The Pop Up - a surfing term

I stubbed my ring toe.  I heard a crack.  It is already purple.  I limp now.

If you look closely, you can see our oasis between the trees.
Across the gully. 

The sun was hot before 9 am.  We were already out by the pool.  We are all getting along well, but I am not sure we are the best versions of ourselves.  I miss my wife and my life back home.  Quinn bounces between 18 and 8 - I have no idea who I will get any second of the day. Aubrey is 14 and has a constant scowl on her face and emits annoyance - today she came out to the pool and said, in the most grouchy voice you can imagine, all of these words, "Did anyone get my towel? oh thank you."  Even the oh thank you was grouchy.  If she wasn't a likable, mysterious person, she would be very unlikable right now.

And then their is Shelby.  She is basically Timmy Lupus from Bad News Bears.  Everything she touches breaks or spills.  Example.  Today at breakfast she asked me to help open the new milk carton with one of those plastic pull plugs.  I did.  She poured herself some Cherrios and as I was coming around to the kitchen to get my own bowl, I grabbed the box.

"Shelby, when you put cereal away you have to scrunch up the bag inside.  Do you know why?"
"So bugs don't get in it?"
"Yes. And do you know why we even have to do it, every time, at home in Edina?"
"So it doesn't get stale?"
"Yes.  I want you to always do that 100% of the time from now until the day you die. Okay."
"Okay."

She kind of swallowed her okay, like she was ashamed.  Just then, I noticed milk on the counter, exactly where I had seen ants the night before (we are sleeping in a bungalow near the equator).  "Shelby, you can't leave milk out on the counter like this."  With her serious face on, and desperately wanting to get out of the spotlight, she grabbed a dish towel - not a sponge, rag, or wet paper towel, mind you, but a perfectly clean towel that we needed to dry the dishes with (we are not staying at a Four Seasons here) and in one of the most spastic movements in the history of the Special Olympics, knocked my bowl of cheerios all over the floor. Ilse's words echoed in my head "don't leave little crumbs out cause the bugs will come out - we live in a jungle, remember."  Shelby was not cleaning the milk (with a clean dish towel) in anger.  No, she spilled my cheerios trying to do right but failing miserably.  I didn't get mad, I just helped her pick them up.  She went outside and ate her cherrios, after offering them to me, and cried.

We sat in the sun for about 3 hours before lunch.  Then had PB&Js.  And then we went surfing.

I watched a tutorial online as I thought it would be fun to do this activity together, as opposed to farming this off to a trained professional.  Plus I am running out of cash and I can't imagine a surf instructor accepting Visa.  Anyway, they have boards you can use for free here.  Only a few have fins on them, of course.

We were out there for about 2.5 hours.  Aubrey was awesome at it.  Quinn, Shelby and I - not do much.  In fact two of us cried.  I have since watched two more YouTube videos and believe that tomorrow will go much better.  It's all about the pop up technique.

Not much since then.  Sun. Showers.  Dinner at the Green Papaya (they only took cash, which I am running out of.  Did I mention that?).  On the way to dinner we saw 8 Howler Monkeys in the trees.  They are super loud at 4:30am.

BTW. This morning was low tide. Notice all the rocks that are covered by the ocean.  Don't surf there!  High tide was in the afternoon. The ocean crests the beach and completely fills up our crocodile runoff gully.

Straight ahead. Rocks. 

Horseback riders at low tide. 

 Horseback

Gully at low and high tide. 

Patagonia

A man we talked to in Atacama had just come from Patagonia.

I asked him what he thought.

He said, "I am not a religious man."

We were walking along the salt flats and overcome with the beauty of the desert.

I waited for him to continue while we walked.

He looked over to the horizon, the sun was just slanting against the white salt rocks and turning them pink and purple.

He went on, "I am not a religious man, but I felt the presence of God in Patagonia."

There's not much else to say.

We have just arrived.

It is stunning.

More to come tomorrow.

Volcán Tenorio and Tamarindo

Costa Ricans don't really wear sunglasses. Just an observation.

Breakfast.  Checkout.  On the road by 7:30am.

