The farewell dinner for Jessica and David, at a great restaurant in Santiago run by an ex-pat Kiwi from New Zealand.
Monday, December 27, 2004
Sunday, December 26, 2004
Yesterday we concluded our Explora visit with an easy two hour hike to the Sarmiento Lake, the largest lake in the Torres del Paine park. Amazing that a two hour hike can seem so tame after our bigger expeditions! We took the afternoon off, with Lenny and I getting massages, and Marina playing in the pool. And, I’m happy to report that David successfully completed the hardest hike in the Explora repertoire, the hike to the base of the three towers. We all greatly admired this accomplishment!
It was hard to leave Explora this morning, particularly since we had to get a wake up call at 5:15am for our four hour drive to the airport. This place really is a schlep to get to! It was particularly painful to know that you were driving south for four hours, only to fly north for another four! They’re building a new road, which is supposed to cut the time by an hour – a definite improvement.
We arrived in Santiago in the early evening. Our hotel is adequate but not very well located for tourists – it is more of a business hotel. After Explora, it is quite a letdown to be in a dingy business hotel located on a busy street rather than in our exquisite room with a view of the mountains! Santiago is very hot and very humid, so I think it’s going to be good that we’re only staying for a bit over one day.
We had a nice farewell dinner with Jessica and David (after we managed the find the only restaurant in Santiago that serves dinner before 8:00pm). We enjoyed being on their honeymoon with them!
--- Donna
It was hard to leave Explora this morning, particularly since we had to get a wake up call at 5:15am for our four hour drive to the airport. This place really is a schlep to get to! It was particularly painful to know that you were driving south for four hours, only to fly north for another four! They’re building a new road, which is supposed to cut the time by an hour – a definite improvement.
We arrived in Santiago in the early evening. Our hotel is adequate but not very well located for tourists – it is more of a business hotel. After Explora, it is quite a letdown to be in a dingy business hotel located on a busy street rather than in our exquisite room with a view of the mountains! Santiago is very hot and very humid, so I think it’s going to be good that we’re only staying for a bit over one day.
We had a nice farewell dinner with Jessica and David (after we managed the find the only restaurant in Santiago that serves dinner before 8:00pm). We enjoyed being on their honeymoon with them!
--- Donna
Today was another one of those days where the day never seems to stop. That was for me at least. We had traveled with a few friends of ours, and we had known them from the hotel, Explora. We also know them from all of the hikes that we had done with them. Our friends Jessie and David had to leave at dinner time to go back home. We had to leave our friends at the airport.
I had gotten badly sunburned on a day where we went to go see a glacier closer than on the first day we had gotten to Chile. We even got to see a really big avalanche down the large mountain. I think that our trip was successful, but not long enough.
-- Marina
I had gotten badly sunburned on a day where we went to go see a glacier closer than on the first day we had gotten to Chile. We even got to see a really big avalanche down the large mountain. I think that our trip was successful, but not long enough.
-- Marina
Saturday, December 25, 2004
Monday's CCN story: "PUNTA ARENAS, Chile (AP) -- The worst of the ozone hole has pulled back once more to Antarctica this southern spring, leaving behind a shadow of uncertainty for the people living at the bottom of South America". We saw it first! (See www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/americas/12/20/chile.ozone.reut/)
Friday, December 24, 2004
We did a really, really, really long hike today. It was great.
Jessica
p.s. Donna’s entry says it all. One favorite moment was during lunch at the lagoon when a few of our group went off to see the glacier up close, so there were “the 4 yentas” left on the beach. Leave it to me and Donna to find the other 2!
I can’t believe Davey is going to do the Towers hike tomorrow; it’s the most challenging of all the hikes but has the best views. I didn’t know I married such a macho guy.
Jessica
p.s. Donna’s entry says it all. One favorite moment was during lunch at the lagoon when a few of our group went off to see the glacier up close, so there were “the 4 yentas” left on the beach. Leave it to me and Donna to find the other 2!
I can’t believe Davey is going to do the Towers hike tomorrow; it’s the most challenging of all the hikes but has the best views. I didn’t know I married such a macho guy.
Whew.
We just returned from one heck of a hike. The hike went up French Valley, the valley between the two mountains that we spend every day gazing at. We were hiking IN the scenery. We first took a less-traveled path, going around the lakes and lagoons, and then hooked up with the main trail around the Italian Camp. We were thrilled to have magnificent weather again, and a stunning view of the mountains. We had lunch at a lagoon at the foot of the French Glacier, where we waded in glacial water, and watched/heard avalanches coming down in front of us. We returned via the normal path, which is pretty much a Patagonian hiking highway, full of backpackers “doing the W”, a W-shaped hike that starts at one side of the mountain, goes into the French Valley, then out again, then goes to Grey Glacier (where we went for our first hike on Monday, as the more attentive of you blog-readers will note).
This hike took us ten hours of elapsed time, with about 6 ½ of it spent actually hiking. I must admit that we pretty much hit my limit on this one, and we seemed to hit Marina’s as well (although she powered through until the end). Even Lenny seemed a tad tired (as I looked at him sprawled out on the bed afterwards!)
But I have to tell you the most amazing part of this hike. Our version was the EASY version. Yes, dear readers, we opted for the shortest of the French Valley hikes offered at Explora today. The intermediate level went for another 2 hours, to a viewpoint above the glacier (David admirably opted for this one), and the “atomic” group went for English Camp, another 2 hours walk beyond the intermediate group (our ring-bearer, 11 year old Daniel, took this one, as did a 72-year-old San Franciscan). Indeed, although we’re now happily showered and looking back at the scenery we just were in, the atomic group has yet to return.
