It's a VERY small world

So all of our trips have turned into really great, odd adventures.  This one was no different.  For Stephen's birthday back in May, I planned a surprise trip for him.  Apparently I am a terrible secret keeper though, and a week before we left - I caved!  It was easier planning all the logistics with his help anyways, so it worked out just fine....

So Friday morning, we took off to a town about 700 km north of Santiago called Pisco Elqui.  The town is in the Elqui Valley which is known for its production of pisco, the national liquor of Chile - hence the name!  The valley is also known for having some of the clearest skies in the world, where you can see stars for miles.

After starting off a little slow - our bus broke down and the new bus overheated - we made it to La Serena.  From La Serena, we had to take 2 more buses to get to the town of Pisco Elqui.  From there, we were so close!  Just 4km in a truck and we were there!  OYE!  14 hours of travel and we were ready for some relaxation.

View from our dome

We stayed at a hotel called Elqui Domos.  Check out the website, it is very cool.  We found this hotel via our friend Wendy, who we met in Santiago and then traveled with in Uruguay.  She has a knack for finding weird, awesome hotels...and this was no different!  Thanks Wendy for the recommendation :)

 Each "room" was actual a dome, with a lofted bed and a roof that you could take off to see the stars from the comfort of your own bed.  Sadly I did not get any pics of the inside of the domes, but here are a view of the outside/view!

Reception at Elqui Domos

After a night of star-gazing, we went to the reception dome for breakfast.  Stephen and I have been playing a game of who will run into someone (who they don't know is going to be there) first.  I have seen so many of your dopplegangers in Santiago, Stephen always thinks I am crazy....BUT, while at breakfast the first morning, I saw a girl that I swear I knew from Catholic University.  Stephen didn't believe me, but this time I was convinced!

I ran outside to the couple and asked if they spoke English (if they didn't, it couldn't be her and I wouldn't embarass myself further).  Once confirmed, I asked her if she went to Catholic.  Turns out it I am not crazy!!!!  Mari Colberg and her husband Alejandro, who are currently living in Santiago, were staying in the same small hotel we were, where there are only 7 rooms, 700km from Santiago....HOLY COW, what a small world!  They were also awesome enough to let us bum a ride back to Santiago and saved us the painful 10-14 hour trip we would have had on the buses (thanks again guys!!!).

Anyways, that Saturday we had alot of activities to get in.  We thought we would have gotten to town early enough on Friday to do a night horseback ride, but with all the stops, we didn't.  So on the agenda for the day was bike riding, a pisco tour, and a night horseback ride!  We lumped them all in together and took advantage of having bikes to ride the 4km into Pisco Elqui.  But 1st, we set off in the opposite direction for what can only be described as the hilliest road ever.  We rode to a little town (if it can even be called that) and decided to turn around and head back into town of Pisco where we knew there were more things to see/do.  Beautiful views along the way though!

We road around the town, which consists of about 5 streets and snapped some photos before deciding to do a tour of the Mistral Distillery. We walked through the Mistral property and learned about the entire process of making pisco from harvesting the grapes til storing the barrels.  The end of the tour had a tasting of 4 different piscos...and shocker, I liked the cheapest one best!  The tour was neat too because they let us touch/play on things around the distillery.

The rest of the day was spent relaxing.  We had lunch, talked to some friendly town folk and then made our way back to the domes to get warmer clothes for the night.  Pisco has to be the friendliest town ever.  Every person we passed on the streets waved and said hello.  It was a nice change of pace from city life.

Now, after putting every layer we had on, we made our way back into town to go night horseback riding.  The night ride is supposed to be great in Pisco because of the clear skies.  Unfortunately, Saturday night was cloudy and we could see only 1 star.   Made for a very dark ride on a big animal...eeks.

