Don´t Cry for me Argentiiiiinaaaaa (Gill sings for Alfajors)

We arrived in Argentina mid afternoon on Tuesday. We dropped our things at the hostel, checked out Bariloche, and had delicious churros and hot chocolate (okay and some other artisan chocolate) for lunch, then headed to an Argentinian Steakhouse (Parilla) El Boliche de Alberto for dinner.

The crew at Alberto s for the best ever steak and lots of Malbec.

The steak was AMAZING!! You could actually cut it with a spoon.

We packed the next two days with activities. After a late night of steak and wine, we woke up early to hit the slopes of Cerro Catedral for some skiing... in August! Another one of those, I cant believe that this is my life moments for sure. The views from the top of the mountain were unbelievable and with a sunny day hovering around 0, the conditions were absolutely perfect.

I am skiing in Argentina in August (repeat). J, G, and Alex.

After a jam packed day of skiing, we went for happy hour at a beer bistro and ended up sticking around for dinner. The next morning we headed out for some horseback riding and Argentinian wine and BBQ.

Gillian on her horse.

Tomorrow we head to Buenos Aires.

Ciao!

G & J

Pretend Penguins in Puerto Varas

¨Cold? Pretend you are a penguin!¨
Sage advice from our esteemed tour leader, especially in the rainforests of Puerto Varas. ¨

We arrived in Puerto Varas, our last stop in Chile, yesterday afternoon. We were a bit bumbed to learn that we wouldn´t be able to see the penguins at Chiloe Island as they are only there in summer, but were still really psyched to check out the volcanos and rainforests around the costal town and Chile´s largest lake, Llanquihue. We were also distracted by a late afternoon lunch at Fogon ¨Las Buenas Brassas¨Restaurant, a famous seafood place in P. Varas. G and I split a castiron dish filled with creamy, buttery king crab and topped with cheese for like $10. It was to die for. We are massive fans of the food on this trip.

We spent some time exploring the town and watched the sunset over the lake change the colours of the volcanoes (spectacular views of El Volcan Osorno among others). A late dinner of empanadas and Kuchen at Dane´s and we were ready for bed before our adventure day in the National Park the next morning.

Richard (Justines new llama) enjoyed the view very much.

osorno at sunset.


We made the most of our only full day in Puerto Varas with a jam-packed tour of the area starting with a visit to Volcan Osorno. We then hiked for a few hours from base or Osorno down into a valley through dense forest. It was really cool to see the landscape change from sparse to full on rainforest to temperate forest similar to what we would see in Canada with volcanic rock under foot the entire time.

hiking away!

After lunch we visited the STUNNING Petrohue falls. It was a HOLY MOLY is this real life kind of day. The views were just beyond words really. See pics below:

i really could not get over how perfect the views were. oh em gee!

G s yoga posing at the falls

We capped off the tour at Lago Todo Los Santos --

Gill, Alberto, and Justine. Note Gill has been practising her photo jump since Asia.

We celebrated the German heritage of Puerto Varas with dinner at a German pub.

Tomorrow we head to Argentina!

Hot Springs and Hasta Luego Pucon!

After our epic trek up Volcan Villarica (the most active volcano in Chile. What up?¿?) we couldn´t think of a more relaxing and refreshing way to spend the next day but with some good books by the fire, delicious desserts, and hot springs.

Before I talk about how awesome today was, I must let you know that after our epic trek we went bacdk to the hostels where the boys (see weaker sex) cooked us a fabulous dinner of fajitas including fresh grilled veggies and even refried beans. Go latins! ... okay... go Roberto and his kitchen helpers ;) ... After dinner Justine opened the door for a couple of gentlemen thinking that they were looking for the hostel owner. Nope. These were Jamal and Craig´s new friends, a bodyguard and a ´famous´ Chilean rapper. The bodyguard had abandoned the trek with Jamal and Craig and had bonded with them in a chalet that afternoon. The lone Chilean that had hiked up with us turned out to be a Chilean Eminem. Random!! They hung out at our hostel for several rounds of Spanish drinking games.

The next morning Gill and I enjoyed coffee and reading by the fire before heading out for life chats and delicious Alfajor. Below is what it looks like. I would upload an original photo but we inhale them too fast. Deeeeelicious! It basically 2 shortbread-ish biscuits with dulce de leche in the middle and the primary cause of my vacation weight.

aflahor (pronounced alpha whore).
 
After a nice quiet lunch we packed our swimsuits and headed out to take advantage of this volcano land´s natural hot springs for an afternoon. The location was stunning. There were 6 large pools that ambled along the side of a rapid-filled stream. We started at the bottom then worked our way up to the hottest pool over the course of the afternoon.

Back from the hot springs we went to a traditional Chilean restaurant for dinner where Gillian tried the Hake fish and Justine had ¨¨Meat in Pot¨¨. Yummay.

meat in pot.  rock on.
 
Tomorrow we head to Puerto Varas bright and early.

Ciao!

G & J

WE CLIMBED A VOLCANO!!!!!!!

