I actually thought that Torres del Paine meant towers of pain in spanish. I was however mistaken. It seems the indigenous folk down this way use the word paine (or something like it) to describe the colour blue. So there you go another fact that you probably didnt need or want to know – I…
Author: Wandering Aussies
Leaving the land that time forgot
The bus trip out of Vina and Val (as the locals like to call them) was like a journey out of a movie set. At 7 in the morning the the sky was still dark and the city was cloaked in fog. I could imagine how in days of old the pirates would have slowly…
Bucea Quintay
Well this was a fun morning. My beloved was about to have his first diving experience in South America and we had to catch the local bus to the departure point in Valparaiso for a collectiva – a share taxi to Quintay. He was in high stress mode as nothing was happening on time (read…
The land that time forgot
To give context to this city I consider this visit was a visit to a land that time forgot. Once one of if not the biggest port in South America, back in the days when ships sailed around Cape Horn to get to and from the Atlantic, and Pirates with one leg and canons ruled…
Hola to Valparaiso and Vina del Mar
There was not a hope in hell that we were going to spend another night in the heat of Santiago! So we hired a driver and headed to the coast. My cousin had informed me that the mountain range between Santiago and the coast was as high as Mount Kosciousko – Australia's highest mountain and…
Santiago on foot!
So another day in Santiago saw us walking, walking, walking. We caught the subway to Plaza de Armas, the point from where all distances are measured in Chile. We circled around this main square and through one of the museums and then headed for the mercedo central (thought I should test out security on my…
City of Saint James
So far my on again off again years of Spanish language lessons has held me in good stead – I can say please, thankyou, I dont understand, and “como se dice in espanol?” We have managed to buy food, get directions, catch a taxi and even mind a young lady’s lunch for a short time…
Buen Vienido a Santiago
Well, after leaving the confines or our Premium Economy seating with a constant flow of air and attention, we paid our welcome fee and, following a distressing few minutes where we cursed ourselves for running so late that our bags had missed the plane, we located our luggage slowly passing around on a conveyor belt…
Let the journey begin
The word chaotic would not be too strong to describe our departure to Latin America. Awake at 5am, bags packed, out the door at 5.30am – or was that 6am? – actually it was 6.15am which was pushing it when we had get petrol and be on a plane to Sydney that was departing at…
Time to Tango
I’ve told my beloved that we are going to learn to tango in Buenos Aires and I know he’s shaking in his shoes! But that’s not all we are going to do – after a week in Santiago and surrounds we plan to glamp it up and sleep in fully decked out tents for our…
Wandering Aussies 