Mind the Gap

Not sure why we Americans find this so funny, but at all the subway stations (or should I say underground) in big letters on the platforms it says "Mind the Gap". Basically...watchout for the large gap/hole in the ground so you don't fall in while waiting or getting on/off trains.

So, I'm in London. Well, actually I'm staying near London in Windsor. I'm here on business running some usability tests. I've had the opportunity to go into London to see some sites and if all participants show up today, I'll have the opportunity to go to London again tomorrow. I'm staying in Windsor, right by the Windsor castle which is pretty amazing. Plus, the town is very charming. There are lots of cute little shops and restaurants. I'm having a great time despite the work thing and being quite tired. Also, it's very cold! I have adjusted to living in California too well and am not liking the cold thing. I know it'll be even colder when I get to Michigan on Saturday night. It also gets dark here at around 4pm and doesn't get light again till 8ish. I know this time of year it gets dark early in California, but I recall it getting dark closer to 5pm.

Anyway, more updates and lots of pictures on Flickr later.

My Feet are Really Popular

Flickr added a new feature for stats. As an information, visualization, flickr, and photo nerd, I was compelled to try it out. It was interesting to see the most popular and most viewed of my photos. It was a bit scary that of all my 6,004 photos including many beautiful scenes in the Bay Area, Yosemite, Tahoe, places I've traveled, etc. 3 of the 10 most viewed are pictures of my feet. Yes, that's right my FEET.

• Getting a Pedicure
  
• Completed Pedicure
  
• Toes from another angle

Internet/Flickr users must have some serious foot fetishes.

Chile Summary

I'm finally going to describe in detail all that happened during our trip to Chile over Thanksgiving. I finished uploading and describing the hundreds of pictures to Flickr.

We left from LAX to fly to Santiago. The flight was at 2:30pm, so an 11 hour flight was hard since we weren't very tired. Luckily we had our own personal televisions with video games and on-demand movies. I watched 2 movies and played lots of video games.

Day 1 - We arrived in Santiago around 6am, but by the time we got through baggage claims, customs, and arrived at Matt's friend's place, it was closer to 9am. I took a nap. Then we headed out and walked to Cerro San Cristóbal, a large hill and park by the city. We investigated the Japanese garden and then took an aerial tram to the top. We walked up a flight of stairs to see the huge statue of the Virgen Mary. There were fabulous views of the city and the Andes mountains. We then took the funicular down the hill and walked around downtown. We had to go to the mall to go to the office for the airlines in order to buy our tickets for the flight the next day. This ended up delaying lunch so we had to go to a chain restaurant at the mall. At least the sandwiches were on Chilean bread and stuffed with avocado. Dinner involved more typical Chilean foods. I had a pisco sour, seafood empanadas, and chupe de jaiba (crab stew).

Day 2 - We got an early start to head to the airport for our flight south to Temuco. When we got to Temuco we went directly to the bus station to catch a bus to Pucón. We sat in the front row and spoke a bit of English. Apparently the bus driver and other bus company workers were making fun of us (according to Matt). I wasn't paying attention to their conversation and fell asleep during the ride. We arrived in Pucón in the afternoon and went to find a hostal. We found a hostal recommended in one of our books and it had availability. We then got empanadas de pino (beef) and an alfajor (sweet with Chilean dulce de leche) and ate in a park overlooking Volcán Villarica. We then went to the outfitter to book our hike up the volcano for the next day and try on equipment. After that, it was only 4pm and we still had 5 more hours of daylight. Matt wanted to see if we could go hydrospeeding (body boarding in rapids). We found a place that could take us and went. I was scared out of my mind the entire time and was very happy to be safe on land afterwards. Matt had a blast. When we got back to town, we changed and went to find pants to wear under the rain pants during the hike. Then we went to dinner. I had an empanada with spinach and artichokes. My main course was antarctic krill.

Day 3 - We woke up very early and headed to the outfitter for the hike and got suited up with our equipment. After a 40 min drive we arrived at the ski lodge of the volcano. It was still covered in snow, but was no longer open for skiing. One of the chairlifts was open, so we took that lift to save a little bit of time on the hike. Once we reached the top of the chairlift, we began to climb. It took about 5 hours of hiking up the snow to reach the top. Thankfully we had poles, but I still slipped a lot! The last part was very steep so we used ice axes. I was very happy we went at a slow pace and took lots of breaks. The views the entire time were absolutely incredible. We could see the nearby lakes and volcanoes. At the top, it was amazing to look into an active volcano that was smoking. It had a tiny eruption while we were there, so the wind blew some sulphur at us and we inhaled it. That sucked! Then we headed down and slid on our bottoms most of the way. So, it took significantly less time to reach the bottom. When we arrived back at the vans, there were guys selling beers. I couldn't resist. We then went back to town, and were exhausted, but had enough time to walk to Lake Villarica. We then showered and went to dinner.

