In search of America...

12 February: This time it is by bus that we are travelling! From Valparaiso to Mendoza, an 8-hour drive takes us over the Andes and through the border at more than 3200 m of altitude. The high altitude doesn’t make the road less busy, and we wait more than two hours to cross to Argentina.

Incredible landscapes and the hairpin turns climbing to the Argentinian border.

Beautiful lights as an evening storm forms over the mountains.                        

13-14 February: Two days to hang around in Mendoza, a green city with plenty of parks and big trees providing shade along most of the streets. We will carefully stay in the shade as the temperature has risen drastically now that we are far from the Pacific Ocean.

Cerro de la Gloria: San Martin and its army crossing over the Andes in 1817 to free Chile and Peru from the Spanish empire.

A visit to La Rural winery and its interesting wine museum…                        

We head next to Uspallata, a beautiful village about 2 h west of Mendoza where we rent a cabin for a few days. Lovely surroundings, scenic walks and even a brand new foal born during our stay!

16 February: we meet with the giant…the Aconcagua Mountain, 6962 m high and the highest mountain on earth outside Asia, is only a short drive from Uspallata. A nice walk offers great views of the summit and allow the kids to experience their first “high-altitude” hike!

17 February: we indulge ourselves at the “Termas de Cacheuta”, a big water park with thermal water, of course but also water slides, swimming pools, etc. A nice way to use energy before the 14-hour bus ride to Buenos Aires!

18 February: The circle is complete…we are back in Buenos Aires. We rent a flat in Puerto Madero, the newest area of the city. Nice views of the capital from our balcony and, on the ground floor, a huge swimming pool…very appreciated after a walk in the hot and humid city!

A poker game in the apartment turns the kids into gambling addicts, playing from morning to evening.

Despite the pool and the poker game, we still manage to take them out for a few walks: a visit to the Fragata Sarmiento, a training ship for the Argentine Navy in the 1890s.

A trip to the nearby wildlife reserve, on an incredibly hot day. We were hoping to see iguanas, after some friends had told us there was some in the park. Indeed, as we were nearly at the end of the path, we got to see one from quite close…making the trip worth it despite the unbearable heat!

Showering to cool down after the walk!!! Fortunately, a huge storm falls on the city in the evening, refreshing the atmosphere for our last day in South America.

Moving sidewalks in Charles de Gaulle Airport: we reach Paris on February 23 after an uncomfortable flight from Buenos Aires. Happy to meet with our family and friends…even if we know this will be our last stop before going home.

8- 12 February: Now without a home, we book a beautiful loft in Valparaiso, with incredible views of the hilly city! Quite some schoolwork to catch up with, after those busy days enjoying La Serena.

But, once the studying is finished in the mornings, we use the afternoons to explore the colorful city by foot.

Walking uphill, sliding downhill, we explore many of the Cerros with our little walkers.

Like us, the kids are fascinated by the wonderful murals; and the originality of the place keep them pretty much always enthusiastic to climb a new hill.

Even the garbage trucks come in many colorful versions!

After another good climb, at the top of the Cerro Bellavista, we go for a visit to la Sebastiana, the house of Pablo Neruda in Valparaiso.

We get to explore its interior, and enjoy the view of the bay that inspired the engaged poet.

We spend our last day on the Cerro Artilleria, where we enjoy the incredible lookout on the harbor and the maritime museum. The Ascensor Artilleria brings a crowd of people on top of the hill while we avoid the queue and take the stairs.

The visit to the museum is definitely worth a climb up, with plenty of objects to retrace the agitated history of Chile and some fun parts for the kids to enjoy. We head to Argentina the next day by bus, but Valparaiso, classified since 2003 as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, will stay in our memories as a vibrant and splendid city, that even Sebastien managed to enjoy!

