Running the river

We woke up early, as usual. There has only been the odd morning where we having woken up due to some animal or bird creating noise. The early rising sun also doesn't help. Let's just hope that re-adjusting to our normal time zones + less light + cold doesn't mess us up too badly.

Team Winnipeg!
We woke up with plenty of time for our rafting trip, to meet the other couple of people on our raft. They were from Canada! When we asked where they were from, there was a slight pause, then the tell of "Winnipeg". Of course jaws dropped, as in all the years of traveling I can't recall running across any Winnipeggers.

They were silenced, waiting for us to crack a joke. Of course we all laughed when we revealed our shock, relaying our mutual home town.

So together we climbed in the raft and conquered the class III rapids. The scenery was stunning, the river was cold and the experience amazing. It was much different than other watercraft we've experienced (canoes and kayaks), and would be something worth doing again.

At one slower part of the river we were able to get out swim (alongside the raft). It was a crazy and cold ride, getting water up the nose with the sudden gush of water. When we finally had to re-enter the raft, my butt made some serious contact with an underwater rock.

The interesting note of the tour was talking about last year's earthquake, and how it affected the river. The biggest affect was large rocks in the river, that weren't previously there. Amazing how such shaking can create such change.

Hike to the waterfall
It was the start of the afternoon and it was our only chance to do our "complimentary" hike. (Apparently in this privately owned park you have to pay for everything, unless you're a guest who gets some fees waved.) So with the full sun and lots of heat, we headed up the mountain. At the end was a nice waterfall, surrounded by scrub and cactus.

After our descent we headed to the pool for a refreshing dip. Definitely more pool time than our previous trip!

Rolling the Rrrrs
For anyone who knows Spanish, you have to rrroll your rrrrrs. When speaking to an English-speaking local he was amazed at how well I was able to roll my r's. Thinking about the other language I know well, I realised that Polish also rolls r's. Na zdrowie! Now to just learn more of the language...

Llama
The facilities seem to own a llama, as we encountered one roaming the groups. Never seeing one up close, it was surprising to see that they're shorter and a heck of a lot fuzzier than expected. A bit like sheep with long necks.

On the cheap
If you want to travel on the cheap, Chile is not the place to go. Hotels, restaurants and food at the grocery store are all about the same price at home. Gas is quite a bit more expensive. The things that remain cheap, or cheaper, are fresh roadside fruit and veggies, beer from the store and some bottles of wine.

Trip discoveries
- There is such a thing as too much fruit. 3lbs of cherries, 1lb of strawberries, 1lb of blueberries, plus other fruits either picked off trees or served during breakfast means a lot of fruit. A body can have a hard time handling so much fruit in such a concentrated period of time. Thankfully only five cherries remain.

- Realising how "ll"s are pronounced in Spanish, how would someone Spanish-speaking call Lloyd Axworthy?

- Seeing the constellation Orion in the north sky is a weird thing.

- Screens on windows is a good thing. Chileans have manufactured a weird type of screen that fits on the outside of house windows and on car windows. Think of black pantyhose for a window. Was there really a need to improve over the traditional model?

- Gas jockeys wear auto-racing crew suits. Really? You're just filling our crappy Nissan's tank.