The world around Pucón, Dec. 29th

POCÓN, Lakes District, Chile, Dec. 28^th 2012Alpes

This is the northernmost area that I feel has a semblance of the Northwest (Western Washington) and, at the same time, the European Alpes. There is something about the  deep blue sky, steep hills with lots of trees, open pasture with cows and valleys. Signs offering fresh cow or goat cheese, homemade marmalade and honey, camping by the side of a small lake. It is all here. And it is used. From January 1 tell early March, this place and many more like it are packed to the gills with urban people doing their vacations either at the shore (as in the post on Papudo)or in the mountains of Chile.

One of the spectacular landmarks in the area  is the Villarica crater, a cone shaped mountain that only rises to 2840 meters (under 8000feet ) but is snow covered. People love to climb it in a day then go to the many thermal bathes that abound throughout the area. I’ve never seen so many camping sites, big and small, set off in remote areas as well as within the city limits of Pucón.

So the town, though a dead berg for 8 months a year, starts waking up before the first of the year and it is non-stop tell March. That is how they make their money. I’m fortunate enough to be camping amid trees in a large open pasture area with new showers, a swimming pool, plenty of room to spread out and relax, do day trips and plan the next leg. Here are some photos of the area. Doesn’t it look like parts of the PNW?

This reminded me of the northwest

My campsite for several days-everything I need- a pool, warm sun, new showers. Won't you come join me?

The houses in the rural area around here are hard to define. Try and capture a picture of the 'typical house' in Seattle. Impossible to do. Same here. There are some definite styles like low incline roofs and since it doesn't really get very cold here in the winter, the houses lack insulation.

Animals are still used for all kinds of jobs.

Again the northwest struck me sans the Alpaca. (We're about 1,700 feet so it is pretty low)

Wood products and tourism are the two mainstays. Everyone with a house and any space offers camping or cabanas.

My indoor parking space. People don't think twice about offering their outdoor hallway as a place to store your bike overnight.

I Met A GYPSY TODAY- Dec. 27th on the road

The Road Less Traveled…. December 27^{th,2012 (but remember, I'm just passing through)}

   

             I met a Gypsy some 40 years ago in Argentina- on the road,   wagon wheels and camping, another world…, definitely another world.

I met a gypsy today, in fact two or three… (They are supportive women-helping each other).   Been many a year… Always outside my round of daily activities… Provocative women, who would say no?...  Charming, dancing, or at least slightly moving, as they spoke. I was intrigued… Wouldn’t you be too?

Touching me ever so slightly as they talked rapidly as if I understood what they wanted and were offering.

 Want?”… “$ for my baby on the ground next to me .So she can have some bread“” She needs something.” I look down and what youngster doesn’t look hungry at 8 AM ?  O.K. give her some $ for the young child.

 (I’m sitting on my motorcycle) getting the tank filled with the Attendant filling my gas tank at my side. I give him a glance and he looks down. Not interested in making a comment and he has to put up with this form of request from the Gypsies all the time. Who knows, maybe he’s the Pimp?      A Pumping Pimp?

 In any case I am enticed outside the gas filling lane to an area still inside the gas station grounds  but…not in the way and she…never caught her name. (I’d given her $ for the poor child name.) Was it given?  Yes? No?  But since I was such a” sensitive person”… to the needs of others she’d tell my fortune for nothing…well…

I could be gracious if I approved of the Fortune…

Well, with all my clothes on… I mean with all my motorcycle gear on… and my motor running… I wasn’t sure I wanted to get into a prolonged interaction with this sexy young woman who kept contact with my wrist as she spoke….oh!   (Frankly, I’ve never met a Gypsy who didn’t know how to do fantastic things with wrist touch… haven’t you?...)

 It always involves more $$... Ya,    well she’d keep her finger on my  palm while she gave me a blessing and asked 10 questions, half of which I couldn’t understand. But I could feel her finger moving around ever so slightly…. I was disoriented.

