Valdivia: a beautiful bonus

It was early in the morning when we got to Valdivia. So early, in fact, that it was still pitch dark.

Me and Chey got off the bus and instantly felt the bite of the cold. After the mildness of Santiago,it finally felt like winter. A proper Patagonian morning mist was surrounding us, giving the bus platform an eerie look.

Trying to blow mist rings.

We waited inside the (still super cold) bus terminal, where everything was still closed, until a timid light started to show. Once it was light enough, we grabbed our backpacks and got out and into Valdivia.

As I said before, we didn't know what to expect from the town, as there wasn't much information on the internet, and NONE in the guide. What we were certainly not expecting was for it to be gorgeous.

A duck flies over the river.

 With the air of an old port town,Valdivia is full of beautiful old houses covered in scales of wood (I have no idea if there's a proper word for it in English, but you get the idea, I hope) and painted with bright colours (though many are fading).

We walked around, still in the midst of the mist, looking for a "hospedaje" while being amazed by the simple beauty of the silhouettes of boats and houses across the river.

It was COLD.

The strange contrast between the cute blue house and he super creepy
abandoned half-built building. It even says "miedo" (fear) on the side.

 After finding a nice homestay owned by an esoteric nice lady (she had feng shui stuff, tarot cards, lucky bamboo plants with the red knots tied around them, astrology books and other jewels all around the place), we went to get some breakfast.

From the cafe window, while we were eating our pretty meh eggs on toast, we could see a park. And next to the park, a group of fire fighters were allowing people to have a go on the cherry picker (Chey says it's called like that, and google agrees. I just learnt something new).

It looked so high!

We hurriedly finished our already cold eggs, payed,headed to the park, and with very casual expressions stood close to the fire truck.

"Do you guys want a go?" said a nice fireman (in Spanish).

"Uhmm... ok!" we said, knowing that "wanting a go" was the only reason we approached.

Real size fireman, and (beside him) pocket size fireman.

The view as we went up.

We're such dorks.

Close to the park, we saw a condor. Seriously. Standing on top of a building.

"Oh my! quick, grab the camera! this is
amazing, it's a condor!"

...But then...

And then... 

 It seemed like condors were actually a fairly common thing around, but we quickly knew why.

In Valdivia there is a wonderful fresh produce market. They sell fish. The condors were scavenging for the fish in the stalls.

We walked through it, smelling everything and enjoying the pretty colours. Suddenly, Chey made this face :O while staring over my shoulder.

And this was what he was looking at:

A sea lion patiently waiting for fish.
 Damn, that fish must be good!

As it turns out, the river is closely connected to the ocean, so it's full of sea lions, pelicans and other guys that come enjoy the fish leftovers from the market.

Hello, my good sir, I'd like to purchase some fish,

"Beware of the sea lions" (in Spanish they're called "sea wolves").

 We coul've stayed there, taking photos of the sea lions for ages, but instead we took the afternoon to go to a park across the river, that is more like a magical forest.

A strange statue garden in the park.

I made some friends.

On the way back.

More sea lions.

This was right next to the sidewalk. I love Valdivia.

 To finish our very full day, we went searching for decent non-meaty food (a task worthy of a Tolkien book when you're in Chile). After a long stroll and many closed doors, we lost hope and started walking back through the deserted city.

Two blocks away from our hospedaje, we found a Chinese-owned Chinese restaurant.

The last supper of our crazy trip going South. And, surprisingly, the food was amazing.

Santiago again

A note for the reader: This is one of my classic complainy posts. We only intend to share our experiences and entertain, and by no means hate Santiago or Chile. There's no feeling of being above anything in any way; but as we spent quite a long time in Chile (and we actually love it) we feel like we can be critical without being assholes.

If you ask any of us about the least enjoyable part of the trip, we will most likely answer the same thing. 

And it won't be when we were stranded in the middle of the desert with no water or food for over 24 hours, or getting food poisoning on Valentines day. Oh, no. It will be our second encounter with Santiago de Chile.

After the race going South, we found ourselves in Santiago again. We only wanted to rest, take some cash out and get going. It was only one night and one day

... And it ended up being too long.

