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.

3 in 1 Day Adventure

Arenal Volcano

Quinn woke up with diarrhea and a splitting headache.  She would not be joining us today. So we brought her some dry toast after our breakfast, kissed her on the forehead, and bid her goodbye.  Coasta Rica doesn't wait for viral infections.

A van picked us up at our hotel with our driver (can't remember his name - he spoke no English) and our tour guide for the day: Jorge.

First stop, the hanging bridges. Jorge was not messing around. He had binoculars hanging from a chest strap, a flashlight, a bag loaded with other survival gear, and full tripod hoisting a telescope. 

The hike is a circle, with very little elevation, that has 15 bridges (7 of them suspension) spanning huge gorges. A couple of the bridges were over 90 meters long and 45 meters above the river valley floor. This hike is within, and above , the rainforest canopy. 

Jorge was insane. We got a full education about ecology and biology and the incredible biodiversity of the rainforests. He pointed out tree types, plants and flowers, including dozens of orchids. He would listen at the sounds of the frogs and the birds coming from far away, cock his head, look up into the forest or sky, and then point to something way far away on a branch. We saw lizards and blue jean poisonous dart frogs.  Three venomous snakes - two of which were camped in trees.  He spotted an owl.  Howler Monkeys. Spider Monkeys.  Toucans. Dozens of bird species. Wild boars.  Wild Turkeys. Several spiders, including a couple of tarantulas. And, of course, the Leaf Cutter ants. 

This tree has been worn down by ant pheromones

Just a little bit about the type of education we got today from Jorge.  The Queen Leaf Cutter ant lays over 3000 eggs per day.  They live in a nest that can be the size of a football field.  Once a year, female ants mate and fly away to start a new colony and become a queen herself. The Queen can live for 25 years or more.  The worker ants are looking for "clean" foliage to bring back to the nest.  They are blind and travel by following the pheromones of other ants.  The cleanest foliage is high in the trees.  Long trains of ants follow well worn pathways thru the grass and forest floor to tall trees where they climb over 100 meters to cut and return fresh leaf pieces.  Among the cutter ants are cleaner ants who crawl all over the cut leaf while a cutter is carrying it to the nest. The cleaners move from leaf to leaf, all while his compadres are carrying them, in order to make sure that no contaminants enter the nest. The ants don't eat the leaf pieces; they are "food' for the fungus that the ants eat.  Leaves that are contaminated can kill the fungus - that is a bad thing.  But if, for whatever reason, a nest comes under attack thru preditor or desease, the colony has a built in disaster recovery plan in place: a pod of eggs and food stored in a safe place that will emerge at a later date to recolonize. 

We had a full day of that.  It was awesome.

After the Hanging Bridges we had a quick snack of fresh-cut watermelon and pineapple before driving to the Waterfall.  

We had to walk way down, via a long staircase, to get to the river valley floor to reach the pools at the base of this immense waterfall.  Not sure if the name or how high, but it was comparable to ones I have seen in Hawaii.  Beautiful.  People were swimming in the main pool where the waterfall was crashing, but only at the edge.  There was a lifeguard on duty warning people of the strong current and dangerous falling water.  Below that pool, people were swimming and sunning in the successive pools.  The water was cold but refreshing.

We swam for about an hour before climbing the stairs back to the van.

From there we went to lunch at a local restaurant for some authentic Costa Rican food.  Casado.  It was delicious. I had mine with pork while the girls ate pollo. We ate with our tour partners for the day: a family of four from D.C. and a single dude from Manhattan.  Aubrey and Shelby were having a good time getting to know the two other girls while I chatted with the adults. 4 adults and 4 kids. All in good shape and up for any adventure. It was a fortunate pairing for us on a beautiful weather day. 

Jorge using Daves Samsung to video an image of a toucan thru his telescope.

