January 2022 - The test drive and the start of a new adventure.

This year started off in San Pedro, Joaquin and I went to visit for a few days to test some functions of the van - the bed, toilet and solar panel.

We had a lovely last meal of 2021 and listened to the fireworks as we set up our van for the first night sleeping inside. It was a restless night as every time we heard a noise, we were like ‘what was that!’

The second day we visited Aldea de Tulor which is an archaeological site of a village of a tribe. They used to bury the dead in a room in the house and then seal it off they haven’t continued excavating the site as it is also a burial site. 

Then we went to Toconao, a small town where we followed the river into the dessert and here is Monty and I visiting the church.

 This night was spent behind the petrol station where there is an area for campervans and it was a better night’s sleep but it was a little noisy with the traffic at times.

This was a busy day as we went to see flamingos, got to see a wild fox and a huge salt lake which was near to Argentina’s boarder, this was a day fill of driving (for Joaquin).

After having a lovely picnic we then drove all the way back to San Pedro and then on to the Valle del Arcoiris (Rainbow valley). It was lovely to see the sun setting over the multi-coloured hills. This last night was the best night sleep in the van it could have been because we were so tired or that it was pitch black and there was never a sound outside.

Monty with all the coloured rock!

After watching the sunrise we went for a walk to see the area, breakfast then it was time to head home. We had only found one issue with the toilet and the rest of the things functioned well. 

It was time to finish off the van adding the kitchen and making it look good before we are heading off on a 5/6 month adventure around South America (fingers crossed covid restrictions allow us).   

The van was finished. Our journey started on Wednesday 26th January 2022!

Day 1

We had finally packed everything into the van that we needed and around 4pm we set off to our first destination Pan de Azúcar. As we left a little late, we arrived in darkness and stopped at the beach and spent the first night on the trip in our van. As we were in the national park, we were looking forward to doing some hikes.

Day 2

Our first breakfast.

After breakfast we went for a walk along the beach and saw the park ranger who told us the best hikes to go on. We set off at the hottest part of the day with our water and a bag of peanuts. The walk seems to go on for ages, but we finally arrived at the end.

Made it back to the van for a very late lunch which turned into dinner as well. 
We had a rest, then set off on another hike for the sunset, where we saw a fox and a beautiful view over the beach. On our return to our camping spot, it was time for a movie night with popcorn.

Day 3 
I really enjoyed being in Pan de Azúcar, it is my favourite place I’ve visited so far on my trip (and it’s only the first place)!

It was time to set off and continue to Cardera. Straight to the museum when we arrive, which was not really a museum and only had information about dinosaurs and a huge shell collection on show. Time to eat a Churro and then head to explore the lighthouse.

This is a square lighthouse as it is made from wood. We watched the sunset then settled down for the night.

Day 4
No time to rest it was on to the next place. On our journey to Copiapó we visited the place where the 33 miners got trapped in the mine in 2010 and got recused after 70 days from 700 meters underground. We got to speak to one of the miners who was rescued and we learnt about all the sights and plans they had to recuse the miners. I remember it well on the News and it was strange to re-live the moment again. Chile had a lot of support from around the world even a very powerful drill was shipped from Canada to start drilling; one of the plans for rescue. There is a strange link to the number 33 with this mission, here are a few of them; there were 33 miners trapped, 33 km away from the nearest city, on the 33rd week of the year, the rescue note received from the miners had 33 characters, it took 33 days for the drill to reach the miners and they were rescued on 13/10/10 if you add those numbers, it makes 33! This is the sight that they got rescued from:

Monty Visiting the site too!

There are now 33 flags representing all the minors at the site.

After the mine we made it to Copiapó, where we really wanted to visit the museum where they have artefacts from the 33 miners rescue, but it was closed. In the future planning we need to check all the opening times of places. As we arrived on Sunday and it didn’t open till Tuesday we continued our trip, instead of waiting and wasting time. The next place we arrived was Llanos del Challe, this is another national park.

Day 5
Finally, we had time to rest at Playa Blanca (White Beach). We spent the day doing washing, having our first shower in the awning, sewing, a walk along the beach and playing some games. 

Day 6 
Woke up and took an early hike, where we came across a guanaco (it’s a type of Lama) who got a little scared of our presence and ran up the hill and then stopped looked back at us and started neighing at us. Then we got so scared that it would chase after us! 

There is a lot of driving involved in getting between places in the North of Chile, so it was then on to the next place - Chañaral de Aceituna.

Family Visit Chile (February 2020)

My family took a long flight from the U.K. to Chile landing in Santiago, Joaquin and I meet them at the airport and then the tours began. My Mum and Dad had no idea what we would being doing so everything was a surprise. 

Here are all the things we got up to with my family:

 

Santiago

We stayed a few days in Santiago, we had a personal tour from Joaquin and walked around the city sightseeing.

They tried Mote con Huesillo (it’s a kind of drink with peach and wheat).

Sky Costanera centre

This is the tallest building in South America, so we went up to the top to see the view of the city. As we went up in the evening we could see the city from the day, watch a beautiful sunset and see the city at night. 

Wine tour

This was one of the best parts of their trip because of course they got to drink wine. We visited the Vino Concha y Toro which makes the Casillero del Diablo wines. 

We had a tour of the winery, learnt about how they make the wine, the story behind the devil, tried the grapes and of course tasted the wine!

Monty enjoying the wine.

Antofagasta

It was off on a flight up to Antofagasta for our families to meet for the first time in person. We had a Chilean BBQ, a little different from an English one. Hannah and Dawud joined us too. 

Beach time

Spent some relaxing time at the beach. Drinking more wine of course. Here in Chile, you can buy wine in a 2 litre bottle. 

Astronomical tour

We had our own private tour picking us up and heading out into the desert. We stopped at the hand of the desert, a piece of art in the middle of nowhere! 

They set up the telescopes and we spent the night looking at the stars and learnt more about our universe. We got to see the southern cross which you can only see from the Southern Hemisphere which my parents were so excited about seeing.

Wedding

Of course, this was the best day of their trip as they got to watch Joaquin and I get married. It was a stressful day leading up to the ceremony everyone pitched in to help transport things, clean up the beach and assemble the decorations. Time for the fun to start, my dad was there to walk me down the aisle, delicious food was eaten, speeches were given, first dance, everyone dancing the night way, cake cutting, games were played and party hats came out for even more dancing. My parents said it was the best wedding they had ever been too and they’ve been to a lot of weddings, so it much have been a good one! 

Observatory

It was a late finish to the wedding and the next day was an early start. There was a big group of us from my family and Joaquin’s heading to the observatory for a tour. Of course, Joaquin’s family did the tour in Spanish and we had a tour in English. 

It was very fascinating for then to see such a huge telescope and learn more about space. My mum loves space but this telescope is a lot bigger than hers at home. 

City tour

I had to work for the day at school but Joaquin took my family on a tour of Antofagasta. They visited the clock tower, a cemetery (they don’t bury people in the ground they build tombs above ground one on top of the other and then seal them off once occupied. Family’s usual have a plot and are buried together), La Portada, Tropic of Capricorn, a visit to my school to see where I worked, my dad made friends with the music teacher and they were playing music together.

Hike up the hill

I got the morning off work to take my family on their last outing of their trip before they had to fly back to England. It was up to the anchor on a small but steep hill for a little hike to see the best views of Antofagasta. 

Monty had a photo with his creator at the top. 

A wonderful meal out altogether before we had to say our goodbyes.