The tour was great though and we definitely got our money's worth.  I think all in all, it was over a 5 hour tour!  We rode our horses about an hour to a little clearing where the guide pulled out some pisco sours for all of us.  We built a camp fire and drank our drinks...this is the part where we were supposed to get an astronomy lesson....instead we got a pisco sour making lesson!  Then back on the horses for the hour ride back to the van.  A long, exhausting, amazing day.

That night, it poured.  The receptionist said they get about 3-5 days of rain a year.  I guess that makes us lucky, right?

"Camping" in el Cajon

As the end of the world was right around the corner (back in May when the rapture happened...right, didn't it? oh no, huh, well that's strange), we decided to spend it "camping" in one of the most beautiful places (that we had been) in Chile - Cajon del Maipo.  The university where Stephen teaches had an english immersion day at their campus in Cajon del Maipo, so Stephen recruited some of our friends, and we made a weekend out of it!

We rented a cabana at Las Lomitas for a weekend of cards, wine, meat and good friends!

Amanda, Nadine and me

Diego and Stephen

Monique and Jorge

ATL-iens

Sunset from the cabana

On Saturday morning, we were up and about to explore Stephen's "campus" down the road. The campus was a retreat for Pinochet when he was in power and, as you can imagine, is gorgeous!  This campus is for the eco-tourism department and has an orchard of apple, almond and cashew trees to name a few, plus a garden where they learn all about self-sustainable living.  We hung out around the campus with the students who came for the day and just relaxed.  They taught us about the different uses for the trees around the campus and all the nuts and fruits from the orchard.

On Sunday, we decided to try and find a nice area to hike before heading back to the city.  We drove along a windy 21 km road with signs of trails straight ahead every few kilometers, but when we got to the end, there was a gate and no trails.  A little disappointed, we decided to make the best of it and explore a river bank instead.  The views were still breath-taking and well worth the motion sickness I am learning to live with :)

On our way back home to Santiago, we were temporarily slowed by a herd of goats in the middle of the road.  Can you find the leader in the group (hint - check out the horns!!!)?

All in all, a wonderful weekend with great friends - and such a nice escape from the bustling city life.  It's nice to be able to take these trips and fully experience and enjoy everything Chile has to offer. 

Montevideo, Uruguay

After our 3 nights in Cabo, it was time to leave to go explore the capital, Montevideo!  Since it was Semana Santa (Easter Week), we struggled to find a hostel in the city.  But with Wendy, Dusty and Arlo on the prowl, we finally found one!  After settling in, Stephen and I decided to go see the sunset and walk around some of the city.

Montevideo is technically on a river (though you cant see the other side, even from the airplane) and is one of the most beautiful cities I have ever seen.  Clearly there are areas that aren't so nice, but overall the city has a wonderful mix of old and new and is VERY green.  I imagine there is a rich history, though sadly I know very little about it.

Their Arch

The whole city is bordered by La Rambla, which is a boardwalk of sorts that runs along the river and around the city.  It was a wonderful way to see everything!  Parks, beaches, amusement parks, cafes....

As we were walking around Montevideo, we saw carts being pulled by horses past new age buildings and McDonalds.  It is a world that is both modernized and old fashioned, and though lacking a Starbucks, does not lack any charm.  For lunch on Easter, Stephen and I happened upon the cutest cafe.  El Viejo y el Mar (the old man and the sea).  Their garden had little booths looking out onto a park and the river.  And the food - WOW!  We had the best caesar salad and seafood torte. 

El Viejo y El Mar

We spent the rest of the day walking back to our hotel past more beautiful architecture.  We had a flag challenge at the building below....neither of us guessed correctly.  But when we realized it was the Russian Consulate, we needed to show Oksana :)

Russian Consulate for Oksana

We didn't do too much else in Montevideo.  Just hung out with our friends, ate some good food and played more card games.  Overall the trip was amazing, though exhausting.  Never in my life did I think I would go to Uruguay, but I tell you what, I am definitely glad I did...it really is an often-time forgotten gem of South America.

