Tea in Las Vegas

Last weekend Nate and I attended the World Tea Expo in Las Vegas. We spent most of our time in the convention, but we were able to do some sightseeing. It definitely is a unique city...not my first choice for a vacation destination. But there were some interesting things to see. At the convention we learned a lot about tea. We attended classes in the morning and walked around the trade show in the afternoons. Nate's family farm is experimenting with growing tea, and we went there to learn about the processing and packaging process. We got some great ideas, and everyone left pretty excited about the opportunities. We also got lots of samples...tea anyone? Our flight home left around 9:30 pm Sunday night, but we sat in the plane on ground for about an hour because the pilot's oxygen supply needed maintenance. So, we didn't get home until about 2:30 am...that made for a long day at work the next day!



The New York Hotel across from our hotel


Our hotel...the Excalibar


The Venetian: This is all inside


The Eiffel Tower!


Umm...not sure where his head went


A 3-D movie at M&M World


M&M World and The Coke Store was right next
to each other...my favorites!

We're Home

After over 24 hours of traveling, we finally made it home. Our trip was long but uneventful. Because of a headwind, the flight from Santiago to Dallas ended up being about an hour late, so it turned into a 10.5 hour flight. It was wonderful to be back our apartment and sleep in our own bed. However, Nate will be off and traveling again soon. He is flying to San Diego on Sunday for some meetings on Monday and Tuesday, then back on Tuesday only to drive up to Vancouver BC for a convention. That means that I am going to spend next week up with my family. No rest for the weary!

Well, thanks for joining us on our journey! Our trip was a whirlwind adventure, and we packed as much into a month as possible. We have lots of great memories and many pictures to help record all the adventures.

Canopy Tour

Nate and I went on an awesome canopy tour up in the mountains. We caught a bus heading about an hour and a half east to the lodge where the tour started. When we signed up for the tour, they said that there was not room in the company vehicle, so we had to find our own way up. We took the public bus to the small town of Ensenada. But no one there knew where we were supposed to meet. After wandering down the road for a while, we eventully found the spot. From there, the company picked us and we drove up the mountain to the lodge. They gave us a safety lesson on how to use the hand brake. After getting roped in, we went up to the first platform. From there, we flew around the trees, somestimes over than 150 meters above the ground, over canyons, and through fields. It was incredible!

Ready to fly!

Canyon Zip-Line

Another canyon...over 150 m high, about 1.2 km long!

Here is a video of Lisa going down the zip-line through the canyon. It was recorded sideways, so you will just have to turn your head (or your computer).

Isla de Chiloe

Penguins! We found penguins! Nate and I drove down south a few hours with another couple in search of penguins. We started on the interstate, but that ended in Puerto Montt and turned into a two-lane highway. Eventually, that ran into the ocean and we had to take a ferry (not quite like WA ferries...basically just a barge) to the Island of Chiloe. From there, we took a slow, windy road around the island. Finally, we turned onto a gravel road and traveled about 15 bumpy kilometers to the beach. We felt like we were going to the middle of nowhere, but when we reached the beach we found a tour company. We paid them to take us out in a small boat to look at the penguins. This spot is the only place in the world where the two kinds of penguins cohabit. The Humbolt penguins come down from Peru and the Magellan ones come up from the southern tip of South America. We rode in the boat through the very choppy sea to the different islands where the penguins were living. It was awesome! The company provided waders for us since we had to walk through the water to get to the boat and because it was wet inside the boat from the waves. Of course...Nate was wearing flip-flops and didn't have socks so he just had to get wet! In addition to the penguins, we saw lots of other marine life such as porpoises, sea otters, and many different kinds of birds.

Happy Valentine's Day!

