Road Trip

Following two long weeks in which I was absolutely swamped with work, Pat and I are preparing to take our first real vacation since we arrived in Argentina nearly 6 months ago. Of course, this vacation is strategically timed to enable us to renew our 90-day tourist visas once again. But it is a bonafide vacation nonetheless. So what's the plan?

First, we are heading south (about 15 hours south) to Bariloche, famous for its breathtaking lakes and mountain peaks, its backcountry skiing and hiking trails, and it's chocolate. Ymmmm, yes. Chocolate! Although the allure of chocolate is always strong for me, we plan to spend just one or two nights in Bariloche this time, with the intention of hitting it up again in January when we finally trek all the way through Patagonia to the end of the world.

After a couple of relaxing nights in "romantic" Bariloche, we will cruise west, ever westward until we hit the Chilean coast and soak in a long-awaited view of the ocean. At this point, my main objective is to gorge myself on as much fresh seafood as humanly possible, while longing around beachside restaurants and haunting the local fishing spots.

Next, we plan to head yet farther south, where we hope to catch the once-daily ferry to Chiloe Island, the second largest of the scattered islands that make up Chilean Patagonia. This island hosts one of the oldest civilizations in Chile, and is called the "magic island" due to the company of elves, dwarves, and south american styled leprechauns it supposedly hosts. There may be some truth to the local legend of magic here, as Chiloe is the site of some strange happenings in history, including the epicenter of the Valdivian Quake of 1960, the strongest earthquake ever recorded at 9.5 on the richter scale. The western half of the island is wild, covered with the protected Valdivian rainforests, while the eastern half is home to a startling aray of wildlife, including Penguins! The local specialty is a kind of seafood luau, where the local catch is slow-roasted in a hole in the ground all day, then enjoyed at night around a lively campfire. Yum!

If we don't fall under the spell of witches or penguins in Chiloe, we will catch the ferry back to the mainland after a couple of days, then make our way up route five all the way to Santiago. Although this toll road is substantially more expensive than its Argentinian counterpart across the border, I have it on good authority that it is not only a vastly more pleasurable drive, but also boasts some more impressive scenery, namely mile upon mile of towering volcanoes. Chile is home to over 500 active volcanoes, a fact which continues to change the landscape and carve out new, breathtaking features. If we are lucky, we hope to locate one of the hundreds of natural hot springs that dot the volcanic landscape, with toasty, soothing waters warmed by all that fiery magma churning underground in one of the world's most active subduction zones.

Although we would love to linger in Santiago, or more likely the famed northern beach towns west of the capital, for now we will have to drive straight over the pass and on to Mendoza for our rendezvous with the real world. We plan to return to this portion of Chile in December, when we will once again need to cross the border to obtain that prized visa stamp. All of this is made possible by one very helpful connection here in Mendoza: I happen to teach the regional manager of Avis rental cars, who obligingly hooked us up with the "corporate family discount" and thus saved us nearly 1000 pesos with a single keystroke. A big, fat beso to you! Now, I am just keeping my fingers crossed that we don't break down in the middle of the wild on either side of the border.