Day 4 - Again, we woke up early to catch a bus back to Temuco for our flight back to Santiago. We got to the airport very early. There was a cafe there so I had the opportunity to try kuchen (a pastry with German influence). When we got back to Santiago, we went back to Matt's friend's apartment and then made our way downtown. We walked through the Plaza de Armas and went to the Mercado Central for lunch. I had reineta, a local fish. It was prepared with grilled tomato and melted cheese. We spent most of the afternoon trying to find soccer jerseys for the Chilean national team since we were going to the game against Paraguay that night. Since the stadium was located only a few blocks from where Matt lived, we walked by his old street and had sandwiches at a local bar. The sandwiches were small, but the highlight was Fanschop (Fanta and Draft beer). We picked up empanadas to take with us. We arrived at the game and the atmosphere was fantastic. Everyone was wearing red and was super excited. Unfortunately the team did not perform.

Day 5 - We slept in a little bit and then headed out. I picked up a pastry with manjar for breakfast. We walked downtown and climbed the many stairs at Cerro Santa Lucia, the hill and fort where Santiago was founded. There were some good views of the city. Unfortunately there was too much smog to see the mountains. We then walked to the Bellavista neighborhood to La Chascona, Pablo Neruda's Santiago house. They didn't have tour availability immediately so we went to lunch first. I had cazuela de ave, a soup with corn and chicken. Matt had a really good dish with beans and pumpkin. We then returned to La Chascona and toured the quirky, nautical inspired house. After that we went to the metro and transferred to a bus in a different part of the city. We had a reservation for a wine tour at Viña Concha y Toro, but the bus took forever and we were late. Luckily we were able to join the tour part way and in time to enter the wine cellars. Plus we had 2 tastings. We returned to town, rested a little bit, and ate dinner at near the apartment of Matt's friend.

Day 6 - We had a morning reservation for a wine tour at Cousiño Macul, so we picked up a pastry and then headed to the metro. The guide on the tour was very funny and the wines were really good. We then returned to downtown and I had to try a completo, a hot dog topped with sourkraut, tomato, and avocado. We spent a few hours at the Museo de Arte Precolumbiano after lunch. Then, we stopped by a bar called La Piojera that specialized in wine with ice cream. (called terremoto) Unfortunately, the wine was terrible and there was some strong liquor added to it. I really didn't like the concoction. I returned to the apartment to rest while Matt played tennis with a buddy. The mother of one of Matt's friends hosted us for dinner that night. We didn't sit down to eat until about 10pm, but chatted for about 3 hours.

Day 7 - We headed to the bus station first thing in the morning to go to the coast, Algarrobo for the wedding of the couple we were staying with. It was much colder and windier than I expected by the beach. We checked in to a cabaña where the party was going to be held. We had a great view of the ocean from our cabaña. The ceremony was on the beach. It was very simple, but truly lovely. After the ceremony, everyone headed back to the cabañas for a typical Chilean asado, barbecue with tons of food and drink.

Day 8 - Matt played tennis with the groom in the morning while I ate breakfast and chatted with some other wedding guests. We then went down the coast to Isla Negra, Pablo Neruda's coastal house. We then went back to the cabañas to eat leftover food for lunch with the remaining guests and newlyweds. After that we caught a bus to Valparaíso and Viña del Mar. We had difficulty getting a hold of Matt's friend there, but finally did. We wandered Viña del Mar and saw a beautiful sunset over the ocean. We then ate at a seafood restaurant with Matt's friend and her roommate.

Day 9 - We headed to Valparaíso to wander the hills and ride the ascensors. It was a very neat city with an active port. We then went to Reñaca to find a highly recommended empanada restaurant. It was not open, so we went to a seafood restaurant nearby. It had great ocean views and good food. We then went back to Valparaíso to pick up our rental car for the trip up north. Matt was a little rusty driving a stick shift, but he successfully managed to get us back to his friend's apartment in Viña del Mar. We ate dinner with Matt's friend and her roommate at a restaurant with an Argentine style parillada.

