Saturday, March 10, 2012

Valley of Disappointment

For Sale En Espanol! 
Today we decided that Santiago was getting old.  We had the car fixed, so why do we have to sell it in Santiago?  Our only restriction is that any car bought in Chile cannot be sold in any other country.  We decided to leave Chil Hotel and drive towards a supposedly beautiful valley just southeast of Santiago.  Before we left, we had some work to do.  We had to ship a package of some of our kayak gear back to Alaska.  This went well, but it was a little bit of a hassle.  After we had shipped the gear and moved out of the Chil Hotel, we were back on the road. 



After about two hours of driving we came to the...so said  ”beautiful valley .”   We were surprised at the valley and the town that was in front of us.  Dust covered the trees, smog covered the sky, litter covered the ground, and dark and depressed looks covered the pedestrians’ faces in the first town we saw.  We were all hungry, but we did not want to stay long in the valley and especially in the town of San Jose de Maipo.  We thought that maybe a volcano had erupted near the town, and it was responsible for the surprisingly grey world.   We ate a quick and gross meal of fries, fried chicken, and fried empanadas.  I’ll tell you one thing, we were not coming back!   After our somewhat bad experience with San Jose de Maipo, we planned on heading to a new destination.



Our new target was an oceanside town just to the west of Santiago.  We drove for about three hours and came to the town of Valpraiso.  This is is the home of many artists and poets, and one of the most famous Chilean poets, Pablo Naruda, once had a home here.  The majority of Valpraiso is located on a steep hill over looking the ocean.  We have found a cool hotel with nice people.  The rooms look like a ship’s cabin, and I have my own room.  I built an awesome fort and plan to sleep in it!  I can’t wait!



Thank you for reading Rohan Geographic! 
  

3 comments:

  1. Who would not rather be in Valparaiso than San Jose de Maipo?

    Remember the grey dust in Anchorage when the volcano blew?

    Great shot of Maz for sale thru the window...the lady would rather ride her horse...Do they have 'Jose's List' down there to help with sale??

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  2. I know it sounds silly
    But Naruda from Chile
    Is a poet and most unusual sort
    Each day he spends writing
    Each night, "pretend fighting"
    A ship's captain defending his fort

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    Replies
    1. Ahh.. and how do I know that you are not just Pablo Neruda in Disguise??

      The You in me, is an ocean tide, on the deserted sandy floor of my life. As the waves wash up, I wonder.."Why???"

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