| photohype@hotmail.com |
|
| From : |
|
|||
| To : |
|
|||
| Subject : |
|
|||
| Date : |
|
|
| OK kids, yet another insight into the world of Emma coming up... I am finally in Santiago de Chile with my old University friend Paul...and I have to say that I really like it here. I had it fixed in my head that Santiago was going to be this big ugly city and that I would feel the same way about it as I felt about Buenos Aires. Well, I met Paul and immediately it started raining, not just raining though, full on hailstorm torrential downpour of everything the sky had to offer. Paul informed me (and I have to say I am not surprised) that it was only the second time he had encountered rain in Santiago in his 5 months living here! Its true , I am a walking curse. The same happened in Mendoza, I had spent two lovely sunny hot days in Córdoba with my kiwi friend Chris (who is inspiring me to stick around and learn spanish a little better) and the minute I left to go to Mendoza to meet the canadians...what should happen, yes the clouds hid the mountains and the rain poured down. Mendoza was really cool nonetheless. Logan Jaymie and I went on a wine tour as this is the wine producing region and naturally we were only interested in the free testers at the end...but everyone else was being really classy and merely sipping a couple of drops of their wine and leaving the rest. Well, Logan and I knocked ours back and went round the table necking everyone elses leftovers too! The second place was a little bit more spec adn they provided crackers...the first bottles were opened and a repeat performance of drinking leftovers occi}ored when we thought noone was looking, then for some reason the guy opened two more bottles and chucked out some more crackers...by this point everyone who had tested the wine was at the counter buying bottles, thus the two newly opened ones were left unattended...an open invitation surely! They lasted all of 3 minutes and Logan and I were giggling all the way home having to leave the church of the mary, protector of the grapes, as surely being drunk and disorderly in church is not good right? The next day Jaymie was ill so Logan and I went rappelling and rafting on the Rio BioBio, in summer one of the most exciting rapids in Chile, however now in low season with the glaciers keeping all the ice in the mountains the rivers were running low and so although still fun they were a lot milder than usual... We were with two israelis and this American dude and we had a blast. One of the Israelis fell in halfway through and was just sitting back while we raced forwards, he had grabbed me and luckily I had held on enough to keep me in the boat but all I could hear was 'adelante' 'átras' (forwards, backwards) as we had to naviagate the boat to pick him back up. the thing was that as with the rappelling no instructions were given to us and luckily a few of us spoke spanish well enough to translate and as I had done it before I could tell the others things that we werent told even in spanish here. Still it was a beauitiful setting to do it in, and the fact that the river was low meant that the guide thought it would be a little more exciting if he just headed us for the biggest rocks each time! We were grounded (or rocked!) a good 5 or 6 times. The rappelling was done down a waterfall off a rock from which we saw from the road below 7 condors circling silently before we even set off....a good start. Again shoddy equipment and no instructions were given but it kind of made it more exciting! The guide, Roger had been trained well in the Argentine school of guide humour and kept pretending he had got us lost, or lost the keys, or that the ropes were about to snap...all very funny the first time... So anyway, then after a few days I left for Santiago and the mminute I got out of Mendoza...what should happen? yes the sun came out! But it made the journey across the mountain pass absolutely spectacular. Really, the rocks began looking a little akin to those in Arizona, red and more rounded and smooth and the further into the Andes we got the more craggy and colourful they appeared until one point where I could pick put at least 6 colours in them. The rocks lay at angles of 45 degrees up to 80 degrees showing the ancient movements of these huge monsters, and then the snow appeared. Before reaching the border Aconcagua became visible, the highest peak in the continent and it looked surprisingly a lot smaller than I imagined. It was the only one in the distance with snow on it until we neared and passed in when suddenly there was white everywhere. Both the border patrols were coated completely in a white layer and you could barely see anything until we were coming down the other side of the mountain on a huge switchback road, mountains on either side and a drop that was so steep into a valley where the river looked minute. Anyway, right now I am off to meet Paul and go and get drunk so take care everyone. love you all loads... Emma _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp. |
| Calendar |
| Hotmail Services |
| Free
Newsletters MSN Featured Offers POP Mail Find Message Reminders Directories |
| Explore MSN |
 |
| Free
Games Personals 'Net Access Deals Share Photos Send Cash Chat Rooms Upgrade your Career Email Old Friends Shop AT&T Wireless More... |
