Happy Holiday's Everyone!
We wanted to write an end-of-year hello to all of our friends and family. We hope this finds you well and wanted you all to know that we think of you often. We are enjoying our time in Chile and plan on heading to Argentina in mid January. Our first stop over the border will be Neuquen, but we hope to spend a bit of time living in Bariloche, visiting Mendoza and ending our Argentine time in Buenos Aires.
Sarah's research is coming along well, and Paul's Spanish is somewhere between "so-so" and "coming along well". Summer has arrived in full force, and we love being so close to so many beautiful mountains and lakes. If only we had 3 years, an endless ATM account balance and a pick-up truck, then the dream would never die!
For the next two weeks we will be traveling around the southern half of Chile with Sarah's parents. The highlights will most certainly include Torres del Paine, Chiloé and return visits to Parque Nacional Puyehue and the city of Valdivia. We will get back to the busy work of updating the blog sometime during the first week of January. Until then we hope your holidays and the last week of December is filled with smiles, laughs, good times and lots of love.
Sarah and Paul
Sunday, December 23, 2007
Season's Greetings
Friday, December 21, 2007
Villarica and Pucón
Last week Sarah was in Santiago conducting interviews and the like which left me with time on my hands. Our time in Bariloche had been so re-energizing that I decided to spend some time in Chile’s version of Bariloche – Pucón. But instead of spending a bundle on food and lodging I stayed in the nearby town of Villarrica.
I booked a room with la Torre Suiza, a Swiss owned hostel 3 blocks from the bus stand in Villarrica. The owners spent two and a half years riding their bicycles around the world in the mid 1990s and when they came to Chile and saw Villarrica they decided that this was the town for them. The hostel has old creaking wood floors throughout its 3 stories. I was lucky enough to get a room on the 3rd floor with a stunning view of Volcán Villarrica and one heck of a slanted ceiling. In fact the ceiling was so slanted that I could only stand up straight near the door.
I had initially planned to stay at la Torre Suiza for 3 nights and then head over to Pucón but as the days passed, I could not pull myself from the place. The breakfasts were minimal but great with homemade bread, fresh jam, fresh fruit, fresh yogurt, and bottomless cups of tea and coffee. Everyday new travelers would arrive and their stories were fun to hear. The owners of the hostel are Swiss German and I think that is why many of the guests were European. The hostel was so comfortable that it started to feel like home. I even hung out with one of the maids and chatted with her in my hit and miss Spanish.
Villarrica and Pucón are great places to spend time. The main reason being because there is so much outdoor activity at your feet everyday of the week. On Monday I arrived and ate ice cream. On Tuesday I went mountain biking on the back roads around town (and ate ice cream). On Wednesday I went for a hike – one part hiking, one part bushwhacking – along the Trancura River delta near Pucón (and ate ice cream). On Thursday I went fly fishing down the Tolten River, which flows west from the town of Villarrica. On Friday I went rafting on the lower section of the Trancura River. On Saturday, I had such a good time on Friday that I went river rafting again on the upper section of the Trancura (and ate ice cream). Then on Sunday, I rounded out the week with a short trek near Lago Calburga just north and east of Pucón before heading back to Temuco.
The week was great and what made the week even better was that fact that the food, especially the ice cream (in case you haven’t already guessed), is fantastic in both towns. Chocolate covered Florentines, artisanal ice cream, half liters of Kuntsmann draft beer, plates of roasted chicken with meat that falls off the bone, fresh trout full of flavor, and a novelty hybrid snack that combines the fluffy, flaky pastry of a croissant with the fillings and warmth of an empanada. Mmm. The week’s eating was just as great as the week’s hiking, biking, fishing and rafting.
Fly Fishing the Río Tolten
When I arrived in Villarrica, one of my main goals was to learn how to fly fish. I had heard so much about the experience of fly fishing in the Andes with all the stories of the streams full of giant trout and the isolated valleys with just the river and the wind. I quickly asked around where I could learn and the answer I kept hearing was that I needed to get a guide.
