Morocco

After a very long flight we arrived in Marrakesh and somehow (with no Arabic or French) almost made our way to the Riad Eden where we were to stay for the next 2 nights. Our taxi pulled up to a very narrow street and proceeded to let us out and hand us over to an elderly gentleman with a wooden cart who would show us the rest of the way through the Medina to the Riad. Again, not really understanding much and being able to say next to nothing, we put our faith in this man and began a journey of winding through the streets. From days of dessert raiders and general unplanned growth, the medinas (not unique to Marrakesh) twist and turn in an intentional attempt to confuse and baffle (hence the raiders of old would get lost). Alas, we found a lovely B&B, here called Riad Eden (thanks to A Zarr for the rec), run by a French couple, Emmanuel and Helene. If you end up in Marrakesh some day, this place is a little slice of luxurious heaven. We were greeted with mint tea which is a custom in Morocco; one we like very much. There wasn’t much of the day left so we went exploring this foreign land. Marrakesh is split up into two parts; the Medina, or old city, and the new city. They are very different. The Medina hasn´t changed in 100´s of years, if not a 1000. The New City is very modern and almost western. We walked through the tiny streets of the Medina dodging mopeds that were bobbing by weaving around the pedestrians. In the main plaza you can find everything from fresh fruit stands (the oranges are divine), dried fruits and nuts, monkeys and snakes, and street food galore. It was a sight out of Indiana Jones movie. We were expecting the Moroccan people to be a bit more western in appearance, but those in the Medina are still very strict in their traditional Muslim attire. Almost every woman was wearing a Hijab, or head scarf. Strict Muslim women are required to cover everything but their face, feet and hands when in public. And they don´t like to have their picutre taken, but more on that later. Anyway, we found our way to a roof top terrace to get a birds eye view of the central plaza, Jamma El Fna (and the satelite dishes) and took it all in. After wandering around for a couple of hours we returned to the Riad Eden for a traditional Moroccan dinner of Tagine, which is a clay dish with a cone top, of chicken and olives with preserved lemon which was divine. Tagine can be compiled of many different meats and veggies, but the presentation is always the same where they bring out the covered dish and remove it with a flourish like a silver lid in a shee-shee restaurant in the west. We didn´t expect to find much, if any, alcohol while in Morocco, as it´s a Muslim country, but we found that they actually have a good selection of local wines. The tradition was brought by the French, but the Moroccan soil seems to be well suited. For desert we had a lovely orange tart. We were pooped from a long day and headed to bed early.
Tuesday began with a wonderful breakfast at the Riad. Emanuel, our host, sat with us and gave us some suggestions for the day and helped us plan our next few days in this lovely country. We spent the day roaming the Souks, a bazaar set in the old town among the winding streets. Spices, flowers, jewelry, clothes, crafts etc. are all for sale here. It was a shopper´s delight. We saw many sights in the Medina and got some great photos. Charlie had a blast haggling with the proprietors as is an absolute requirement when shopping. Initial offer prices can be 2, 3, 4 times what the seller is really willing to accept. We made a stop through the famous and beautiful Jardens of Marrakesh were the ashes of Yves St Laurent were spread at his request when he passed away last year. Dinner tonight was in the new city. We walked to get a better feel for the culture. The streets are very busy here and full of cars, bicycles, mopeds and donkey driven carts. The walk took a little bit longer than anticipated as Charlie´s excellent logistical skills completely broke down in the twisting turning streets. Three enquiries of instructions later and some arguably sketchy streets, we found our way to Le Comptoir, a new restaurant and serves traditional Moroccan cuisine and a feast for the eyes. We had a fabulous meal and Vin Gris, rose wine. The table next to us were two young guys from San Francisco (Mike and Jimmy) and we became fast friends. The show began with two two women walking down the grand stair case with candelabras full of lit candles on their heads. Then the belly dancers came out. What a show. We were so impressed that we all decided we needed to retire to the upstairs bar to see more of the show and take in a houka. We ordered a shisha and watched more of the belly dancers. Upstairs turned out to be a bit more provocative than in the main restaurant (aka sleazy looking guys shoving bills in the cloths of the dancers; a big step beyond the Chilean cafe y peirnas) but it was an experience none the less. We said goodbye to Mike and Jimmy and took a taxi back to the Riad. See you guys back in SF!
Wednesday we arranged or a rental car to meet us at the Riad and we headed out to the Atlas Mountains for a few days. The drive out of Marrakesh was challenging (Charlie bobbing an weaving, Rawson holding on for dear life) but we made it and about an hour outside of the city things started to change. The landscape turned green and the snow capped mountains began to appear on the horizon. It is truly amazing how different the landscape here is. It seemed that every 50km or so things changed. We winded our way through the mountains, crested the summit and made our way through the Berber villages to our first stop in a small town named Boumaine at the gates of Gorges du Dades (Dades gorge). Along the way we saw the simple lives of these people everywhere. The women with their brightly colored clothes were harvesting vegetables and flowers in the fields next to the river, while the men were either herding their sheep and goats or trading with other men in the towns. It really felt like these peoples lives haven´t change since the Old Testament was written. We saw the sign for our Riad right as we entered the town, Perle de Dades. We turned down the small dirt road and took the Hundai where it was not made to go, more rally driving. We came to the end of the road and found, not our riad, but a river. Oops we thought, but then we saw a small sign written in French. We concluded that it said we needed to reach the riad from the other side of the town. Hmm, guess that Moroccan SIM card we bought came in handy after all. We called the Perle and they sent someone down to meet us and drive us to the riad. We drove around the town to the other side, 15km down a long dirt road and finally made it to the Perle du Dades. The name says it all, The Pearl! This riad overlooks the river, valley and town. The views were just stunning. The riad was a tranquil oasis. We took a mint tea outside next to the pool and watched the sunset over the town with the snow capped mountains in the background. Dinner at the riad was wonderful and peaceful, you almost felt you had to whisper. Early to bed, early to rise.
