Kia´s Perspective

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  Coihaique, Chile
Saturday, January 28, 2006

Thanks to all of you who are following our travel blog. Though our first two weeks have flown by, itīs a treat for us road warriors to get your friendly notes from home.

We are both enjoying the vibrancy of this beautiful and very livable country, and Brad has been doing a great job capturing our experiences. But, not surprisingly to those of you who know us, we have slightly different perspectives. While he makes socio-economic observations, I am noticing and appreciating the vivacious people and the vividly bright colors (of the white snow-capped mountains contrasted by the aqua-green rivers and indigo sky, and the yellow blue and red painted houses...). So before we leave Chile and cross over into Argentina this afternoon, I thought Iīd chime in with a few of my own reflections.

Sorry Shannon, we havenīt done any shopping (other than buy food at the supermercados, which are actually not īsuperī at all but teeny-tiny little stores with minimal supplies of coke, aqua con gas, pan y queso)

Luiza and Kia

. And havenīt gone to any discos(after waiting to eat dinner, weīre done for the day. All this driving and playing is TIRING).

What am I most enjoying so far?
I am absolutely blown away by the pride and care people here exhibit in all that they do. When you order tea at a cafe, for example, they bring you out a big basket of fresh herbs like mint, and steep it for you. The food is totally natural and healthy and fresh. And even the smallest poorest finca (farm house) is tidy, swept, decorated with flowers.

And people are bright and friendly. Lucia, the 80 year old inn-keeper treated us like her own grand children. (She moved to Fu 15 years ago after her husband passed away and built an inn on her own). She personally gave me a driving tour of the town, took me over to her laundry ladyīs house, and made us home-made cake for breakfast with rasberries fresh from (Doug Tompkinīs) garden. And what a hearty soul she is. Here we are feeling tough in our 4WD driving the carraterra austral. Well, this 80 year old lady drives all the way to Santiago after summer BY HERSELF in her little toyota car, only making one stop along the way. We were very fortunate to stay at her place we later learned, for two reasons. She confided to me that she is `very selectiveī and choses who can stay with her or not. She said she tells most travellers that she has no vacancy, but she said we `looked like a nice coupleī. The other reason is that her son, a doctor, is worried for her health and wants her to stay year round in Santiago. So this will be her last season before she sells the place.

In the last town we stayed at, two older couples from Santiago treated us to a lovely dinner, and kept the wine flowing as we discussed politics and life in Chile. (Bradīs theory was right...they still think Pinochet was their best leader for turning around their economy and bringing in the `Chicago Boyzī.)

I still just canīt believe weīre actually taking this trip together. I keep dreaming about work and waking stressed. Then I realize, Iīm NOT WORKING...weīre in South America together. How %"*' cool is that??!!

Not to say this trip isnīt without itīs yucky parts.
(Chase, you might be right that if we can survive our first year of marriage together in a small jeep on the road, that the next 30 years will be cake).

For example, the one night we spent camping in Pumalin was star-lit and beautiful, as Brad described. BUT, we only camped because there we had no other choice (translation, it wasnīt my choice). Luckily we had brought one freeze-dried meal with us, which we shared out of a plastic bag with one cook spoon (we forgot our camping cutlery). Again, would not have been my first choice. But it got us back on budget at least. Oh, and the next morning it started raining, so we had to scramble to put the jeep top on (no easy feat w- all our luggage on top). That converted the dust into full blown mud.

As bumpy and dusty travelling in our jeep is I now, however, consider it to be a luxury vehicle. We have actually seen several people huffing and puffing along the austral on their mtn. bikes, fully loaded down with camp gear. (THANK GOODNESS for me, toy = jeep in Bradīs TDR (toys-to-diamond ratio)-NOT mtn. bikes. That would = misery in Kiáīs equation).

Happily, we have actually had mostly sunny skies, wonderful food, and are having a grand adventure.

Stay tuned...

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