By Monday evening I found myself in a sporting goods store speaking with a clerk who didn't know much English. Once I realized that "pesca con mosca" was the phrase for fly fishing, I kept repeating "Quiero aprender pesca con mosca." (I want to learn fly fishing.) The saleswoman smiled and pulled out a binder with pictures of guys casting lines from a boat in a river. The last line of the last page was the sentence "el guía no habla inglés." Hmm, I thought. This will be interesting. After 30 seconds of consideration, I asked myself, "What better way is there to learn Spanish than to take a private class in fly fishing?"
I met up with the guide on Tuesday evening. As it happens, his name is Pablo. He thought my Spanish was good enough and said that he would be happy to teach me. We agreed to fish on Thursday. He told me that he would pick me at 8:30 sharp. I was pumped and couldn't wait to begin my Norman Mclean experience here in Chile.
My lessons started on one of the piers of Lago Villarrica in misty weather. After learning how to hold and use the rod, we headed out onto the lake. Once there he had me practice casting the line while in the boat without a lure. We made our way to the Río Tolten and began to head downstream.
At the first set of rapids (all of the rapids on this river were slight with hints of white but nothing a canoe couldn't handle), he anchored the boat and I cast my first line with a fly. When he told me we would be adding the fly, I asked him if he was sure he would trust me and he just laughed. Little did I know at the time that this cast was going to be my first of over one hundred. I was convinced I was going to hit Pablo. The scene in "There's Something About Mary" when the guy gets a lure caught in his jaw kept appearing in my head.
I was soon getting the hang of letting out more and more line as you prepare to cast the line. I caught quite a few things that day: the boat, my jacket, my hat, a tree, a bush, my fishing rod, numerous rocks, my own line, Pablo's line, 6 fish, and Pablo's hat! Yes, that is right; I hooked Pablo's hat (as well as my own jacket). But let's not forget that I also caught some trout!
I was able to only pull in 3 fish to the boat. The other 3 got away. I had to learn quickly about the need to jerk the rod upright as soon as you feel a bite. It was exciting. This was a typical series of events on how it went. Mediocre cast, pull in the line. Somewhat better cast, pull in the line. Horrible cast, pull in the line. Cast, caught a rock. Mediocre cast, "oh look, it is starting to rain", pull in the line. Cast, "Where is my line?" "Shoot, it is caught on the rod." Untangle the line, make the line long enough to begin casting, mediocre cast, current takes the line, starting to pull in the line, bite! "Hey Pablo, I have something!" Pull in the line some more, keep the rod upright, a huge grin spreads across my face, Pablo gets the net ready, Pablo tells me not too fast, I slow down, Pablo tells me to hurry up, I reel in the line some more, I see the fish flipping and flapping, my grin is even wider now, we have the fish in sight, we catch the fish with the net, Pablo is happy, I am happy, the fish is terrified that it is about to die, I reach for my camera!, I have a fish, I caught a fish!, I hold the fish, Pablo takes a picture, and then we let the fish go. The smile lasts for 5 minutes as I continue to cast all over again.
That is the long and the short of it. Did I mention that it is awesome? Being out on the river, learning how to cast a fly line, catching a fish, speaking in Spanish! It was very cool. I didn't care one bit that it was raining 90% of the day or that I am so bad at this that I hooked my own jacket as well as the hat of my guide! Who cares! It was great fun and I will do it again in a heartbeat. Only next time, I plan to have some waders so that I can get into the river.
Rafting the Río Trancura
For those of you who don't know Sarah's family, I need to fill you in on a very important trait of their lives: they love rivers. In fact, many of them were born on rivers. They may deny this, but each year as I get to know them better, I am more and more convinced that just as Aquaman grew up in the lost underwater city of Atlantis so too was Sarah's family reared on a raft floating down the different tributaries of the Colorado in far flung branches like the Green and the San Juan. So it was only natural, as a newcomer to the family, that when I was on a vacation with nothing better to do than look for daily activities that would support my afternoon artisanal ice cream binges that I found myself booking a spot on two rafting trips on the Río Trancura outside of Pucón.