Thursday we drove to the Dades gorge through more Berber villages, beautiful landscapes full of brightly colored flowers, red and orange rock formations to the gorge itself. Quick side note, our INTENTION was to drive the Todra gorge the first day. However, signs are varying in reliability and frequency and the sign to the “gorge” didn´t exactly clarify which. So, we got to see Dades first! No Bry, the Google GPS didn´t work here. We were truly amazed at how beautiful this area is. We tried to get some photos of the locals hard at work, but they were not too happy when we snapped their picture. We were able to ask a few permission, but we quickly gave up in favor of good karma. The drive was truly stunning. The closest comparison to be made would be like driving through the Grand Canyon; it seems that huge and overwhelming. Along the way we made many stops for photos. Every town you pass through you are “waved down” by frantic children age 5-20 like they have the most important news. Selling everything from flowers to fossils to trinkets is the news. We made one stop at the highest point of the valley were we found a perfect turn off. Out from behind some rocks came a pair of boys, they must hide there knowing the tourist will be enticed by the view. A couple coins and half a loaf of bread later, we were the proud owners of some prehistoric ocean shell fossils from whenever this area was last under the sea. On route back, we had lunch at an inn along the road before heading back to the Perle for a 2nd night.
Friday, the Muslim day of rest, we visited another gorge, Todra. This gorge was very different from Dades. It´s warmer in this valley which allows the Palm trees the sun they need to flourish. The contrast of red earth, bright green palms and violet blue sky was fabulous. We felt so lucky to be here during this time of year. The flowers are all in bloom, red poppies (not poppies but they look just like them), yellow, blue, purple, white and orange. A true feast for the eyes. The Berbers use all of these flowers for natural color in their crafts. We drove deep into the gorge and after turning around we saw a Berber man looking for a ride. Hitchhiking here is very common and safe. We decided to give him a ride. He was quite friendly and spoke French, Arabic, Berber and Spanish. We were communicating well. He explained that he and his family were nomads and lived in the mountains for 10 months of the year herding their 100 animals (sheep, goats, camels), and the other 2 months in Tineghir, a small town in the Todra valley. He invited us to have a mint tea in his home with his family, we accepted. The home is simple and just 2 or 3 rooms. The adobe structure was a former Jewish home, as most in this town were before Israel was formed and they were all abandoned. Now they are just for the Berbers during their time to sell their goods. The Berbers do not pay for the use of the home. We entered the home and were invited to sit in the main room on the floor which was covered with colorful rugs. To one side was a loom where the sister was making yarn from Camel hair and weaving a rug. We met the older brother who was clearly the head of the family and spoke very good English. He explained to us that he learned English when the movie Jewel of the Nile was being filmed nearby. He worked on the film, although we aren´t sure if he was in the film as a local extra or if he was serving the crew tea etc. Either way he was charming and friendly, as they all were. We sipped our tea and viewed their crafts. The Camel hair rugs were exquisite. Our favorites were the Cactus silk rugs. He explained that the colors of the rugs we a mark of the nomads who made them. The black rugs were colored with magnesium from the caves in the Atlas Mountains. The red comes from the earth and represents Berbers from the desert, the true nomads. The blue represents farmers or those who don´t move around. And the white is the beach sand from the coastal Berbers. After all of our history lessons we headed to our next destination, Ait Benhaddou, where there is a faboulous Kasbah. Many films have been shot here including Lawrence of Arabia, Gladiator and as we know, The Jewel of the Nile. There are several families that still live inside the Kasbah according to some. We saw some souks inside, but the most interesting part was that the entire fortress is made of adobe and seems to crumble beneath you. This site won´t last, what a pity. In order to tour the Kasbah you must cross a river, or wash rather. We looked for a place that we could rock hop, but found none. We rolled up our pants and headed across on foot. We traipsed around for a while and then crossed back over to the side where our Riad for the night was, Lokfel, also run by a Frenchman, Pascal, who had left the old country in search of better days. The riad was quaint and had a lovely terrace (but no view). We´d read about the dinner here and that you would need to book early. We did and weren´t disappointed. This was one of the best Moroccan meals so far. We retired early as we had to get on the road at 6AM to make our train to Casablanca at 11AM. Pascal woke early as well and greeted us with a fabulous cup of coffee and pastry for breakfast, way above and beyond. We shoved off in the morning light and got some additional fabulous shots. Especially nice were all of the fields of flowers. We´d call them wild flowers but as they are harvested for their color we don´t think they are wild at all. We made the train to Casablanca with no problems.
We arrived in Casablanca in the afternoon and were greeted by Adil Gharris, the nephew of Charlie´s good friend Rachid Gharris from university in Freiburg, Germany. Rachid was kind enough to have his brother, Houcine, and his family put us up in Casablanca for the night. Adil picked us up and drove us to his parents´ home just outside the center of Casablanca. Houcine and his family welcomed us into their lovely home. We were overwhelmed by their hospitality and generosity. In the afternoon, Adil took us for a tour of Casablanca showing us the highlights, as we only had this one afternoon there. The three of us then stopped at an ocean side cafe with a fabulous view to watch the sunset over the Atlantic Ocean. We have much in common with Adil, we are similar in age and ambition, and got along splendidly. In the evening we all went back to Houcine´s for a home cooked meal, our best in Morocco. Monday morning we woke to another fabulous meal, coffee and breakfast on the garden terrace. We can´t thank the entire Gharris family enough for their generosity. We hope we are able to return the hospitality if they have the chance to visit us in San Francisco, or where ever we end up! Unfortunately, several of the family have been unsuccessful in trying to visit US; visas for Moroccan men 15-40 are all but barred from visiting our country since 9-11 regardless of who they are. We can only hope that this changes in the coming years and we can some day welcome them to our home as they did us, En sha-allah.
We were blown away by Morocco. The people were unbelievably warm and welcoming throughout the country. The architecture is beautiful and the spring flora and fawna are just lovely. The food was to die for. We highly recommend a vist and will be sure to return here one day, (after we learn French).
Avoir Morocco!We´re off to Madrid to spend a few days with Maria-Carmen! Stay tuned for more adventures with Rawson and Charlie!

