Monterey, California

I love visiting Monterey. Not only is it a cute town with plenty of great hiking and farm fresh produce nearby, I get to spend time with two of my closest friends (and their dog!).

 

Pinnacles National Park was beautiful with a fantastic trail that took us high up to a gorgeous view of the California landscape.

 

We hiked through a couple of caves along the way.

 

We found a pair of juvenile turkey vultures preening on a rock.

 

I came upon a garter snake sunning itself on the trail. We were surprised it hadn't moved away before we were upon it, but as long as we stayed still, the snake didn't bother to move.

 

Over the course of the day, we also saw deer, lizards, squirrels, and this stellar blue jay.

 

The pine cones are so ridiculously enormous, they dwarf Mini Bear!

 

Another perk of visiting my friends is getting my own behind the scenes tour of Monterey Bay Aquarium, where they both work.

 

I saw the sea otters being fed and also got to visit two otters not presently on exhibit. There was a small window just above the water line on the tank and when I put my hand in the window as instructed, an otter came up and slapped my hand. My first sea otter high five!

 

Outside, a seal lay lazily on a rock while sea otters in the kelp forest peered at kayakers. Just that morning, two juvenile and three adult orca whales were spotted passing through the bay! I missed the whales by a couple of hours, so now I've missed orca sightings in two continents!

 

I checked out the psychedelic jellyfish exhibit.

 

From the top of the aquarium's impressive one million gallon tank, I got to watch hammerhead sharks and the odd looking mola fish (pictured) being fed.

 

Today I learned that a group of sea otters is called a raft and a group of sharks is fittingly called a shiver. I watched a short presentation about how wildlife have inspired inventors and learned that one of the designers of Japan's famous bullet trains was a bird enthusiast and, after watching the kingfisher bird dive silently into the water to fish, he modeled the front of the bullet train off of the kingfisher's beak so that the train would be quiet when emerging from tunnels.

 

The rest of my too brief time in Monterey was spent with my friends watching movies, taking the dog for walks, eating well, and catching up. As usual, my visit in Monterey has gone by far too fast!

 

Happily back in Santiago

I made my way back to my beloved Santiago and was again fortunate enough to stay with my friend's mom. My main goal in the city was to visit the Paraguayan embassy to get a visa but I figured I'd take the opportunity to visit a couple of sights I'd previously missed.

 

First on my list was El Museo del Memoria y los Derechos Humanos. It's a powerful and thoughtful museum, akin to the Holocaust Museum in Washington, DC. Photos are not permitted inside, which is probably for the best as this kept me focused and present.

 

The museum begins with photos of memorials throughout the country dedicated those who were tortured, killed, or disappeared during Pinochet's dictatorship.

 

A TV plays footage from the morning of September 11, 1973 when the Chilean Air Force attacked La Moneda. The black and white footage is grainy and eerie.

 

A book of children's art from the 1980s, titled "Quermos Ser Felices Hoy" (We Want to be Happy Today), is haunting. These children realize their loved ones are gone for good and are fearful. It reminded me Of "I Never Saw Another Butterfly," a book of art and writings from children in World War II concentration camps.

 

The museum documents the human rights abuses by Pinochet and his government, how Chileans coped, and the world's response (or lack thereof). It was fascinating to see Chile's journey from democracy to dictatorship and ultimately back to democracy when Pinochet lost a 1988 referendum. TV commercials urged Chileans to vote either sí for Pinochet to remain in power or no to remove Pinochet and return to democracy. In the end, 43% voted sí for Pinochet while 54% voted no.

 

When I visited, the museum featured an exhibition of Botero's paintings and sketchings on Abu Ghraib. Normally, Botero's oversized representations of people make me smile. Here, however, because he has vividly depicted brutal scenes of torture and humiliation of suspected terrorists at the hands of a few American soldiers, the exaggerated softness and curves of his figures makes them seem vulnerable and lonely.

 

For something a little lighter, I planned to see La Chascona, Pablo Neruda's house. He had three houses in Chile, each of which is reportedly overfilled with the items he collected. There was a three hour wait for the next available guided tour and you had to do a tour to get inside. Disappointing, but I was delighted when I realized she wanted to put me in a Spanish language tour. I asked about English tours and she responded, "Pero eres chileno, no?"

 

Quick aside: I met a pretentious backpacker in a hostel somewhere earlier on this trip who gushed about how Neruda was her all time favourite Chilean poet. I said if she could name just one other Chilean poet of any time, I'd give her $100. Perhaps not my most patient moment, but she calmed down after that. For future reference, Gabriela Mistral is a famous Chilean poet who was the first Latin American to win the Nobel Prize in Literature and appears on the 5,000 peso bill.

 

Since it was a clear, non-hazy day, I wandered from Neruda's house towards Cerro San Cristobal. You can either walk up the hill (something I usually enjoy doing) or take the funicular up a steep incline. When the pope visited the city in 1987, he rode it to the top so I figured the funicular was good enough for me.