Respect - Cabo Polonio, Uruguay

Before deciding to move down to Chile, the only thing I knew of Uruguay were the infamous blond locks of soccer super star Diego Forlan.  But once the decision was made, The Travel Network became my best friend and Samantha Brown peaked my interest in this little, often times forgotten, gem of South America.

With the closing in of our 1st 90 days in Santiago, we were forced to leave the country to renew our tourist visas for another 3 months.  Some people might think of this as a hassle, but I see it as a reason to travel!  Most people just cross the border to Argentina for a quick weekend, but since it was Easter Week (and I had done it 2 days before) and Stephen had a couple days off work we decided to go somewhere for a longer stay.  Our friends of Roam the Planet, Wendy and Dusty - whom we 1st met in Santiago and have been traveling for the past 6+ months - were going to be in Uruguay, so we decided to meet them there!  And specifically to check out the little hidden beach town of Cabo Polonio.  After you hear about our trip to get there, you will see why I said hidden....

On Wednesday, we left out apartment at 2pm.  We took a 2 hour flight from Santiago to Montevideo.  Then we jumped in a 40 min cab to the bus terminal in Tres Cruces, where we searched for the earliest bus we could find to Castillos, which was another 5 hour bus trip.  Now Castillos is still 30 mins from where we needed to be, but since no buses went any closer to Cabo Polonio after noon, it was our best bet....and after scouring the internet, I read that they had cabs to take you to Cabo Polonio.  At 1am we pulled into Castillos.  I would describe it as a ghost town.  Granted it was Thursday morning at 1am, but still.  We got off the bus praying there would be a cab somewhere and low and behold - there was!  I'm pretty sure we didn't have to tell him where we were going, but as the cab driver turned down a dirt road, I got a little nervous.  We were in the middle of nowhere at 1am on a dirt road in the back of a "cab".  But apparently it was a shortcut because before we knew it, we were on an actual road again!  The cab driver dropped us off at the 4x4 office near Cabo Polonio (at least we knew we had to take a 4X4 to get into the town) and it was completely dead.  Stephen knocked on a window waking up a man in a tent nearby who told us they were closed until 5:30am....but then added he could take us for what turned out to be over 4 times more than the normal cost.  A 30 min, bumpy ride over the dunes and we pulled into Cabo Polonio, which can only be described as a group of shacks near the ocean.  Thankfully Dusty and Wendy met us in the "city center", and we stumbled our way, through the sand, toward the hostel.

The next morning we woke up wondering what we had gotten ourselves into...but as we walked out of our room, we saw!!!!!!  It was a gorgeous beach town, in the middle of nowhere, with nothing to do but relax and enjoy nature!  Well worth the 12 hour trip for sure :)

The "charming" Hostel del Cabo

The group "rocking" out

There really was nothing to do on this island, so we had to make our own fun!  Luckily, Wendy/Dusty and our new friends - who Wendy and Dusty met traveling - Oksana and Arlo, were skilled in this art.  Oksana is originally from Russian, and like all Russians (I am not generalizing, it is the truth), they can pour a mean drink.  So after coming back from the village market, where sausage and cheese hangs from the ceilings, they pulled out a surprise....rum!  With the Russian bartender pouring, and the creativity booming, a new name was born for our blog!  Steph Infections!

Arlo and Oksana

Dusty attempting gymnasics...and Wendy! 

I said there was nothing to do, but that is kind of a lie.  The 1st day we were there, we went and saw hundreds of sea lions sunning and swimming on the rocks at the tip of Cabo Polonio.  We enjoyed climbing and jumping over the rocks ourselves as well.  The landscape in Cabo was amazing.  It looks like I imagine Ireland to look in some areas, then a beautiful beach, then a huge expanse of sand dunes.

Wendy and Dusty

Later that day, at sunset, we played frisbee, while Stephen joined in a pick up soccer game.


