Miracle in Puerto Piramides

Clarification: our trip is indeed over and we are back in Montreal. This post was written by David during the trip, but we didn't get the chance to post it, so here it is. There may be more to come.

View of Puerto Piramides. Note the road coming down to town on the left

This is a remarkable story, in a remarkable place of remarkable geography. Puerto Piramides, a very small village of a few hundred people, is the only town on Argentina`s Valdes Peninsula, a vast barren landscape of almost a million acres. Recently named a UNESCO World Heritage site, the peninsula is Argentina`s answer to Chile`s Galapagos Islands. Despite its desolate desert terrain, its shores swell with colonies of sea lions, elephant seals, penguins and innumerable species of birds.

Every December, Piramides` beaches attract thousands of visitors to witness one of nature`s more bizarre life-and-death spectacles. As sea lion pups are just learning to swim, migrating Orca whales arrive offshore anxious to feast on this vulnerable prey. Using their massive tails, Orcas stun swimming pups, tossing them like rag dolls high into the air. Unfortunately for these pups, Orcas do not restrict their hunting to the water. In their feeding frenzy, Orcas use surging waves and tides to charge onto the beaches, swallowing surprised pups as they awkwardly attempt to waddle away. On this video a colony of sea lions enjoys its daily life - orcas have already left.

By late January, when we arrived, the peninsula was once more quiet and pastoral. We learnt that tens of millions of years ago the land was actually an underwater seabed, composed of accumulated crustacean shells, hundreds of meters thick. This ancient seabed now seats as a high plateau above the surrounding sea. Piramides, like all the peninsula`s beaches, lies at the bottom of a very long, steep road that winds its way down from the high plateaus to the ocean.

The main (and only) street

We spent a wonderful week exploring the exotic fauna and landscapes by car, bike, and foot. It was now Sunday evening, our last night on the peninsula. We grabbed a pizza and went to watch the dazzling sunset over the beach. As the evening skies glowed from the southern horizon, we walked back to the town`s main and only street. This being Sunday, and the last day of holidays for many, the street overflowed with vacationers enjoying a last casual stroll,  campers snatching a hurried supper, and children playing everywhere.

View from the road down

We were enjoying our ice creams at a roadside table, when we heard and then felt the hot draft of a truck racing by. We instinctively turned to the street and caught a glimpse of an old truck charging madly through town. It pulled a long trailer heavily loaded with massive telephone poles. The stench of burning brakes filled the air. The truck had obviously come speeding down the steep road, unable to slow down. There was stunned silence. We ran towards the street, bracing ourselves for the carnage that was surely being wrecked down the street.

But, on reaching the street, we saw that the truck had already passed through, stopping on the rise at the far side of the town. The street was once again congested with people, cars and bicycles. The holiday buzz and traffic resumed. Somehow, this deadly truck had found its way through the clogged streets without hitting a thing. Had we just passed through the Twilight Zone? It was simply a miracle that still haunts us.

Santiago, and goodbye to Chile on a sour note :-)

We have spent the two last days of our trip in Santiago, the capital of Chile. As we have said before, we are not enthusiastic about visiting large cities, especially when surrounded by mountains that trap the pollution as a grey cloud hanging over the entire city. Santiago is also plagued by frequent earthquakes, the latest big one in 2010. The Richter scale had to be extended recently to cover the Chilean earthquakes!

To get a proper taste of the city we went on a Tours for Tips walk, which happened to be almost private for the 4 of us. It was guided by Sveta from Siberia (!) who gave us an excellent introduction to the center, interesting stories and some secrets that most tourists don't discover, like the completo and coffee with legs. We can't disclose these in public, but you can ask us privately. As a bonus to the walk we got bikes for the last few hours before heading to the airport. Here is David joining the trumpet playing (or star gazing?) cyclists.

Our Last Pisco Sour:

It`s the last transfer of our trip, from our Santiago hostel to the airport. We had spent all our pesos except 16,000 for the taxi. At the last minute, we make an executive decision to dump the taxi in favour of a much cheaper bus, saving the surplus funds for a final round of Pisco Sours.  (Pisco Sour is a favourite Chilean and Peruvian cocktail made by blending pisco (kind of brandy), lemon juice, sugar, egg white, and bitters.) For over a month, we had been regularly drinking Pisco Sours, which tasted only slightly stronger that a benign lemonade.

Near our gate, we found the perfect drinking spot, `The Last Pisco Sour` bar.  We quickly noticed that our last pisco was indeed special; everything was a lot more interesting and challenging, including walking - either all our previous Pisco sours and been watered down or our bartender decided to make sure we would remember our last one. All I know is that soon after, Air Canada was paging Esther; I was in the woman`s bathroom shouting for Esther and Annice; and, when I finally got to the gate, the agent was tying Esther`s shoes. 

We did manage to get on board and back home, safe and sound but with a determined plan to keep replicating our ``last pisco sour``.

Valparaiso!