 

At the peak is the Virgin of the Immaculate Conception.

 

I had a great view of the city and the surrounding mountains.

 

For me, a trip to Santiago isn't complete without spending seem time in Parque Forestal.

 

Of course, this meant Mini Bear I found ourselves back at El Emporio La Rosa for an afternoon ice cream. On top was frambuesa menta, which was so refreshing, and my curiosity led me to try chocolate pepper. It wasn't nearly as spicy as I has expected, though about a minute after I had finished it, I realized my tongue was tingling and mildly burning the way it did when as a kid I'd eat too many of those spicy cinnamon hearts at Valentine's Day!

 

Pucon miscellaneous

It's always a great feeling when you realize you don't have to do something you don't want to do. I had a bus ticket for Buenos Aires but after a night of, um, celebrating our volcano summit and thinking about all of the places in Chile I still wanted to visit, I ran down the street to the bus company and refunded my ticket with minutes to spare. I happily spent another day in Pucon and made plans for my next stop.

 

In the meantime, here are a few miscellaneous Pucon memories.

 

El Refugio Hostel was great and I loved getting to stay in a dome tent!

 

An attempt to hike to Ojos de Caburga was thwarted by a sudden and heavy downpour. Fortunately, we managed to take this shot of me crossing the Delaware before the rains came.

 

On my second hike to Salto el Claro, I was able to cross off one item from my to do list for the year. There are no photos of this event but there was definitely a witness who was kind enough to hold a towel open for me as I ran out of the ice cold water. (Haha! Thanks again!)

 

Pucon's picturesque lake was busy with visitors, including hungry dogs and fake lifeguards.

 

I found a great tree to climb...and then realized I had no one with me to take the photo.

 

A sunny afternoon was put to good use sipping on terremotos and beer at a sidewalk cafe.

 

Until I saw this sign, I hadn't realized the town had such unique parking regulations.

 

When the clouds finally parted after a week, I caught my first glimpse of the volcano that was the entire reason for me lingering in Pucon.

 

The clouds then reappeard, but only to create a vivid sunset.

I loved my time here and the people that I met. Goodbye Pucon! I hope to be back someday.

 

Volcan Villarrica (finally!)

It took a week for the weather to cooperate so I could climb Volcan Villarrica, but today was the day and it did not disappoint!

 

As we drove to the volcano, it put on a fantastic show for us. The sky was still black and dotted with stars. We could see steam rising from the crater. It was flame orange in color from the lava churning below. It was dramatic and beautiful, just the thing to get everyone excited in the pre-dawn hours.

 

Volcan Villarrica is 2,847 meters. The hike starts at 1,400 meters and the first portion is so steep that you can take a chairlift to cut off an hour of uphill hiking. I was keen to hike the whole distance so I skipped the chairlift, as did the majority of the my group. We were about twenty hikers plus a few guides. It was definitely a big group but we were mostly from the same hostel and we generally moved at a steady enough pace that our size didn't matter.

 

We traveled in single file most of the way up. This made conversations difficult so one Canadian started posing riddles. This kept us engaged in the moments when we weren't looking around to take in the view.

 

As we began the climb and the sun started to rise, there was a bizarre diagonal line on the horizon. No one could figure out what it was until it finally occurred to someone that it was the volcano's shadow!

 

The terrain changed from loose gravel to snow/ice as we gained elevation so we took a break to put on our crampons before carrying on. The hiking boots were heavy to begin with so the crampons didn't do me any favors, but I was too happy with the novelty of wearing spikey shoes up a volcano to let gravity wear me down.

 

With breaks, it took about four hours and twenty minutes to reach the summit. It was definitely busy up there between the twenty plus in my group and all of the other trekking companies with a week's backlog of climbers but there was plenty of gorgeous scenery to go around. It was a clear and sunny day, no clouds to obstruct the views. I ate my lunch with my legs dangling over the side and staring at Lanin, another nearby volcano at approximately 3,749 meters. Not bad!

 

I started to walk around the crater but the sulphur gases burned my throat in no time after walking in one direction so I headed back to indulge in silly photos.

 

I didn't want to leave the views behind, but our guides said we would be able to slide down parts of the volcano, so that's all it took to convince me! Everyone had a plastic sheet to sit on for the sections that were less icy. To brake, we used our ice axes. A few sections were a little slow and traffic would pile up but we generally slide along at a consistent speed. Occasionally, one area would've particularly icy and I went absolutely flying down the volcano! Once of twice I ended up in a small pile of bodies at the bottom of a slide.

 

Circling above us were two condors. Their wing spans were undeniably massive. They swooped in lower and I wondered if they were trying to establish who was the weakest of the group and might make a tasty lunch!

Once we had discarded our crampons, we ended up running down the volcano due to its pitch and the loose dirt and gravel that constantly gave way beneath our feet.

 

Back in the van, most everyone passed out, but we found our energy again that night to celebrate with a BBQ and plenty of Chilean wine.