LAS PEÑAS/SANTIAGO DE CHILE:
January 20-28
Steve: Heading
north from our resort hostel in Talca we weren’t sure what to expect during our
next week as we WorkAwayed at a lodge several hours south of Santiago. All I
knew the proprietor was a native English-speaker and that we would be in a
remote location. After a brief stint at the terminal in San Fernando, the
closest town—which also included bonding time with a street puppy we aptly
named
Fernanda, or Fern—we hopped on a rickety bus driven by an
also aptly named Mr. Ferrari and made our way to the remote mountain town of
Las Penas.
To our surprise we were dropped off within feet of the gate
to Tumunan Lodge, our WorkAway and a sprawling property that despite its size
only offered four cozy rooms. After ambling down the lodge’s dirt road, flanked
by creeks, trees, wildflowers and forested hills, we were instantly greeted by
one half of the ownership in Carolina, a beautiful and smiling Chilena. As she
was attending to guests she took us to her husband William, who coordinates the
volunteer help.
Will, as he preferred to be called, is a British expat who fell
in love with Chile and his wife while a fishing guide in Patagonia. Seeing as
he was rather busy himself, he sent us on a hike through the property’s trails
to familiarize ourselves with the layout of the land. Needless to say, the
lodge is situated on a veritable national park replete with a river, trails, a
vineyard, and acres of wildflowers (
Leah:
and more raspberry bushes and plum trees than we could believe, although sadly
the former weren’t ready yet) . It could best be described as a trek through
Southern California’s mountains fresh and green during the springtime—it
provided a perfect mixture of familiarity with a longing for the land that I’ve
grown up knowing.
Introductory trek
complete we quickly set about on our first tasks which included scrubbing an
algae-covered wood-fired hot tub as well as cleaning and organizing the rodent-infested
tool shed. During the following week we would also find ourselves weeding and
pruning the gardens, bushwhacking the overgrown trails, and generally just
making sure the lodge looked its best. Whenever there were guests, which was
pretty much only the weekends, we took dish duty and helped clean up the
kitchen; this was an incredibly fair trade-off since we were often treated to
the same meals as the paying guests…you know, herb-encrusted local salmon,
roasted pork ribs, grilled scallops...you get the idea. During the week Will
had a couple of visiting American friends who were “guests” but treated us like
old friends.
Leah: Andrew and
Dave were middle-aged divorced surfers who split their time between California
and the surf town of Pichilemu in Chile. These two met Will and Carolina
over a decade ago in Pichilemu and have all remained friends since, getting
together at least once a year to swap gossip, fish and relax. Silver-haired
Andrew in particular was a joy to talk to, especially since he had studied
geography in college and maintained a keen interest in the related topics of
world development, commerce, politics and culture. We sat there riveted
learning all about this corner of the world-everything from how copper is king
and driving the economy, to how the Costa Rican and Chilean police aren’t
crooked and can’t be bribed because they actually earn a decent salary. But the
clincher came when Andrew learned that I had worked with HIV/AIDS over the
years- out of nowhere he divulged that his father died from AIDS in 1993, most
likely due to unsafe encounters with other men. We chatted for quite a while
about it and once again I marveled at he lives that have been (and continue to
be) affected by the virus.
Steve: When not
hanging out with the adults we kept an eye on Will and Carolina’s two children,
Tomas and his little sister Laura, as well as their extended furry family which
included beastly Bernardo—wait for it—a St. Bernard, Claudita the
reformed-street-dog-turned-happy-cocker spaniel, two bunnies and two ducks…a
very busy family to say the least (
Leah:
and speaking of fur, we endured more than one run-in with the local tarantulas,
even once at night near our bedroom. I preferred them to the scorpions for
sure!). There was a good balance between hanging out with the family and our
own private time which we filled with swimming in the pool, reading and hiking
around the property. On one sunny afternoon we hiked an hour north to a
pristine thirty-foot waterfall and lagoon that sits on Will’s neighbor’s
private property. We felt especially privileged as Manuel welcomed us (us being
Leah, myself and Claudita since she tagged along for the trek) and waved us
along his immense and beautiful property. I couldn’t even begin to imagine what
land of this size and scope would go for in the States, much less Southern
California.
With no shortage of work and fun things to do in our time
off the week flew by; for me it seemed to be the quickest WorkAway we’ve yet to
encounter. Before we knew it we were outside close to the gate of Tumanan Lodge
waiting for the Ferrari bus that would take us back to San Fernando and on to
Santiago de Chile for the last stop in our Latin American adventure. By late afternoon we pulled into one of
Santiago’s bus terminals and quickly found our way down to the Metro station.
An hour ahead of schedule—Chile’s public transport is phenomenal—we made it to
our hosts for the weekend, Leah’s former Semester at Sea roommate, Marivic, and
her boyfriend, Zeb. They are currently living in Santiago for six months as
part of an innovative program called
Start-Up Chile which is aimed at
bringing entrepreneurs from all around the world to Chile in order to spread
their experiences and knowledge with Chile’s own fledgling innovators and
businessmen. They received a grant to participate due to Zeb’s new website
renthackr.com which is getting established in the New York marketplace but
is definitely poised to spread across the U.S. and abroad (check it out, it
really is a great idea).
With only about a day and a half to spend in Santiago before
moving on to New Zealand we did our best to make the most of our time. We found
ourselves hiking up a local hill for a stunning view of the city, visited
several beautiful and FREE museums (the
Museo de Artes Visuales and the
Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes), and even watched the filming of
a Lipton tea commercial destined for U.S. television. The highlight would have
to go to the impromptu roof-top barbecue thrown by Mar and Zeb—an unanticipated
number of Start Up Chile friends showed up for a night of food, drinks and
plenty of conversation.
As we chatted it up with folks from Mexico, Brazil,
Portugal, Germany and the U.S., I found myself with a new-found appreciation
and awe of these people with great ideas and the gumption to take risks and
follow them through. We were so high on life (and maybe a lychee martini or two
for one of us) that we even took part in an
international ballet session. It was the perfect end to a
whirlwind trip to Santiago and cemented the fact that we will have to come back
one day—especially considering its immense size it was a charming city filled
with a unique character and friendly faces.
It seems like only yesterday that we were boarding a plane
for Guatemala and really giving this whole world travel thing a shot. The past
seven months have had their ups and downs but as I sit here typing all that
comes to mind are the good times that we shared during our time in Latin
America—beautiful sights, new and old friends and irreplaceable experiences. I
can only hope that the next leg of our journey—New Zealand, Australia, and
???—offers even half of the treasures that we found south of the U.S. Wish us
luck and we will see you all from the land of kiwis!
Leah: And for the curious (or because I’m a geek like that and had to know for myself):
$10,696.54: Total spent in Central/South America
209: Total days in Central/South America
110: Nights of free lodging (Couchsurfing/Workaway/overnight buses/gifts/promos)
$51.20/2 people: Total daily average
As we chatted it up with folks from Mexico, Brazil,
Portugal, Germany and the U.S., I found myself with a new-found appreciation
and awe of these people with great ideas and the gumption to take risks and
follow them through. We were so high on life (and maybe a lychee martini or two
for one of us) that we even took part in an international ballet session. It was the perfect end to a
whirlwind trip to Santiago and cemented the fact that we will have to come back
one day—especially considering its immense size it was a charming city filled
with a unique character and friendly faces.
Leah: And for the curious (or because I’m a geek like that and had to know for myself):
Awesome post! It was great to have you visit. Bon voyage!
ReplyDelete