Still the city has some pretty sights.

We spent a full day looking for some decent food... but it was Saturday. So naturally, as in any capital city, most places were closed (insert sarcasm tone there, in case it wasn't obvious). 

We ended up sitting at one of those random generic tourist restaurants that serve everything from pasta and pizza to seafood and burgers. And where every meal tends to be mediocre to say the least.

The waiters treated us like we were some stray, flea-covered dogs, and completely screwed up our order so by the time Chey finished eating his (dreadful excuse for a) pizza, my meal was nowhere to be seen (I told him not to wait for me because the pizza was horrible as it was, and I didn't want to imagine how it would've been like cold). 

We payed for that awful pizza-ish thing, and went lookig for something for me to eat. Even Starbucks (Starbucks!!) was closing, 25 minutes before the time their actual closing time, and I ended up with a cold muffin as my only lunch *sad, sad violins playing in the background*.

By then I was a bit grumpy and only wanted to get out of there, but we still had to wait until the night when our bus was supposed to leave. We had decided to go to Valdivia before crossing back to Argentina.

There was nothing on Valdivia in the guide, and not much on Tripadvisor. It didn't seem to be a gringo destination and that sounded pretty appealing for us.

But to be honest, anything that wasn't Santiago sounded appealing at that moment.

In fairness: Santiago isn't bad. We had a great time there when we went for the first time, in summer, having a good amount of time to explore. 

...But in winter, and being there for only a day, we felt like it was actually the blandest, most deprived of personality big city we had been to. 

It was a bit more fun around dinner time, when we gave up on trying to find "decent" food (what's that?) and just walked into a super dodgy eatery, the kind of thing you find close to bus terminals, to order fried eggs and chips. 

A healthy meal.

 The place seemed so over the top with movie-canteen details (including the grumpy waitress with Amy Winehouse sort of make up) that it became funny.

Elegant photos of the many light eating options.

More decorative details.

They had a "jukebox" sort of system to play videoclips on the TV set, which made the kitch atmosphere complete with Britney and other 90's classics. It was way more enjoyable than our failed lunch at the touristy area, which proves once more that randomness takes you places.

In the end we were extremely grateful when, after hours of waiting at the bus terminal, our bus finally left for a new place.

Our 15 favorite things of 2015

Bye bye, little 2015...
You're 5.000 candles in the wind.

As I sit in our little (borrowed) Patagonian home and listen to the night silence, only broken by dogs in the distance... I come to think about the year that's almost over.

It's insanely cliché to write an *end of the year blog post* but d'you know what? I like cliché sometimes. And New Year is a very special day for me and always has been.

I love that for a day I get to fully forget that I'm a skeptic and logical person, and fill my life with awesome nonsense traditions and rituals, and soak myself into magical thinking.

And this 2015 was nothing short of magical.

Even if we faced worries and struggles, we also spent a full year of adventure, and that's something to be proud of. No "new year resolution" of mine could've fantasized of a year as full as the one we just went through.

So in the spirit of New Year, New Beginnings and Magical thinking, here is -in no particular order-...

My favorite 15 things of 2015 (and I doubt I'll ever be as cliché again):

*Hitchhinking through Argentinian Patagonia

The most random of our adventures: getting all the way to the end of the world and back, meeting awesome people, making friends, facing the crazy desert wind and feeling the road belonged to us and us alone.

*The cats of Valparaiso

Valpo is full-on mesmerizing, with its rad street art, its labyrinth-like stairs, the port feeling and the view of the ocean; but as the Crazy Cat Lady I am, the number one highlight from there was the beautiful assortment of multi-colored cuddly cats everywhere.

*The sunset in Uyuni

                                                                                  The best I've ever seen.

*Our amazing San Pedro experience

...That I have no photos of, but if you're curious here's the post where I talk about it. It was mystical, it was wonderful, and it brought me back to me, if that makes any sense.

*My amazing birthday dinner in Montevideo

Chey went crazy to spoil me and we ended up at the best restaurant in the city, having the best dinner of the whole trip (I also got a present and flowers, hey!).