Day 10 - We woke up early to drive north to La Serena. We drove one of Matt's friends roommates and her cat since that's where her family lived. I slept for several hours of the drive. As we drove north, the terrain was much more desert-like. In La Serena, we went to the beach and Matt took a quick swim. The water was too cold for me. We picked up some empanadas and then headed east to Vicuña in Valle de Elqui. We found a hostal and made a reservation to go to the observatory that night. We continued to drive east and visited four pisco distilleries and one winery. The scenery was absolutely gorgeous with the contrast of green in the valleys and brown in the mountains. We returned to Vicuña and grabbed empanadas for dinner and went to the observatory. The sky was amazing. We could see nebulas and constellations without the telescope. With the telescope we saw particular stars and more detail of the constellation. It was also neat that 2 of the zodiac signs we could see were mine and Matt's.

Day 11 - From Vicuña we returned to La Serena and drove north to the Reserva Nacional Pingüinos de Humboldt. The highway was only 1 lane in each direction, so it was a long drive. We then turned off into windy and steep dirt road. It was also partially blocked with sand in a few spots. We successfully made it to the departure point for boats to the island. It wasn't very organized. There were just some fishermen trying to get our business to rent their boat for a tour. We were the only tourists there. Luckily some French tourists came later, but they had found a different fishermen to take them out. After some language barriers, they only spoke French and we only spoke English and Spanish, we managed to communicate to the French tourists that it would be cheaper if we went together. The fishermen had to work something out so we could go with only one guy. It worked out and we were off. There were sea lions and tons of birds near the islands. We also, saw penguins waddling around on the rocks. It was pretty amazing. After the boat tour, we returned to shore and drove back to La Serena. We checked into a hostal and Matt went swimming in the ocean. We then, drove to Coquimbo, a town about 11 km south. We wandered around and nothing seemed to be open. At around 9:30 we found a restaurant that was open and looked good. I ate Chupe de Locos, abalone stew and had a papaya sour. Since Matt drove, he didn't drink so we went for papaya sours at the only place open in La Serena when we returned.

Day 12 - Matt spent a large portion of the morning trying to find a surfboard to rent. After several hours, he finally admitted defeat. We wandered around the town of La Serena and checked out the Japanese garden. Then we left to go back south. We stopped at a surf/beach town about 15-20 miles south, but there were no waves and there was no one around to rent a board. So, we continued to drive south and picked up empanadas along the way. We stopped at the Termas de Socos, thermal baths, on the way. We then hit a stretch of 100 km with no gas stations and came dangerously close to running out of gas. Luckily we found a gas station. We ended up missing the correct turn-off during our search for a gas station and got back to Valparaíso after the rental car shop had closed. So, we spent the night in Viña del Mar. We ate at a lovely restaurant where I had Caldillo de Congrio, conger eel stew.

Day 13 - Matt got up early to go for a run and then we went to return the rental car in Valparaíso. We caught a bus back to Santiago and went back to Matt's friend's apartment. We then spent the majority of the afternoon shopping in Santiago. We ate lunch at a Peruvian restaurant in barrio Bellavista. After a busy day of shopping, Matt played tennis with a buddy and we ate dinner with the couple with whom we stayed.

Day 14 - We spent our last day in Chile wandering around Santiago. We ate lunch at a Chilean restaurant in barrio Bellavista. We visited the Chilean history museum in the Plaza de Armas. Downtown was very busy due to a national telethon that was a huge deal. In the late afternoon, Matt played tennis. We packed up our stuff and headed to the airport. We had a disappointing meal at the airport because the restaurant with typical Chilean food closed about 5 minutes before we got there. The joys of a flight at midnight. The time of the flight was actually fantastic because it was late, so we were tired and able to sleep for a large portion of the flight.

Where Did My Vacation Go?

So, I'm safe and sound back in the Bay Area. The 2 week trip to South America went by way to fast! The trip was a blast, but I wish it could've been longer. I'm now exhausted and jetlagged and not wanting to be back in the usual routine of work, gym, housework, etc. I've begun the process of uploading pictures and unpacking. This week my evenings will be full of cleaning the house (putting away halloween decorations, cleaning), laundry, and bills since a new month started. Can I go back on vacation again?

I Can´t Type

This is a very difficult entry to write. I´m sitting in an Internet cafe in Chile and the keyboard is all strange. It is meant for typing the Spanish language and I am not used to it. I keep typing the wrong keys and had to ask Matt for help to enter the ´@´key on the keyboard. I´ve accessed the internet before this, but the people we are staying with in Santiago have iMacs with the keyboard i´m used to. We return to Santiago tomorrow so if I get a chance I can type a nice long entry about what has happened over the past few days.

Srah: FYI I´ve eaten ten empanadas in the past 3 days alone :)