Merry Christmas!

We have celebrated Christmas Eve with high adventure! We went Blackwater Rafting. This means you travel on a river, going deep in the heart of a large cave, to see glowing worms sparkeling on the ceiling in the dark, in your own inner tube.

You start your adventure by becoming attractively outfitted in a thick wet suit, used only a few hundred times. First the booties on your feet followed by squeezing yourself into overalls like a stuffed sausage. Then you put on an overcoat which helps you baste in the sun of the staging area for a wonderful ripe smell. You add padded boxer shorts over that (which they say is padding against the rocks in the cave -- but I think the guides just needed a laugh). The look is topped off by beautiful white rubber boots and a helmet with a light attached for visibility in the cave. Once you are in this adventure suit, you feel more like the Michelin Man than Indiana Jones, but you are ready.

When you get to the cave you are issued your inner tube. You begin the journey by spelunking your way deep into the cave following a trail of water. (That is walking.) As we walk, Daina is finding every hole along the way plunging in hip deep and climbing out. (Of course these same holes are only knee deep for Steve).

Finally the floating portion of the trek begins. You walk to the edge of a 6 foot waterfall. You stand at the edge, turn your back to the falls, hold your tube up to your ass, and leap backwards into the cold, dark water. Now that is taking the plunge! After some whooping and sputtering, equilibrium was re-attained and the view of millions of stars on the roof of the cave were ample reward. Just another traditional Christmas!

We continue our way through New Zealand joining with Daina's parents for a while. It is great to see familiar faces after a couple months on the road!

Grand Finale, Grief, Going Onward

Grand Finale. Our final days in Chile were a blast. We were joined by a friend we know in Atascadero who is from Chile. He got us looped in a night on the town, took us to his parents home/resort where we lounged in the pool and were served "Onces" (the Chilean version of tea), exposed us to near death in a funicular, and stuffed us with a fine fish dinner with a bloatation dessert before dropping us at the airport to continue our journey. We couldn't have asked for a better way to finish Chile.

Grief. Fate laughs when we plan, doesn't it? We planned our whole 7 month odyssey around our sailing boat cruise. First we were informed that the cruise had been cancelled (leaving us stranded in Thailand with no transport to Greece and 37 free days) because of the pirates. Then we were informed that we could go on the cruise from Thailand to Goa, India at which point we would be kicked off the boat and invited to re board in Safaga, Egypt, after the boat runs the pirate gauntlet sans passengers. Holy crap! We zoomed through the stages of grief:
Denial: This can't be happening!
Anger: Those bastards probably just didn't sell enough cabins to run the cruise!
Bargaining: If we sign a release can we go anyway?
Depression: Why is our life so bad? (TOTALLY JUST KIDDING, but we're really sad.)
Acceptance: We're ready for whatever comes.
So we are working on plan B: Nepal? We'll let you know when we figure it out.

Going On. We have gotten over our jet lag and settled into New Zealand.

National Park

We have survived Chile´s premier national park, Torres del Paine. This park is located at the end of a really long dirt road. We rented a tiny car and were assured it could handle the roads of the park. We began driving by delicately picking our way around potholes and boulders, attempting the perfect strategy for washboard, and stopping dead in our tracks to not be enveloped by the huge plumes of dust kicked up by other vehicles. Readers who are experienced off-roaders are of course thinking, "Idiots. Put the pedal to the metal and go!" Eventually we threw caution to the wind and adopted this attitude with our poor little car. It is hard to convey the experience of these roads. Let´s just say that as we rattled along, my face itched. With all this being said, the park was spectacular. Jagged, snow-capped peaks, mountainous glaciers, bluer than blue icebergs, and sweeping falls were all as magnificent as advertised. We even saw the promised creatures of the park, the fox, llama, ostrich, and flamingo. The weather was cold but clear with impressive visibility. It was a grand adventure.

During part of our visit, we stayed at a high-end hotel (similar to, but not as nice as, the Awahnee in Yosemite). The first morning we came to the dining room for the continental breakfast. We helped ourselves to the buffet where the plates were only slightly bigger than a cup coaster. We took our food and beverages, selected a lovely table with a spectacular view, and started eating. (The view was the picture above.) Then we spot a cursed little sign on our table: HAB 36. Oh no! This is a table reserved for the good people in Room 36. We are Room 21! We glance around and realize OUR reserved table was in the other room. These tables are for the people in the UBER-expensive rooms... We figured we had 2 options: move ourselves into the next room (which would include an outrageous number of coaster-sized dishes necessitating 4-5 trips) or switch the room number sign. Like burglars in the night, we switched the signs and ate our meal in fear of being ousted at any moment. Clearly we are representing America admirably in our travels.

In a few days we will head back to Santiago before flying on to New Zealand!

Birthday Bash

Today is Steve´s Birthday! And how do we celebrate? Sleep in a cozy little hotel with snow blowing outside in Puerto Natales. Then luxuriate in a hot tub at a local spa; aroma therapy, fresh cold water to drink, and plinky-plunky tunes in a funky little tent. We follow that with a stop at an amazing bakery for fresh breads and treats. We finish with a meal at Afrigonia. This is a lovely restaurant owned by a Zambian and a Patagonian with an African theme. It has been highly recommended. This fun day was perfectly punctuated by a birthday card from Gary and Linda which was waiting for us in our hotel when we arrived!

Our continuing journey south has been good. We enjoyed our bus trip which was fast and comfortable from the wine country to Puerto Montt. From there we rented a car and went to Puerto Varas, a small tourist town on the lake similar to Santa Barbara where we bet 1000 pesos and won 5000 pesos in the casino! We also took our rental car on a ferry which took us to Chiloe Island, where we drove way too far on a dirt road to check out penguins. There were few penguins and you had to get in a boat to see them so we skipped it. But we hiked to the top of a hill, the sun came out, and we had a great view. We also went to a restaurant there and enjoyed ¨Loco Empenadas¨ and beer.

We then left Puerto Montt and made voyage on a ferry traveling 3 days south. Our room consisted of 4 bunks, 4 small lockers, and a pleasant german couple. The scenery was breath-taking as we traveled south on an inside passage down the coast of Chile. We experienced sun, snow, wind, and high seas, and very few Americans on board. It was quite an adventure.

Now we are going to Torres del Paine National Park. We are renting a car again and heading out tomorrow. The weather is brutally cold so we are desperately wishing for global warming to advance quickly. With that goal in mind, we are buying hair spray by the case and spraying as fast as we can. Do join us! We are wearing everything we brought and are often still cold! Hasta luego!