Santiago and onward!

Ok, so getting a while behind on the blogging so I´ll give you a run down of the last couple of weeks fairly quickly to catch up.



We arrived back in Santiago on the 18th Nov and spent until the 30th between there and Valparaiso (my favourite city so far by a long stretch... beautiful), recuperating, exploring Valpo with Vanessa and Oliver, preparing for the bikes arrival, waiting for the bikes arrival, collecting the bikes and preparing them for the journey ahead.



The highlight was definitely the weekend spent with Vanessa and Oliver in Valparaiso. A friend of theirs showed a group of us around the city on the Saturday which was fantastic. Sars is gonna add a bit more detail about the city... and we owe another MASSIVE thank you to V & O for their hospitality!! It was great to see you guys again! And a big thanks to Paula for showing us around Valpo too.



We also need to thank Enzo and Martina from Villa Kunterbunt who helped us with clearing the bikes through customs and everything. They made it so easy and were so hospitable! We loved the BBQ too!!



...so... we set off from Santiago on Sun 30th and not a day too soon. It was fantastic to get out of the big city and after a short stint down the highway we were straight off it and onto some interesting gravel roads up into Reserva Nacional Radal Siete Tazas (7 cups). We camped the night in the most beautiful spot on the edge of the very aptly named Rio Claro (Clear river) in the Conifer forests... so stunningly beautiful. The following day we headed straight for the 7 cups. These are 7 waterfalls between cup like pools of rock... it was amazing! I´ve never seen anything like it (will post the photos soon). After looking from the lookout we decided to follow the walking path until it eventually hit the river. We then scrambled back along the rocks to the base of a magnificent waterfall where the green pool of water sat underneath begging to be swum in... how could we resist... so in we went... for about 0.2 of a second... and out we went from the COLDEST DAMN WATER EVER!!! I swear it´s a miracle there wasn´t a layer of ice on top. Despite the temp we managed a few more dips in... very invigorating! :-)



Once we´d had our fill of the beauty it was on our bikes and into Talca for the night, following an amazing dirt road through the foothills of the Andes and the Pine forests and farming land. We had been recommended a place just outside Talca, so the next day we headed there and had a day of relaxing beside the pool in hammocks and a fantastic bbq dinner with a bottle of Camenére (a local Chilean wine) (check out the hostel here: http://www.trekkingchile.com/Casachueca/indexEN.html)... we felt we needed a break after the rush to get everything ready and to leave Santiago.



Next day was back on the bikes and on to Concepcion... well that was the plan, except I may have been a little confused and followed the signs to Constitución... oops!! But the ride was absolutely stunning and Constitución was a good place for lunch. Then just as we were about to head on our way in the afternoon we met Gabriel and his father James and mother Norma (?!? I think that´s right, have to check). They kindly invited us to their house to check out their motos and then Gabriel and James took us on a tour of their city!! It was fantastic riding along the rocky coastline with the beaches and fishing port and then up to the hills with an amazing view of the mouth of the Rio Maule and Constitución. A MASSIVE thanks to Gabriel and his family for taking the time out to show us gringos around their town!!! We really appreciated it and hope we can return the favour some day.



We managed to make it to Cauquenes for a sleep that night, then it was on to Concepcion the next day where we finally managed to sort out international 3rd party insurance for the bikes for the Mercorsur countries. In the afternoon we rode down the coast to Lota. It was an old mining town and they run tours of one of the old coal mines there. We were both interested to see it... a very different type of coal mining from my experience, however we asked in the morning and they only ran tours in Spanish. We decided that it would be a bit of a waste of time and money for us to attempt the Spanish tour, so back on the bikes and a long haul to Pucon which is where I sit right now.



We arrived last night and are relaxing today and enjoying the tiny town wedged between a beautiful lake and a spectacular snow covered (and smoking) volcano. It is understandable that this is such a tourist spot for Chileans as well as the Gringos. Tomorrow we climb the volcano which we can´t wait to do! There´s also much rafting, horse riding, trekking, canopy tours etc etc to do around here, but we´re on a mission to see Chiloé before next Monday (15th) when we catch the Navimag ferry (i.e. container ship) from Puerto Montt to Puerto Natales so we might have to head on soon.



that´s us up to date. Will add more pics soon, otherwise you can check out all the albums so far on Facebook.



ciao for now.