We have spent this week touring farms all the way from Santiago to Osorno, which is down south. 4 more have joined Nate and I for the tours, so we have traveled together the many hours down south. They are all leaving Saturday, but Nate and I don't fly back until Tuesday night. He has a couple meetings yet back north, so we are taking the bus back to Santiago. It is probably about a 12 hour bus ride, so we decided to take an overnight bus. The seats are said to be reclining, but we'll see! Nate was not feeling well yesterday and today . He and another guy in the group both started feeling sick yesterday. They think it was from lasagna, the only thing the two of them ate the no one else had. He was pretty feverish, achy, and nauseous last night, but fortunately he felt better this morning. I can't say we had the most exciting V-day. We just looked at blueberry fields and drove! For dinner we met a big group of top execs from this company for dinner. Nate told me that I kissed more guys today than I kissed him!!! Well...let me explain. In Chile, it is tradition to greet one another with a kiss on the cheek. So, when greeting all these men and when leaving, you give a lot of kisses on the cheek! I guess I'll just have to make it up to him! :)

Cajon del Maipo

We went for a drive the other day to the hills surrounding Santiago. The road we drove along led us through small, quaint villages. We stopped at one restaraunt for lunch that was like a hobbit house (there is a picture below). The inside was beautiful, with gnarly, knobby tree trunks from floor to ceiling decorating the inside. It was a beautiful drive and we were able to enjoy another part of Chile's diverse landscape.

The Hobbit House

The hills of Cajon del Maipo (like a river basin area)

Here and There

We had an interesting week here in Los Angeles. Nate worked at the processing facility the whole week so I found ways to keep myself occupied in this great town. I got a surprise on Wednesday...the owner of one of the companies Nate is working for invited us to ride horses on his ranch. So while Nate worked, another couple from a partner company in WA and I rode horses on a gorgeous preserve. We had a great time enjoying the beauty of the untouched land.

We also drove east into the mountains. Ty and his wife wanted to do some fishing while Nate and I rode along for fun. Nate fished a little, but we mainly enjoyed hiking around the rivers and relaxing by the water. We are now back in Santiago until Monday, and then we will join up with another group and head south to visit some more farms.

Keri, Ty, and Lisa

Nate found a great spot to relax!!!

It had rained up in the mountains the night before, so here you can see the muddy rivers of the hills merge with the clean river further down.

Such a huge, beautiful waterfall!

Fishing

Well, back to work in Los Angeles after another fun weekend of adventures. Nate is spending most of this week at a packing facility here. We are learning to pack as much as we can into a short weekend! We had a fun day fishing on a beautiful river. It was great to relax, reflect, and enjoy God´s creation. The actual fishing was not great...it was hot so the fish were lazy and not biting much. However, we both caught several fish. I (Lisa) caught my first ever...this was my first time fishing! Nate really enjoyed learning how to fly fish and had fun practicing his cast.

Lisa in front of the rafts we used to drift down the river

Nate practicing his fly fishing technique

Lisa on our pontoon raft with the guide

A slippery fish!!!

I caught Nate on video while he was pulling out in our tiny car. He was not quite as amused as me.

A day in Puerto Varas

This one's for you, dad!

Kayaking on the lake

It was really windy and the kayak was very tippy!!!

Our friend Ty in front of Volcano Osorno

Admiring the work of a local artist

Puerto Varas

Greetings from Puerto Varas! This beautiful southern town is about 6 hours from Los Angeles. Along the way, we took a small detour to the town of Villarrica. Both these towns have beautiful volcanoes, as you will see in the pictures. We had a delightful ride down in our tiny rented Kia. We quickly discovered it is not air conditioned, so we got to make the long journey in 90-something degree weather with no air.

Another bonus of our trip was that we got to meet a member of the Chilean law enforcement. We were driving along in our automobile when all of a sudden we saw a cop motioning to a bunch of cars ahead of us to pull over. (They don't chase cars down here, they just walk out into the middle of the highway and flag you over). We thought we were fine, but he motioned us to pull over too. We stopped, and after a few stressful minutes of waiting the cop came up to us. He started talking, but we said we didn't understand (we really didn't understand most of it). He left, then after a while came back and said that our lights weren't on. Apparently it is a law here to drive with your lights on even in the day. We played dumb Americans and said we didn't know that; it is not illegal in the states. Thankfully, he let us go without any problems and we continued our trip...with our lights on. :) Phew!

Enjoying the view of Volcano Villarrica

Volcano Villarrica

Puerto Varas

Volcano Osorno at dusk

Enjoy a view of the Volcano Villarrica!

If at first you don't succeed...try, try again!

We had quite the time getting back to Santiago today! Young had purchased tickets for the 3 of us to take the bus back to Santiago; it is about a 90 minute drive. We were scheduled to leave at 6:40 pm. Well, we somehow managed to miss the bus. It should not have been a big deal since there are lots of buses leaving for Santiago. Yet because of the busyness with everyone on vacation, we were not able to get tickets until 11 pm. Ok...no problem. So we all go back to the truck, load all our luggage, drive back to his friends apartment, unload everything and take it inside. We walked around Vina for a while until it was time for us to leave again.

