Chile sits right on the West coast of South America. It's so skinny that it wouldn't take you much time to go from one side to the other but it's loooong (half the length of the entire continent, actually) and seriously dry up top. Sounds like the chicks in Las Vegas.
We started at San Pedro de Atacama in the north, a desert area that is the most arid place on earth. We then headed to the capital city Santiago and its surrounding regions of Valparaiso and Vina Del Mar, before spending some time in Puerto Varas in the Lakes District. We finished our travels in the southern-most part of the continent in Patagonia and the National Park, Torres Del Paine.
We were looking forward to seeing Chile; a country so lengthy must have an enormously varied landscape, right? It certainly didn't disappoint. If I could use just one word to describe the country overall it would be 'amazeballs.' It's a really, really fantastic place - beautifully diverse in its environment and the resultant things to see and do - and the people are SO nice.
As we were happy to learn, the people are also wonderfully easy on the eye. While you guys at home were busy with the X-Factor, we were appreciating the Totty Factor in a country with more sexpots per square metre than you can shake a stick at (or anything else if you're single and that way inclined.) I spent two weeks lifting my jaw off the ground after it kept dropping to gape in awe at the super duper fitties. At times I hat to sit down: the overload of hormones can cause confusion, dizziness and disorientation. But the dreamy, peachy face of a concerned passer-by is usually enough to shake one back into a happy state. (Before anyone gets indignant on Imran's behalf, please let it be known that Imran himself conceded to the fact the scenery was rather good and he'll have plenty of 'observation' opportunities in Brazil.) But back to the country...
It's pretty pricey here. If you manage to find something that costs the same as in London you feel like you've stumbled upon a bargain. The Metro is the only thing cheaper than at home (unsurprisingly) but the food is in general way more expensive. And it's bad. Not 'bad' in the Michael Jackson or rude boy sense but in the traditional definition. They aim for gourmet cuisine here - a very fine aim, of course - but they also have a deluded belief they've achieved it. The so-called fine dining places had a real stroke of bad luck when I entered their establishments. I can smell a packet ingredient and a reheated potato from a mile away and I'm not afraid to throw it (sometimes literally but luckily not at anyone's head... yet.) Other foodies will understand my dismay! But it's ok: although the crap Chilean food and lack of fresh juices were very serious offences in mine and Imran's culture, the immigrant Peruvians were around to save the day by opening their own restaurants up and down the country. God bless those Peruvians! (And I think He did, by putting them at the front of the queue when handing out food competence. Those dishy Chileans just get full on great wine and foreigners' lusty sighs of desire.)
Arriving in Atacama, we were blown away (almost literally at times) by the sheer size of the desert dunes. There's a reason it's the driest area in the world: some parts of Atacama have recorded no rainfall since weather records began. Nada. Zilch. Surprising then, to find hotels with swimming pools here. But even in the desert, you shouldn't make the mistake of thinking this wealthy and well-developed country has more in common with its South American neighbours than it does with Britain. The natives will tell you that themselves in the impeccable English they all seem to speak.
The rocky mountains and sand dunes are the perfect backdrop for a bike ride and that was simultaneously the most fun and the most stupid thing we did here. 25km is nothing on a mountain bike if there's a path of some kind but we soon learnt that riding through sand isn't quite as easy. Still, to hurtle down a massive dune and sink so deep into the sand with the front tyre that you end up somersaulting (still on the bike) 150m down is certainly an experience. Imran will tell you: sand burns hurt! If he were more animal friendly, he could've had his wounds licked by our canine bodyguards. Wild dogs roam everywhere in Atacama and generally don't bother people.. but they do love cyclists and we had three of them merrily trotting alongside of us for our entire outing. It became quite funny when they kept stopping to take a break with us!
The rocky mountains and sand dunes are the perfect backdrop for a bike ride and that was simultaneously the most fun and the most stupid thing we did here. 25km is nothing on a mountain bike if there's a path of some kind but we soon learnt that riding through sand isn't quite as easy. Still, to hurtle down a massive dune and sink so deep into the sand with the front tyre that you end up somersaulting (still on the bike) 150m down is certainly an experience. Imran will tell you: sand burns hurt! If he were more animal friendly, he could've had his wounds licked by our canine bodyguards. Wild dogs roam everywhere in Atacama and generally don't bother people.. but they do love cyclists and we had three of them merrily trotting alongside of us for our entire outing. It became quite funny when they kept stopping to take a break with us!
Santiago is more like London than any other city we've visited, but just with less of the historical architecture. Half of the streets look and feel like Embankment and Bank. The modern buildings, the cars and traffic, the styles and fashions of the people.. So much similarity to London (with the obvious exception of the weather!) And I don't say this with a frown. On the contrary, it made me appreciate the beauty of the city I'm lucky enough to call home. I just needed to go to the other side of the world to realise it!
You can't go to Chile and not try some decent tipples. And what better excuse to be drunk at 9am than my birthday? The vineyards in the Casablanca region are certainly gorgeous, especially Casas Del Bosque which we visited. They ensured they drummed into us that the Carmenere grape can only be found in this country and not in France where it was killed by disease. They love having one up on the Europeans. All our French friends, look away now - it's one of the nicest red wines we've ever had! I'd like to tell you more about our day and some details about Valparaiso and Vina Del Mar but after those early morning wines, we simply remember everything was "awesome, man!" We've got some lovely pictures from that day; just don't remember taking them..
That pesky volcanic ash sure seems to be a global problem but at least in Chile they have a valid excuse: there are bucket-loads of active volcanoes in the Lakes District area. And yet somehow, we still managed to get to the Germanic and pretty Puerto Varas without being stranded at the airport for three weeks (England, take note.) The sky looked pretty clear to me and I couldn't understand what all the fuss was about until the next morning when the ash had cleared up a bit and two beautiful volcanoes named Calbuco and Orsono popped up from nowhere right outside our room window. There's an enormous lake here which locals like to jog and canoe around and we did attempt to do both, but volcanic ash really does make one lethargic (that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it.)
In all honestly, it feels really difficult to make Chile sound interesting to you and I just can't give you exact reasons as to why we had so much fun here. Sure, chilling in Chile (haha) is great but there was an extra je ne sais qua to our experience. It's just..cool. It's vibrant, it's got an amazing variety of nature and there's so much to see. Its similarity to London is comfortingly familiar but its difference makes it appealingly fascinating. The people are very conservative and moralistic (you'd be hard pushed to find anyone over the age of eleven in a bikini) and simultaneously easy-going and kind. They're also intelligent and, despite their good looks, are refreshingly lacking in arrogance. Chile is just simply a top place but it can't be described: it needs to be experienced.
Our Chilean voyage didn't end here, thankfully. Patagonia played host to us for a while. But that was simply so incredible it has to have its own separate post.
Hope everyone had a brilliant Christmas! Xx
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