 Then I remembered a movie I’d seen last week and the message had three elements two of which I currently remember( not bad I’d say…)

one was :1) Distract the enemy. . Get their attention elsewhere away from the money. Keep ‘em focused elsewhere.  Disorient them so they don’t know what is happening…

2) Since you, as the Sorceress, know that  they don’t want to look bad in public, you’ll provide them an opportunity to not display there ineptitude  in public. Just a few more $ and I leave you to go but…” you can’t leave right now while we’re in the middle of this fortune telling  process…This is serious. Processes are happening beyond my powers… This would be a serious travesty and with consequences I would not be responsible for…”

bang..frustration. ackward feelings.. of wanting to flee and not wanting to be here but there is such a velvet clutch around me…it is hot and getting hotter, my white silk scarf that should be flying in the breeze, is getting damp…

“ OK give me my $, I say, that you are holding in the palm of your hand.”(As you bless it)… Here’s something else for the kid.. I’ve got more important things to do, like continue my trip without feeling fleeced…too often….”

I was left with the words ringing in my ears that “ You foreigners are wound tight and don’t want to help…, you won’t even give me money for a cigarette”!.

 That quickly took me to beach activity in South America 40 years ago.. could have been anywhere in the world where someone from outside has something ($) and the locals, they don’t ,but both want to party…so how pays?... It winds up that those who have , give and those who don’t , benefit, as do all of us in that situation.

Next time you pull into your gas station, stay away from a young, swaggering , long skirted, slightly disheveled, sexy woman who wants to offer you your dreams for a few pesos…

 On second thought, who knows where a trip like that might have led?...  Campfires with Flamenco singers,… Dancers illuminated by the flames of the fire,….or just another round of screaming, unkempt and needy children?  I don’t have the answer because I didn’t go there…

 But isn’t  that always the choice… The road less traveled..?

Holiday season in Papudo, Chile

 You caught me with my mouth full! Oftentimes breakfast comes after an hour or so on the road at whatever resource one can find. These happened to be cheeze and ham empanadas along with a big cup of instant coffee.

 The beach at Papudo, Chile

Randy was concerned about his fuel system and he decides to do some diagnostics on the road. He has a 38 liter tank which means he should be able to go 500 miles without a refill (my max is about 170) Always something to fiddle with.

 Another food picture taken at the other end of the day while camping on the beach. Richi, a Colombian paraglide enthusiast joined us for a couple of days. Great attitude and at 43 decided to live his dreams now.

 Housing is a big issue in many parts of the world. Peru and to some extent Chile have situations where 'squatters' have taken over private lands, erected a house made of reeds(symbolic only since there is no water or electricity or anything even around these dry desert dwellings.) This building is for beach use. Light weight,thin wood,easily put up, the interior frame was made of wood strips about 1"x2 1/2 ". Hardly any structural rigidity but in an earthquake zone?

 The Albatross are well fed on the beach at Papudo.

Early morning snack set up on a beach you had to pay a higher price to visit. Since this was in an 'exclusive' area with many mansions old and new, they didn't want just anyone showing up...so it costs more to go to this beach.

 An artist intent on his work gets his best light and fewer interruptions in the morning before more people arrive.

An amazing number of houses are shuttered up 9 months a year. After January 1st everything is full until school starts again in March

 Lovely beach at Zapear with hillside houses dotting the landscape.

 Randy, my riding buddy sharing dinner with Valeria Opazo de Lawling,our hostess in Papudo (Valeria also lives on Vashon Island,well Docton, to be more specific)

 Christmas morning I had to go jog and see if I still had the legs. Everything still works fine and what a lovely place to jog. The Xmas tree on the beach was a suprise.

 The original text written in 1545 claims Papudo to be of extraordinary quality standing out in all the new world. I believe it, so do lots of others for while Papudo's 'recent hayday' was in the 1920'-30' with large stately mansions lining the Malecón, condos are going up all over the hills, a sure sign of a growing economy in Chile.

notice the walkway in front of the homes on the lower slopes. Valeria's place is in the area toward the point. I was conflicted about staying or leaving and put off the decision so I could stay for Xmas eve and Xmas day. Sometimes just getting on the bike and hitting the road is a strong push. This time my butt got a couple more days of rest.