In the overall plan for our trip we allocated the first week to Buenos Aires and the last week to Santiago. Sometime during the trip we realized that large cities are not what we enjoy visiting most. Since we had the flights from Calama to Santiago, and from Santiago back home already booked, we have looked at the map for a nearby alternative, and we found Valparaiso.
It is a port city about 100 km from Santiago, recommended by fellow travelers who visited it. The name Valparaiso brought back memories of books I read in my youth about 19-th century adventurers who ended up there. So there we went.
Arriving by bus at night, we were greeted by this view. The city is built on a series of steep hills surrounding the bay where the port is.
In daylight you can see the wild variety of building styles and colours I fell in love with.

Our little hostel is near the top of Cerro Alegre, looking down into the port. Half way down there are stairs, so cars cannot go up and down the street, which suited us fine.

The hills are separated by deep  ravines, and each hill developed its own character. Some are more picturesque and welcoming to tourists, other grungier and presented to us as no-go zones. Almost all businesses are in the narrow flat coastal strip by the ocean, and the hilltops have only small stores, cafes and restaurants.
The old 'ascensores' can take you up and down the steepest slopes.

In the ascensor ...

... and looking down

As we have found out in BA, a good way to get introduced to a city and its history is to take a guided walking tour. We joined a tour offered by "Tours for tips" with Sidney, who we found by her Wally shirt, guiding her first solo tour supervised by Ben.












We were not dis disappointed by the 3-hour walk which included picturesque sites, history, anecdotes, local cookies (mendocinos) offered by the baker from his house, and a pisco sour for a goodbye.

A view from Neruda's home-museum

On the way to the tour we visited La Sebastiana, a museum for the poet Pablo Neruda, a Nobel laureate, in a house he lived in and decorated in his quirky taste. Some of his poems were on display, and I found them approachable and deep. Recommended.
Valparaiso is definitely a city to discover by walking. Because of its topography it feels like a series of small towns, and walking up and down the hills you are never bored as you discover many little gems and learn to appreciate the contrasts resulting from its checkered history. Its boom times were in mid-19th century, where it served as a major transit port during the California gold rush, and many European immigrants settled here. The good times were shaken by major earthquakes, and ended with the opening of the Panama canal, which dramatically shortened the way from Europe to the West Coast. Today it's the second largest port of Chile and a major stopping point for cruise ships.

Perhaps the most visually unique are the many murals decorating the houses, walls, even roofs - any paintable surface. They combine art, beauty, ideas, originality and hard work, mostly by volunteers. They are also an expressions of the love that the locals and also visiting artists feel for the city, as we were told by artists we watched working:



Here is a small gallery of murals we came across walking around Valparaiso. BTW, you can magnify the pictures by clicking on them.

These are actually mosaics

The most impressive murals were on the hill called Polanco, a poor neighborhood that we were instructed to visit, if we have to, only in the morning, when the muggers are not up yet. We went there with trepidation and discovered a mostly slum-like area turned into a big outdoor gallery. We've been told that it started with an international mural competition, with the intention of giving Polanco a new life. Apparently it started turning it around, as we were told by an expat American we met in the elevator going up the hill. It turned out later that this was the same guy we have corresponded with earlier in the week through Tours for Tips and who helped us in finding the hostel in Santiago. Small world.

A series of cats and dogs ...

Can you find the second cat?

Below, at the door of our hostel, Julia the hostess with the dog that appeared there one day and never left.

Two segments of an amazing mural near our hostel that we could watch being painted day and night by volunteer artists from different countries. We saw it all the way from an outline to an almost-finished masterpiece.

For our last night in this enchanted city we went to a nice restaurant with a great view on the city, the port and the sunset. We raised a glass of pisco sour to say goodbye, and stayed until dark to watch the sunset - see pictures below.

A view just before sunset ...











.. and a little after ...

Addendum (guess by who): Valparaiso- A Jogger´s Perspective

After spending 10 days at dizzyingly high latitudes and where any activity stirred hideous dust bowls, Valparaiso is a runner´s paradise.  The early town grew just fine as there was enough flat space between the sea and its surrounding 42 cerros or hills. But with the boom in the 1850´s, the city started to creep up the hills and it hasn´t stopped. These are not Mount Royal-type hills but steep, black double-diamond runs that go straight up for a kilometer or two.  Some cars are forced to negotiate these precipitous climbs by zigzagging their way up these narrow inclines. Interestingly, the roads are so steep that, unlike most other cities, the neighbourhoods steadily deteriorate as you get higher. No Westmount summits here!

My favourite road started with expensive Musee-type townhouses at the bottom.  As I got higher, the smells got more pungent, the houses more dilapidated, and the dogs angrier. The road turned from smooth asphalt, to rocks and then dirt near the top. Groups of animated young men, drinking from oversized beer bottles, congregated at near the summit, even at 7:30 in the morning. Pigs and chickens roamed aimlessly among the crowd.

Jogging was a wonderful challenge. Going up, I had to land on my toes otherwise I would be catapulted backwards. Going down was even more terrifying as I persistently had to fight gravity which very much wanted to launch me down the road in one terrifying blast. And, of course, the locals waved and laughed thinking I was crazy. Am I?