I was not aware until we got into our van that we were doing another tour today.  Janna set up this trip; I am just along for a ride.  While I was under the impression we were going straight to the coast, our tour guide, Santo, informed us that he was taking us on a tour of another volcano - Tenorio.

Tenorio is known for it mineral-laden volcanic water that flows from the mountain and is brilliant blue.  People don't drink it and really don't swim in it anymore because the minerals are so consentrated. It took about 1.5 hours to get there and then the entire hike took about 2 hours.  Quinn was right there with us this time.

Santos was less warm than Jorge, our awesome guide from the other day, but had similar training.  He seemed like someone who was either not loving his job, had something on his mind, or was carrying a bit of a burden.  Curious, I asked him if he had any kids. "None that I know of," he replied quickly.  This is a common response among strangers and I thought about laughing it off.  But you know me. It turns out he has a 7 years old son from his wife's first marriage.  But the wife isn't actually his wife yet since she is still married to another man.  But she will be his wife after she divorces her current police officer husband.  He also has a 1.5 year old daughter who "he thinks" is his - even though that niña carries the name of the police officer.  Once the divorce happens, then they can get married and Santos can take the baby girl to the Church and legally change the baby's name to his name.  The kids live with his future mother in law.

Facebook Relationship Status: Its Complicated

Two rivers each carrying different volcanic minerals.
When they combine the "miracle" happens.
The water turns blue.

After a nice local lunch (I had Casado again) and a 2 hour drive, we made it to Tamarindo.  Not long after the volcano we were out of the rainforests and in a much drier climate.  Things quickly started to "feel" more like Central America.  More garbage, rougher housing.  In the rainforest and foothills, everything was green and the houses were nice and kept up.  In Tamarindo, its dry, dusty, and disheveled. There are street venders. There is garbage. There are stray dogs. It is going to take us a couple of days to adjust.

Our driver could not find our "hotel."  This was our first clue that we were no longer in the posh of Arenál.  Of course there is no driveway here. Or parking lot. Or reception desk.  The Ocho Artisan Bungalows just has a poorly lit, handcrafted sign off the main drag.  That sign is the entrance to, and beginning of, a walkway/boardwalk to the open bar area (which doubles as the reception desk) which overlooks a small pool which overlooks a rainwater runoff ditch which cuts in front of the beach.  The ditch/gully/creek has a sign facing the beach warning of crocodiles and at high tide the water from the ocean makes its way over the beach and runs upstream.  It's probably a sewer canal.  Ilse, the receptionist/owner?/bartender/free spirit Belgian hippy with a garter tattoo around her right thigh, greeted us midway down the walkway before Santos ran back to see if we were okay.  I am guessing that Santos, after seeing the hotel that we departed from this morning, wanted to give us one last chance to change our minds.  Or maybe saw our faces and wanted to save us.  Santos, I will pray for your non-wife and non-kids if you will pray that the pool here is not of the "above-ground" variety.  Isle got us to our room after a brief tour of this tiny property.

The pool was in the ground. All good.

The room is really cool.  It is kinda rustic, but elegant.  The bungalow is draped floor to ceiling. No windows (actually the exterior walls are glass, but the drapes cover every square inch). There are two wooden sleigh twin beds and a 4-post king.  There is a bathroom with no door, just a curtain, and a kitchen.  Essentially it is all one big room with king bed in the middle up against a stone half-wall. Go right of the king to the bathroom.  Go left to the kitchen.  It's like a cabin.  We know how to do this.

The beach was kind of a disappointment. But after walking up and down the beach a ways, I realized that the entire Tamarindo area beaches are similar to ours.  All along the beaches are free spirits with hammocks and cars backed up to the beach.  Surfers and societal dropouts mixing with tourists like me.  The ocean is filled with novice to advanced surfers and, straight off our hotel, are boats and small yachts anchored way offshore.

View of the pool/crocodiles/beach from open air bar.

I feel like I need some time to get my bearings. I just came from a classic hotel. Now I am staying in a commune.  I am half expecting someone to offer me some weed - or maybe to play Go.

I like that we are close to town.  Ilsa gave us some restaurant options. We chose Dragonfly and were very pleased with the Asian Fusion.  On the walk back we watched some futsal and hit the local grocery store and got stuff for breakfasts and lunches.  We good.