From there we went to the volcano. There is a little park called Silencio where you can drive up to the base of the volcano and walk on the lava rocks that rolled down the mountain in 1968, when the Arenal volcano first became active again.  It was a short hike up and back.  Nothing special. But we opted to hike down beyond our van.  He just drove and met us at a lower parking lot.  This 45 minute hike wowed us with monkeys and toucans. Jorge continued to impart his wisdom while calling monkeys and birds. He even had an app on his phone that could call birds - which is how we attracted then toucans.  

We are now back. Quinn is still not well. Poor thing. She missed a fun day.  I hope she gets better soon. 

Base camp

Found it. 

Change of plans.  With Quinnie down for the count, I was able to move our River Raft excursion to Monday.  That left today open.  And since Aubrey, Shelby and I had already crushed zip lining yesterday, we didn't have anything to do.

So we took a yoga class.  It's offered daily here and the instructor was a Costa Rican free spirit with a thick accent.  Honestly I just stopped listening to her after a while and just kept peaking my head up from Downward Dog to see what was coming next. The girls were laughing at how much I was sweating.  All I could see was my daughters cutting corners (corte de esquina - learned that from our psycho driver yesterday who was, you guessed it, cutting corners. Literally.).  Yoga is what you make it, slackers.  That butt muscle isn't going to streatch itself.  Pigeon pose.  You kidding me?

After that I did a half hour on the elliptical before we all (not Quinn, mind you.  She was unconscious with a fever at this point) went to a nature preserve.  It was a five minute walk from the resort and similar to other "private" nature areas.  Kinda hokey.  And gimmicky.  And maybe cheap (hard to tell since we are not in the US).  But is was one of the better ones I have been to.  We passed up the guided tour and went it alone.  They had an amazing butterfly exhibit that pretty much freaked Aubrey out (she HATES butterflies), decent snake, crocodile and turtle exhibits, and a world class frog exhibit.  We saw probably 2-3 dozen species of frogs - all indigenous to Costa Rica.  It was epic.

These ants had an army that streatched for over 100 yards down a path carrying leaves from a tree.  They actually split into two paths to two different nests.

After that we grabbed another average lunch.  There is kind of a lack of food options here.  While there are three restaurants, which, between them have every American food option, the execution is lacking for the most part.

We then went and sat by the pool.  In the rain.  Well, it only rained for a second.  But we had as much rain as we had sun.  I will tell you this: when the sun shines, the temp goes up by 20 degrees.  Not lying.  But under the clouds in the nice humid air I was able to catch a nice nap after reading 3 pages of War and Peace (seriously I am reading it).  Quinn woke me up.  The Ghost of Christmas Past.  She was feeling better so came to join us in the overcast.

But her good health was short lived.  She spiraled before, during, and after dinner until she shut herself down.  Hoping she can rally for tomorrow.  We don't have any more free days here in Arenal.  All business.

San Pedro de Atacama...wonder of wonders.

Cavernas de sal, Valle de la Luna, Atacama Desert

I don't even know where to start.  We got on a plane and have been transported to an alien landscape. One that is stunning and stark and beautiful all at once.

What's new, but I slept terrible since I was worried about Quinn, so what did I do but think about earthquakes because somehow my mind wandered from Quinn's weak voice (she says she is feeling better now, a little...Jeff will update on that) to whether or not we will get to feel an earthquake while we are here.

landing in Calama

Did you know that your phone is useful for even finding out how many earthquakes there are in Chile today? Of course, I found a tracker page and noted that two (5.1 and 5.2)  had already occurred by 4am (when I was up) in the area we were going to be going later today...AND 555 earthquakes have happened in the last year. Yup.  There are hundreds of active volcanoes, too, so wowzers, the people seem so oddly unconcerned about it all.  Which, actually, is a good sign if I thought about it.

I'll report back.

More importantly, we left Valparaìso this morning at 8:30 and spent the first half of the day getting here first by car then by plane and then car again.

