View from our hotel window in Santiago

After 2 nights at Elqui Valley,  we headed back to La Serena.   Elqui Valley was truly beautiful, but remote, and we have had enough remoteness on the boat.  By leaving Elqui early in the morning, we were able to drive back to La Serena, return the car and buy our ticket to Santiago.  On the bus to Santiago, we were again subject to the worst American movies I have ever seen.  Peru buses, great movies, Chilean buses, not so good.  That wasn’t the worst part of the trip.  We were due to arrive in Santiago around 3:30 pm.  We had almost made it, only about an hour and a half out when the bus developed problems.  The driver pulled to the side of the road and for awhile, no one knew what was going on.  Finally the steward came through the bus and said something about “No agua” and was gathering bottles.  We saw him cross the highway with 4 empty liter bottles and realized the bus must be overheating.  So we waited.  Buses pulled up behind us and then moved on, and I wondered what they would do if they couldn’t fix the bus.  Would they get a different one or would we be put out into the road?  Not too long later, the steward came in, said something in Spanish, and everyone jumped up and started gathering their things.   We had no idea what he said.  He came up to us and repeated it.  Realizing we still didn’t understand, he said something and then drew his hand across his throat.  I got the idea.  “The bus is dead?”  I asked.   He nodded and said something else and pointed out the window.  “There’s another bus and we can get on it?”  He nodded.  Now, I have no idea how I figured out what he was saying.  It felt a little like the TV show with  Timmy trying to understand what Lassie is saying.  “Woof!  Woof woof!”

  “What is it, Boy?”

  “”Woof! Woof woof woof! Woof!” 

 “The bus is broke down?” 

 “Woof woof!  Woof!”   

 “We need to move to another bus?”   

 “Woof!”

Of course by the time we understood what was happening, everyone else had gotten on the bus, so the places to sit were few.  We couldn’t sit together.  Dan sat at the front, Tristan was sitting in front of Tessa, and I had a choice to sit next to the dangerous looking man sitting in front of the bathrooms, or next to the man who was sitting across the aisle from Tessa. I chose the latter, not because I was necessarilyworried about the guy, but I was worried about the bathroom.  Dan had told me earlier that the bathroom on our bus what about to overflow.  This bus was less luxurious than ours.  I couldn’t take that chance. 

 I was having trouble maneuvering down the aisle, with my backpacks, and the unsympathetic driver couldn’t care less.  He started off before I could even get to my seat.  As the guy near Tessa realized I was going to sit next to him, a look of fear came over him.  I’m serious!  He really didn’t want me sitting next to him and I have no idea why.  When I was settled in the seat, and had everything put away, I looked at him, wondering if I should say something, and realized he had put his coat over his face.  I mean really!  If you don’t want me sitting next to you fine, but you don’t have to be so rude!

The journey continued, but now, since we were held up, we were hitting rush hour.  Santiago is infamous for bad traffic and we were in the thick of it.  We were on a major highway, probably about 6 lanes of traffic, and it was gridlock, with people changing lanes and driving on the shoulder and other bad behavior.  It was crazy, but it was about to get crazier.  A few of the passengers decided that instead of waiting until the bus reached its final destination, they were just going to get off on the expressway.  This, apparently, was a common practice, as the steward, while the bus was stopped in gridlock,  jumped off with the passenger, opened the cargo hold, and took out the passenger’s suitcase.  This didn’t just happen once, it happened at least 5 times, with the passenger scrambling across lanes of traffic.  The driver may have stopped, but he clearly had no patience for it,  as one time he took off, causing the steward to run to get back on the bus.  It was truly dangerous and crazy. 

As we entered Santiago, heading down dark back streets, I was silently praying that we would be dropped off at an actual bus station, not some back alley.  I just couldn’t handle it if we were dumped,  in the dark, in the middle of nowhere.  Luckily, we were dropped off at a huge bus terminal, with plenty of waiting taxis.  We had planned ahead this time, and made reservations at a hotel called the Maria Angola.  It was located in the neighborhood we were interested in  and was highly rated by users.   We finally made it to the hotel around 8 pm after a harrowing ride with a cab driver  who drove at breakneck speeds through the streets of Santiago.  I thought that at any moment we would be  hit by a car running a light, or pulling out in front of us.  He was driving so fast, there was no way we could have avoided an accident.  I don’t remember ever being that scared in a taxi, and that includes the time in New York City when the driver fell asleep. 

