Chilean Pacific Coast and Wineries

Carmen and Bernie

Thursday , March 17, 2016 WTRD 69

Today in exchange for driving expenses, our host Bernie and her friend Carmen, are taking us to the Chilean coast.  We leave Santiago about 9:30 and drive to San Antonio, a large seaport for both cargo ships and fisherman.

The day is grey and overcast.  It is cool and it reminds us of an industrialized Half Moon Bay.

The smell of sea and fresh fish fill our heads.  Fisherman sell their catch in stalls, and locals line the pier waiting for the catch right off the boats.

We walk along the promenade and are fascinated by the huge dog faced sea lions.  They look so different than the ones we see in northern California, and they have manes like real lions.

We weave our way through small towns along the coast, none looking very prosperous as if their glory days have long past and now look worn, tattered by the sea and neglect, and covered with graffiti.  The coast line is rocky.  The overcast does not burn off and we miss what we are told a beautiful blue sea. Today it is steel grey and uninviting.  The temperature is in the low seventies, coolish, and comfortable.

Bernie is taking us to Pablo Neruda, Chilean Noble Literature Laureate and Political figure, sea home in Isle de Negra. The home is a sprawling one and two story structure strung out along the coast line.  One side of every room faces the sea and the spectacular coast line, not unlike that which one sees in Carmel and, the other the natural flora behind.  Many of the rooms are glass on both sides.

Neruda was a collector of shells, ships figureheads, books, telescopes, and nautical artifacts.  He had worked hard to maintain his childhood whimsy and curiosity in his adult life.  The visit was well worth the drive to the coast. 

After this visit we search for a restaurant up the coast that Bernie enjoyed a couple of years ago when she was last here.  It is a seafood restaurant on the beach.  It is fall here now and the beach is quiet.  Only a few people are walking along the golden sand.  The restaurant will close for the season after March.  We order our meals.  Russ orders a fried white fish topped with almonds and shrimp. I have an excellent salad with smoked salmon and shrimp.  

The sun, the sky, the sea, make me drowsy, and I nap a bit on the way to the wine country, the Casablanca Valley.  We make two stops at the Vinamar

and Vina Indomita,

 but are too late at both for tours.  White wines are specialty in the Casablanca valley.  We have time for a few photos before we leave and return to Santiago.  It is almost 6:00 pm.  The value added tax in Chile makes the wine very expensive.  We are told that it is cheaper to buy the wines in the US.

Another new and wonderful friend, Bernie (Decochic) from Santiago, Chile

We return to Santiago about 7:30, and enjoy a light meal with Bernie, before packing and retiring for the night.  We have had a wonderful stay here with our host.  This was the perfect balance of homestay accommodation and friendship.  We have been very impressed with Chile.  Santiago is by far is the cleanest and most forward city in South America so far.  Tomorrow we leave for the last leg of our trip, Peru and the Galapagos Islands.

All is Well with the Worrall Travel Rs, Our last Night in Chile.

Good bye Rapa Nui - Return to Santiago

Wednesday, March 16, 2016 WTRD 68

Our plane does not leave until this afternoon, so we have a leisurely morning, slow breakfast, packing, and walk downtown.  We have made our seat assignments at the LAN (airline) office.  Angie and Kathleen, as retired airline employees are on reciprocity standby.  They intend to leave with us, but Angie admits she is always anxious until they are in their seats because there is always the possibility they won't get a seat.  Kathleen doesn't worry.  If they don't get a seat, then they will go to plan B whatever that is.  She is more comfortable with uncertainty and is the primary travel planner.

Russ and I spend the morning walking around town buying a few souvenirs.  We leave for the airport early so that Angie and Kathleen can get on the standby list.  Russ and I go through security with our boarding passes.  We save some seats in the waiting area for Angie and Kathleen, but as they are on standby they will be the last ones coming through security and to the gate if they get on the plane.

We board the plane and keep our eyes open for  our friends.  The plane, a large 787 dream liner is very full.  Before the plane takes off, I am sound asleep and wake somewhere over the Pacific.  As we fly east, the sky grows darker.  We arrive in Santiago at 9:08 and make our way to the luggage claim.  There is no sign of Kathleen or Angie.  We can only assume they did not make it on the plane.  We had such a nice time with them, we regret that we did not have a chance to say a proper goodbye with hugs and promises to come and visit us.  

Thank you Kathleen and Angie for all your kindness, energy, and laughs.  Keep in touch.  Hope  you make it off the island.  Looking forward to an update.

Bernie was right on time and picked us up as we exited the airport.  Returning here was like returning home.  It felt warm and comfortable.  While we were gone, Bernie changed the all the textile coverings of both the room and bathroom textiles. All lovely and very welcoming.  After a fresh fruit drink, we retired for the night.  Tomorrow, Bernie and her friend and business partner Carmen, are taking us out to the Chilean Seaside and Wine Country.

