january 16 - Valparaiso

Spent the day sightseeing.  First, rode the bikes up the hill of Valparaiso.  Think San Francisco but less paved roads and fewer building codes.  Next we rode the 10km to Vina Del mar and walked around the beach area, stopping for a coffee and watching the horse drawn carriages pass by.

After a short time in Vina, we decided to head back to Valparaiso and check out more of the sights there.  With a richer and longer history, Valparaiso has some amazing Architecture.  We spent the entire day wandering the streets, taking photos and enjoying the culture.  At one point, I go to a store and buy a cheap package of hot dogs, feeding some of the street dogs as i go by. 

   Late afternoon, we started to head back to the hotel, and stopped at a bar on the way for a beer.  sitting outside on the sidewalk seating, we meet 2 Chileans sitting at the table next to us and start a spanglish conversation.  Nice guys, so when we order our next beer, we add one to our tab for them.  Another few minutes goes by and they end up sitting with us.  We have a good 2 hours of conversation with Alex and Luis, both longshoreman in Valparaiso.  when it comes time to say goodbye, we ask for our bar tab and get told it has all been taken care of.  Apparently our new Chilean friends had paid our entire tab.

   After a late dinner, we head back to the hotel.  Al takes a little of his leftovers and finds a grateful dog.  In the morning, we ride about 130 km back to Santiago, where we sell the bikes.

Getting ready for South America

   Getting ready for South America.   All the camping gear is packed, flights booked.  There are three of us going, Chris, Al and myself.  Al and I will arrive in Santiago, Chile on December 27th, late in the evening.  Chris is booked on a slightly later flight and arrives the following afternoon.  Keep an eye on this site to read more.   We will update as we travel.
 Once we arrive, we will have 3-4 days to explore Santiago, while also working on obtaining our bikes. Santiago is a very modern and safe city (the crime and safety index for Chile/Santiago is closer to that of Canada, and ranks quite a lot higher than the United States).
  

   The plan is to purchase small bikes, most likely the Honda CGL125, which is available in Chile for around $1500 brand new.  We will be loading these little things up with everything we need for almost 4 weeks, including camping gear.
 We have tentatively planned a 4500km journey, but of course, who knows what exactly will happen.  The "general" idea is to head south from Santiago (with Mediterranean temperatures) towards southern Chile.  Being the opposite hemisphere to Canada, this time of year as we head south it would be similar to Alaska in our summer.


   Our planned route is to include the famous Carretera Austral (Southern road).  This road connects many small towns in Southern Chile, and goes through many areas untouched until the last 10-20 years.  Most of this "highway" is single lane gravel, with the Andes Mountains and volcanoes on one side, and fiords and glaciers on the other.  Parts of this road are by ferry only, and the road travels through numerous Patagonian parks.  We hope to camp beside lakes and rivers.

  At the southern point of our trip, we hope to make it to see the marble caves, carved out of rock by the waves of the lake they shore.  At this point we may turn into Argentina and head back to Santiago while straddling the eastern side of the Andes.

 Once we hit the road, who knows what will be around the next corner.  Check back and stay tuned to find out!