Really not gonna judge this place until we leave.  Culture shock does not mean the new culture is bad.  Stay tuned.

Local futsal court near our dinner.

Tatio Geysers, last day in Atacama

Tatio Geysers

Today was our last day in the Atacama desert.  We are now in Santiago after a flight this afternoon, but woke up at 5:30 am to head off to the geysers.

First, we met our guide, Daniel, who we immediately knew would be our favorite guide yet.  I haven't mentioned it before, but we have been going on beautiful excursions (hikes, mostly) every day with naturalists who ride with us to a location and then lead us from point A to point B.  Yesterday, as I said, we hiked along a gorge until we got to the hot springs.  Gillian and I were about a half mile ahead of the rest of the group (everyone went at their own pace) and if the guide from yesterday talked or instructed, we wouldn't have known...so it's not really fair to judge.  We had Daniel all to ourselves this morning.

As we got into the van, Daniel introduced us to our driver and then said that we would be ascending to 14,000 ft altitude during the hour and half ride to the site.  Our highest yet.  He said that to prevent altitude sickness (they wouldn't even let us attempt this excursion until we had acclimated for at least two days at the 8,000 ft. level of the hotel) we needed to drink lots of water ("Kiss the water bottle at least once every 30 minutes," he said.), breathe deeply through our noses to get the most oxygen and once at the top, take it slow if necessary.  We nodded to all of it.

Then, he casually mentioned that we would be driving over roads that were quite treacherous (his own words, and granted English is not his first language so, I was hoping that it was possible that the adjective was stronger than he intended).  He said that often times, due to the condition of the road the van would shake violently, so not to be alarmed (again...perhaps an overstatement, who could know).  Finally he, mentioned that the car often turned off at unexpected times, but "Not to worry, we will just restart it."

We were still nodding but a little more slowly.

After the instructions, Daniel smiled and said, "It is best if you sleep now," and within minutes, he was snoring in the front seat.  It was pitch black out (I forgot to mention that the Atacama desert has nearly no light pollution which makes it the best spot in the world for the astronomical observatories...within 10 years 70% of all research will be conducted at the observatory that is in Atacama...Gillian and I went to a stargazing excursion last night and saw Jupiter (!!) and something called the jewel box cluster as well as Sirius all through a telescope on top of a building at the resort...to go to the observatory you must be specially invited, which shockingly, we weren't...although our new friend from The Economist went and said that he and his wife were given oxygen tanks to be able to ascend to the top of the observatory).  Because of the deep dark, I wanted to go to sleep, but not really knowing what to expect--like would they need my help if the car stopped running, could I push it or remember how to jump start a car--surprisingly, I could not sleep at all.

We drove over all the conditions Daniel described but none of it was terrible and the car stopped once and on the fly the driver restarted it like he did it every day, which thank goodness, he had.

One of the hundreds of
geysers that dot
the landscape here

As we approached the Tatio Geysers the sun started to rise over the Andes and Daniel woke up again just in time to pull out his phone and blast "Here Comes the Sun," by the Beatles while he sang at the top of his lungs and the driver boogied in his seat.

Volcanic activity from
the Andes is
responsible for the hot geysers

It was going to be a good day, we could tell.

We pulled into the geyser field to see probably twenty other tourist vans but much more full than ours and Daniel turned quickly to us and said, "You guys, see that blue van over there?"  He pointed over to a group who were all getting back in to head out of the park, "There is a really cute Belgian girl who is here, I met her yesterday," he was getting really animated.  "I asked her out, she's so tall," he said, he was craning his neck to try to see her, "You know there aren't many tall women here," the smile on his face took over.  He saw her and pointed, "There she is, we went on a date last night, she's so cute."

He pointed at a woman in a dark blue raincoat and when we pulled around the corner into the parking lot (after he had nudged and cajoled the driver to pull up next to the van), he waved excitedly at this girl, who smiled a sweet smile and waved right back.  

