Puddle of Mud and Lagoon

Even though our stay in Santiago is on pause for the Christmas, I still wanted to show you our last two weekend trips in Chile before taking off to well earned holidays. ;)

Cajón del Maipo is a very generous region with rich nature and many different kinds of activities from hiking to swimming to horseback riding - you name it, you've got it!

First Sunday
San José de Maipo is a little town to the south of Santiago, located in the Santiago Metropolitan Region in Cordillera Province. Lukas and his workmate Manfred are examining the map of the region.

The Sunday market in the main square of San José de Maipo. However, our trip continued through a rough gravel road to the final destination.

On the drive deeper to Cajón del Maipo we saw some beautiful sceneries.

The colours of the mountains include the whole colour range - red, green, blue, yellow, purple...



After a lunch at Club Alemán Andino or Deutscher Andenverein aka German Union of the Andes, we were again with full forces powering forward.



As the gates to the hike tour of the Laguna Morales were already closed, we decided to stroll around the village.

The horses were running free on the field.

The youngest one of them showed some interest in us. Or maybe I was the more eager one to get to know?!

A cute little red house differs quite a bit from the houses of Santiago...

After the hike we went to see the Baños Morales. There are three different pools - one for adults, one for children and one for athlete swimmers.

The thermal water runs down from the mountains and it is said to have healing effects.

Of course I wouldn't be a proper Finn if I didn't dip in!

The tingling feeling on the skin must mean that I am becoming healthier instantly.

On this board all the different minerals that the water contains are mentioned.


Second Sunday

On the second Sunday we decided to leave earlier to make sure that this time we will get in to the area. On the way there we got to see local goat herds at work with their assistants.

To be able to hike you have to tell your name to the "park ranger" and pay $1.500 Pesos.

Destination: Laguna Morales, 5,98km and back. At this time of the year the road until the glacier is still frozen and hence impossible to go to.

Some pretty flowers that look like womens' shoes.

The day started beautifully with sunshine but ended up in clowds.

As soon as the clowds came, the weather started to cool down.



Finally we reached our goal, las Lagunas Morales!

The frogs were in spring fever.

The friendly birds knew were food was coming from.

Happy hikers on the way to return trip.

The view of the Monumento El Morado.

Returning after 12km hike! Doesn't exactly match the hikes to a mountain made in Vorarlberg, but still good enough start for the new season.

Jingle Bell Rock in +30 Degrees

Normally, when you move into a new flat you have at least something ready from your previous flat, but when you're moving into another flat in another country, you have got to start from the scratch. We've got to consider the hoover type, the stability of cutlery, colour of sheets, not to mention the bigger purchases such as the couch, bed or TV. Oh, you can imagine doing decisions like that November has flown by!

As you may know, we were searching a while for new apartments and finally found a nice one a few blocks down in the same sector. Although our current lease goes until the end of the year, we have started to furnish the new apartment in order to have it ready by next year. The apartment is completely new and without furniture, which means that we need to get everything, even the fridge! So planning the looks of the new flat has been entertaining and fun and creative but also a bit exhausting.

The Christmas decorations in the shops increase with the speed of the growing Celsius degrees. It is definitely a weird feeling to be listening to Jingle Bells and other Christmas carols the sun burning your skin.

Santa's chair.

A giant Christmas tree of the Parque Arauco shopping centre.


As it turns out, Lukas may know Jassen like his pockets but I happen to be the Skip-Bo master of this family. As a departure gift from Sandra and Niki in August we got Skip-Bo cards, and every now and then we've been having matches. I must brag: I won five times in a row!


On Sunday we drove to the coast again to have lunch in our favourite restaurant, breathe fresh sea air, and enjoy the sun and beach!

First we excercised to bring up the appetite. Baywatch Luki was fighting the waves...

And Mermaid Joey playing arising from the foam. ;)

Even the pelicans love El Quisco, here waiting for lunch.



On the El Quisco trip I spotted a singing jail bird. ;)

The after-lunch walk took us to some cabañas, cabins, which are for rent for people who want to spent their holidays in El Quisco Lukas discovered some rusty meters. Here it shows how strong the salty sea air can be.

Salud! Zum Wohl! Kippis! Kampai!

Monticello Casino Night

Lucky Luke and I went to the casino last weekend with another couple. Casino Monticello is just outside of Santiago - not in Santiago - due to some legal reasons that prohibit Santiago from having the casino in the city.


After playing some roulette (and winning!) in the casino, we decided to try our luck at bingo. Of course, Lukas had a bingo and won $40.000 Pesos!


Oktoberfest in Malloco

On the way to Malloco with Lukas's workmate Arnoldo, his girlfriend Macarena, and Macarena's workmate Yuko, we stopped at a kiosk to have a taste of the local treat, Mote con Huesillos.

It is a sweet and refreshing dessert drink that contains wheat flakes and dried apricots.

Oktoberfest!!!

Yuko, Lukas, Arnoldo and Macarena. We had a truly national team - Japan, Austria, Chile and Finland!

My expression would let you assume that this was taken after all that beer, but nope, it was before! ;)

The day was wonderfully warm and sunny, just excellent to spend it outside sipping beer.

At the Oktoberfest typical German food, traditional songs and different sorts of beer were served by Chileans in Dirndl and Lederhose.

The first beers: Salud! Zum Wohl! Kippis! Kampai!

La Fiesta de la Cerveza attracted a lot of people.

There were also many nice stands that were selling local Chilean handcrafts.

And brought out the child in us. :)



Trying on the Oktoberfest hat. It fits!



The best beer we tasted was from New Zealand.

At some point we started to sing some beer songs: "Oktoberfest, Oktoooooooberfeeeest, Oktoooo-oooo-ooobeeeerfeeeeeeest!!!"

Lukas and Yuko having a chat.


Halloween

On Saturday night after the beer party we still joined a bunch of Finns celebrating Halloween. These were our costumes!