Vina del Mar

We arrived at the Santiago airport to find that Bryan had arranged to have a car pick us up and drive us to Viña instead of taking a bus. Nice start to the week. The drive is about an hour and 45 min and winds through the Casablanca wine region and out to the coast. We arrived just in time for sunset over the Pacific from the balcony in the Rees’ ocean front condo. Bryan made his famous homemade Pisco Sours and we enjoyed the evening. Viña del Mar is a weekend getaway ocean front / beach town for Santiago. It’s a fairly decent sized town on its own and has several neighboring towns which line the coast north and south. To the south is Valparaiso, the largest port in Chile and as well as being the town where Mrs. Rees grew up. Tonight we drove north up to Reñaca to Aqui Jaime, Bryan’s favorite seafood restaurant in the area. The coastal road looks like it is an extension of Highway 1 in California; winding single lane road along stunning shoreline. Jaime is known for two things, amazing fresh sea and a beautiful Cliffside setting; oh and live entertainment. The entertainment comes from an incredibly concentrated old fellow hunched over his keyboard cranking out tunes that would do the organist at any hockey game proud. First up Machas. Machas are razor clams and are served with the foot on, in the shell, baked with parmesan cheese and a little bit of cream. They are Bryan’s favorite and he and Charlie devoured the “first” plate in no time. Rawson actually got to try one or two. Another menu item that stood out were the Erizos, or Sea Urchin. It was listed in the main course section of the menu and anyone who has had sushi with Charlie knows his fondness for the Uni. Apparently sea urchin is local to Chile and most of it is shipped to Japan. We ordered a serving to see how it compared, and out came a huge plate full of raw Erizos. Needless to say Charlie was in Uni Heaven. This portion would have gone for about $150-200 in our local sushi restaurant back in San Francisco. The equivalent in Chilean pesos was about $11.