So, now we are in San Pedro de Atacama in an oasis in the middle of the driest desert in the world.  For the first 40 minutes of our drive from the airport here, there wasn't a shrub, cacti, even a bird in view, then slowly a small bit of scrub were scattered on the ground until we came down by the San Pedro river where there is a burst of green bounded by sand.

"Drink water."  That's the phrase we've heard the most.  Over the next few days we will be between 8,000 and 12,000 ft. and added to that, the air is so dry you can feel it in the back of your eyelids.  Actually, I'm thirsty now.

We dropped off our stuff and right away explored this beautiful place.  We walked around this theresort a bit, said hello to sheep and cows and then a llama or two when we decided to check into the reception and see if we could go on a hike to watch the sunset.  We signed up with a guide and were on our way with four friends from New York and a couple from Maryland.  We (I am even including myself in this!) are by far the youngest people here except for one other family who have brought their two young (10 and 12) year old sons from Chicago.

And, the only reason I mention that is that we should have had a little fitness test before we all trekked to the Valley of the Moon to catch the views of the salt flats and the jagged sand and rock formations.  Did I mention we are at high altitude?  Did I mention the dry air?  Did I mention Gillian and I were the youngest?

the white in the background...salt!

It was a grind for our group to make it over even the first little hill and then, Gillian and I knew we wouldn't make it to the sunset spot the guide had promised us.  And then, we decided it was going to be more fun to focus on the pictures, while we waited for the group to catch up...a million times.  But...who cares if we got to see the other spot...this place was indescribable (but, I'll try).  The ground is covered in white salt that our guide explained comes up through the ground during rains (which obviously, don't happen all that often) making it look like it is covered in snow.

After a delicious dinner (first fresh veggies we've seen in a while), we laid under the stars.  We are way, way out in the middle of nowhere, really in this little oasis of a place.  Also, the hotel has no outdoor lighting to obscure one single view of the night sky and there is no moon either...so I've never seen the Milky Way as such a bright swath of light across the sky...ever.  Also, the Southern Cross...saw that in its brilliance, and had to sing a little Crosby, Stills and Nash to Gill...she totally loved that.

We love it here.  I am so glad we went to Valpo first, because I am pretty sure we would never have wanted to leave here.  One of the couples from our group today said they just came back from Patagonia, and he promises it is even better than here...I can't wait.

But, until then, we get up early tomorrow and start new adventures.  There will be lots more.  This is an amazing trip.

I'll let Gillian tell you more about it...

Gillian:

Waking up early this morning was tough. I don't think we are quite used to the time change yet. The drives and airplane ride weren't too bad though, all felt pretty short. We were pretty hungry before the plane ride, but the itinerary said we would be getting lunch on the plane. The flight attendant handed us a 'menu' with four options on it: A biscuit, a chocolate muffin, a granola bar, and a dried fruit/nut combo. Mom and I both got the biscuit and fruit/nut mix. Saying that was a mistake may not be entirely true, because we don't know if the other food was any better, but neither of us ate the mix, and the dry biscuits tasted like something taken from the trash can of the county jail. We were starving though, so we ate them.

one of the hotel pools

Arriving at the hotel in Atacama was amazing. It kind of reminded me of the hotels in Hawaii, because they immediately offered us fruit drinks as we got out of the shuttle. The room is cute, with a perfect bathroom, no TV, and, my personal favorite, a cute outdoor patio that has a little furniture. There is this big bench with pillows and a cushion that is super comfortable, and when you sit out there, you can look out at the mountains and the nature that this entire hotel is surrounded by. It was pure bliss, and I know I could lay out there for hours.

At first, I just wanted to relax by the pool or something during the afternoon, but after talking to the adventure planner, and going on the hike to the salt flats, I'm so glad we chose to go out. Mom and I had such a good time on the hike, and took a ton of pictures and videos. And since we were the only people in shape apparently, we had plenty of time to stop and take it in while we were waiting for our group to catch up.