Take 2

We reload, drive to the station, unload, and walk to the bus. After waiting quite a while for the bus, the guys asked where the Santiago bus was. They said it had left. The drive has put the wrong city on the front and had not bothered to change it. He just left, and we were stuck! The next bus was not leaving until 5:40 am. So...we walk back to the truck, reload, drive to the apartment, unload, and bring our stuff back upstairs. Young's friend mom and sister were blowing up air mattresses in the parking lot for everyone to sleep on when we returned. We had to then carry them upstairs. I'm not sure if we were just tired or what but trying to get the air mattresses, our luggage, and all the people in the elevator turned out to be one of the most hilarious things I have ever seen. Oh...the poor lady in the elevator with us.

Take 3

After sleeping a couple hours, we reloaded our luggage and headed for the bus. And...we made it! Yeah! Only 11 hours after our first attempt. :) We slept pretty much the whole way home, then got off the bus and headed for the Metro to make the final leg to Young's apartment. Well, 7 am is prime rush hour in the subway! It was quite a chore to get our luggage and stuff on the train with increasingly more people getting on. But we eventually made it and gratefully arrived at Young's apartment.

A funicular
The beach at Renaca

Valparaiso, Renaca, and ConCon

We had a great weekend in Vina. On Saturday Nate and I wandered around alone. We walked through some more stores and small markets. We found a really neat palace that had been turned into a museum. We think (after reading the history in Spanish) the palace belonged to the daughter of the founder of Vina del Mar. Inside the museum there were mainly paintings but also some old furniture and statues. We discovered a path outside the palace and started taking it up, thinking it would go somewhere neat. But at the top we realized it was just a path from the houses on the top of the hill to the town on the bottom. Oh well...at least there was a really good view of Vina and we got a small workout in! :)

Our friend Young arrived later on Sat. afternoon with his friend who lives in Vina. They picked us up in his friend's truck and drove us up the coast to Renaca, kind of like a suburb of Vina. The place was extremely crowded since it is a very popular summer vacation spot for Chileans. We then drove to Valparaiso. Valparaiso used to be the biggest port in Chile. The city is not near as nice as Vina. The people who live there are primarily the working class. People say that Vina del Mar looks down its nose at old, run down poor Valparaiso. However, the town is very unique and has neat buildings. The streets are very narrow and windy as the homes are all built on the side of a hill. Funiculars are very common there. These are like trams or railcars that bring people from their homes on the hill down into the city. It was awesome to have our own personal tour guides. We definitely would have gotten lost in Valparaiso, and there was no way we could have seen everything by walking.

The next day we spent a couple hours on the beach in Renaca. The water was very cold, but Nate and the guys went in for a few minutes. After relaxing in the beach, we headed up to ConCon, another town north of Vina. They took us to a typical seafood restaurant and ordered lots of different kinds of seafood. We were very greatful for Young and his friends. We got a premium personalized tour of the towns, thanks to their knowledge!

The palace we toured

Renaca

The hills of ValpariasoYoung, Nate, and Lisa

Vina de Mar

We have spent a great day wandering around the streets of Vina del Mar. It is very pretty here. I think this place is supposed to have one of the best beaches in Chile, so there are lots of Chileans here on summer vacations. There are lot of old buildings and very expensive homes on the hills by the water. We went past one castle and thought we might be able to look around...until we saw a sign for the President's Palace! Must be her summer home (Chile elected a woman president, the first in South America). I'm sure there is a lot of history in the old, impressive buldings we passed.

We spent the later part of the afternoon walking around the beach and perusing the market along the boardwalk. I am realizing that things aren't quite the same down here. We went into a grocery store to grab food for lunch and got some Cheetos. We thought they sounded really good. We opened the bag , and they tasted completely different. I guess we got the wrong kind. Then I got an ice cream come on the beach and thought I got vanilla and chocolate chip. It turned out to be raisins and some other different flavored ice cream. Needless to say I was quite surprised when I took my first bite! :)

Overlooking the Pacific

An old castle

A sample of the many interesting neighborhoods