February 3: the sale is confirmed! Eduardo, Grettel and Angelina come to visit the shiny motorhome and confirm they want to buy it. A relief for us as it means that we won’t need to go back to Santiago to see other potential buyers. In addition, Eduardo and his family invite us to their place for the next 5 days, turning what we had imagined as a boring period of paperwork into an extraordinary experience of making new friends and sharing the life of a Chilean family!!

Angelina (6) and Cleo (12) soon become good friends and play all day long in the motorhome, the house or at the swimming pool.

Ready for a dive…

On Saturday, with such a nice weather and some friends of Eduardo coming up for a visit, all the conditions are met for a huge and DELICIOUUUUUS ASADO. Despite our host claiming this traditional BBQ to be an Argentinian specialty, none of us had eaten such an excellent meat before.

The whole afternoon goes on, between eating huge pieces of meat, playing, swimming, trying the airgun, ...

In the evening, we head to the village for the celebration of the “Carnaval de la Papaya”, a festivity held each summer in this fruit-producing region. Contest of the cutest leg, of the prettiest babydoll, obstacle courses, etc. will keep us awake until the middle of the night.                        

The next day, we enjoy a visit of the Elqui Valley, an arid valley where only the nearest terrains to the river produce grapes to make wine or the popular (and delightful) pisco liquor.

Vicuna, the main town of the valley, is also the birthplace of Gabriela Mistral, a Chilean poet and first Latin American author to receive a Nobel Prize in literature. We defy the heat to walk to the interesting museum chronicling her life.

Further into the valley, the friendly little village of Pisco Elqui makes a perfect stop before climbing to the Mammalluca observatory, one of the observatory of the area, also known as “valley of the stars” because of the purity of its sky.

Unfortunately, the moon is quite bright that night, hiding a lot of the stars… but observing the stars or Venus in the big telescope will definitively be the highlight of the day, for the whole family!

At the restaurant after completing the paperwork on a crazy Monday. Lots of comings and goings, but everything is pretty much sorted out by the end of the day.             

Once the packing done, we finally take some time on Tuesday to visit the beautiful town of La Serena. The tour will even include a visit of some governmental buildings, as Grettel works for the intendent of the region and shows us the impressive meeting rooms…
  

All packed and ready to leave! Grettel and Angelina will drive us all the way to Valparaiso, more than 400 km to the south. All the best with the motorhome, and we hope to see you again soon…

Reaching the Mainland from Chiloe on January 17th, we were aware that we were going back to more populated areas and «civilisation»…but we had not realised how populated it would be!! The little port of Angelmo, and its fish market, offers us a relatively sheltered place to have lunch, away from the big city of Puerto Montt.

As in many ports in the area, the sea lions cohabit with the fishermen and, here, defend their territory against the wild dogs to obtain fish remains!

After some shopping and a shower, we continue our road towards the Lago Llanquihue. Chileans are now on holidays and the lake is very touristic, but we will still manage to find a quiet spot to spend the night.

The next day, we head to Petrohue and the Lago Todos Los Santos, reputed to be one of the most beautiful lakes in the area. Overlooking the lake, the Osorno Volcano and its perfect conic shape.

The amount of persons visiting the area is impressive, and dozens of autobuses drive to the famous Salto de Petrohue, a nice waterfall unfortunately a little bit wasted by the facilities built for mass tourism.

Further north along the Lago Llanquihue, the playa Maiten offers us a nice break from the crowd and the kids have the beach nearly to themselves!

After one more day on the lake in Puerto Octay, we drive west to the Pacific to visit some small villages home to the Huilliche community. In the tiny Bahia Mansa, and further north in Pucotrihue, the landscapes are well preserved and exploiting sea resources seems to be the principal sector of activity.

Enjoying the beach and going for a kayak tour on the Rio Llesquehue…

But, here also, when the weekend comes…the place fills up with people and we retreat to our motorhome to escape from the crowd!                        