Daniel also knew every guide at the geysers.  He shook hands with the men and lifted all the women up and swung them around in a big bear hug.  It was clear that Daniel had the same effect on everyone that he was having on us.  Full of life and joy.  It was impossible not to like him.

But, Gillian was really feeling the altitude at this point and when we got out of the van looked like she wanted to curl up in the fetal position.  So, we took it slow as we'd been advised.  Gillian didn't feel up to taking a lot of pictures and even entrusted the camera to me for a while.  I knew then, she was feeling terrible.  But, there were geysers to see, so there was no stopping.

this plaque was put up
after the horrific accident

Daniel was full of tons of information about the geysers and volcanic activity (the area is very similar to Yellowstone, also with a huge concern about a super volcanic eruption) and even told us a terrible story about a woman who had not been looking where she was going two years before and fell into one of the geysers (some of them have very large openings and until two years ago, there was not any type of protection around any of them...one of the vast differences between Chile so far and the US...no railings or other types of protective measures anywhere, so far, anyway).  She suffered burns over all of her body and did not recover.  We walked around, paying careful attention to the ground and watched a few of the geysers blow and felt the heat of the water (so hot, literally boiling hot), which is why the park now requires all visitors to sign a paper that says that if we fall into a geyser, we won't sue.

Coco mate tea for
altitude sickness

After walking and learning all about the area, Daniel set us loose while he and the driver worked on getting breakfast for us.  Gillian kept going slowly, but after about another half hour, started to perk up and when we walked back to the van, there was breakfast laid out for us.  Yogurt and toast made over a portable stove and tea and powdered coffee...and brownies.  Gillian drank tea and ate a little toast and I had toast with avocado, freshly mashed (every restaurant we've eaten at offers mashed avocado in place of butter if you like).

The funny thing about high altitude is that you are really not ever that hungry.  So, we ate a little and were full and then Daniel told us to drink some coco mate tea to help with the altitude sickness.  I don't know how it works, but he said it thins out the blood and that somehow helps (I'm probably missing some details).

During breakfast, Daniel told us a little about himself.  He loves to travel and hitchhikes wherever he goes.  He told us about a trip to London to see someone from Pink Floyd (Jeff would have needed to be here to keep up with all the references I didn't get to Pink Floyd) during which time he crashed at the house of an acquaintance and then slept on a bench in Hyde Park the next night before he caught a train to Paris) and that he will be in Canada this summer to hear someone else from Pink Floyd.  He is leaving in one week to travel to Uruguay and then back to Valparaiso to see his mother for her birthday and will hitch rides there and back, and will likely sleep out under the stars each night.  He told us his idea of a great life is, "Sitting around a fire with his guitar and a couple of girls." Uh-huh.

Anyway, we spent the rest of the morning together, driving slowly back to the resort while stopping to see vicuna (a small llama-ish looking creature) and at a beautiful marshy area (another green spot in this desert) to watch some native birds and ducks.   We also stopped at a small village and walked around a bit--Gillian was feeling bad again so we just went up to a little church and snapped a couple pictures and headed back down to the van.  All in all, it was a fun morning.

beautiful reflection
of the Andes in the water where
the ducks and birds lived

Vicuna

There is so much more I'm missing and this story is getting too long so I'll just end by admitting that I can't relay as much as I'd like mostly because this whole thing is a "you really have to be there" kind of reality.  I will post pictures to try to get the whole of it and end by saying that we are in Santiago now, just for one night.  We wandered around and tried an eating adventure in a random restaurant that was full of people watching Chile play Venezuela.  We didn't know what we were ordering and got an embarrassing amount of food.  But, we laughed about it and are in an awesome hotel for the night and will try to walk around this very metropolitan city (where half of the Chilean population lives).

Tomorrow to Torres Del Paine in Patagonia, it will be a long day to get there, three hours by plane and then five hours to drive.  There may not be much to report...

Daniel making me laugh

This tiny Atacameño woman (one of the
indigenous people groups in Chile)  let me get a
picture with her for 1000 pesos (about $1.50).
She took off her hat and put it on my head,
giggling to herself.

White Water Rafting

Quinn feeling better. Fun to have her back

Yoga (just me and Shelby this time). Breakfast (no Quinn). A bit of downtime.  Then...

