Santiago

Last weekend, we returned from a two week visit to everyone's favorite skinny country, Chile. Really, flying over it, you can see the ocean out one window, and the Andes out the other. And that's it; it is all Argentina from there.

We'll focus on Santiago for this post. But first, a little information about getting there. Because we used miles to get our tickets this past summer, we had a pretty wacky flight routing: San Francisco -> Toronto -> Santiago, making for seventeen hours in the air total. This makes for a good time to catch up on movies. And by the way, Air Canada has good equipment and service these days, so check them out. Too bad they fly through Toronto airport, which tries to foil this good experience at every turn. Anyhow, as an American, landing in Santiago means $140 before customs will let you out of the airport. This fee covers the life of your passport. Bionica's passport expires in three months. Oh well. Fifteen minutes later via taxi, and you are in Santiago.

                                                                                                                                                      Santiago is modern. If you are expecting to get there and find what most Americans think a South American city looks like, go back to the airport and fly to La Paz. Apparently, the city has really boomed over the past fifteen to twenty years, which means a glass highrise sits next to a 200 year old church. We had three days in the city, and tried to find some diversity. If you want boutiques and all general things foo foo, there are neighborhoods for that. If you want to just eat street food and find sidewalk vendors selling whatever fell off a truck, there are neighborhoods for that too. We tended to gravitate towards the latter. But whatever you choose, the Metro rail network can get you there pretty quickly, so don't bother to rent a car. One thing: you can get away with English in many major cities in the world, but not so much in Santiago. Practice your Spanish.

                                               

We saw many of the sights, like the Plaza de Armas (the original 'town square' from the city founded in 1541) and La Moneta (the presidential building). In addition to being the current executive office and residence, La Moneta is also where Pinochet carried out his military coup and overthrew Allende. A brutal regime followed. This was only 38 years ago, and is more evidence how far Santiago, and Chile, have come in a short amount of time.

Although we did not come to Chile specifically to see the cities, we enjoyed our time there. Beautiful weather (90 F / 32C everyday), incredibly friendly people and surprises around every corner.  

Highlights

Wow, it is nearly December. Sorry about that; here's a recap of what has been going on around chez small adventure:

September - Bionica and I flew to Seattle to meet up with my work mates and Bionica's sister for a 3 day backpack trip in the Cascades. The idea here was to get photos that could be used for work material in the future, so we were relieved to get good weather for most of the trip. Day one to Gravel Lake. Day two was a dayhike to lunch atop Alaska Peak, which must have made the Alaskans in the group happy, or furious that such a wimpy peak was so named, not sure. Day 3 back down in a light rain.

October - The annual Swiss trip. After some serious work during the week, my coworkers and I had the opportunity to visit the Alps, this time staying at a hut in the above Meiringen belonging to our workmate and friend, Claudia. Claudia puts on quite a show for visitors: we were fed and entertained like kings with homemade breads, cakes, meats and cheeses. It [just barely] wasn't all eating, as we hiked from her hut in Selialp to the Tschingel, high above the valley. From here you can see over Grosse Scheidegg to the Eiger and more. Great weather for being so deep into fall...this was a fun experience.

Happenings for November/December to come. There are some good ones.

Crowd Control

We tend to stay home over three day weekends. I admit that some of it is due to my inability to make plans far enough ahead of time. However, the other part of it is due to the crowds: let's face the fact that the weekends to get away from it all are typically anything but. Every cute town, campsite, trail, paddling area, bike route and more is inundated with people looking to live it up.

This year, we were no different. Bionica had a rare full three day weekend so we made a backpacking trip of it. Not knowing a lot about the Sierras still, the places I found were likely the places everyone knows about i.e. Desolation Wilderness. After some research, it seemed our best bet was to enter from the west side of the area and not the Tahoe side, if we wanted to avoid crowds. Got a permit online (good sign) and made plans.



Fast forward weeks later, and we are at the trailhead parking area. There's a swarm of kids running around, one boy telling another that HIS dad brought a hatchet. More cars are pulling in. The prospects of low-key are not looking good. Still we left for our destination, Rockbound Lake and hope for the best. The trail itself is pretty easy overall, but certainly rocky over the last third of the hike.



By the time we get there, all was quiet. Campsites were not immediately obvious, but we found a good one eventually. An hour later, after some searching, we figured it out...we were the ONLY ones there. The entire lake was ours. Dinner above the lake shore, clear skies, and a light breeze. The next day was lounging, snacking, exploring, reading, etc. Back home the third day. Turns out that this three day weekend really was about getting away from it all. Who knew?

Dog days

Summer is chugging along here in small adventureland. Work life has meant some travel for myself, and some big hours for my better-half, but we still manage to get out and about when we get the chance. Marin, the East Bay hills, Pescadero/La Honda - nice places to have nearby. Weekends, for now, are a rare and precious commodity.

As some of you already know, we have picked out the location of our next adventure, and have the tickets in hand. We leave for Chile on US Thanskgiving day and will spend 14 days checking it out. There is amazing variety there, and we haven't quite committed to an itinerary yet. If any of you have been there and have suggestions, I'd love to hear them.

Last, Kaj and myself made an experimental podcast recently. This is more of a proof-of-concept exercise for round one, but now that I know how to do it, expect more (and better) episodes to come.

