Time to Reflect

Update

Surfers Paradise

If I was a surfer I would hot foot it to Buchupureo and drop everything I was thinking of doing. The surf here is something else. One after another of big rolling waves come rolling in one after the other. I am sure that the full moon has something to do with it, but for three days now we have been next to the sea and have watched these amazing waves and there is nobody here, we have 100km of Pacific coast almost to ourselves. I am really tempted to get an old long board and see if I can stand up! As I have difficulty standing up on dry land, maybe this is wishful thinking but it is a pleasant thought. The sea is a really deep blue, I presume it is because the coast drops down so steeply into the sea, however there is one thing that is not very appealing, the beach sand is black! It makes sense as I guess the volcanoes don’t spew out nice white sand and wherever you are you are not very far from volcanic action!

Tsunami damage

We are now in a little seaside village called Duao. The map shows that there is a road through the next village, but we drove there today and it is no longer! This area was badly hit by the Tsunami. We went for a walk along the beach yesterday and it would appear that everything within 200m of the shore line was damaged or obliterated. What I find interesting is what happened in the past, is the sea level rising? All along the coast  they are building sea walls with massive rocks to stop the sea reclaiming more of the land. You see evidence of beach front houses that were obliterated from the Tsunami last year, but now those houses would be located 10 m out to sea!

We had some dodgy accommodation the night before last, but as it was 7.00pm in the evening our options were starting to get limited. To make up for this I decided to find a campsite on the beach! We found such a campsite but better luck was to follow! We had just put up the tent when the owner of the campsite who also owns most of the other land in the village offered us a house on the beach for just about the same price as camping. Ewa was a bit concerned that we could end up in the sea, but it is very comfortable and we have extended our stay to catch up on washing, painting, blogs, emails etc. We also did an amazing round trip into the mountains today all along the lakes. Ewa was a bit apprehensive as it involved 100kms of dirt road, but as we were not loaded with all our luggage the bike was relatively light and handled the dirt admirably, so my brave wife is now a little less apprehensive about dirt roads. It was the dirt roads of Zambia that spooked her. She really does not like the bike falling over,  which is quite understandable!

Slow Life

Time to Chat

I really like Chile, cost wise it is much the same as SA. It feels deserted as the majority of people live in the cities. We have been travelling in really rural areas and ox waggons are used a lot. I commented to Ewa that if ox waggons were our mode of transport we would be unlikely to die of stress. We did however have one stressful moment when we were dawdling behind an ox waggon which I eventually overtook only to have five horses come bearing down on me. I stopped the bike as I really did not have a clue as to which way they would run. I then realised that they were being controlled by four dogs that sussed the situation and drove them through the nearest farm gate!  The men really do wear Sombreros with their flat pressed rims. I don’t know why I should be surprised as they work a treat, they really do keep the sun at bay, but I have still not figured out how they keep them in place in the wind! All in all the pace of life feels slow and the people we have met are incredibly friendly and helpful.

The cold current moving up the Chilean coast creates a lot of fog, which is no doubt the reason for the massive forestation of the areas that we have been travelling. It is also is the main reason for my wife not swimming in the sea. Softy.

We have had really great seafood on the coast, but there is a lack of green vegetables and they seem to grow a lot of strawberries, but for the life of me I cannot figure out why they are not on sale in the shops. The same applies to milk. They have dairy farms but milk is not readily available and if you ordered a papaya and thought you were going to get a paw-paw you would be sadly disappointed. A papaya is about as big as an orange and tastes like nothing I have had before, mildly bitter. I would only use them as a seasoning in food, but we did have it as a pudding in a sweet syrupy sauce. They would certainly not be on my shopping list.

Spanish Tiles for Kevin

I have had this on-going gripe with my wife about fishing! She puts fishing and golf in the same hat. The other day I found this amazing collapsible fishing rod, it telescoped into a unit about two feet long. I sort of understand her, as already I spend a lot of time writing and painting which is rather exclusive, so if I fished as well we would have less time. However when I paint or write, Ewa now picks up her Spanish books and I have to say she is getting pretty good at making ourselves understood, but the Chileans pronounce things differently to the Argentineans, so that makes thing a little tricky, but I have no doubt she (and hopefully me as well) will be getting by, by the time we leave. 

Stradavarius inside!

Oh, I think I have solved the Stradavarius question. Where did a whole lot of Germans run to during and after the war? If you had to run away from home and had a Strad violin, wouldn’t you take it with you? I am going to make a movie about it! It has all the ingredients. Dodgy Germans, war, classical music, passion (which I will add) in his dreams!, deception and a whole bunch more, which may be real, if not I will make it up. What do you think?

This is really unbelievable, you remember the SA minister of finance Diedrieks? Just bumped into his son who says he wants to show me something tomorrow. Do you think he plays the violin? Will let you know in the next blog!