Tuesday was an organizational day. We hit the grocery store to stock up for the week, did laundry, finally, etc. We picked up groceries for cooking as the Rees’ helper was coming for the day and as is traditional with most Chilean families, she makes several meals for the week while she is there. “Fresia”
is an amazingly sweet little lady whipped up a couple of nice meals for us with the groceries we picked up. No bell required. We had a nice lunch at the Rees’ and just rejuvenated. Wednesday we were up early in order to get an jump start as we headed to the Colchagua wine region, about 2 ½ hours away south of Santiago (4+ from Viña). We had a few wineries we wanted to visit. Colchagua is known for its Carmenere. The Carmenere grape had thought to have been lost in the Phylloxera plague in France in 1867. Then in 1994 it was rediscovered in Chile being served as a Merlot. We were off to find the best Carmenere in Colchagua. Casa Silva was our first stop. This bodega also has a lovely B&B and restaurant. We checked out the rooms, (not in our budget but lovely), and decided to have a little lunch and try their wines. We sat in a gorgeous courtyard with the sun shining down on us. Ahh, just what the doctor ordered. We loved the Carmenere,( our favorite so far), loved the Syrah, but the Merlot not so much. There was more to see and the weather was perfect. We headed next door to Casa Helena, but alas they don’t offer wine tastings. So we went back to Casa Silva to do a proper tasting in their winery, but they also don’t offer tastings. Hmmm, have wine, won’t serve it? As we found in Argentina, Chile wine tasting is not like California wine tasting. First it’s about the tour. Most of the wineries have state of the art facilities and they want to show it off. Also, the wine tasting culture hasn’t really taken off down here like it has up north. We hit a few road blocks along our way, but finally hit up Viu Manent. Upon parking we were hailed by two northern California ladies in distress. Their car battery had died while they were tasting and they had a flight in 4 hours home out of Santiago. The winery had some jumper cables and Charlie and Bryan gave them a quick jump and they were off. Now back to Paula and our perfect tasting. We tried several wines but the Secreto Carmenere 2008 was all of our favorite. One more for today before things shut down. Viña Montes was opened till 5:30 so we headed that direction. Stunning property and the wines were decent to great. Their Montes Alpha Chardonnay 2007 won the Slow Food #1 Chardonnay in the world. Rawson really liked this one. The Montes Alpha Syrah 2006 won two big stars from our crowd! The sun was starting down and we got some nice shots at the winery. We drove the rest of the way into the main town in the Colchagua valley, Santa Cruz, to find a place to stay for the night. We found a hostel on the main road, decided it was fine and we were ready to clean up and grab dinner. Just outside of town was a Peruvian restaurant that we’d read about and had recommended by Paula from earlier in the day. We almost couldn’t find it, but are glad we finally did. We sat next to the wood burning stove and enjoyed our delicious meal primarily of ceviches.

Thursday we planned to hit Concha y Torro and Casa la Postalle, but sadly neither offer tastings. Just driving around to discover this took us most of the day. The valley is lovely but we were unsuccessful and just headed back to Viña to catch the sunset.

Beautiful day on Friday, so we enjoyed relaxing in Viña. Saturday we drove north to see the Pacific coastal similarities between California and Chile. We arrived to our lunch spot to find that there was no availability until 10PM (Easter weekend is HUGE in Latin America). Stunning views and apparently really good seafood. Oh well, on to the next restaurant which we were able to strong arm a table. Apparently in many Chilean restaurants (not so in metropolis’ but more rural) there is no hostess and you just vulture over tables scoping out who is leaving before elbowing other vultures out of the way to grab a spot. OK, not that drastic or vicious, but the method is pretty close. Once we had landed at our table, we sat overlooking a bay with nearly perfect weather eating (what else) lots of Machas! We found our way back to Viña in time for the sunset once again.