*Getting to spend time with my beloved sisters

Need I say more? The short season we spent here brought the 4 Demattei sisters together for the first time ever, and being here in El Bolson for a while I got precious time with the two of them who live here.

*Astor

The other perk of staying here for a season was borrowing Astor, one of my dad's cats. He's adorable, cuddly, very talkative and my number one (and only) musical fan, who joins me every time I play the ukulele.

*Feeling like a Disney Princess at Iguazú Falls

I mean... the butterflies! They followed me! I just... can't.

*Camping up the mountains with the whole thing for ourselves

The most incredible camping spot, a lake on top of the mountain, a big fire. We also got a fair bit of march flies, but what's life without a little challenge?

*Realizing that distance means nothing

With friends here in Argentina, back in Australia and scattered around other places. The travel factor revealed (again) the most genuine relationships. An I won't say more because I'll get cheesy and believe me, you don't like me when I'm cheesy.

*Sailing the Beagle Canal at the end of the world

A small sailing boat, the icy waters, the wind that I could swear smelled like Antarctica... and Dulce de leche liqueur. What else can you ask of life.

*Our Secret Valley of Awesome in Huaraz

A 9 hour hike got us to the most Disney-ish landscape, where wild horses, cows and chinchhillas frolic. We also frolicked. It was great. Ant to put the cherry on top, on the way back we got a lift from the sweetest Peruvian police officers.

*Paragliding in Lima

Adventure at its finest.

*Seeing a post-zombie-apocalypse world in Río Mayo

One of the funny things about traveling is that sometimes the crappiest bits are the best bits. Don't you agree? Rio Mayo was definitely one of the crappiest, bestest places through the whole trip. And definitely the windiest.

*Peruvian food

My love, there's only you in my life.


And these are Chey's!

*First interactions in Spanish

Ever since we came to El Bolsón, Chey's Spanish keeps getting better and better. He's now able to actually pass like a resident  gringo.

*Summit of Piltri

The first of many mountains we conquered together. And alfajores.

*Uyuni Salt Flats

Seeing the otherworldly landscape of the worlds biggest salt flats, taking those lovely -albeit ridiculous- perspective photos, and (again) seeing the best sunset ever. 

*Iguazú falls

Even if it's a mandatory tourist attraction, there's a good reason for it. One of those "you have to be there to understand" kind of places, because no photo will ever do it justice. And a perfect day too.

*The boat trip through the Beagle Canal

I actually made Chey say his top 15 without telling him mine, so where there's a coincidence it's just because it was that epic. 

*Dancing tango

Embracing the culture and the dance of the embrace, we spent many nights at the local Milonga, where Chey proved that he might be a gringo, but he can dance.

*Paragliding in Lima

Another epic one. See above.

*Secret Valley in Huaraz

See above... hey! we were on the same trip!

*The wine adventure in Mendoza

Riding bikes through the Wine Road while getting more and more tipsy, great weather and the best wine of our lives. 

*The train ride to Uyuni

I like them, but Chey has a fascination with trains. This particular train ride was actually pretty special between the landscape, the tiredness and growing altitude, the time spent in the dining carriage with just the waiter guys and their loud cumbia... It's weird, but it felt just right.

*Hitchiking Patagonia

Another epic one.

*Our kind-of-still-high dinner at the vegan place after San Pedro

The San Pedro ritual itself was transcendental and meaningful, but actually he makes a very valid point. It was a funny (to say the least) dinner, and on top of our state, they brought us that funny yin-yang soup with the flowers!

*Building the deck in Valparaiso

According to Chey, the daily walk, the going to little kiosks to get drinks/lunch and the feeling like a local (and the view!) more than balanced the hard work under the raging sun. And he made a pretty rad deck.

*Rio Mayo

As I said, another proof that experiences don't have to be travel-guide-worthy to be top memories.

*Christmas in August

We were so expecting to get snow in El Bolsón when we got here, at the beginning of winter, but it didn't happen. Only when we had lost all hope, we woke up one morning to big fat snowflakes falling. So we played Frank Sinatra's "Let it snow", and then went up the hills to make the most of it. 

It was a happy year, and here's to a happier 2016! Have a great one, you all, and thank you for following our adventures.

Adri+Chey