We´re signing off for a few days. After flying into Punto Arenas, the southernmost town on the continent, we find ourselves this evening in Puerto Natales, on the brink of an epic adventure. We have rented some gear, stocked up on groceries, and–well–talked about what to pack, before we head out at the crack of dawn tomorrow morning for 4 or 5 days of backpacking through Torres del Paine (Towers of the Paine). As long as our batteries and film hold out, hold your breath for some truly breath-taking photos to be posted the next time we check in with civilization. Below is a teaser: a far-off view of some of the peaks we´ll be toe-to-toe with in a day or so.

Have a look at Valparaiso...

We finally made our long awaited, much anticipated weekend getaway to the beach towns of Viña del Mar and Valparaiso, the much acclaimed Pacific wonderlands not far from Santiago. And can you guess what we found in unrelenting splendor there? A thick, luxurious blanket of clouds. Sand and surf were certainly present and accounted for, but the primary beach essential was suspiciously absent: SUNHINE!!! Our sunbathing dreams quelled by the grey outlook, we turned to the Acensors (elevators of sorts that climb the many hillsides of Valparaiso) for alternative entertainment and spent our time exploring the colorful, albeit somewhat rundown, neighborhoods of ¨the Pearl of the Pacific¨ (a title whose aptness to its subject remains a mystery to us).

We´re at the southernmost airport in the world for a few more minutes–Punto Arenas, our point of departure for a final wild week of adventure-seeking in the farthest reaches of Patagonia–and thought we´d take a few minutes to update our sadly neglected blog with some of the more recent photos we´ve taken. Here are a few from Santiago....


The Santiago Metro


The Santander family that took wonderful care of us during our studies.... Patricia, Ines, Jorge and Andrés


And a salute to the flag of Chile...

We regret to inform you that we had to disable the “comments” feature on this web blog due to an unfortunate spamming attack. Please continue to send us email and we´ll do our best to keep the blog up to date with our latest adventures. Sorry to make your blog experience not quite as fun...

Here´s some pics of our weekend in the Maipo Canyon region... We´ll add some more text soon!

Now and then we find ourselves wandering the streets of Santiago looking for something to draw both our interest and our camera lens. Unfortunately we must admit our lack of skil in capturing the look and feel of Santiago photographically. We´ll keep trying... In the mean time, here´s a few more “tourist shots.”


Santiago was founded in 1541 at Santa Lucia, right here!


Molly got to visit this Palace while I (Luke) got to conjugate more verbs!


City smog does indeed have its advanages...

Didn’t somebody say that Santiago is crowned by the splendor of the Andes? What’s that off in the distance? Oh sorry, was that your foot? I couldn’t see you there standing next to me.

We added some pictures below a little bit delinquently, but wanted to keep them in chronological order. So, even if you´ve already viewed the photos of Santiago, scroll down a little bit further and join us for a wild ride.

True to form, after enduring another overnight bus ride from Pucón to Santiago, we hit the streets with only a breif nap to our credit. We needed a quick city-tour to get acquainted with our surroundings, so we pointed our feet in the general direction of the Cerro San Cristobal Parque which occupies a large hill in the middle of Santiago. Reaching the top, only somewhat daunted by the heat, we suddenly found ourselves in San Bernadino county! Wait a minute, no..... we´re in Santiago. We couldn´t really take a picture of the city-scape here... Lacking a knife sharp enough to cut through all the smog! We think there are some big mountains called the Andes just to the east. Isn´t there supposed to be a river down there?

Our last day in Pucón, we couldn´t resist one last adventure, this time on the Río Trancura. The photographs speak for themselves.....

We rented a couple of mountian bikes and took off into the hills guided by a hand-drawn map that, as we discovered, was not exactly drawn to scale nor a perfect representation of the geography of the area. What was described to us as a 3 or 4 hour bike ride turned into a lovely 7 hour adventure through the hills, replete with the splendors of these waterfalls cascading off the mountainsides into verdant pools. The camera couldn´t capture the fullness of the beauty there: For instance, entire TREES of wild fuscias graced several of the pools with their delicate, colorful blossoms.

Staying at the farm with us were a number of other travelers with whom we enjoyed daily breakfast and dinner discussions over the delicious homecooked meals, most of which was grown in the family´s own organic garden or raised in their fields. The hut shown was a traditional structure built in the farmyard where asados (dinners of grilled meats) are served. On our last day at the farm, the abuelita dressed up in her traditional garb to participate in a cultural event to promote knowledge of the Mapuche people and their customs.