...off to white water rafting (with Quinn!)

Yeah.  Quinn was ready to rally.  We are pretty confident that she has mono again.  Possibly Strep. Because of the possibility of the latter, we started a course of antibiotic (I bring a couple of Z-packs overseas for this very reason).

Not much to share here.  We went rafting.  We were placed in Raft 1 with Warner, our guide, and a couple from Canada. There were 9 total boats in this tour - 6 guests to a boat, plus a guide.  Warner is one of the jefes here so our boat ran first and he had the whistle to order the other boats when to depart or meet up again.  The big boss, Hiram, went last. Among the crew were two kayakers - one went on ahead to take pictures while the other trailed in case of a "swimmer."  You don't want to be a "swimmer."

The rapids were class 2 and class 3. Fairly tame, but fun nonetheless. We got good and wet and I almost went overboard twice (swimmer).  Our guide was awesome.  He has been doing this for 19 years.  He let us voluntarily Go into the water during a calm stretch of the river and then even let us do a class 1 set of rapids as "swimmers."  Feet up and feet forward to protect against rocks. Quinn, Aubrey, Shelby and I all floated down the river for about 20 minutes this way. Very cool.

We took a break halfway thru the tour for fresh pineapple and watermelon. The guides just flip a raft over and slice up about 3 dozen Pineapples and watermelon -  and there we ate off of our makeshift table while on a rocky shore. Goats wandered up to us from a local farm and ate rinds out of our hands.

The last half of the river was pretty tame. But I gave my GoPro to one of the kayakers. Can't wait to see that footage.

A toast! Extracting sugar to make Cachaça

After the rafting we got a nice Casado meal again from a local organic farm/restaurant. I liked it. They also served some coffee grown and roasted from the farm. Mild roast. Very good (I don't usually love straight coffee, but this was good). After the meal they showed us how they extract sugar water from the cane. We sampled the juice. We (I) then sampled the fermented, 100 proof drink from the sugar cane.  One tiny little sip for me and Quinn was enough. Gross. Tasted like rubbing alcohol smells.

From there we went back to the hotel. Room service tonight for us. Quinn is hungry (she hasn't eaten anything yet today).  Hopefully she is trending the right way.

By 7:30am we will outa here on our way to Tamarindo.

Finally! Arenál with no clouds! Magnificent!

A Picture is Worth Way More Than a Thousand Adjectives

Destination...hot springs to swim in.  We left the hotel at 8am after a quick breakfast.

(A lot of the fruits and veggies we eat in the winter come from this place.  So, since it is fall here, we are eating delicious tomatoes, strawberries, zucchini and all the things we eat during our summers and into August while it is still local.  They eat a lot of quinoa (even puffed quinoa is offered as cereal for breakfast) and chia...so we've tried it all in various forms.  SO good.)

We went on a long hike today through another gorge alongside stream that had as its origins the hot springs we were making our way toward.  It took two hours.  The path was winding and in one place, we tried to build a rock bridge to cross the stream, but ended up pulling off our hiking boots and socks and just walking across.  The water was warm on the chilly morning, a promise of what was to come.

So...again, it was ridiculous and I think it's best if I just post photos so you can see it a little yourself.

Also...in case you're wondering we are using a better camera than this to take real pictures...we just forgot the cord to upload them...I think even one more cord would have made us unable to shut our bags.

Tomorrow we head to check out geysers then race back to catch a flight back to Santiago for one night.  Probably more pictures than words tomorrow, too.

waterfalls all along the way

plants blooming because of recent rain

heading to jump in the hot springs...maybe warm
is more accurate.  

Ridiculous

We have run out of adjectives.  Completely.

Maybe the best one and only one yet is the one that the a bureau chief for The Economist said when we first got out of the car this morning and saw the white-capped Andes glimmering in the distance and behind us the opening to a canyon that we were about to trek down into.

I said, "Can you believe how beautiful this is?"

He ran his hands through his hair, paused a second and answered, "It's ridiculous."

Andes Mountains

So, ridiculous it is.  It is all we are left with because I don't know how to even describe the beauty that is behind us, before us and above us.

