Chile

[sputnik]

^^^
you should! it's beautiful. and not super touristy.

Damn, such great pics. Chile looks an amazing place. I loved the street art. Seems like my sorta place. More pics, please?

i'm visiting a vineyard tomorrow, if i take any nice pics i'll post them here.

[sputnik]

do you know if those salt crystals are fluorescent? they kinda look like they are.

hmm no i don't. but i think if they were they probably would have mentioned it because it would make it interesting to visit at night.

the ALMA. and as a science nerd i have to ask this. do you have pictures of your visits to the observatories? of the telescope itself, the antennas etc.?

not really. i didn't have my slr camera yet when i went to the observatories and because you go at night, it's not the best time to take pics, plus there are other people there so it's not like you can just set up your tripod and do long exposure shots of the actual place. i did do some of the sky but i'm not sure what i did with them, can't seem to find them. so basically the only place with good light for pictures is through the telescopes themselves.
they're so cool though, i love being in observatories with the domed roofs and weird equipment. there's one place in atacama run by this crazy french dude that's just awesome. you forget it's past midnight and fucking freezing and just want to stay there forever peering into telescopes and having him explain the cosmos. great hot chocolate too!

[mrs.v]

I always look forward to your pics,Sput.Great thread.

[czb]

[quote=sputnik;2234048. . .
this christmas!
already have plane tickets. we're doing the w circuit in torres del paine and then flying down to chiloé and surrounding area. we're being lazy though, we're doing the w circuit but sleeping in refugios instead of camping so we don't have to lug all our camping gear around.[/quote]

you will have a great time. we camped most of it but stayed in a few refugios, they are very nice. i will have to check the w circuit, not sure which route that is. i remember ours took ~8 days and had long hikes most days. and one day we had to cross a water (can't remember if it was a river or a lake) in a zodiac. pretty fun.

[sputnik]

^^^
we're doing a shorter circuit, 5 days i think. we do get to do the bit in the zodiac though. we wanted to do the full 8 days but we all have to be back on january 2nd and after torres del paine we're flying all the way down to punta arenas so we can go to chiloé and tierra del fuego as well.

how is the hiking in paine? is it intense or not too bad?

[sputnik]

went to some wineries today, in the casablanca valley which is one of the main wine regions in chile. it's not far from santiago. you can go to 3 or 4 wineries and stop for a long lunch, all in one day. beautiful region. great wineries, including some boutiquey ones that produce organic wines.

emiliana winery (bio-dynamic wine production)


view of the casablanca valley from la indomita winery:


food porn (tasting menu at the morandé winery):



morandé winery:

[LaFolie]

Have you taken a course in photography? Your pics are extraordinary.

[sweetness]

Sputnik, thank you so much for sharing your experiences of Chile. These are some of the most gorgeous pictures I've ever seen, your talent blows me away!

[BBDSP]

I would love to go to Chile. For some reason I particularly want to see the Chiloe islands. Have you been there?

My oldest daughter has been to Peru and is majoring in Latin American studies now. I'm hoping she winds up taking a year abroad somewhere in SA so I can visit her.

[sputnik]

thanks, sweetness and lafolie.
lafolie, no, i haven't taken any lessons, i've mostly taught myself over the years and the friend i travelled with to peru last year gave me a bit of a crash course while we were hiking that taught me basic technique. i am going to start a course in a couple of weeks though. i bought an slr a few months ago so i promised myself that now that i have a 'proper' camera i was going to stop being a dilettante and learn technique.

bbdsp, i haven't been to chiloé yet but i'm going in december! really excited about that. we go to torres del paine first and then fly all the way down to puerto montt and chiloé.

[VenusInFauxFurs]

Love the pics. Just to echo everyone else, you're really nifty with the camera. These shots are great.

[czb]

^^^
we're doing a shorter circuit, 5 days i think. we do get to do the bit in the zodiac though. we wanted to do the full 8 days but we all have to be back on january 2nd and after torres del paine we're flying all the way down to punta arenas so we can go to chiloé and tierra del fuego as well.

how is the hiking in paine? is it intense or not too bad?

ok, i looked at a map and we definitely did the whole circuit and some side hikes as well. the W route looks like it covers a lot. i remember some routes were easy but long but other routes, oy. the day we took the zodiac it was POURING and i was an unhappy camper. but the zodiac was very cool and i think there was a nice refugio on the other side. there was another day that we had to hike though a moraine. it was pretty intense, one wrong step and you end up sinking in dense mud past your knees. that was hard to slog through. on another day we had to hike across a rickety bridge that was <2 ft wide and it looked like it was put together with popsicle sticks and dental floss. only one person could use it at a time. if you fell you would drop into a rocky river >20 feet below. on the other side of the bridge the trail STOPPED. nada. you had to hike up a 10 foot high vertical ladder that was fastened to a rock wall to connect to the trail on the other side.

i hike all the time and a lot of these trails were pretty challenging to me. some were very technical but the guides help through the hard stuff. but of course i am not the biggest risk taker so the popsicle stick bridge and the wall ladder freaked me out a little.

we left from punta arenas as well.

[sputnik]

^^^
ha! the websites i read qualified the w circuit as 'moderate' difficulty... i'm hoping it's because your 8 day circuit went through more difficult places than the w...
and just realised i made a mistake, we'll be flying from punta arenas to puerto montt to go to chiloe. i confuse those 2 cities for some reason.

[czb]

^^^ i think the W cuts out the moraine/swamp part and that isn't a bad thing. it was very technical - steep down hills with rocks plus the mud-quicksand. i'm used to getting dirty during hiking but that wasn't the challenge here. sinking in the mud then pulling yourself out - ugh.

i will try to dig up the details of my route later.

the best advice i can give to you is bring warm sweaters, either wool or fleece so you can layer. bring multiple pairs of wool socks because you will probably get wet and will want to put on dry ones. and bring a good gore-tex type jacket (doesn't have to be heavy) so you can try to keep dry.

you will have a great time. the paine had some of the most varied terrain i've seen in one park. imagine seeing a glacier one day and a rocky forest the next! plus the zodiac!

[sweetness]

thanks, sweetness and lafolie.
lafolie, no, i haven't taken any lessons, i've mostly taught myself over the years and the friend i travelled with to peru last year gave me a bit of a crash course while we were hiking that taught me basic technique. i am going to start a course in a couple of weeks though. i bought an slr a few months ago so i promised myself that now that i have a 'proper' camera i was going to stop being a dilettante and learn technique.

Oh I bet the Peru pics are beautiful as well! My aunt travelled there a few years ago and brought me the most beautiful handmade dolls, and some really cool panpipes.

Any and all pics you ever want to share will be greatly appreciated, Sputnik. You've really got a way with the camera. Gives those of us who are stuck at home a chance to look and dream.