Dec. 20th A chance to shower and the beginning of a transition

Quickly approaching the Solstice I'm confused. Usually I'd be at the depths of darkness with gray skies, rain, wind, clogged gutters and yet I find myself at 7:15 pm sitting in shorts with hot sun tempting me to take off the tee shirt or seek shade. All I can say is 'I'm lovin' it" (Hasn't some company already claimed that one?) .
 For the last few dayz it has been serious road time with strong head or side winds.Chile is ONE LONG COUNTRY. Always wearing ear plugs to reduce the sound of wind at 60-70 mph or ,on occasion, an MP3 with my jogging music-only latin music please) we move  and wiggle the butt frequently, from side to side, re adjusting the sheepskin I received from a fellow traveler in Panama, so as to get comfortable. Usually the AM has the least wind and by noon it gets tough(well not really tough). It does make driving harder. It does make passing trucks harder ( as you approach you're buffeted a lot then as you pass you're sucked into a vacuum then as you emerge you're hit by strong winds again. It just takes knowing what is happening and be prepared as best you can. (life lesson #101)

 Richie, a Colombian, jointed us for a couple of days. Six months into his trip with his girlfriend from Colombia, he'd sent her ahead on the bus, due to strong winds and rough conditions. It gave them both a 'breather' of being together day and night and he got some 'male time'. He has a para gliding school in Colombia. Leaving his business in the hands of friends, he is  'living the dream' at age 43.

 Camping on an isolated beach. Papa tent, Mama tent and baby bear tent. (Guess which one is Mr. Minimalist's tent?)

 If you couldn't guess then here I am. One person, one person tent. Beautiful scenery. We were approached by 'locals' who said we should move since the tide oftentimes comes up and over this site. Didn't believe him (hey, I grew up with tides in my life) but then he's a local and he volunteered this information out of concern for our bikes, tents and selves.. At late dusk we decided to go for safety rather than our own 'sense'. We moved to higher ground and reset tents in the dark and slept soundly. Next morning. My northwest water sense about tides and information about beaches and evidence of high tides SHOULD have been followed...but then I'm not at home. Better safe than sorry.

 I added this photo because if I were a Martian, I'd have assumed that Chileans, more than any other nation so far, are religiously inclined. It could be considered subtle but the frequency of alters to dead, whether on the highway or elsewhere is remarkable. It almost approaches too much. Especially with the Chilean flags attached everywhere. If I were to do a documentary show of roadside alters I'd take forever to get through Chile. Incredible and it can't be related to the number of deaths on the roads. Chilean pan-american highways are in great shape and not prone to accidents from the conditions of the roads.

 Randy, my California riding buddy, preparing some dinner on the beach near Iqueque, in the north of Chile.

 OK The 'Manos del Desierto', out in the middle of nowhere.

 Are two hands better? Have I won??? Did I overcome something?

 Well, there is a lesson here.It happens in the oddest places. Without any premonition, under perfect conditions. Who could have predicted that when I got ready to leave and rolled forward off my center stand than the uneven sand would cause me to fall over. I can't pick this puppy up by myself, I'm well off the road and who would come by to help me? My riding buddy! That is one reason that being with someone else gives a little more security for the BIG things and the SMALL things.

The coast of western South America is like that. From southern Ecuador, all of Peru and so far, half way down Chile it has been desert. Dry, rarely a drop of rain, and wind. All of this has to do with the Humboldt Current that sweeps up from Antarctica along the coast previously mentioned bringing nutrients for fish and cooler waters that affect the coast conditions leaving little variation in the climate. Sun,sun,sun, mist sometimes and fog, sometimes but that is it, from recorded history. So enough words. Here are some pics of camping on the beach on Dec.17th,18,19th all in different places. Free! Plus the 'Manos en el Deserto', a sculpture that is on some peoples'(i.e. motorcyclists) must do list. We came upon it early in the morning, riding before the wind came up, across endless desert with little visual variation and without knowing it was there. Great place for a pic. Plus, I dropped my bike getting back one and since it is over 700 pounds loaded (without me) i asked my friend to help me lift it.

Dec. 17th Images of Ekeko, Andean God of Prosperity

Ekeko, the Andean God of Prosperity is a chubby little man, mustached and carrying a plethora of items thought to bring happiness. You'll see miniature money pinned to his clothing, sacks of seed and grain, musical instruments, cars, trucks, houses, anything of value or desire. I first came across an Ekeko doll in Quito,Ecuador years ago and still own it. I was surprised to see the same figure in Arequipa Peru and have since learned it is found throughout Bolivia,Peru,Ecuador and ? There is an upscale department store in Arequipa,Peru called 'La Casa del Ekeko' from which the large carved Andean Ekeko is located.

La Casa del Ekeko in Arequipa, Peru. He greets you at the door.

