Aprendido Español en Santiago!!

We flew back into Santiago with 1 week of Spanish classes booked. The classes were pretty intense as we were in school for 8 hours a day, then we were practising in the evening with our Chilean host lady.

By the end of the first week we realised that we had only really picked up a small amount of dangerous knowledge, and so we decided to book for a further 3 weeks.

Because of our extension we were lucky enough to be in Santiago during their Bicentenial celebrations, 200 years since the removal of Spanish rule. There was a real buzz in the air as the Chileans sure like a party!

Our school put on a fiesta for us where we could eat, drink and be merry!

We also had a chance to try our hand (or feet?) at some traditional dance, the Cueca. These guys showed us the moves and we then proceeded to amaze everyone with our ability, not only to understand all of the instructions, but to show real flair and natural talent... oh wait...no...we were the ones facing the wrong direction and falling over...oh well!

At least we managed to get this pose right!!

After the dancing we had a go at a traditional game, El Emboque, where you need to flick a wooden bell shape with a hole in the bottom, onto a stick that is attached by some string. It was pretty tough! 

Here are Luisa and Luis, two of our favourite teachers. Luisa was absolutely 'loco' and Luis was amazingly patient and a great teacher. 

We didn',t really do too much exploring in Santiago as we were both pretty tired out by the weekends, but we did manage to trek up to Cerro San Cristabel to get some views of the city. 

Thanks to some generous birthday gifts we were able to celebrate Stephs 27th at a nice restaurant in Bellavista (a few doors down from where we were staying) called 'Como Agua para Chocolate'. We even managed a glass of Champagne! 

We did manage a daytrip to Valparaiso, an hour or so outside of Santiago, which is a UNESCO World heritage site.

We took a trip up the oldest funicular in town, and managed to get some shots of it on the way down.

 Valparaiso is known for its bohemian vibe and many of the buildings were painted by local artists.

On the last Friday of our course one of the teachers invited us to her house for some typical cuisine. Believe us, it tasted great, a lot better than it looks!

This was our home for the month, nestled in the artistic area of Bellavista, very close to one of Pablo Neruda's houses.

We had a fantastic time learning Spanish in Santiago, it has helped a huge amount already. But what really made it extra special was being able to stay with a 'real' Chilean lady. 

Mireya was like a surrogate mother to us during our 4 weeks stay. She made us some typical foods that we would not have tried otherwise and tested us nearly every day on our Spanish. 

Thanks Mireya.

Iorana!

After a brief stopover in Santiago, Chile, and collecting a 30+ hour day from our flight from Auckland, we flew into Rapa Nui, (Easter Island).  We landed and went through the easiest airport process ever before being greeted by the friendly Marcel and being given the traditional welcome gift of a flower necklace!

On arrival we got chatting to another guest at the Inn where we were staying called Laura and at breakfast the next day she suggested that along with Roberto, another guest, we all hire a car and explore the island together.  It was an excellent idea - we saved loads of money, met two new friends and also had the use of Roberto's excellent Spanish (don't ever believe an Italian when they say that Spanish and Italian aren't similar!!) to get us around!

These photos were taken at one of my favourite places on the island, Rano Raraku, the volcano from where most of the island's Moais were created. A lot are still where they were left, some just half carved into the rock faces before being abandoned for reasons people still don't understand.

 I think Jon did a better impression than me - having a similar nose helps!!

This guy below was one only a small number of Rapa Nui natives.  He was excellent and very kindly modelled for a photo with me!

 After walking around the outside of the volcano we explored the crater inside, which was beautiful - complete with a lake and another Moai 'graveyard' .  We were the only four people in there for most of the time which gave us a bit of time to have some fun with photos!

From Ranu Rakaru, you get the first tantalising glance of that famous shot - all of the 'heads' lined up with the sea as the backdrop!! It was more impressive than I thought it would be - my particular favourite was the chap with the red headress/hair!!

Most of the Moai's face inland, which is thought to have been to protect villages. Ahu Akivi is unique in that it faces out to sea and after an interesting and bumpy drive to get there (there was a reason why a 4x4 was needed) they were one of our last stops of the day.

After covering most of the island by car in one day, we decided to make our way to Orongo, the site of a ceremonial village, and Rano Kau, another of the island's volcanoes the next day.  Some bright spark suggested that the walk would be good (not sure if it was you Laura, or me!!) and all started off well. However, by the time we made it to the volcano the heavens had opened and the wind was joining in with the show.  We made it to the village but unfortunately didn't see much.  The kind park rangers provided some rest bite from the downpour and even captured the moment on camera for us.  I have to say that this photo does not show the true extent to the soaking we received!! Roberto's wallet got soaked and he had to lay all of his notes out on his bed to dry and both Laura and Roberto's passports suffered as well!! None of us stopped laughing though - an excellent day!

After setting up the perfect shot, checking the lighting, and getting everyone into position, we settled back and waited for the timer to snap the camera into action. Meanwhile, Willie the dog was thinking of ways to be naughty, this is what he came up with!!

  Thanks WIlie... This is a shot of a refurbished Moai, with amazing colours and patterns.

 This chap was quite special because he had eyes unlike a lot of the other Moai on the island.

  The island was magical and our time was even better because we met Laura and Roberto.

(Lots of!!) Adrenaline, Burgers and Wine

Time for NZ part 2......

Here's one we missed out of the last blog, of us at the foot of the Franz Josef glacier.

Kindly taken by Julia!

Early the following morning, I got ready for yet another great experience. We arrived at the airfield just before 7am and the clouds that had prevented us from taking the Heli-Hike the day before had dissapeared and it was a glorious morning. We flew up to 16,000ft, dropping off other jumpers along the way. Afer watching people falling from the plane 1 by 1, I was the only one left and the quickest way down was through that tiny door!

