Days 18-20

Posted by Lisa on April 9th, 2006 — Posted in Activities

We got home from our Argentinean trip on Tuesday. Mary Jane and Terry only had a few days left with us. We spent the remainder of the time hanging out together. We went for drives around town, went shopping, hiking, out for drinks and in our friends hot tub. We all had a wonderful time together, and were sad to see them leave. Here are a few pics from then…

our cool new wall hanging….
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Pictures from around town (sorry about the lighthouse, I can’t get it straight…)
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Last time for pisco sours on the beach
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IN the hot tub drinking wine enjoying the sunset
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The town of Jachal

Posted by Lisa on April 9th, 2006 — Posted in Travel

The town of Jachal is 45 km away from Pismanta. We had to go there on Monday to buy a new tire before driving back Tuesday to Chile. There was a wonderful man there who helped us. He owned his own used tire shop, but unfortunately didn’t have the tire we needed. So he went to the local used tire shops, didn’t find one there so he ended up finding us a new tire, and then drove Steve and I in his car to go pick it up. It was definitely an experience. There were no road signs or stop lights in town and he would just honk his horn when he was close to an intersection. There was no right of way, but surprisingly it worked. In the end for all his help he only charged us 5 pesos (which isn’t even $2). He basically spent half of his day helping us. Even though it was somewhat of a headache to go through, I’m really happy that we did. We got to see a part of Argentina that we would never have seen, and we got to meet some truly wonderful people.

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Pictures from the drive to and from Jachal
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Hotel Termas Pismanta

Posted by Lisa on April 9th, 2006 — Posted in Travel

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Steve’s Super Sexy Picture!!!

Posted by Lisa on April 9th, 2006 — Posted in Misc

I still need to finish posting the pictures from the Margheim’s visit, but I wanted to show you some of the cool things Steve gets to do while up on the mountain. While up at the telescope in November, Steve got to take a gemini legacy image. These images are basically pretty pictures meant for the public. Since Steve was just the observer he doesn’t get any fame. But we know, and now you know that Steve took the skull nebula picture! It’s available from a link on the main page of the gemini website, or here’s a link to the article itself.

Days 14-17

Posted by Lisa on April 9th, 2006 — Posted in Travel

We decided to drive over the pass onto Argentina for a few days and to stay in Argentina at a thermal spa- Termas Pizmanta. We had a wonderful time even with a flat tire. The pass is Paseo Agua Negra and it’s at about 16,000 feet. The colors going over the Andes were amazing- the mountains were green, orange, purple, yellow. It looked like someone had spilt paint over the mountains. Also towards the top were ice fields and glaciers. We did get a blow out while we were driving down from the pass but in the end, it was a perfect vacation. We stayed a day longer so we could buy a new spare tire. There’s so much to to tell you about, i’ll let the pictures do the talking. These pictures were taken while driving over the pass (on the way to Argentina and back to Chile).
Enjoy!!!!!

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Day 13

Posted by Lisa on April 9th, 2006 — Posted in Activities

On Friday, we started our trip to Argentina. Friday we decided to spend the night in Pisco Elqui, a town n the Elqui Valley. We stayed in the Elqui Domos- which are domes that are 2 floored with the bed on the second floor and a living room on the first and the domes are made out of this white type of canvas. The windows and door are plastic and zip off- similar to a tent, and the best part is the roof zips off as well so you can actually sleep under the stars. The Milkyway Galaxy was directly overhead, and it was just amazing. The domes also come equipped with telescopes. Lucky for us, we had an astronomer with us, who gave us some impromptu lessons about the Southern sky. The domes also have decks around them so you can sit outside. During the day on Friday, we explored the area, and ended up going past the domes to this artesian village. Since it was getting late- about 530, not all the shops were open. We ate a late lunch at a wonderful german B&B, and then had wine and cheese and crackers for a late night snack. Speaking of wine, I almost forgot to mention that we stopped at a small vineyard on the way to Pisco Elqui. THe vineyard is Chile’s smallest and highest vineyard. They make about 16,000 bottles of wine a year. We really enjoyed their Moscatel, and each ended up buying a bottle. Enjoy the pics, keep reading to find out about Argentina!!!

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Day 12- Beach Day

Posted by Lisa on April 9th, 2006 — Posted in Activities

On Thursday (March 23), we decided to go to the beach and relax in the sun and go fishing. It was looking like it would be a good day, sunny, warm, a little breezy. Not warm enough to go swimming, but not hot either. Unfortunately, at the beach, it was really windy and FREEZING, so Mary Jane and I sat in our chairs fully clothed and read, and Steve and Terry fished for a little bit. We brought Leyna along, who LOVED playing in the sand. She also loved eating the sand. We stayed for a couple of hours and relaxed getting a little sun.

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Day 11- The Enchanted Valley

Posted by Lisa on April 9th, 2006 — Posted in Activities

I know, it’s been a week since the Margheim’s left, and I haven’t posted for a long time. I wish I could say I’ve been really busy at work, but no excuses. I’ve been plain lazy. So let me catch you up on the rest of our wonderful visit with Steve’s parents. On Day 11- which was Wed, we went on a nice drive through Ovalle and to the Valle Del Encanto. It’s a park where they have petroglyphs an petrographs from 4000 years ago. The park is similar to a rock climbing park with the rock carvings all over. I expected the carving and paintings to be roped off but they weren’t, we were allowed to climb over them. Steve and I are think of going back and making some etchings. IT was a beautiful day- nice and sunny, and we all had fun rock climbing!!

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Days 9 and 10

Posted by Lisa on March 23rd, 2006 — Posted in Activities

On Monday we traveled to the quaint little fishing village of Caleta Los Hornos for lunch, to one of my favorite restaurants that I have found in Chile. They serve fresh fish, caught by the fisherman at the dock below the restaurant. Terry, Steve and I had the menu of the day which was a piece of fish fried or plain, a side dish, and 2 empanadas for only $4. We were able to sit out on the deck and watch the ocean and the birds. Our original plan for the day was to go fishing, but unfortunately, it was cold and dreary in the morning, and the sun didn’t come out until 3. We do plan on trying to go fishing tomorrow. On Tuesday, we went downtown, went to La Recova and did some shopping. Steve and I bought some diaguita pieces for the house and also some figurines. Afterward we brought the puppy to the park to practice her frisbee catching. She’s really doing well with it and getting some good height when she jumps. The only problem is that she hasn’t mastered bringing the frisbee back yet and we have to chase her down. Day 11 (which was Wed) was wonderful, will update soon with some great pictures from it!!

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Day 8- The rodeo is in town!!!

Posted by Lisa on March 20th, 2006 — Posted in Activities

All weekend, the rodeo has been in town, we decided to go on Sunday. Steve and I have been wanting to go to a rodeo since we’ve been in Chile. At Parque Coll, which is just down the street from us, they have been busy updating it and rebuilding the stadium for the past month, so we were hoping it meant something was coming. Lucky for us they had the quarter finals this weekend. We went from noon until 530 and had a blast. There was also some shops around the stadium and we were able to buy Terry a chilean painting for his christmas gift. One really neat thing was where are seats were in the stadium, the cattle was right under us and there was a secret door right below our seats where they let the cattle out for the rodeo part, we were right in the middle of the action. Enjoy the pics….

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