January 31 - February 6, 2025
After three days of touring and traveling, we were ready to start the 0-Circuit in Torres Del Paine National Park, Patagonia. But a devastating phone call from my son had my friends booking the next flights home for me. My husband and his brother had drowned when they fell through the ice while ice-fishing. My world had suddenly turned upsidedown.
Feb. 1
Excited to have finally landed in Santiago, Chile after a 4.5-hour flight to Toronto, a 2-hour layover and then a 10-hour flight to Santiago.
We landed 8:00am so the day stretched before us. After a 2-hour bus ride to Valpariso, we took a taxi to our hostel for the night. When we arrived, I wasn't impressed by the rundown exterior or the building. When no one answered the door, we started to get worried. Just as Irene was trying to text the owner, the door popped open and two people stepped out. Then the friendly owner beckoned us to come in.
We made good use of this little veranda with a beautiful view.
There are 43 hills in Valparaiso.
What this hostel was lacking in hygiene, it made up for in character. But then for $10.00 a night, who can complain?
There were stray cats everywhere. Even on the murals.
Many of the homes in Valparaiso are made of corrugated steel becuase it's light-weight and the area is prone to earthquakes.
I've never seen so many murals in one city before.
It was a Saurday night and therefore a night of festivities. As we settled in a restaurant for dinner, the band started warming up for a night of competition. But our eardrums were starting to hurt. So we migrated to the outdoor patio. It wasn't as loud, but the numerous nearby bands sounded more like a cacophony of noise than like music. There was a jumble of screaming, screeching, and out of tune voices and instruments that was quite entertaining.
Feb. 2
We spent a long day exploring Valparaiso which is a UNESCO city and the graffiti capital of Chile. First, we did a 3-hour walking tour called, Off Beat that took us off of the beaten path into back allies and less known tourist sites. Our guide brought the city and it’s history to life. This was pay by donation but he suggested $9000. pecos.
Before the Panama Canal, Valparaiso was a stopover for ships traveling to North America. It had a large European population and was quite wealthy. The topography, ports, architecture, funiculars and colorful murals, made for quite the attractions.
The flight of stairs in the middle photo beside the funicular, is called the 300-Burn due to the strain on the leg muscles.
After covid, the university's student attendance dropped, and the residents in this area were replaced by those with a lower income. Ten of the seventeen funiculars closed down.
This church from the 1500s, was the only building not damaged by the earthquake in 2010.
The music venue in the foreground was burnt in 2017 because of political unrest. The musicians were pushing for peace.
The photo on the left shows two different sides to the same building. One succumbed to the passage of time and the other was renewed. This is because there are two different owners.
One of seven funiculars.
In the afternoon we walked through the more popular part of the town.
A large port for cruise ships.
A 15-minute boat ride through the harbour.
Kitty kept us company back at our hostel.
This was my favorite mural.
Feb. 3
Just round the corner and across the bay from Valparaiso was Vina del Mar, the largest resort area on the Chile west coast.
We had to check out of our hotel and take all our luggage with us, before catching the bus back to Santiago. Two different groups of security gaurds approached us, warning us about the high rate of theft on these beaches. We had to put our packs infront of us, not behind us. We had a plan: if a thief ran off with some of our goods, Brigette (our fastest hiker) would run and jump on him / her, Charlotte (competetive dragonboat racer) would wrestle him to the ground, I would take photos of him, Irene would file a police report (RCMP employee) and Denise + Sue (teachers) would give him councelling.
As noon approached, the fog lifted.
We did a short walk and coffee at McDonalds.
This hostel was a 6-minute drive from the Santiago airport. It was very clean but the hot temperatures made it harder to get a solid nights sleep.
We had to get up at 3:15am to catch the 5:30am flight to Peurto Natales. All domestic flights go first to Santiago before going to the next destination.
After a 3-hour flight we landed by a very small airport which was only about 10-minutes from Peurto Natales. It's not often that you arrive at an airport and immediately get your luggage off of a conveyor belt that's holding nothing but backpacks.
We spent this night in the Gemini Hostel.
Took the photo on the left for my friend, Bote.
This is a monument of a Miladon, a historic bear.
Feb. 4
Having gleaned some info off of local residents, we did this 3-hour hike on a nearby hill as a warm up for the 8-day trek that was to begin the next day.
We had to pay the owner of this property a few pecos for crossing his land.
When we got to the hotel by mid afternoon, I was told to immidiately phone home because of a family emergency.
Three flights and 17 hours of flying later, I met my five children at the airport.
We drove straight to Grace Lake, where the accident happened. There were smiles amidst tears, as we suffered a second huge loss to our family, the other one being Feb. 21, 2008 when my son and my childrens' brother died in a car accident.
Dear friends, Terry & Allana set up this cross and ceramic toadstool in honour of Case.
I do still plan to hike Patagonia, but this year was not meant to be my time to do it.
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