I am not sure what my expectations were, but they were definitely all beaten when I fell like a stone and started my 60+ seconds of freefall, getting up to around 200Kmh!.....

And back on solid ground....

After meeting back up with the Magic bus, we travelled onward to the party capital of Queenstown, but along the way there was a chance to do one more activity...and not content with doing one hair-raising stunt in a day, I made a rash decision and decided to sign up for a bungy jump!

I was more than a little nervous about this one, as you can tell...

But apparently when I eventually got round to it, I made a pretty good jump!

After all of the adrenaline pumping action it was time for some grease! A group of us (including Kirsty and Jason, the other daring couple who also jumped) headed of to the legendary 'Fergberger'!!! Here is what Steph thought of it...

After a truely bizzare day throwing myself off or out of things, the next day, we had a nice relaxing trip to Milford Sound. It was an amazing place and as we floated along the water we were reminded a little of Halong Bay.

The Captain obviously thought that the rain was not enough for us, and he dipped the nose of the boat right into this waterfall!

That night we all headed into town to try out some of the notorious nightlife. We had heard before hand of a bar that serves its cocktails in teapots...COCKTAILS IN TEAPOTS...Steph was there!!

After leaving Queenstown we made our way to Lake Tekapo, a truely magical place. Our hostel had a view overlooking this amazing backdrop...

However...after watching (what I thought) some crazy people walking towards the freezing lake in their swimsuits, and proceeding to jump in, Clo, one of our newfound French friends, thought that it would be a great idea to do the same...

Apparently in winter the life expectancy in the lake is 15 minutes - no need to worry though because we lasted less than 30 seconds.  So short a time that Steph made us go back in again so she get a photo!!

One of our favourite memories of New Zealand will be of the wine tasting tour of Marlborough. Something that had been on our wish list from the beginning. We booked the tour through a small company called 'Bubbly Grape'. At 10am we were picked up from our hostel, and after collecting 2 other couples we were off...

We tried around 7 wines (sauvignon blanc, Pinot Gris, Reisling, Chardonnay, Gewurtzrimer, Pinot noir and a Dessert wine) at each vineyard (with 5 vineyards in total), but got to try 10 at Cloudy Bay (the home of our Christmas wine)!

This is a photo from our first mini wine tasting earlier in the trip - Steph wasn't too convinced about the Chardonnay although the Bubby Grape tour has now changed her mind!

We had lunch (with a glass of wine of course) at one of the vineyards restaurants Allan Scotts, and our guide Jonathan was great. A fantastic day in a beautiful setting!

One other treat for us was a chance to see some Glo-worms near Mt. Maunganui. As the sun set we drifted off in our kayaks to see these weird creatures pulsating in the dark, they were lit up like Christmas lights. Unfortunately no photos of us in the kayak, but we got a picture of the pre-show meal!

Thought you might want to see our home (well sort of) for our 3 weeks in NZ...

Sad news ..

Unfortunately we discovered last week that the company I jumped with for the skydive had a fatal accident the day before the earthquake in New Zealand. The plane crashed on takeoff and all those onboard died (1 pilot, 4 Tandem masters and 4 tourists). Could not really believe it as I had such a great time with them, and as a small company and community it must be devastating.

New Zealand Part 1 .... The Great Outdoors

We decided that to get the most from our short time in NZ, we would book onto a bus tour and attempt to see as much of both islands as possible. 

The tour company was called 'Magic Bus' and it picked us up and dropped us off at hostels throughout the country. We could also book onto activities for the various destinations on the bus and, in theory, jump on and off the route at any point.  

   

Our first stop after an overnight stay in Christchurch was Kaikoura, where we arrived in the early afternoon and booked onto a whale watching trip. We were lucky enough to see not one but three sperm whales on our first full day in NZ!

Next up were a couple of seal encounters. Our driver Scott had a soft spot for the critters so we made a few stops on the way to our next destination, firstly to see some rather sleepy looking adults, who had just returned from three weeks of eating at sea...

And then we saw the babies, playing under a waterfall....

The bus route took us anti-clockwise around the South Island, making many photo stops and 'morning tea' breaks a long the way.  

As we had arrived during the New Zealand winter, the weather was amazingly changeable.  One of our photo stops was at 'Pancake Rocks' on the West Coast.  We got absolutely soaked on our 15 minute walk to the rocks but the views were impressive.

The next few days were a little frustrating, due to the winter timetable. During the winter you can either stay for 1 night or 4 nights in each location, and due to our tight schedule, we couldn't afford to stay for the longer time. Therefore, we missed out on a few activities where you need at least one full day in the area. Our next opportunity to do any activities was at Franz Josef Glacier. We were hoping to do a 'Heli-Hike', where we would have taken a helicopter flight halfway up the Glacier, then hiked around before flying back down.

Unfortunately, when we arrived we were told that because of the weather, they were not running the heli-hikes. We were disappointed but thought that instead we could join the rest of the bus party on the half-day glacier walk. What we hadn't bargained for, however, was one of the most unhelpful people in the world (we can say that now!!), and her obvious distaste for all things and people Magic. She told us that the Glacier walk was fully booked (even though there was plenty of equipment available) and when we asked how to get to the only other place that does Glacier walks, she just shrugged her shoulders. Customer service at its best!

We had spent the last few days on the bus, not being able to do any activites and it looked like one of the highlights of our trip was going to be ruined by someone who couldn't be bothered to help. But then, when all hope was nearly lost, we were helped out by a lady in a nearby information centre who went out of her way to make sure we would have a good lasting memory of Franz Joseph.

She managed to book us onto a great scenic flight above the glacier, here is what we thought of it...