Being the gringo North American that I am, I went from raft shop to raft shop asking if I could book a trip on the Bajo Trancura and the Alto Trancura for the same day. "I kept asking why doesn't your shop offer one trip for the entire day?" It wasn't until I asked the question to a French speaking clerk at one of the raft shops that I got a suitable answer, "The Alto is closed until Dec 15, because the water is too high to raft. That's why." Since I was asking these questions on the 12th and already had fly fishing plans for the 13th, I said okay and booked a trip on the Bajo for the 14th. (Bajo means lower and Alto means higher.)
It is important to know that there is another reason why they take one river and break it up into two different trips. The Bajo is Class 2 and 3 rapids, and the Alto is Class 4 and 5. For those of you who don't know rafting - Most people yawn through Class 2, feel their blood pump in Class 3, know a whole new meaning of adrenaline through Class 4 and find religion in Class 5. I think I am like most people only I had more anxiety on the bus on Friday than I did on Saturday.
Before doing the Bajo, I was worried that I wouldn't remember how to get back in the boat if I was in the water. I fretted that I wouldn't paddle well or that I was just too small of a human to even consider myself worthy to go down a river on a raft. (If you remember any nervousness you may have felt before riding your first roller coaster, you get the idea.) I felt like I was back in junior high.
After the Bajo, I thought to myself, "That was easy. This river isn't so bad. I like being in the water. It is fun. Why did this trip only last 1 hour and 30 minutes? I want to do it again. In fact, it would be fun to do that section in a ducky." Upon arriving back at the raft shop, I immediately signed up to do the Alto on the next day. I figured, what better day to do the upper section than on its first day open to the public. Hence two feelings during two bus rides on two different days. Bajo was Friday, and Alto was Saturday.
Even though I had more confidence on the way to the river on Saturday, I kept asking myself, "Why is it I was nervous on my way to the Class 2 and 3 section of the river and I am not so nervous on the way to this Class 4 and 5 section?" The answer came later in the day but remains paradoxical. I had no idea what I was getting into and I trusted the guides. So the morale of this tale may be summed up with the following equation: trust and ignorance equals confidence.
The pictures that follow are all from my adventure on the Río Trancura Alto. It was an adrenaline rush, it was exciting, I yelled and yipped and hollered with delight as we went through the rapids, and I also fell out of the boat. Unfortunately, the photos are limited to 2 or 3 areas where the photographer could stand on the river bank and snap some shots. I did not have my camera and therefore can not show you the height of the rapids that we had to walk around or the sheer volume of water this river had on that day. You can get an idea from the photos on this post. I can tell you that at the end of the trip, most of us were tired even though it had only been 1 hour and 45 minutes in duration. After arriving back into Pucón, three of us went to the nearest bar and each drank a liter of beer and talked about the thoughts that passed through our heads when we fell out of boat and were in the water.
Pictures and extended captions below.
The pre-put in instructions. Note my look of fatigue signaled by the fingers rubbing the eyes pose. Yes, that is me. There is a simple explanation for this look: the instructions were in Spanish! When I asked for clarification, I was told it would all make sense on the river. For those of you planning to run a river in a Spanish speaking country, let me give you this quick primer.
Adelante = paddle forward
Detras = back paddle
Piso = get down into the boat
Pisa a la derecha = high side right
Pisa a la izquierda = high side left
Fuerte, Fuerte, Fuerte = paddle like hell!
This is one of the first rapids with, if I remember correctly, about a 3-4 meter drop. We shot down the middle and it was an exciting way to begin the Alto.