Easter Sunday we went just south of Viña to Valparaiso, the old port town where Bryan’s mother grew up. Valparaiso is much like San Francisco as it is set among the seaside hills. The homes here are also colorful and look like candies sprinkling the hillsides. The difference is that while San Francisco has stairs in their sidewalks, Valparaiso has funiculars, like a sidewalk elevator, all over the city for carrying people up and down. The closest thing to this would be a gondola that runs on tracks. Or for you Bond-fans, they had one in Octopussy. We did a bit of sightseeing here to get the flavor and history. Then we stopped for lunch and took in the views (yes, more Machas were included in this meal). Tomorrow we drive back to Santiago and catch our flight to Morocco (via Madrid).

We spent a total of 3 weeks traveling around Chile and Argentina with Bryan. We can’t say enough about this time. We had a ball and he was the best host anyone could ask for. We were able to see and learn things about Chile that only the locals know. We also know things about each other we may rather not know after 3 weeks together, but we’ll leave those details out of the blog. Bry we can’t wait to see you in San Francisco, if not before! Thanks for everything, best man!

Villa la Angostura (Argie) and Pucon (Chile)

Villa la Angostura

Two things we haven’t mentioned just yet. First are the pink sheepskin booties for Bennett’s birthday (Charlie’s Goddaughter). We picked them up in Calafate, very cute and very Patagonia. Bennett’s birthday has long since gone at this point, but in spite of looking every day for a post office we had been unable to either locate a post office or we’d fine one that was closed for siesta. The 2^nd thing is that we also hadn’t done laundry since before we met up with Bryan so the clean clothes were running out quickly. Bryan is quite familiar with Villa La Angostura, our next stop, so we had high hopes. We arrived in Villa (pronounced Vee-Jah in Argentina) around 1:30 and since it was raining we headed into town for some lunch. After lunch we popped by the Correo, or post office, to send off the booties. No luck, siesta. So we headed to find the Lavanderia, but they were also on siesta. Sooo, dirty clothes and all we went back to the hosteria and the boys geared up for a bike ride, Rawson chose to stay at the pad and chill instead of mountain biking in the rain, and it was a good choice. 7:00 come around and the wet boys returned, showered up and settled in for some footie (Chile vs Uruguay ended tied- great result for Chile. South Africa 2010 is looking better and better). It rained sideways all evening like we were in Florida in summer!

Thursday morning we had breakfast in the hosteria and then went to check out Bariloche, located in the opposite corner of Lago Nahuel Huapi. On the drive over, about an hour, we saw the most amazing rainbow over the water in front of the town. It was the most vivid rainbow any of us have ever seen. We checked the town out and then took the chair lift to the top of a mountain to see the stunning views of Bariloche. Luckily the rain broke for us for the lift ride and view from atop. Afterwards we had the option of continuing around the lakes or heading back to town for a big parrilla lunch. We opted for the lunch, obvio. What a fantastic meal and wine. We couldn’t abandon the scenery so we drove up to Llao Llao resort to check out where the high rollers stay. We were immediately chased off by security as we attempted to check out the newly built super plush part. Apparently Bryan’s pull wasn’t impressive to the security guy guard as he sprinted down a hallway to catch up to us. Knowing our place we headed back towards Villa to get ready for dinner. Charlie insisted on a sunset stop off on the Rio Bonito to wet a line(fish). We were racing against the sun and couldn’t get access to the known better spots on the Bonito, but Rawson and Bryan got to witness some exceptionally messy casting in high winds and rain. Fun for all! After an hour of watching Charlie stumble through the river in his borrowed waiters which bared a striking resemblance to the K-mart specials August D was once lucky enough to score, first fishing effort was called on account of darkness. For dinner, we went to a local place where the boys got meat, again, and Rawson just couldn’t do it and had a salad. Early to bed, early to rise.