We are truly exhausted, but I have to say that it was a phenomenal day. We had everything: great weather, perfect views, clear glacier water to drink, avalanches to watch, good company. (Note to Larry: we did get sunburned today despite sunscreen, so that hole in the ozone layer seems to be having an impact! The locals, however, take no note of it.)
-- Donna
We just returned from one heck of a hike. The hike went up French Valley, the valley between the two mountains that we spend every day gazing at. We were hiking IN the scenery. We first took a less-traveled path, going around the lakes and lagoons, and then hooked up with the main trail around the Italian Camp. We were thrilled to have magnificent weather again, and a stunning view of the mountains. We had lunch at a lagoon at the foot of the French Glacier, where we waded in glacial water, and watched/heard avalanches coming down in front of us. We returned via the normal path, which is pretty much a Patagonian hiking highway, full of backpackers “doing the W”, a W-shaped hike that starts at one side of the mountain, goes into the French Valley, then out again, then goes to Grey Glacier (where we went for our first hike on Monday, as the more attentive of you blog-readers will note).
This hike took us ten hours of elapsed time, with about 6 ½ of it spent actually hiking. I must admit that we pretty much hit my limit on this one, and we seemed to hit Marina’s as well (although she powered through until the end). Even Lenny seemed a tad tired (as I looked at him sprawled out on the bed afterwards!)
But I have to tell you the most amazing part of this hike. Our version was the EASY version. Yes, dear readers, we opted for the shortest of the French Valley hikes offered at Explora today. The intermediate level went for another 2 hours, to a viewpoint above the glacier (David admirably opted for this one), and the “atomic” group went for English Camp, another 2 hours walk beyond the intermediate group (our ring-bearer, 11 year old Daniel, took this one, as did a 72-year-old San Franciscan). Indeed, although we’re now happily showered and looking back at the scenery we just were in, the atomic group has yet to return.
We are truly exhausted, but I have to say that it was a phenomenal day. We had everything: great weather, perfect views, clear glacier water to drink, avalanches to watch, good company. (Note to Larry: we did get sunburned today despite sunscreen, so that hole in the ozone layer seems to be having an impact! The locals, however, take no note of it.)
-- Donna
Thursday, December 23, 2004
If you’re ever thinking of getting married, make sure you have Lenny, Donna, and Marina organize it for you! We had the most magnificent Patagonian-Jewish ceremony today with picture-perfect weather and a backdrop of the gorgeous Torres del Paine mountain range. Our wedding was held on the terrace of Explora on the shore of Lago Pehoe. The hotel manager said it was the first wedding ever at the hotel.
Donna and Lenny created a perfect wedding, incorporating all the Jewish rituals – including a chuppah (wedding canopy); a ketubah (wedding contract); the 7 blessings, circling each other, and, of course, David breaking the glass. Surrounded by new friends and some of the Explora staff, Lenny officiated and 4 guests held up the chuppah, made with Lenny’s tallit (prayer shawl), and 4 walking sticks provided by the hotel.
A beautiful Navajo poem aptly expressed the meaning of our union and the connection to the place. Donna and Marina recited the 7 blessings; and 11-year-old Daniel acted as ring bearer for us. It was a tense moment as he removed the rings from a small box used to house our nightly bedside chocolates, as we were standing on a slatted wood platform with rather large spaces between them.
I highly recommend spending one’s honeymoon with Donna, Lenny, and Marina. We’ve been having the best time this week, hiking and exploring Patagonia’s sumptuous landscapes – and extreme weather changes. Yesterday we had a chance to enjoy how well the rain soaks through one’s Gortex jacket and boots as one walks along the river’s edge; and today we felt the delicious warmth of the sun rays as we hiked along the park’s edge among hundreds of guanacos (llama-like creatures found only in Chile), 5 condors (!!!!), and 1 fox – with the granite towers in full glory to guide us to an estancia (ranch) for a barbeque lunch with real Chilean gauchos (cowboys).
It will be quite difficult to leave this majestic and inspiring part of the world. David and I are seriously considering not returning home and rather continuing around the world until we’ve had a wedding ceremony on every continent. 3 down, only 4 to go!
Jessica
Donna and Lenny created a perfect wedding, incorporating all the Jewish rituals – including a chuppah (wedding canopy); a ketubah (wedding contract); the 7 blessings, circling each other, and, of course, David breaking the glass. Surrounded by new friends and some of the Explora staff, Lenny officiated and 4 guests held up the chuppah, made with Lenny’s tallit (prayer shawl), and 4 walking sticks provided by the hotel.
A beautiful Navajo poem aptly expressed the meaning of our union and the connection to the place. Donna and Marina recited the 7 blessings; and 11-year-old Daniel acted as ring bearer for us. It was a tense moment as he removed the rings from a small box used to house our nightly bedside chocolates, as we were standing on a slatted wood platform with rather large spaces between them.
I highly recommend spending one’s honeymoon with Donna, Lenny, and Marina. We’ve been having the best time this week, hiking and exploring Patagonia’s sumptuous landscapes – and extreme weather changes. Yesterday we had a chance to enjoy how well the rain soaks through one’s Gortex jacket and boots as one walks along the river’s edge; and today we felt the delicious warmth of the sun rays as we hiked along the park’s edge among hundreds of guanacos (llama-like creatures found only in Chile), 5 condors (!!!!), and 1 fox – with the granite towers in full glory to guide us to an estancia (ranch) for a barbeque lunch with real Chilean gauchos (cowboys).
It will be quite difficult to leave this majestic and inspiring part of the world. David and I are seriously considering not returning home and rather continuing around the world until we’ve had a wedding ceremony on every continent. 3 down, only 4 to go!
Jessica
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