DAY FIVE

Sometimes a picture is worth a thousand words, and in this case this is definitely true.  Here´s some moments from our 8 hour journey up and down the Volcan Villacar (which is 2,800 metres tall and a part of the Andies mountains).

I know we said no words, but a few things to point out -
- it was freaking hard and pretty cold too (Gill even wore a touque)
- 75% of our group didn´t make it (the wimp paddlers from the day before lasted 45 minutes)
- snow we had to tredge through was thigh deep
- we were promised we´d be able to sled down the hill, but the snow was so deep this was impossible
- Our guide Joachim nicknamed us LAS CHICAS FORTAS!

our group pre-hike

 

 

just above the clouds.  NBD.

the 4 that made it longer than 2 hours - Andy, Alex, Gill and Justine

the guide and Gill leading the way (shocking I know!)

the happiest girls.  5 hours later we reached our destination!

New Zealand and Canada = Survivors! 

 

Snow in August! - Pucon, Chile

DAY FOUR
After a long bus ride overnight (though we´ll admit that we did both sleep for most of it thanks to our good friend, Gravol), we arrived in a very cute little town called Pucon, which is a small outdoor adventure type town home to many hostels, shops and resto´s, on the lake and shadowed by the Andies mountains.  We knew instantly that we´d have a great time here as our guide Alberto informed us there´d be plenty of activities to choose from!  He was definitely right as as soon as we checked into our hostel, a little Chilean man (who owned a travel agency) showed up with a slide show of all the stuff to do.  Some looked great (volcano climb) and others didn´t (paintball).  We made a decision as a group and decided to go with a white water rafting trip for this afternoon, to do the volcano climb on Friday, and then enjoy the Hot Springs on Saturday. 

We popped around the town a little bit, had a delicious lunch of burgers, and settled into the hostel.  The views of the lake and surrounding town were lovely!

look at the size of this burger (PS the random in the back is not the caddy from Happy Gilmore, but our guide Alberto)!

We then asked ourselves a very important question - what do you wear when you go white water rafting when it is winter outside (like 1 or 2 degrees maximum) and when you know the river´s flowing strong thanks to metling snow.  Answer - a simple wet suit with booties and gloves, of course (Gillian immediately looked skeptical but Justine was already splashing around in the river, and there was no turning back).

G Adventures group picture before hitting the water for our white water rafting

We ended up having a great time, though we were really chattering at the end!  Justine went in the water voluntarily and Gillian had the misfortune of being of the side of the boat that was dipped in the river at one point (Justine saved Gill, though). Somehow we got in both the smallest boat, and the one where nobody knew how to paddle (cough cough English boys).  It was very rough and very wet with level 3 and 4 rapids but somehow, we survived (yay!).  The guide even gave Team Canada mad props. 

After the best showers of our lives and some pisco sours, we, alongwith Alexandra from New Zealand, joined  forces to make a delicious lasagna dinner for the group.  Despite having only butter and no oil, it turned out great (probably in large part thanks to the wine we used to give the sauce some body).  After swapping stories and sharing with our new friend over a glass of wine it was off to bed for the next day.  Fun fact we learned by the way, Gillian apparently has a stronger Canadian accent than Justine.  Wasn´t sure if that was a compliment or not ha!  Time to sleep in advance of our climb! 

Where´s the Wine? - Santiago, Chile

DAY ONE
After 20 long hours with Air Canada we stumbled into the Santiago airport and paid for our Visas. Because it was 3 in the morning, we felt too guilty to wake up Jonathan, the owner of our hostel, Castillero Surfista, so we purchased drinks and napped in the Gatsby restaurant. At 5am we found a taxi and shivered in front of our hostel in the balmy 2 degree weather waiting to be lead to our beds. Sleep was delicious!!!!!!

our hostel
After a few short hours of it we got up and explored the Bella Vista area of the city which is packed with shops and restaurants and has a great almost Annex-y vibe to it. Bordering the neighbourhood is the Cerro San Cristobal which is a massive hill that overlooks the city and has a giant statue of the Virgin Mary at the top. We were advised not to hike to the top and that there was a cable car that can transport you there but we assumed our advisor didn´t realize that we are in excellent shape (and needed a walk after our plane sits and plane ride) so we decided to walk it. Along the way we asked a random to take our picture and it turned out that he was on our tour that would start in 2 days. Small world. At the top of the hill the world got even smaller when 2 guys from Ontario (one from Mike Kilby´s home town of Corunna) approached us seeing Justine´s Blue Jays t-shirt. We ended up having lunch and beers with them for the afternoon.

on the way!

there´s Mary looking over the Chilean people
After grabbing some groceries and another drink with the Canadians, it was straight off to bed for us - we knew we´d need all the energy we could get for wine drinking for the next few days!