Charlie woke early and headed out for a morning cast on the Rio Correntoso. No fish landed there but claims to have gotten a MONSTER on the line. No witnesses, no landing, no fish. We packed up and moved on. It was another day of rain so we had a slow start toward San Martin de los Andes, along the Seven Lakes drive, which is a incredibly scenic 101 kilomreter drive from Villa. After the requisite rally driving (no other option on all gravel roads), at km # 17 we were waved down by a trucker, who promptly told us we had an issue. Bryan, our driver for the day, got out, walked to the front of the car and busted out laughing. We all jumped out and had a look. The noise Rawson had heard a few minutes prior apparently was the front license plate getting torn partially off and proceeding to drag off of the front of our Puegeot 207. Well, let just say that Rawson was laughing so hard she almost peed her pants. The video we took is a nice depiction of the incident. That was the most hysterical moment yet. However, never fear, like good boy scouts, Charlie and Bryan had insisting on buying some duck tape a week earlier before hiking in Paine. 20 minutes later, we were easing back onto the gravel with high hopes of a successful McGyver rigging. We had to take a breather from the laughter and stopped at a road side, dirt road, café for a bite. Miguel our host couldn’t have been nicer. Still pouring outside, we had a Chocnac next to the fire. Chocnac is a hot chocolate with a little cognac, delish. We chatted up Miguel and found out that there is a spot nearby that the fishing guides hang out. So we headed there so Charlie could get some good info for his last day of fishing in Patagonia. The spot was right on Lake Meliquina. We went in and met Martin, the master fishing guide from LA/Argentina. He was born in Argie but moved to LA early on, then back to be a guide in Argie. Charlie pulled out his Patagonia fishing book and Martin asked to see it and sure enough his picture was right inside. What a find. After much discussion about where to go the next day, Martin finally said he’ll take us now. So we loaded up and headed 30 minutes downstream along Rio Meliquina for some fly fishing. Charlie landed about 10 in the hour we were there before sunset, nice job Carlos. Dark and raining, we stopped off back at Martin’s so he could hook us up with a place in San Martin that his brother in law runs. What a find. La Bora was perfect! A two bedroom, two level cabana with a fire place and a sweet patio. Perfect for us. We cleaned up and headed out to a lovely dinner at La Casona. We loved this little Swiss style town. Early to bed and early to rise. We had breakie at a café in town and saw a little protest before heading to the Argie/Chile border. No idea what it was for.

Saturday, a day of finding great fishing spots to wrap up Patagonia. We stopped off at a couple of rivers for Charlie to cast into. We found one that looked promising. High winds, massive willow-like river bank trees (oh, and no waiters at this point) did not improve the fishing. In fact the only thing Charlie hooked that day was himself… twice. After the second frustrated attempt, no one wanted to stand close enough to watch. That was that, no fish, but a nice time. Along the way we crossed through the Araucaria “Forest” next to the border. The sky broke just in time for us to catch some shots of these special trees in front of the volcano. Araucaria trees, known as Monkey Puzzle, are the oldest living species of trees. They are survivors from the dinosaur age. Our comment was, if you fell off of a mountain bike onto one of those, you’d basically be impaled. They are super prickly but just lovely. We said adios to Argentina for the final time on our trip and headed west to Pucon!

Chi-chi-chi Le-le-le. Pucón

Another long day in the car. At this point we’re getting slightly car weary; we’ve had enough of the rain and cold. We dropped down into the town of Pucón which is next to the Volcano Villarrica, which we intended to hike the following day. We hit the town and needed food, so we grabbed a late lunch of empanadas and fish. We needed to find a place to stay and Bryan had a couple of ideas, but as the season just ended here, many were closed. So we were on our own. We checked out one spot and it was just too expensive, so we hit their next door neighbors. Nice find. Amazing overlooks of the lake sloping down from the cabins. They gave us a great rate on our 2 bedroom cabaña. These cabañas are like little town houses really. They all have kitchens, living room and bedrooms; most also have fireplaces, which is key for us at this point. We lit a fire, checked out our photos and just snacked for dinner.

Sunday morning was raining, shocking. We took it easy, had Nescafe and cereal and changed the plan. Instead of hiking the Volcano we decided to check out the termas, or natural hot springs, nearby that Bryan’s aunt and uncle had visited, the Termas Geometricas. Getting there was a bit of a challenge, as Bryan mentioned to us in route, that the adverts for the place recommended a 4-wheel drive. Ah, we’re old hat at this ridiculous off-roading in completely unsuitable vehicles at this point! Arrived no problem. It rained all day, which couldn’t have been more perfect for the termas. The property was designed by the same architect that designed the Explora Hotel in Paine. We spent about 4 hours there just hopping from one pool to the next. Check out the photos, it was truly stunning and just what we needed. All parties agreed these were the nicest hot springs we had ever seen. There were all nestled along a narrow ravine where hot and cold sources combine. They have just really nailed blending this place into the surroundings. After the hour and a half drive back we changed and hit dinner in town. Parrilla again! Monday was a long morning of just relaxing. We were all just plain worn out at this point. Our flight was at 2:00 to Santiago. We returned the beaten down Peugeot and boarded our flight. Viña here we come!