I am worried about what I will have to say about Patagonia, what else is left after ridiculous?

Anyway, we trekked into a deep ravine over and across a mountain stream all morning, with the bureau chief, his wife (a lawyer turned to the IT world) and two of the guys from the New York group from yesterday.  (this resort offers excursions to choose from every day...you can do one full day or two half day excursions with a guide, it is awesome).  We climbed over boulders that were tinged red, black and grey remnants of the volcanic activity that created this landscape (the Andes are one volcano after another).  Our guide, Salvadore, showed us the desert plants (usually, because this is the driest desert, there are no plants, but there were some unusual late summer rains in January and February this year) and taught us to see how the magma flowed and then how the water that runs through it has made the crevices and niches of the area.

While we walked and stumbled through the hike, we talked and got to know our traveling companions a little better.  Everyone in the group has traveled extensively.  The New Yorkers are brothers-in-law who have been traveling every year for the last few with their wives together mostly throughout South America.  They made us laugh with their humor (mostly self-deprecating) and we ended up spending the whole day with them since we went to the second excursion later in the day with them, too (and their wives joined us for that).  The younger couple from Sao Paulo, are originally from Poland, and have lived all over the world and each can speak at least four languages.

We didn't get tired of talking to any of them.  I don't have an adjective either for how rewarding it is to hear a little of other people's stories.  One of my favorite parts of any trip I've ever been on.  Our guide, too, his love of this place and willingness to be patient with our questions and excitement over showing us each thing...awesome.

There is one hiccup to this trip...a problem with my ability to take pictures that Gillian approves of.  My philosophy about picture taking is that I am completely fine with taking 1,000 pictures and accepting that maybe four are good, maybe 1 in 1500 is great.  Gillian, though, like the other digital natives of the younger generation who have grown up breathing technology, keeps trying to instruct me how to get each photo perfect from the beginning.

She sighs, asks me, "Will you please try this time?  Try to take a picture of me with that mountain in the background."  I nod, of course I will do my best, I promise, I have taken all her lessons to heart and THIS time it will be great.  I snap four photos concentrating on where her head is in relation to the top of the frame, is she focused in the picture, is the light right...and I hand her the camera...she sighs again, and shakes her head.

I think she's starting to accept me as I am, though.  However, I think ALL the pictures I take of her look fine.  I can't even tell the difference between the ones she keeps and the ones she rejects.  Seriously, I just am holding out for that one time she says it passes the test.

Later in the day, around 5:30 our time here, we set out on our second expedition.  But, before that, we sat by the pool, of course, because the sky was brilliant blue.  Even if the temp was only 70, the sun was HOT and the UV index was crazy high.   The air is very thin here due to the altitude and the thinning ozone layer, so we doused ourselves in sunscreen and tried to soak up some Vitamin D for a couple of hour before heading out on our next adventure.

We went with the two couples from New York to a little town called Toconao on our way to some vast salt flats (3rd largest in the world behind Salt Lake City's and one in Bolivia) where we hoped to see some flamingos.  The town was four hundred years old, but neat and clean and maintained so well.  We wandered around and through an old church and then a small storefront house with a llama and two sheep in the backyard that the woman who lived there used for the wool that she wove and knit with.  We fed the llama and then walked down an irrigation path to see the vegetation in this part of the oasis, bright green trees and plants everywhere fed by streams the make this small area erupt with color in the vast expanse of sand.

Then, off to the salt flats where we found a whopping two flamingos who weren't even thoughtful enough to stand near one another so we could photograph them like they were a part of a flock.  Oh well, it is nesting season and the many flamingos that normally are here had moved to other parts.  I guess they have that right.

But, the sunset over the Domeyko Range (the mountain range that flanks the western side of this desert region) made the salt flat transform into a watercolor painting flowing up against the Andes on the other side of the valley.  Again, ridiculous.

Gillian is asleep now (it is late, we had dinner at 9:30 and didn't get back to the room until almost 11).    I'll let her describe the cat lady at dinner who entertained us by hunting a kitten that was hiding in the wine racks in the lodge.  We couldn't stop laughing and cheering for her...I'll let Gillian tell it.