San Pedro de Atacama (North of Chile) and its surroundings - April 2014
One day with German above 4000m...
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Cycling and walking in the Valley de la Luna
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Salar & desert with German...
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Horse riding day with Alfredo...
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San Pedro Church
Valley de diablo + valley de la muerte by bike...
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Before heading to the North of Chile, Bolivia, Peru & Colombia, here are a few pics on our last days in Santiago - April 2014
Pablo Neruda's house in Santiago
View from San Cristobal hill
Eastern week-end with Bessie, Louis, Grace and Bessi (Bessie's Mum) in the nearby mountain (Maipo Valley)
Bessie & Bessi
Bessie and I relaxing with a nice beer
The Alcoholic buddies,Agnes and Louis ;-)
Our trip to Chiloe island continues on the West & North coasts - April 2014
Typical Chiloe house made of wooden tiles
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Nice view from our hostel in Cucao (West) & walk to reach the ocean...
Rossignol?
There were supposed to be penguins, but they were gone...
Yolande and her space like equipment...
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Alfonso and his two sons helping us to get out from a pond of mud...
Our car, the following morning after our adventure...
Us with Nyi Nyi, Hitch hiker, that was with us and very helpful to help me push the car while Agnes was driving...
Us with Sonja, our host near Chepu (North West of Chiloe), who owns a farm...
Cleaning time before handing back our rental car...
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Dead forest due to the 1960's earthquake that creating a 2m deep gap and allowed water to surround trees and kill them...
A nice king fisher...
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Sand dunes North West of Chiloe
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Alfredo and I, having fished for one hour...catching nothing apart from algues...We met them on the way to the ocean while walking....they took us with their 4x4, we could have been 15minutes together and we finally spent 5 hours together....fishing, walking, eating and drinking...
Alfredo, Elena and us...
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View on the Osorno volcano from Chiloe on a clear day....
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After Patagonia, we headed slightly North, to Puerto Varas & Chiloe island - April 2014
The three volcanos around the Puerto Varas lake...
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Nice old Citroen ads...
Rainbow time over one of the volcanos...
Chiloe boat wreck...
The Castro Church....like Mickey Mouse's house...
Inside...all made of wood...pillars also...
Those churches are from the XVIII century...
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Nice tree full of apples...
The famous Chiloe "palafitos"...houses on stilts...
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A few pics on Puerto Natales & Punta Arenas in Patagonia - April 2014
Nice colored house from Puerto Natales...
Agnes in front of her Mum's old friend grave at Punta Arenas cemetery. Her name is "Jeanne Cabanne". Jeanne was the kind of women travelling on her own, as a way of life from one place to another. She was a kind of "SDF". Jeanne was a very close friend of Agnes' Mum and used to baby sit Agnes in the late 80's. On Feb 15th 1994, Jeanne Cabanne, 59 years old, was found dead on a trekking path in Patagonia. Jeanne used to send birthday cards to Agnes every year without exception. So after 2 years without a birthday card, Agnes' family decided to contact Jeanne's family to get news and they told that she passed away in Patagonia while trekking. Nobody really knew the exact circumstances, the place she was buried, the death cause etc, etc. We, thus, went to the Puerto Natales cemetery, met a nice man who took one hour of his time, on a Sunday to go through the electronic files, the books etc. Each one of us had to take a book covering 2 years of dead announcements, going through page after page, hoping to find Jeanne's name. Without success....He then called his colleague in Punta Arenas who explained to him that in the 90's, no medico legal team was in place in Puerto Natales and, thus, Jeanne's body, must have travelled to Punta Arenas. The cemetery closing at 6.30pm, we then took a bus leaving Puerto Natales at 2.30pm. 3 hours later, we arrived in Punta Arenas, went to the administration office....
...her exact death day was then known by Agnes and her Mum...
...and the cause written on the book as shown above..."Hipotermia; exposicion al frio; neumonia basal izquierda"
We then had the luck to see her grave "Societe Francaise", one shared with 3 other French people....
...and located beside the grave of one of the richest Spanish business mans in Punta Arenas..."Jose Mendenez". He introduced sheeps to Patagonia and created numerous successful businesses here and in Tierra del Fuego.
Kayak at the Lago Grey Glacier/Patagonia - April 2014
Agnes and I, kayaking, in front of the grey glacier
Agnes and Rene (see our portrait section) jumping on the sides...
Rene and I
...playing with the ice...
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...duplicate...
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Alex, our kayak guide with Agnes
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4 days Patagonian trek in Los Torres National Park - April 2014
Us with Yolande, Agnes' Mum (see our portrait section)
Nice autumn colors...
...together with some nice emerald waters...
Me, showing off with the only heavy bag to carry ;-)
View on glacier...
One of the iconic mountains in the Torres del Paine national park
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mirror effect...
Los Torres del Paine...
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Icebergs showing off..
The Grey glacier from our track arriving to our refuge
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Agnes looking at the glacier....
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Early morning colors...
Froggy style
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Agnes & her Mum, Yolande
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...Patagonia here we are - 1 day in Punta Arenas - March 2014
Autumn colour & Punta Arenas cemetery...
View on the Magellan detroit...no need to tell you that it is freezing here and windy...
Weekly Sunday parade with kids & military
Spot the tourists who are freezing...it is Agnes & her Mum...what a style ;-)
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Weirdly, I was the only blond person that day...and will probably be for the rest of our trip here...
13387km from London....slightly less from Paris
Kind of a dead city, with a unique atmosphere...
...a kind of "end of the world" atmosphere....
...with still memories of the dark days under Pinochet in 70's & 80's
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Typical hat here in Punta Arenas...
Our first days in Chile - 3 days in Santiago - March 2014
The fish market with its great architecture
A fishmonger waiting for customers
London like...
La plaza de armas (under renovation)
National museum (if I remember well)
A Thursday night out in one of the Santiago streets
...Friday night with Bessie, a nice Chilean lady who works for my former group, BNY Mellon, friend of our spanish friend, Miguel!
...us with Bessie & Louis, an englishman from Yorkshire!
Reunion with Denis for Agnes' Mum - Denis is Agnes' cousin and is living in South America with his Chilean girlfriend, Isi.
Isi & Denis, showing us the jewels they produce and sell all across Chile & South America. They live like nomads moving from one place to another.
