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!