This rapid is well named. As you can see, 4 out of the 6 paddlers fell out of the boat. I was one of those 4. This is what I remember from this rapid: before we approached the guide told us that we would need to paddle hard and then be on the left side of the boat. We all said okay. We came into the rapid. I heard the following: adelante, Adelante! Fuerte! Fuerte! ADELANTE! ADELANTE! Pisa a la izquierda! PISA A LA IZQUIERDA! Next thing I knew, we were all on the left side of the boat (I am the 3rd person on the Boat's left side in the pictures.), and I could hear the guide's commands, and then all I could see was white, total white, then I felt myself in water. I said to myself, "I am in the water." Then I thought to myself (and maybe even to God?) "Please let there be no rocks, please let there be no rocks!" Then I surfaced, remembered to breathe, pointed my feet downstream and looked around and saw one of the guys, Rudolfo, leaning over to help me into the boat. Wow! Catching my breath back inside the boat, I wanted to make the joke with everyone, "I have seen the gates of hell and lived. The only question I have this: is it symbolic that I didn't make it through the gates of hell?" But I didn't think this joke would translate, so I just kept this reflection to myself. The guide in the kayak, who was downstream of us as we entered the rapids, said that had some of us not fallen out of the boat, the entire raft would have flipped. Upon hearing that I did say to everyone, "You all should be happy. I fell out to save the rest of you and the boat from flipping." I don't think anyone laughed.
As you can see, only the guide and the boat went down this rapid. What you can just make out in the photo on the right is one giant rock just to the right of the boat (as you look at the photo). Then immediately in front of the boat just to the left is a giant hole. The guide could navigate this, but with a full raft we were told it would have been impossible. This was a rapid that we portaged. For that I was glad. 
This was one of the later rapids. We only did half of it as the water level was such that if we had attempted the first half, we would not have been in good enough position to make the route for the lower half of the rapids. Good judgement again on the part of the guides!
Above left, the end of the trip plunge into the river and above right, the end of the trip group shot. The guides are the ones with the red and yellow helmets. (Don't worry, I tipped them for their services, i.e. keeping me alive!) The two guys on the far left (one in wet suit and one with helmet) and I each drank a liter of beer when we got back to Pucón. Each of us had fallen out in the Hell's Gate rapid. One of them said that when he was in the water, he said to himself, "Well, this is it. I am going to die. At least it is a good day." He is from Mexico. The other is a water skiing competitor from Italy and this was his first river rafting experience and he did it with a broken ankle. Kudos to him!
Thursday, December 20, 2007
Another Wine Post
Broquel 2005
Malbec/Syrah blend
de Bodegas Trapiche
-good legs
-full bouquet
-dark, fruit, cherry, depth and rich aroma
-full body, slightly sharp, mostly round
-dry on the tongue, middle taste is full
-lingers with flavor, clear taste, subtle
-slightly tart(acidic)
-sweet after breathing
"You can feel the sweetness as soon as it touches the lips." - Paul
"Ended sweetly." - Sarah
Chamán
Carmenere & Cab 2006
De Santa Cruz Vineyard
Colchagua Valley
-very rich bouquet
-dark, full, berry, creamy
-nice legs (drips down glass legs)
-spicy and peppery
-slightly dry
-smooth and fully rounded
"Raspberry cream bouquet with a zing at the end." - Sarah
"Gets better with warmth." - Paul
Tabalí
Carmenere Reserva 2005
Limarí Valley
We are sad to report that the night we drank we drank this wine was a haze.We don't remember any particulars regarding this bottle of wine other than it was a very good Carmenere. In fact, it may have been so good that it went straight to our heads and thus we have no notes. Alas, the hardships of amateur oenophiles.
Saint Felicien
Malbec 2005
Bodega Catena Zapata
-beautiful bouquet
-rich in nutrient aroma
-hints of chocolate
-smooth
-dry
-round
-complex flavor
"Reminds me of eating a meal at an Argentine estancia!" -Sarah
"I don't know what that label means with all those words; I just know that this stuff is good! Do we have enough for another glass?" -Paul
Dessert Wine
Late Harvest
Savignon Blanc 2004
Maule Valley
Concha y Toro
-sweet, pear aroma
-not too dry with a pear taste
-fresh and smooth finish
-hints of honey on the tongue
-strong, sweet finish
"Smell of spring!" - Sarah
"Tasty!" - Paul