The hotel was nice.  Our room was on the top floor, the fifth floor, which the elevator didn’t go to.  We had to ride to the fourth floor, then up a flight of stairs, and down hallway to our “Penthouse”.  This was the only room that could accommodate us,.  We had three single beds and a TV in one room, a large bathroom in the middle, and Dan and I had our own seperate bedroom, complete with TV in the back.  Very nice!  The hotel clerk was very  nice, spoke passable english, and helped us order a Dominoes pizza.  Life was good!

 

We had one more tour the next evening, to the Mamalluca Observatory.  It was late at night, after 9:00pm by the time we arrived, so we had good night conditions.  Our group joined another small group and our astronomer had only one telescope.  It was enjoyable, but if you only have one to go to, do the stargazing at San Pedro de Atacama.

We had stayed four nights in La Serena and now our plan was to rent a car and drive to Elqui Valley, northwest of Santiago.  We were down to our last week of travelling and looking to see as much as possible.  Our hotel hooked us up with the rental car company and in soon a car was delivered to our hotel.  The drive out of La Serena was fairly easy.  Once on the main road, it was like driving in the US only on better roads.  The countryside changed from the overcast of La Serena to bright skies, then to beautiful mountains, and green valleys as we were again at the base of the Andes.   What I love about the Andes mountains, is how they seem to just push up from the ground.  There’s nothing gradual about it.  You have flat land (valley) then the base of a huge mountain.  Nothing in between.  On the way to Elqui Valley we were in the heart of wine and pisco country.  Pisco is a brandy made from very sweet grapes.(  We tried it in a Pisco Sour, and it was good, but too sweet for us.)   The sides of the mountains and hills were terraced and covered in golden and green blankets of vegetation.  To our surprise, we passed a large lake fed from a huge dam, I’m sure built to provide water to this dry region.

Elqui Valley is a mystery all its own.  It is a mecca for spiritualists.  For the past 2000 years, Tibet at 30 degrees north and 70 degrees East has been the magnetic center of the Earth.  In the 1960’s, spiritualist, learning of the coming movement of the magnetic center found it at Elqui Valley at 30 degrees South and 70 degrees West.  In 1982 they were proved right as for the first time scientist found the greatest point of the Earth’s energy here in Elqui Valley.  This was of course, why I wanted to go there. 

 

On the way to Elqui Valley, Dan wanted to stop for lunch at the Solar Kitchen, a restaurant that  cooked all it’s food outside using only solar ovens.  They had several ovens set up outside the restaurant, and two big mirrored disks that heated water.  The waitress took our order and we understood, fish, pollo (chicken) and she said “Cabrito”.  We weren’t sure what that was and frustrated she finally said “Beef”.  Oh, beef.  We love beef.  We’ll have the beef.  Soon plates of a huge chunk of beef was delivered to our table.  It resembled roast beef, and even tasted like roast beef, but was a little tough.  We were chewing our way through it when we noticed our guide, Marcel, the one who had led us on the penguin tour, came into the restaurant with a tour group.  Later he came by our table and asked what we had ordered.  We said the beef.  With a smile he told us that we actually had young goat.  Oh.  That explained the toughness!!!  From that point forward, we would never forget what Cabrito meant!

 

 

 

 

Back on the road to Elqui Valley.  We had reserved a cabin at a small bed and breakfast type place.  It was really cute.  The kids had their own bed up in the loft.  The property was covered with flowering bushes and on the property, but well away from the road, were chairs set up so you could watch the stars at night.  That first night, Tristan and I went down, laid back in the chairs and watched the stars.  It was so dark as we walked the pathway.  We couldn’t see a thing.  Luckily I had brought my camera so we used the light from it to keep from stumbling into anything.  We were dressed warmly, but after about 45 minutes we got cold.   When we went to leave, we were both dizzy.  I can definitely say we felt the energy in the Valley!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Back in the boat, we headed to Isla Choros, about 30 minutes away.  Landing on the island was prohibited, so we had to do all our sightseeing from the boat.  Isla Choros is even more bleak that Isla Damas.  Gun metal gray rocks shoot straight from the surprisingly clear turquoise water.  The water was so clear, the white sand bottom beckoning, that you really wanted to jump right in. It looked like Caribbean water and I couldn’t resist pulling off my gloves and dipping my fingers in.   Not surprisingly it was extremely cold.  That was probably why the penguins and the sea lions liked it.   