 I'm curious how the image got a mustache since facial hairs is not common in Andean Indigenous cultures.

At 16,000' the stone Ekeko made from rock and old clothing is full of items left by travelers like myself. Ekeko got some animal crackers from me whenever he needs a snack.

Dec. 14th Colca Canyon, Southern Peru

Dec. 14^{th Friday} Colca Canyon, Peru- New Heights and Depths

On anyone’s list of places to see in southern Peru is Colca Canyon. Why? well, it is twice as deep at the Grand Canyon for starters and as you can see from my GPS reading we crossed a snowy pass to get here at 16,030, the highest yet I’ve been on my motorcycle. Needless to say, ‘el zorro plateado’ (the silver fox) was sputtering a bit. Could have been the altitude. I was sputtering also. Just getting on and off the motorcycle at that elevation was work though it was balanced by the excitement of being in snow on Dec. 14^th and seeing lots of Alpaca, Vicuña, Sheep and Goats being hurded by young 10 year old boys and girls. Their rosy and wind beaten cheeks belayed a life already set. Far from any school they are sure to grow up living at 12,000-14,000’ in a house made of stone yet open to the elements. Tending their flocks ,drinking their milk and finally eating their flesh. We accept what we’ve grown into as children and as adults. The old indigenous ways live on- no water, electricity or bathing facilities, especially at these heights.

The sign says "Do not pass"

Snow abounds. What a suprise! Fortunately I had my long johns on.

Eikeko, the Incan god of prosperity sits at 16,000'. A pile of rocks with an old jacket, and hardhat he accepts gifts of food and drink and well wishes.

Terraced lands still in use from Incan times. The whole canyon is terraced. This is extensive ground management.

Moving into Colca Canyon one is immediately struck by what appears to be terracing across every workable piece of land for miles and miles up and down the canyon. Yes, it is still being worked and has been since the Incas and Pre Incas started the long and arduous task of building rock walls and elevating ground into terraces. It is visually stunning and remarkable that many different crops were able to be raised simultaneously just because of the 5-6,000 feet elevation of workable land within the canyon. Imagine crops that to us would be grown in opposite seasons being grown at the same time just because they had the elevation and temperature changes to make it all happen.

Dec. 9th-Coming into Lima-A change and a new beginning

 The area around Caral is desert and an elevation of 800-1000 feet. Wind swept sand seeks refuge in the crevices of the stone mountains. Not a very hospitable place to develop a civilization of 4000 inhabitants that lasted over 1000 years

 One of the center stones between ritual pyrimids. The pyramids mimic the surrounding mountains and they, in an of themselves are considered sacred, power spots.

 Modern day removal of dried cane sugar from the farm lands. Note the age of the well kept truck.

Corn, the mother crop, laying out in the sun to dry. Beautiful.

 A house perched upon the top of a HUGE rock in a river. Note the spiral staircase. Anyone interested? Small tax lot.

The "zorro plateado"(silver fox)in honor of my Dad gets a washinging today and is ready for a 6 AM loading and flying south.

 The Hotel Antigua de Miraflores in Miraflores, Lima, Peru. Two days of luxury with a bath tub, shoes polished by the door and wonderful beds. Not the typical travel mode for me.

The last few days have been a whirlwind. First a stay on the Peruvian coast, 3 hours north of Lima at Barranca and a day visit to Caral, the oldest civilization in the Western Hemisphere.(5,000 years old) then a calculated early arrival on sunday morning into Lima with its horrendous traffic issues.(And getting stopped and hit up for 'speeding in front of a school'(on a sunday?) Cost me $38.00-street price- wish I had a helmet camera and caught it on film- that would have cost the policeman his job) Then a two night stay at an old and well appointed hotel in Miraflores, the upscale section by the water in Lima followed by a 5:45 departure for Jan to the airport and me toward Nazca 7 hours south. Jan Gunn has been my travel partner for the last month- from Quito to Lima. She's ridden through mud and rain, barren desert and high winds with nary a peep (she told me tonight she meditated ALOT) along the trip. I know that on occasion she also slept cause her helmet would slowly fall on my back. Not to be bothered by twisty mountain roads she moved gracefully through every turn, whether awake OR asleep! A couple of pictures of Caral, the desert civilization that seems to have caused quite a ruckus in Archeological circles since it has caused a re-think of previous interpretations of time,place and development of different cultures of the Americas.