Chile

I'm waiting in line for boarding our American Airlines flight to Santiago, and by line I mean a hoard of my fellow passengers milling around clutching boarding passes and repeatedly glancing down at them hoping their group gets called.  We are in group 3 which, as I know from previous trips, does not bode well for early seating or for snagging the much coveted overhead storage bin immediately above my seat but rather the one 14 seats away requiring Fred to squirm his way back down the aisle full of sleep-deprived disembarking passengers to retrieve our barely legal weighty camera backpack.
Boarding commences in the following manner.

We would like to invite all our:

Passengers with young children
Passengers who behave like young children
Passengers with disabilities
Military personnel in uniform
Military persons who served in any conflict involving the US
First Class
Business Class
One World (Sapphire, Emerald, Ruby, Rhinestone) Alliance Members
Two World Alliance Members
Executive Platinum Members
Preferred Gold Members
Silver Members
Aluminum Members
Graphite Members
Group 1
Group 2
Group 3

But, finally we are off for our nine hour sleepless flight, thank you Mr. Snoring Dude across the aisle from me, to Santiago, Chile with our friends Rich and Toni in tow for some fun and adventures unknown.  And, by fun and adventure I mean earthquakes, tsunami warnings and car accidents.

Santiago

Santiago is a big ol' city full of buildings and way too many dogs in the streets and traffic and outdoor cafes and nearby vineyards and plenty of hustle and bustle and general citiness.  Since it was Sunday, we were blessed with some relative calm and took the opportunity to take the subway and get our bearings before heading out to the aforementioned nearby vineyards the next day.

Whoosh!  Subways are clean and modern and filled with pick pockets just like any big city

Um. Toni, you should know that US Customs frowns on weeny dog smuggling

Look who perked up after a nice local beer and a little lunch

That's the entrance to the Hotel Orly, really liked this place and it had little to do with the fact that they served homemade pastries for breakfast every day.

Hurry up and eat that pastry Fred, we are headed to the vineyards.

Who's up for a little wine tasting?

Our first winery of the day

Kinda like my own backyard, except with grapes instead of weeds

Whoa, this is way too much wine, said no one ever

I asked which wines paired nicely with pop tarts and canned frosting, he was at a loss for words

Wine pong, so much classier than beer pong

Lunch at the local hot spot La Vaquita Echa, the little, reclining cow

If this had arrived cold, I could have said I had chilly, chili in Chile but it was bubbling hot

This is the Chilean version of the chicken dance.  Those musicians on the right were very good.

Our guide suggested a bottle of wine might help Fred improve his Spanish 

We also visited Castillo del Diablo, a huge winery that produces most of the wine sent out of the country.  It's the one you are most likely to purchase at your local grocery store or Costco or wherever you make your fine wine purchases in bulk.  The tour was a little hoky, the lights get turned out, an image of the devil is projected on a wall, scary devil's voice on a loud speaker, you get the idea.  Didn't bother with photos since all these vineyards start to look the same after a while.

Early dinner, by Chilean standards anyway, off to bed and up early for our flight to Temuco tomorrow.

Temuco to Lonquimay

Short flight from Santiago to Temuco where we rented a car.  No biggee, but in the movies this would be the scene where the music builds ominously in the background.  You know kinda like in Jaws where the unsuspecting kids are all laughing and swimming and having a great time while a large predator swims slowly towards them with the dun, dun, dun, dun theme playing.  But, I'm getting ahead of myself.

After setting up our GPS, meandering Maria, we were off to our lodge near the village of Malalcahuello in the Araucaria district.

Hotel Suizandina

Loved this little lodge surrounded by mountains and the Reserva Nacional Malalcahuello.  There are pet llamas and alpacas, volcanoes in the distance, really good Swiss food, lots of hiking trails and bird life, peaceful and quiet.  Close to perfection for me.

We hightailed it right off the bat to Volcan Lonquimay and a heart rate raising drive over the Navidad crater.

The crater area consists of barren, rocky patches interspersed with barren, rocky patches.   

The expansive views stretch endlessly attracting tourists, skiers and large mining consortiums

I can hear some German pioneer trying to convince his wife to move here.  Don't worry hon we can live off the land.

Translation, Rich get off that damn thing

My new favorite tree, doesn't everybody have one?  It's a Monkey Puzzle Tree, genus Araucania native to this part of Chile.  Supposedly so named because it's spiky arms would puzzle any monkey attempting to climb it.  Ok, but there are no monkeys in this part of Chile.

Fred and Rich took an all day 4 hour hike in the Reserve while Toni and I took the Hansel y Gretel kids trail around the lodge.

When dinosaurs roamed the earth

No, Rich it's left at the fork, right at the monkey puzzle tree, then we climb the fence and cross the private cow pasture

Two paths diverged in a wood, I took the one less traveled and that's why it took 8 hours instead of 4

The stops along the way to photograph the Magellanic woodpecker might have caused a slight delay

While Toni and I waited and waited for Fred and Rich to return, we took a trail which told the story of Hansel and Gretel complete with cages and ovens for cooking small children that disobey their parents.

Here is the story in Spanish which is basically a moral about how you should buy your M&Ms from the local 7-11 instead of getting them from old crones with warty faces because, while I admit they are delicious, they are not worth imprisonment and being roasted alive.  Risks associated with obtaining Snickers bars are an entirely different story.

Don't worry Toni, Rich will rescue you.  Where is he anyway?  Shouldn't they be back by now.

Hey, what's in here?

Why, it's camelidos of course.

Tell me again about that little chihuahua you had as a pet when you were a kid

Let's go on a picnic, alpaca the lunch

I wanted to pet him but each time I approached he moved away.  Then I saw a German woman staying at the lodge walk toward him with her head down and just stand there.  The llama walked right over.  So I tried it and it worked the llama came right over and rubbed llama snot all over my bowed head.

Como se llama

I was beginning to wonder if the guys had followed this sign by mistake but they eventually showed up around sunset and I had a nice giant hash brown dinner with wine and we all shared stories of Hansel and Gretel and monkey puzzle tree sightings.

Valdivia

Our next stop for one night was the riverside town of Valdivia which is described as sophisticated and festive with a heavy German influence and a lively fish market.  Unfortunately, the market was closed by the time we arrived and we had to leave the next morning before it opened so all we saw were some fish guts being hosed off and some very fat seals lazing nearby.  Not so picturesque. Why do guide books always, always describe fish markets as lively?  

We did get a feel for the German influence however, since there are bars serving German Kuntsman beer on every corner.  And yes, we did partake because, since we were starting to head further south, the weather was getting cold, drizzly and dreary.

We stopped in for a beer at a local spot while we tried to figure out where to eat.  We found a place in our book that was highly recommended so we walked and walked trying to find it