Driving further north, we reach Panguipulli then Pucon, where we want to get closer to the Villarica Volcano, and visit the national park. Unfortunately, we learn at our arrival that all national parks are closed, because of huge forest fires going on further north…

We decide to wait for a few days in the area, in case the parks could reopen soon. A small camping with a swimming pool, climbing wall and an easy access to water makes an enjoyable stop for the kids, and a practical place to start cleaning up the motorhome!

After three days at the campground, the fires are only getting worse and we understand that there is little chance for the parks to reopen before long. We take the road towards the north and soon encounter the first plumes of smoke. After some time, we enter a huge cloud of smoke that follows us for hundreds of kilometers.

We drive rapidly through the smoke, stopping only once the cloud clears up near Rancagua. We have some repairs to make on the motorhome and wait at the balneario Las Vertientes for the shop to open. A huge swimming pool lost in the eucalyptus, and many Santiaguinos (inhabitants of Santiago) enjoying the place for the weekend!

January 30: the repair shop has been efficient and we can drive through Santiago and straight to Pichicuy, a small seaside village 2 hours north of the capital. Here we find a huge beach nearly all to ourselves, a beautiful sunset and a cute fish market on the next morning. We won’t regret not stopping in the big city!

The landscape has changed drastically since we have passed Santiago and the eucalyptus forest has given way to a very sparse, cactus-dominated vegetation.

After a few more adventures on the sandy roads along the coast, we finally arrive in La Serena on February 1. We will meet a potential buyer on the 3^rd and won’t have too much of 2 days to finish cleaning up the motorhome!

10 January: Another boat crossing, this time on a perfectly still sea, brings us from Chaiten to Quellon, on the Isla Grande de Chiloe. Some birds and dolphins on the way, interrupting the schoolwork that we try to get done!

We didn’t really know what to expect from Chiloe but, after a mitigated start, we ended up being really charmed by the island. Here the landscape is very hilly, with, on clear days, nice views of the mainland and its impressive volcanoes. Here the traditional beret worn by patagonian gauchos has been replaced by a sombrero worn by those beautifully dressed chilotes (inhabitants of Chiloe).

Here the churches are omnipresent and original, with their imaginative towers, inspiring wooden interiors and very colourful cemeteries. Many of them have been recognized by UNESCO as World Heritage Sites and they are definitely worth one (or more!) visits.

After a night in Quellon, we head straight to the Chiloe National Parc, on the west coast of the island. A tiny parc compared to those we have visited on the mainland but some very unique atmospheres with dense Tepual forests (of Tepu, a native Chilean tree) and huge beaches on the raging Pacific.

After two days in the park, we drive back to the east coast to explore the beautiful fishing villages and bustling capital, Castro. In addition to its monumental church, Castro impresses us with its palafitos (wooden houses built on stilts over the water), animated harbor and creative murals. In the small villages of Chonchi or Dalcahue, the time seems endless and we hang around from handicraft markets to more churches or cultural centers.

14 January: a nice stop at the traditional fiesta in Pid Pid (“Fiesta de la galina”, literally “fiesta of the chickens”)!), a small community north of Castro. Traditional dances and music, good food and an insight into the rural life of the island before driving further to Tenaun, an incredibly charming fishing village where we will spend the night.

Fishing boats in Tenaun, with view on the Michimahuida volcano, on the mainland. We were actually very close to this volcano in Chaiten but never got to see it because of the rainy weather. Happy to finally have a chance to admire it, even from a distance!

In Tenaun, people seem to exploit every possible resource from the sea through fishing, collecting and drying algae (further sent to Japan to make cosmetics), gathering shellfish at low tide, etc. A dream life!?!

16 January: our last day on the island. We spend it in the small village of Punihuil, accessed through a drive on the beach.

We bring our little marineros on a boat tour to see the Humboldt penguins, an endangered species that breeds on the coasts of Chile and Peru. The tour is expeditious but Sebastien manages to get a few pictures of the penguins, Peruvian pelicans and red-legged cormorants. We end the day by a gargantuan curanto, a typical and delicious dish from the island made of shellfish and meat. Time to go back to the mainland tomorrow…