Dinner was really, really, really good. That might be because we didn't really eat lunch, but even so, there was a huge variety of foods, and it was all so colorful, and all tasted amazing. Both Mom and I tried almost everything. Mom really loved the lamb, and I loved the steak. All of it was perfect though, and definitely hit the spot after our hike.

finally, some fresh vegetables

After eating, we noticed the stars in the sky, and I took out my star app so we could see what the names of all of the were. We could see the Milky Way very clearly, and also Orion and the Southern Cross. All of it was breathtaking. It's a bummer that the stars don't really show up in photos, not even on my nice camera. But witnessing it was incredible, and even the best camera couldn't do that justice.

Valparaìso, day 2...

So, as anyone who might be reading this can tell...Jeff is in Costa Rica with Quinn, Aubrey and Shelby and Gillian and I are in Chile.  Gillian thought long and hard about where she wanted to go for her 16th year trip with me (I took Quinn to Vietnam...Aubrey and Shelby on deck), and when we met with a travel agent, she helped us figure out that Chile was the place for us.  We came mostly for the natural wonders and to hike and see Patagonia, in the meantime, our wise travel agent suggested we visit some of the other areas of this beautiful country.

funny sense of humor, here
voting via cigarette butts

So, today was our second day in Valparaìso, on the coast in central Chile.  A town of steep hills.

I had geranium envy

Gillian was out cold last night by 11pm, which is only 9pm our time last night, we were both tired...our hotel is in the central district of the city so that means lots is happening all the time.  Even at 3am, a couple was having a discussion that slowly turned into a fight with tears right outside our window.  I almost woke Gillian up so she could interpret what they were fighting about.  Probably the same kind of fights every young couple has in all parts of the planet: jealousy, a careless word, a past hurt.  Anyway, another way the whole world is not so different.

breakfast for 6, when there were 2

This morning, since there is only one other set of guests at this hotel, we had breakfast all to ourselves and the kind waiter wanted to practice his English on us and also to make us about 500 lbs heavier.  He had to drag up a whole other table to lay out the spread of eggs, breads, jams, butter, cookies, even brownies, bacon, ham and cheese.  We tried our best, but couldn't keep up.  He also spoke German so he spoke to Gillian in Spanish and me in German (my German is so basic, but so was his, so it worked somehow).  He sent us off with a  basket of the cookies and treats we couldn't eat, not sure when we will fit that in, but so kind of him.

Viña Del Mar, the clock works!

We met our adorable guide, Romina (I wish I had taken a picture of her!!), right after breakfast and hopped in a car to take a half day tour of the area.  Valparaìso is a port city and was a significant port until the Panama Canal opened.  Now, most of the city is dedicated to university students and tourists and is kitschy and bohemian with the millions of murals that I wrote about yesterday. The port, though, is still active just not as important as it once was.

She also mentioned the volcanoes and earthquakes...tsunamis, too.  I guess we should have guessed this based on the news and location...we will let you know if we experience one, hoping nothing to brag about living through.

This city is on one end of a bay and this morning we drove along the water up to Viña Del Mar, a coastal resort town that has a completely different feeling to it, much less touristy, more luxurious condominiums with killer views of the Pacific Ocean.  It really reminded me of Malibu, CA.  The buildings/apartments are stacked up the hillsides all facing the water.  On up the coast further, we arrived at Riñaca, a small enclave within Viña Del Mar and watched the seals barking and playing on the rocks just off shore.  We finally drove to the end of the bay (maybe 30 minutes total from Valpo) to a city called Concon, where there are gigantic sand dunes jutting up from the water. They can even be seen from high points in Valparaìso and from here those dunes shine like gold.