The 2nd day, we went to explore the dunes, which this town is famous for, though we couldn't find any sandboarding which was super disappointing.

The last night on the beach, a huge storm rolled in, causing our wonderful hostel to leak.  The wind blew all night and at one point I thought the roof may blow off.  But luckily the rain stopped by morning and we were able to catch a 4x4 back out of the town to the bus stop and onto Montevideo!

Mendoza - a weekend with the girls

Stephen was sweet enough to let me leave the country for a weekend with the girls 2 weeks ago.  Nadine, Monique, Anu and I hit Mendoza, Argentina for a fun-filled weekend! 

Basically, the weekend consisted of steak, wine and music!  I really just wanted to share some pictures of Mendoza for you all to enjoy.

Mendoza is a beautiful city, filled with parks and tree lined streets.  They are also known for the steak and wine, which we made sure to get to know!

Other than a 9 hour bus ride to Mendoza and a 7 hour bus ride home, it was a great weekend!  But don't worry, we made the best of the bus ride, jamming out to music and drinking vino :)

There were something like 28 curves....1/2 way there!

It was pretty neat from the top.

A little bit of everything

As Stephen mentioned in his last post, we had a pretty active weekend last weekend.  I'm still suffering the consequences of it......

In addition to the 10K we ran, I participated in the Santiago Crossfit Games last weekend. Clearly it kicked my butt, as I opted out of the 2nd day of the competition with a sore shoulder (on top of a million other aches and pains :))...but what an experience!  I lifted more weight than ever before (and more than just one time)!  Being down here has completely changed my workouts with Pavel, the awesome owner of Crossfit Santiago, pushing me to be better, stronger and faster.  Needless to say I came in last place, but it has given me motivation for being a real competitor in the next competition we will have!

Other than that, our weekend was filled with napping and brunch.  We found a brunch spot, Cafe Melba, with some of the best breakfast foods around (Chileans don't do weekend brunches, so this place is a gem) and we go religiously.  It is the highlight of every Sunday - and sometimes Saturdays too!

We also found the best ice cream place in Santiago - which happens to be 2 blocks from our apartment, Bravissimo.  When we first got to Chile, we joked that everyone here either smokes or eats ice cream.  It was bizarre.  Walking down the street, 2 out of 3 people had an ice cream cone or cigarette in their hand.  Well, 2 months later, we know why!  The ice cream is SO good.  I don't even know if it's better than US ice cream, but it has become our obsession lately.  We tried a new place yesterday...bad idea.  Gotta stick to the places you like....in fact, I went and got a second scoop at Bravissimo because I was that disappointed.  Good thing I have been running alot lately :)

Not much else going on right now.  I am going to Mendoza, Argentina for girls weekend next weekend and then Stephen and I are going to Uruguay for Easter week to meet up with some friends we met while they were traveling through Santiago.  So should have some fun and exciting posts in the next couple weeks for you!  With pictures!

As always, hope this finds you well...abrazos,
Steph and Stephen

The Santiago Marathon

So Stephanie has been writing all the blogs so I figured that I was due to post something.  I have the honor of writing about the race we ran today, the Marathon of Santiago.  We actually ran the 10K race which started right after the marathon.  We did not really train for the race but it didn't matter because the sheer number of people running did not allow us to run very fast.  In my opinion this was better because we ran at a slower pace which let us notice the scenery of some areas of the city that we had not yet seen.  There were 20,000 participants for the race.  It was great weather and was not too hot so it was really a great day for running.  It was a flat course too so they say that its a good place to shoot for a PR not that it mattered to us. 
The Chilean President Sebastian Pinera was there at the race.  He was at the starting line.  Stephanie waved at him but he did not wave back...He must not have recognized her. 
We want to do some other races but we don't know which yet and there are not that many choices so we will see.  Anyways stay tuned. Don't touch that dial.   



This was the starting line.  We are the ones wearing the green shirts.  Can you see us?