All is Well with the Worrall Travel Rs in Santiago, Chile

Walking Statues

Tuesday, March 15, 2016 WTRD 67

Yesterday, because we got up long before the rooster crowed, we were surprised at the cacophony of sounds this morning as dawn: dogs barking, roosters crowing, babies crying, and church bells ringing.  It would have been impossible without earplugs to sleep past 6:00 am.

Today, it would have been nice to sleep in as our guide for the day is not coming until 10:00 am.  Angie and Kathleen had pre-booked a group tour for Tuesday.  Russ and I had booked a private tour with a local historian and an indigenous descendant of Raps Nui and President of the group to revitalize Rapa Nui's cultural heritage.

Kake was going to be the driver, Jethro the guide, but Kake had a health issue the day before.  She didn't speak much English, but Jethro said she had a pre-cardiac attack.  Not sure what that meant, but she didn't look too well.  I was hoping it wasn''t caused by the half dozen donuts we had given her the day before, but Jethro said she smoked too much.

The end result was that Kake had to bow out as the driver, so she rented a car for us.  Russ drove and Jethro (who only had a motorcycle license was our native, English speaking guide for the day. 

During the day we ran into Kathleen and Angie several times at different village and ahu sites.  We were pleased to have our guide.  He was well researched, a recipient of oral history from his ancestors, and passionate about Rapa Nui and the heritage he wanted to leave for the next generation.

Red Rock used for Wind Crowns on Moais

Foundation Stones for Upside Down Boat Shaped House

Cows and horses run wild everywhere in Rapa Nui.  This is a problem, not only because tourists run into them, but they trample the petroglyphs and historic sites.  Jethro explained that he took photographs 15 years ago of the petroglyphs. He pointed out to us how they can barely be recognized today because of the livestock damage.

We learned the oral and researched history of the island, most of what Russ had pre-read, but certainly more significant from Jethro.  Russ was keenly interested in visiting the quarry on the side of a volcanic crater where the moats were carved.  From here the moais (statues) often in excess of 10 tons, and 10 meters high were transported to their ahus 20 kilometers away.  Keep in mind, the only tools the early indigenous had were rocks (obsidian, pumas, igneous rocks) and limited wood.  How were these moais moved?

There were so many villages and generations of dying chiefs, production of the moais had to become efficient.  The Rapa Nui people quarried and carved the moais on a steep volcanic hillside.

Some of the workers did the rough cuts, others did the finish work.  The hillside is stepped out with many in production, one on top of the other so as not to waste materials.

Each terraced step is a moai in production

While there were plenty of rocks, they knew their source was not unlimited, and they were careful not to waste.

Can you see the middle moai being carved.  He is supine on a diagonal.

As centuries passed, the moai noses became more refined (artistic license)

The first post production step was to move the statue from the carving site which may have been in a horizontal position so that it was positioned vertically on the mountain side with the head uphill and the base down hill.  Using the natural steep incline of the mountain, fulcrum leveraging, vegetable twine ropes, and lots of human muscle, the statues were pulled upright.  (Human power was essential, and large families were encouraged).

The artistic late-model nose

The earlier realistic nose 

 The base of the statues were rounded like a cup that could sit flat but could also be be shifted one way or the other  or "walked" over the terrain to its presentation ahu.  Our guide said moving "walking" the statues is like positioning a refrigerator, a side to side  diagonal pull, push and walk.  Yes, it took a lot of time and energy, but what else was there to do, and they had unlimited time.  Besides, they needed to work to get their chickens (seriously!).

There are other theories of how the statues got from one place to the other.  The one Jethro presented to us was his first and best theory.  He said another was to use logs to roll the statues, and the least likely was by boat.  One only needs to look at the unforgiving coast line, the small size of the vakas, and the tremendous size and weight of the moais to realize how unlikely this theory is.  And of course he dismissed with disdain any notion that aliens moved the statues.

The quarry was fascinating.  From here we visited petroglyphs, more ahus.

These are the moai we saw in the dawn the day before.  Our guide said they had been reconstructed by a construction company who would do the work for nothing if they could get advertising credit.  Jethro was not happy with reconstruction.  He said the statues were not in the proper order as one would expect from growing size and style of the moai.  He also said the construction company destroyed all of the house foundations around the ahu.

and the beautiful white sand beach where oral history and the size of the house foundation indicated this was the original settlement of the king.

We returned to our cabanas around 5:00 pm, cleaned up, drank wine coolers, and snacks prepared by Angie.  It had been a full day for all of us.  As the sky turned orange, we dashed to the beach to catch our final sunset.

We leave tomorrow for Santiago.

All is Well with the Worrall Travel Rs in Rapa Nui (Easter Island)