A-HA!

When I began my South American adventure I never thought I´d get the chance to see A-ha perform live again (iCAN … remember my all time favourite song when I was interviewed on iCAN Radio?). I knew that they had been scheduled to play in Chile, but that was on the night I arrived, so realised there was no way I´d be able to get to the arena from the airport in time.

However, the Chilean government asked A-ha to reschedule the date of the concert following the terrible earthquake. So in the end, I was able to buy a ticket and add Santiago to the list of cities in which I´d travelled to over the past 25 years to watch A-ha perform (this year is their farewell ´Ending on a high note´ tour) … from Nottingham Royal Concert Hall in the early days … at several cities throughout the UK … onto Dublin … and eventually making it to Norway, where my friend Louise and I had a memorable (albeit cold) weekend in the city of Bergen watching A-ha perform on a floating stage in the sea … whilst my mate Neil watched us, watching A-ha, via a CCTV camera in Bergen from his home in York, UK … how random is that!

Once I bought my ticket for the Santiago show I posted a message on FaceBook to see if there were any other fans heading to the show … I was inundated! (I jest not!!), so I arranged to meet up with one Chilean fan who was flying down to Santiago from northern Chile. When we met she realised that my ticket wasn’t for the standing-only area right at the front, but managed to persuade the ticket office to change it so I could join her right in front of the stage … watch these clips for a taste of the concert!! It was truly memorable!! My mate Neil and his wife Sarah have a pair of tickets for A-ha´s final show of the Tour which is in Oslo, Norway in December 2010 … but it´s the same weekend as the annual iCAN participation in the Angkor Wat half-marathon … if only someone had invented time travel!

Termas Geometricas ... the clips!

As promised, here are a few clips from when I visited the Termas Geometricas last Monday ... I wish I was there now, as I´m so cold in La Paz (although, I did send all my clothes to the laundry, leaving only a t-shirt and pair of shorts to wear today ... you live and learn!)

I visited an outdoor pool complex close to Temuco the same day that iCAN were joining the latest swim meet ... I´m guessing none of you would fancy swimming in this pool!

Villarica volcano, Pucon and Termas Geometricas ... a chance to relax!

Access to internet (or at least a connection which has been reliable enough to post) has been limited this past week, hence the lack of blog entries. Will endeavour to try and catch up a bit now, in between buses!

After Osorno I travelled north to Temuco last weekend and onto Pucon, which is a town in the shadow of the Villarica volcano. Following the earthquake the eruption warning lights in the town had changed from green to amber ... I was sure that I´d be able to outsprint any lava flow in my sandals though!

I stayed just outside Pucon (well, when I say ´just´ I mean a 24km bus ride) at a Mapuchu farmhouse I´d discovered on the internet. Irma (my host) was extremely welcoming, but found it hard to comprehend that I wouldn´t be eating her fresh meat, cheese or drinking the milk she´d just collected from the cows. There were a couple of Americans also staying there, who had spent the past 3 weeks volunteering on Irma´s farm, in return for food and lodging. However, after chatting with them, that sounds like all they had done since arriving ... I think I managed to see more of the local area in the 36 hours that I was there, than they´d seen during the previous 3 weeks.

The weather there was certainly a contrast to the hot, cloudless (if you don´t count the smog) skies of Santiago. It was cloudy and drizzling most of the time ... it was hard to imagine that somewhere through the mist stood a volcano rising well over 2km up into the air!

One of the recommendations I´d been given for my journey to Chile (from John) was to visit the Termas Geometricas ... this was about 30km from where I was staying. However due to some trees falling and blocking the road, I had to make a 60km detour around the volcano! All the effort was certainly worth it though (I´ll post a flip-clip when I arrive in Bolivia), as I spent the best part of 6 hours relaxing in each of the 17 geothermal pools built into the sides of the natural gorge, part way up the slopes of the volcano.

Check out the website: www.termasgeometricas.cl

After Pucon it was back on the bus to Santiago (12 hours) where I would meet a mystery woman who I had met on the internet and eventually lose my voice!!

Mekong River Swim 2010 Not On

Unfortunately, due to high Phnom Penh Boat Association fees and a lack of volunteers, the Mekong River Swim will not be held this year. Several people have expressed interest in volunteering for next year's Swim, which is tentatively planned for the first weekend of April 2011.

As many of you are aware, the Swim is organized solely by volunteers, and cannot be held without their help. It is hoped that next year there will be a sufficient number of people who offer their services as volunteers to help organize the Swim.

Please note that it is still possible to participate in the Swim if you volunteer.

Please check this site again soon for information on how you can become a volunteer in 2011.

Thank you for your continued interest in the Swim. We hope you will consider becoming a volunteer next year.

Mekong River Swim 2010 Not On

Unfortunately, due to high Phnom Penh Boat Association fees and a lack of volunteers, the Mekong River Swim will not be held this year. Several people have expressed interest in volunteering for next year's Swim, which is tentatively planned for the first weekend of April 2011.

As many of you are aware, the Swim is organized solely by volunteers, and cannot be held without their help. It is hoped that next year there will be a sufficient number of people who offer their services as volunteers to help organize the Swim.

Please note that it is still possible to participate in the Swim if you volunteer.

Please check this site again soon for information on how you can become a volunteer in 2011.

Thank you for your continued interest in the Swim. We hope you will consider becoming a volunteer next year.

iCAN SWIM TEAM!

DIVE, SWIM, RACE, WIN,

CHEER, SCREAM "iCAN TEAM!"

So is anyone going to update me on what happened at the swim meet on Saturday ... it´s the first one that I´ve missed! :o(

An afternoon of animals!

... this post is in answer to the question posed by Alex in 3J at iCAN, which asked about which animals I have seen here in Chile. Yesterday afternoon, armed with my Flip I took a video clip of each animal I saw. I´m sure you´ll recognise them all!