After staying in the heart of Pucón for three days, we lugged all of our gear onto a public ¨bus¨ (which is actually about the same size as a VW bus) and shifted headquarters to a Mapuche (native indian) farm about 20 miles outside of town. The house was old and creaky, guaranteeing an early wakeup every morning since our room lay directly above the kitchen, if we hadn´t been awakened even earlier by all the friendly farmyard sounds of cock-a-doodle-doing roosters and bellowing cows.

Clear skies on the morning of our ascent of Volcan Villarrica promised for a beautiful day of hiking. Don´t be deceived by the capricious weather of looming mountains. By the time we stopped for lunch, we had put on all of our layers and fought the wind and clouds to find a place to rest before making the final push for the summit. Upon reaching the crater, the view was memorable: the seven neighboring volcanoes and lush valleys below were completely obscured by thick clouds and asphyxiating plumes of sulfurous gases billowing out of the crater. The bubbling and spurting lava below was equally invisible, but its blasts of heat burned our skin almost as much as the sulfur gases burned our eyes and lungs. Not to be disheartened, though, we made up for the unfortunate weather conditions at the top by hooting and hollering at breakneck speeds as we glisaded down the slopes on our hineys. Thank goodness for the thick, water-resistant pants the climbing outfitter provided for us; too bad Molly´s had a gaping hole in the rear that effectually scooped enormous packs of snow to cushion her ride and ensure that she was properly cooled after the arduous hike.

The kayaking was more than we could have asked for, but no matter where we found ourselves, the smoldering Volcan Villarrica beckoned us to its fiery summit. We couldn´t resist the temptation to scale its snowy slopes... (Yes, that really is lava glowing at the peak!)

Upon arriving in Pucón, we immediately went ¨shopping¨ among all the adventure tourism agencies that line the streets here, and elected to spend our first day on the water. We THOUGHT we were going to ease into whitewater kayaking with an instruction course involving paddling techniques on a lake and rolling practice in a hotsprings pool. But apparently our sleek physiques communicated the professional potential lurking beneath toned muscles and lightening-speed reflexes, so our guide, Miguel decided to start us right out on the class 3 rapids of the Liucura River. No problem!... except for the throbbing headaches associated with trying to perfect an eskimo roll in glacier-fresh waters.... But, OH! the thrill of adrenaline and fast-moving water and agile kayaks. (Not to mention the thrill of finding yourself unexpectedly upsidedown in the middle of a raging rapid, desperately trying to identify which way is up, and realizing suddenly that the eskimo roll isn´t quite so easy to pull off in the middle of watery chaos....)

We arrived by overnight bus in Pucón, Chile, about halfway down the length of the country, at the northern end of Patagonia, and were immediately charmed by the place. Well, perhaps charmed isn´t really the right word. That conjures images of places our grandparents would enjoy. To state it more appropriately, we were blown away by all the outdoor recreation and extreme sports beckoning to us from breath-taking vistas in every direction.

Last shot in Buenos Aires, around 1am while waiting for a bus from downtown back home...

Hey Luke & Molly -

One word sums up your pictures and stories - AMAZING! Glad you’re having such a great time! We’re suddenly craving cookies...

Amanda & Andrew

We couldn´t resist making a return visit to our favorite place around Buenos Aires, Tigre. Tigre is a charming riverside town that serves as the launching-off point to countless islands in the delta of the Paraná River. We rented a couple of kayaks and watched the sunset over the tranquil waters of this enchanting waterbound labyrinth. The day before, there had been major flooding following huge rains and winds; the man who rented us the kayaks said that the water rose 12 feet within three hours. Apparently this happens every 2-3 years, and the ever-present threat is reflected in the construction style of homes on the islands–all built on tall stilts to keep the houses out of harm´s way.

An afternoon of exploring the San Telmo barrio of the city uncovered countless antique shops of every variety, and occasionally a view into a moment´s repose down a quiet passageway. After long days of exploring the city, there´s nothing like coming home to a plateful of homebaked cookies.

We´re perfecting our “self-portrait” skills day by day. Here´s a recent attempt at capturing three smiling faces from arm´s length–our Nuñez household late-night cookie-eating study group (that does considerably more talking than studying): Luke, Molly and Maike, a German student sharing the household, meals and study strategies with us. Oh yeah, and sharing cookies also. Cookies are important.



We have diligently applied ourselves to finding the best helado (gelato, ice cream, you get the idea) shop in all of Buenos Aires. These handsome gentlemen served us up a couple of cones of fine Italian-style helado well after midnight, following some entertaining tango lessons. The lessons were apparently more entertaining for us than for the portly old man watching us who launched into an incomprehensible tirade belittling our poor tango form. For heaven´s sake! It was our first attempt at tangoing! Anyhow, we immediately sought consolation in the neighborhood helado shop, for a late-night snack that was almost on par with cookies.