                               

                                      

The boat captain did an excellent job of getting us extremely close to the rocky coast.  Close enough to see the wildlife, but just far enough to avoid crashing on the rocky shore.  Marceau, our guide, pointed out the various birds for us, such as the Cormants, but we were all holding our breath to see if we would spot the main attraction.  We didn’t have to wait long.  There, high above us on a ledge, trying to blend into the charcoal colored rocks, sat two of the most adorable penguins I have ever seen in my life.  Penguins!  Just sitting there. Not in a zoo, in real life, in my real life.  The whole boat was “OOHHing” and “AWWing”.  It was incredible.  We felt so blessed as our guide warned us that the tours don’t always see penguins.

 

 

 

 Humboldt Penguins are medium size, about 26 to 28 inches high and weigh about 13 pounds.  They are endangered, with less than 10,000 in the world now.  The first two we saw, I guess were a couple.  They were very cute.  Our guide did a great job holding the boat steady in one place so we could get a good long look. The penguins tired of us before we tired of them, and it was cute to watch them make their way up the rocks, hopping, scrambling, head down weight forward.   Our guide and boat drivers seemed to be enjoying it as much as we were.  The boat was maneuvered to another spot where we saw a few more penguins off in the distance, but none as close as the first pair we saw.  But that was alright.  We had gotten what we came for.

As we rounded to the other side of the island, we caught a glimpse of the elusive sea otter.  He was very shy, and blended into the reeds floating near the rocks. 

 

 

 A beautiful sea lion and her pup  were enjoying a break on top of a rock, seeming to pose for pictures. 

 

                

 

 

                                   

There was one more major surprise waiting for us.  As the boat headed toward land, off in the distance we could see dolphins and seals playing in the water.  So upon seeing the dolphins, I began my usual yelling and calling to get their attention, and my kids did the usual, “Mom, stop!  You’re embarrassing us!”  I don’t care.  Years ago, in Florida, we went on a dolphin  encounter boat.  Some dolphins were spotted in the distance and our guide said, “Dolphins love children.  Have the kids make as much noise as possible.”  Sure enough, we all made noise, especially the kids on board, and the dolphins came right over.  Ever since then, whenever I spot a dolphin, I yell, call, clap, make a lot of noise to let them know I’m happy to see them, and it always works.  They always come to the boat. So here, on this boat, in the Pacific, Tristan and Tessa were the only kids, so they needed my help.  “Here dolphins!”  “Dolphins, dolphins!”  I yelled and clapped and guess what.  They came.  The seals came with them.  Within moments we were treated to an incredible show.  Dolphins and seals were jumping up alongside the boat.  The more we yelled, the higher they jumped.  If possible, it seemed they were as excited as we were.  The seals were a bit on the shy side, but I think they were caught up in the moment.  One seal curious seal came very close to the boat, while the seals further away entertained us with dives in the water.  The dolphins were huge, the biggest we have seen.  They were so wonderful, trying so hard to get our attention, leaping from the water, as close to the boat as they dared.   You felt they wanted to see us as much as we wanted to see them.  Our show lasted at least 3o minutes, and our guides were gracious and wouldn’t move the boat until they were done.  At lunch later that day, I asked Marcel, our guide,  if it was true that calling to the dolphins helped and he said yes.  Of course I made sure Tristan and Tessa heard that.  He said dolphins are very good at reading the energy of the people on the boats, and the more excited the people are, the more excited the dolphins become.  But, he added, today was special.  In his 15 years of leading these tours, he had never seen them put on a show like this.  He was honestly and sincerely amazed.  I was vindicated.

 

 

  

 

        

   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Of all the tours we had done on this trip, this was definitely at the top of the list.  I can’t say enough good things about it.  It’s a great feeling to actually do something that you have only dreamed about.  And to share it with Dan, Tristan and Tessa, to see their enjoyment, nothing could have been better.  I’ll never forget it.