DAY TWO
We woke up feeling rested and refrshed enough to pack up our bags, say goodbye to Jonathan (after J wrote him the best review ever on Hostel Bookers) and walk with our packs about 20 minutes over to the hotel where we´d be meeting up with our G Adventures tour!  The new hotel, Hotel Riviera, was a bit closer to the Santa Lucia park and therefore a bit closer to the main area of downtown, however it definitely wasn´t a cute and quainte hostel like Surfista.  We dumped our packs and walked through Santa Lucia park, which of course, also has a hill, was also full of stray dogs, and was PACKED with couples.  Imagine 50 plus dates going on all at once, and all of them are making out.  So lovely.  We also got used to some Chilean hospitality in the form of whistles, kissing noises, and cat calls (apparently not everyone was making out).  We enjoyed the park and its views very much.

park architecture

view from park

We then wandered, thanks to our handy guidebook, to the Old City for a delicious lunch (and of course, Cristal beers mmm).   After lunch we decided to hit the main Santiago attraction (at least for us), the wineries.  Trusty guidebook in hand, we headed to the Subway (which is long and very easy to navigate thankfully!), changed trains a few times, and emerged at Tobalaba station.  Imagine our surprise when we were in the middle of a commercial district and the first cab we stopped said it would cost $40 to get to the winery, which, per the guidebook, was 5 minutes away.  After much confusion and help from some Chilean samaritans, we learned our money was NOT well spent on our guidebook, which had taken us to the commercial office of the winery.  Boo.  We were still optimistic, and decided to try out the instructions to get to Santa Carolina winery, as we had some time before we had to meet our group.  Back to the subway and off at the correct stop, we arrived in a sketch industrial area (sorry moms, it was dangerous), and asked our way with J´s impecible spanish until we found the correct street.  Super pumped we finally found a winery, we high fived, took photos, and looked for the entry door.  When we found the entrance, we just strolled on in, only to be halted by security, asking us in spanish who we were there to visit. After some confused conversations where all we really confirmed was that we were Canadian, and that the guidebook told us there was a daily 430 PM tour, security phoned a sales rep to come help us who was, thankfully, english speaking.  

Strike two guidebook - there are no daily tours. In fact the winery at that location hasn´t even worked since the 2010 earthquake.  Oopsies.  It ended up, however, that the sales rep who met up with us, was fond of Canada as his largest account is the LCBO! So we scored a great little private tour of the grounds and of the cellar, which opened in 1875, which is a Chilean monument.  Watch out Eric, Justine wants to move your wedding to be here...

Santa Carolina´s cellar.

After the tour we went back to old city, enjoyed a glass of wine, and then met up with our G Adventures group.  We were pleased to learn they all seemed normal enough, and covered countires including Spain, England, New Zealand and Singapore.  Dinner was as a group and was excellent again, and drank Pisco Sours and Cristal Beer late into the night. 


DAY THREE
We woke up really ready to taste some wine today, the final day in Santiago.  We started the day with some shopping in the Santa Lucia market (guess what, we got some new llama finger puppets!!) and wandered around  Plaza de Armas, though the weather was nasty and rainy so we didn´t stay outside for too long.  We grabbed a light lunch at one of the cute cafe´s we had spotted in old city and then grabbed the Subway and headed to Concha y Toro.  Don´t worry, we left the guidebook at home and googled it instead like the modern women we are.  A long subway journey took us to an area that actually looked correct! Yay!  A quick cab ride later, we arrived at the very beautiful vineyard and joined the English speaking tour (3 peoplein English group, 50 people in Spanish group ha).  The tour was great, we really enjoyed seeing the grounds, hearing the legend of the diablo in the cellar (which is there the name of the wine, Castillero del Diablo comes from)! Of course, we also enjoyed the tasting thoroughly.

about to brave the cellar...

... and we spotted el Diablo!

It freezing cold and pouring and Justine, for the first time ever, didn´t have her poncho at the ready, so we headed to a cafe to enjoy some light reading, chatting and (not so light) hot chocolates to our warm us up.  We slowly made our way back to the hotel to meet up with our group, had a dinner of Chilean hot dogs (which we do not recommend), and then took off for the night bus to Pucon, the sight of phase two of our adventure.  We loved Santiago, but were hoping this city would have less PDA, fewer cat calls, and less stray dogs.  We KNEW it would have lots more good times!

 

Travel woes and Monday in Santiago

Hi Everyone! 

As many of you saw on Facebook, we had some serious challenges making it to Chile with our first flight cancelled (after sitting on plane for 4 hours) because of air conditioner problem, and the second flight the next day delayed because of engine problems. We did finally arrive 20 hours later than expected (but safely!) to our cute hostel owned by a surfer originally from California. 

After 3 hours sleep we decided it would be a good time to trek up one of the mountains to visit the Santa Maria statue (think Brazil's Christ the Redeemer except with Mary!). Which took us the better part of the day. Along the way we were able to meet up with Frank, a guy who will apparently be on our G Adventures tour which starts tomorrow, and a couple guys from Kincardine, Ontario (they spotted Justine's Jays tee shirt) and had a good lunch and some beers with them. Tonight we're looking forward to hanging a bit in the cool district and enjoying some more delicious foods!

Tomorrow we will be hitting up the wineries and doing some shopping before meeting up with our tour! Talk to everyone soon! Love G and J.