Christopher Colon, at the Port

Once we came back to the area near our hotel, Romina took us by foot around the area and then down to the port area (shiftier characters there, I wouldn't go back without a guide or a man).  But, it was beautiful nonetheless because this whole city's vibrancy pulses like a heartbeat in a rainbow of colors which are seen in the houses, the murals, even the clothing of the people who live here.  It is beautiful here in a crumbling, falling apart way.  The houses, from the outside, maintain their original look--corrugated metal exteriors, big tall wooden windows taking in the views, and wide hefty doors (it seems like many are seconds from falling down, and actually some of them have...some of the houses are 200 years old and beat down by time and weather, but still lovely in their own artistic way).

After the tour, we said goodbye to our adorable guide, who has lived in Toronto and hopes to return to Canada, but not yet, because her grandparents are still alive and she doesn't want to miss time with them, so for now, she has returned to the family farm to live with her mother and grandparents.  She showed us pictures of her brother, too, who she said found a girlfriend while she was living in Toronto, which she was a little sad about, since she doesn't speak to him as often...again, the universality of us all.  Same longings, same family sagas, same hopes the world around.

Palacio Barburizza,
Art Museum

Finally, Gillian and I walked all over some more and ducked into a couple of shops, mostly little touristy art galleries.  We wrapped up our afternoon with a walk through the museum that is just outside the door of the hotel.  It is a house that was once owned by the wealthiest Chilean immigrant, a man from Croatia, who invested in mining nitrates here in Chile and his unbelievable house has the most magnificent views of the whole city and a wide variety of art.  I wish I was more refined.  I told Gillian that maybe she could civilize this family by becoming an art major and make us all classier.  Crossing my fingers, she'd have her work cut out for her.

One last note from me...something I haven't mentioned is the billion stray dogs that are roaming around leaving little presents all over the sidewalks. They are friendly and follow us tugging at our heartstrings (as well as everyone else) looking for a treat, which I think, they often get because none of them are skin and bones.  It is actually crazy, people drive around the dogs who lie in the street, and wow would the humane society have a heyday here.

Gillian here:

We accomplished a lot only being here for a day and a half. My phone says we walked 5.7 miles and climbed 47 flights of stairs. I think both my mom and I started to get the hang of walking around. We remembered land marks and could usually find our way back to the hotel pretty easily. For all the winding streets and high hills, it wasn't that bad. And walking around is quite the workout. My mom probably already mentioned how steep all the roads are. I think it's so cool that they just built into the landscape, instead of disturbing it. It really gives the city some character. The colors here are also beautiful. Everywhere you look, there are hundreds of colors. It's so different than Minnesota, where our red house is the only colored one for blocks.

I liked the tour we went on today, the tour guide was super nice and spoke very good English. And it was nice that it was private, and we could ask her any questions we wanted. She showed us places that we definitely would not have seen had it not been for her. Vina del Mar was such a pretty city, and so high end. It was very well taken care of, and had such nice buildings and houses. And seeing the ocean was also so cool. I didn't even know we would be seeing the ocean at all, and I was pleasantly surprised by the beautiful beach and turquoise waters. One thing that was kind of a bummer was that it was cloudy almost the entire tour. The sun finally started to peak out only during the afternoon, but with it came a pleasant warmth. The city transformed in the sunlight and looked so pretty and vibrant.

There are funicular to carry you up and down,
only a few, though

Mom and I had fun walking around too. We saw most of the best parts of the city, I think, and are ready to leave tomorrow. I didn't really know what to expect, but I am definitely happy with Valparaiso. The hotel we are staying in as beautiful, and the spa in the basement was an awesome way to finish off our night. The pictures we took are super cool, and I'm excited to take more as we continue our trip. It's also been a fun challenge trying to talk to others in Spanish. My mom has been favoriting the word "hola" and I've been saying almost everything else. I had the opportunity to translate for a store owner and waitress today, and in signs in the museum. Testing my knowledge of the language is a good opportunity for me.

finished our day with a little hot
tub in the basement of the hotel
made out of a barrel

This adventure has been great so far, and I'm excited for what else is to come. This trip will only get better as we continue on, which is exciting.