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Travelling with Josh - Iceland

As seen recently on Facebook-

Iceland - Blue Lagoon

Blue Lagoon - If you are wondering what Iceland's biggest tourist attraction is, here it is. This is funny for a country that is known for its natural beauty, as the lagoon is a by-product of a geothermal plant. Water from underground is naturally heated and brought to the surface to drive steam turbines and generate electricity. The runoff water, still hot, is piped into a lava field, creating the 'lagoon'. That color comes from an algae, silica and mineral mash up, and at some point, a local jumped in for a swim and decided it made their skin feel better. Fast forward to now, and you have a spa, nearby hotel and lagoon-side bar. The silica mud is sold in boutiques in small, expensive tubes.

We had a stop and soak on our way to the airport. So what do you get for your 30 EUR a head? Well, not a towel; that's 8 EUR extra. But the lagoon is roomy, with plenty of space to find a spot and soak in the water. The temperature averages about 100 degrees F but varies depending on where you stand; wood structures on the side of the pool pump new hot water in. The nearer you stand, the warmer it gets. Also along the side is the famous silica mud, white in color. This is supposed to be good for the skin, so everyone takes a big scoop and puts it on their face. In case the scene was not alien-looking enough.

There are plenty of other ways to get your heated water fix in this country (future post soon), but we found it worth a visit, staying in for about two hours. And fear not, you can get a hot dog at the Blue Lagoon; it is Iceland, after all...

Iceland - Snacks

Hot Dogs - Iceland has a thing for pylsur (hot dogs), and think they make the best ones in the world. "One with everything" is a national phrase, and every gas station in Iceland has a special wave-shaped metal rack designed to hold a hot dog securely. The mecca for hot dogs is a small stand in Reykjavik that has been there since 1935; it is open until 3am, always has a line (see below), and everyone insists they make the best pylsur there is. The dog adds lamb to the pork and beef you're used to, and one with everything comes with ketchup, a tangy remoulade, a little mayo and crispy onion bits.

The Guardian UK calls it Europe's best hot dog. I don't know if Michael Pollan would like it, but I'm a fan.

Lamb - A traditional dish when roasted. Here's a before and after shot:


Fish - Snacks to go...

...and fish and chips (the malt vinegar cost extra; welcome to Iceland)...

...and lobster soup. Happy eating.

Iceland - Waterfalls

In Iceland, there are waterfalls everywhere. You cannot walk down a road without tripping over 4 of them, no joke. Honestly, the you get so used to seeing them that you stop taking notice after awhile, and I'm talking about examples with an honest 100ft+ drops. Here are three of note:

Glymur- Iceland's tallest waterfall, with a drop of 650ft. For the sake of comparison, the Space Needle in Seattle is 605ft tall, with guard rails at the observation deck, a luxury Glymur lacks. And the hike to see it is, interesting. I'll let Wikipedia do the talking:

The south side trail is strenuous and potential hazardous, passing along the edges of steep dropoffs...After crossing the river, the south trail climbs steeply with various muddy, rocky and loose areas. At times it skirts steep dropoffs...

I cannot imagine many trails like this can exist in the US just because it would be a lawsuit waiting to happen; the exposure at one of two points would seriously freak out anyone with the slightest fear of heights. But small adventure does it all for you, the gentle reader. My wife had to be convinced to come out to the narrow point overlooking the falls where I chose to stop and eat lunch. Probably because she watched me crawl on all fours to get there. Then again, she's a lot smarter than me.

Gullfoss- This one is easy, and is a big tourist attraction. We must have arrived early, as we had the entire place to ourselves. Then again, the wind was so strong I was nearly blown over while taking a photo. Twice. The sheer amount of water passing over this one is mind-boggling, and the sound is deafening. You cannot see the bottom either, so it appears to disappear into the earth.

Svartifoss- the name means the 'Black Fall' for obvious reasons. The crystalline shaped lava columns appear to break off with alarming regularity, judging by how many lie broken around the base of the falls. The new National Theatre in Reykjavik, which happened to be across the street from our hotel, is said to be inspired by these shapes:

But then again, it may have been inspired by bad dreams after eating too many Sheep's Heads...no one is really sure.

Iceland - Reykjavik

The first two days of our week in Iceland was spent in the capitol, Reykjavik. Of the roughly 320,000 that live in Iceland, about 200k live in the greater Reykjavik area, so it really is the big city for those living there. After landing at Keflavik, we took a shuttle to the city, and even on that stretch of road, the topography is borderline lunar. At the back of the bus was another American that liked to point out what he saw out the window at a volume that I suppose was intended for us all:

"Hey, that house has a trailer!"

Iceland has something for everyone.

Weather forecasts called for rain before we left, so we were rather surprised to find sun and temps in the low 60's when we actually got there. I saw guys walking around shirtless with shorts, so some seemed to think that summer had arrived. Mountains can be seen just outside the city, and the city extends out there quite a distance. However, most visitors stay in the old part of town, which is where most of the shopping and clubbing is.



We did see a lot of baby strollers. Apparently, Iceland has had a bit of a baby boom the past two years, with over 10,000 babies added to the herd. The joke seems to be that after the Iceland banking crisis, people couldn't afford to go out anymore, and the babies came shortly afterwards. And Icelanders don't use strollers, they use the four-wheeled pram buggies that you see in old movies. And they travel in packs, two wide, down the sidewalk.

To be honest, we got a little bored in the city; there are things to see, but I don't think there is much to Reykjavik that is distinct from other cities. Well, except the hot dogs, but we'll get to that later. It is expensive, even more so than Zurich, which is saying something, and we were not there during peak season. But no matter to us; we went to Iceland to see the country, and that we did. More to come.