is not easy to say whether it is for the best or for the worst. On the island now, they have only one hotel left and it is also the only place where you can have an alcoholic drink. They have 2 grocery stores owned by locals, no fast food (although this at least is not a bad thing), except for a Subway, a couple of banks, a couple of gas stations. They have 28 churches though.... There were talks apparently of getting a ferry to Oahu, but this has been dropped too. Currently, there is only one ferry going to Maui. Needless to say that the night life is somewhat limited. We have talked to three people from the mainland who have settled in Molokai for over 10 years and the three of them seem very disillusioned about the future of the island, so much so that it almost left Alain and myself depressed ! The three of them are talking about leaving the island too.

We went once to eat ,,Pupus,, again at the Hotel Molokai and we were lucky enough to be invited to a Vegetarian Luau, the traditional Hawaian meal. Alain and I had met Brenda in Oahu and she had said that Molokai was a great place to see how Hawaian really lives. Brenda is very involved in her community where she is helping people make better health choices starting with food and exercises. She also plays the music and home schools her four children. We were a little bit surprised by the fact that this community is very religious too. The event we attended started and ended by a prayer. It was nonetheless very interesting.

We have visited Purdy's All Natural Macademia Nut Farm or Na Hua O'ka Aina. They have about 50 trees that were planted about 80 years ago and they harvest the nuts every day. They naturally fall on the ground and the farm owner just have to rake the fruits every day and sort them. The nut is taken out from its shell and you can eat the nut just like this, raw or have it roasted. Both choices are excellent. A small pack of roasted nuts is sold for seven dollars, but it is worth it!

Saturday was the market day and we did not want to miss this ! The market does exist but apart from a few vegetables and fruits, it is more or less an exposition of the local crafts and arts. It is Molokai !

Our host at the Bed and Breakfast had offered to guide us to the Falls at the end of the Halawa Valley. We were happy to go with him as we later learnt that the locals charge 75$ to 100$ to go there. If you ever go to Molokai, never pay this much money : the walk is very nice in the woods, and the falls are fairly impressive, but not worth paying that much money ! By the way, we pay $ 40 a day for our B&B. We are sleeping in a sort of a trailer where lizards come in and out... In terms of cleanliness, I will only say this : I have seen better !

We were originally planning to go to Kauai, but after looking at the prices of hotels, car rentals..., we have decided to go back to Oahu and stay a few days again with our Swedish lady, Pia, until it is time for us to fly to Big Island on December 28, 2010.