On the search for wild pumas!

Pumas are the largest wild cats in the wild here in Chile. On the journey up Osorno volcano was a sign which warned about pumas living in the forest ... so I decided to explore!

Waterfalls, rapids, volcanoes, lakes ... and car washing!

Yesterday I was lucky enough to be given a tour of the area to the south east of Osorno around Lake Llanquihue. We visited Petrohué waterfalls and their nearby rapids...



and also Osorno volcano, which is currently inactive. This volcano is also a ski resort during the winter months (June-September) and has ski-lifts which carry the skiers up the slopes. During the summer months (now) the lifts usually carry people up the lower slopes as they venture towards the summit. Unfortunately for me the clouds were so low when I visited, that the lifts weren´t in operation and it was unsafe to climb the volcano in the mist ... I´ll just have to find another volcano to climb!



After venturing up Osorno Volcano we headed to Todos Los Santos lake which is a deep green colour and really clear. Afterwards we took a boat to explore the lake for a couple of hours before continuing on our journey.



The most bizarre sight of the day was seeing a local man drive his car into the lake and then proceed to wash his car whilst his wife sat inside ... this really made me smile!

Follow my South American BLOG!

You can follow my blog and get e-mails everytime I update it, by clicking on the link on the right side of this page. You can also leave comments by clicking on the links below my blog entries.

Hoping to upload lots of pics in the net day or two!

Ciao!

Vocanic craters!

On Tuesday this week I travelled 930km south of Santiago (12 hours on a bus) to visit Osorno and the surrounding area. The cousin of the family I had stayed with in Santiago, had offered to show me the volcanic craters which lie close to the Andes mountain range.

We ventured into this first crater, which was much larger than I had ever envisaged, and made our way across ... I´d set my sights on reaching the snow!

It was certainly much harder to venture across the crater than I thought it would be ... as in my haste to ´pack light´, I´d only brought my sandals to the south with me!

The views from the top, were certainly worth all the effort. See for yourselves ...

Valparaiso: The new President is sworn in

Last Thursday I was luck enough to be invited to Valparaiso, a small city on the coast, to witness the inauguration of the new President of Chile, Sebastian Pinera. Each President in Chile can only serve for one 5 year term in office before the next President is elected ... very different to Cambodia.

A profile of Chile can be found at the link below:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/country_profiles/1222764.stm#leaders

During the inauguration ceremony there was another huge aftershock which measured 6.5 on the Richter scale. This ceremony was on every TV channel in Chile and the thought that another earthquake had struck sent the nation into panic. Although I had felt some aftershocks since arriving in Chile, none had been as severe as this one. I asked the local people how this latest had compared to the actual quake and was told that although this aftershock had shaken buildings and caused structural damage, the actual quake had been 1000 times stronger! Immediately following the aftershock a tsunami alert was raised and everyone was instructed to keep away from the coast.

It was certainly a memorable first day in office for Mr. Pinera!

Later that day i explored Valparaiso and got a flavour for this coastal city ...

Chilean (vegan) food ... mmmm!

One of the most traditional Chilean foods is the empanada, which can either be ovenbaked or fried. If I were to compare it to a British dish, it would have to be the traditional Cornish pasty. Here in Chile they are usually filled with meat and cheese, but I was lucky enough to try my first empanada in a vegetarian restaurant where the selection of fillings were all veg and/or cheese. The empanadas are generally made fresh to order and always arrive piping hot. I´m not sure as to how the empanada first originated and if the Cornish pasty was invented first ... if you are able to shed any light on this, please leave your commments on this blog!

Last night I discovered another truly traditional Chilean dish which comprises of smashed cooked corn which is mixed together with onion and basil, seasoned and then baked in the oven. I´m not sure as to it´s name, but will try and find out along with the recipe, so you can have a go yourself. It reminded me of mashed potato and was totally yummy!

Char kreung in Chile!

One of the families I have been helping since arriving in Santiago, have been kind enough to invite me to stay with them in their temporary accommodation. Earlier this week whilst most of the family were out, I decided that I would cook them a Cambodian meal to show my gratitude. The only member of the family at home at that time was the grandfather, who began to take a real interest in what I was up to...

I only have a basic grasp of the Spanish language so far and his English was equally simple, but between us we made a great team in the kitchen. He told me (using lots of improvised sign language) that the only thing he´d ever cooked before was meat,so a vegetable char kreung was a totally new eperience for him.

The family were surprised to see us both in the kitchen when they arrived home and it wasn´t long until we were all sat down enjoying a taste of Phnom Penh ... not quite up to the standards at K´NYAY (there´s no lemongrass, galangal, coconut milk or kaffir limes here in central Chile, Run!), but it certainly reminded me of being at home!

Check out www.knyay.com for a list of all the ingredients you need to make a traditional (vegan) char kreung!

Volunteering in the aftermath of the massive earthquake

My decision to volunteer upon arriving in Chile was an easy one to make. Several million people were affected by the 8.8 magnitude earthquake which shook the whole country the weekend before I arrived in Santiago. I flew out to Chile, from New Zealand, 4 days after the quake and arrived to find a city in shock. Santiago is some 300km from the epicentre of the quake which was close to the second city of Chile, Concepcion.The city of Concepcion was devastated, intially by the quake, and then by the huge tsunami which struck a few hours later. Combined, these natural disasters have left many communities without food, water, shelter, electricity ... the list is endless. Once in Santiago I got in touch with the Red Cross and was put into contact with a student group at one of the universities here in Santiago, who were coordinating an effort to provide food parcels to those affected. The university had suspended all lessons/lectures for one week and encouraged it´s students to get involved, both in Santiago and their own communities, to help in any way they could. With the students I have been involved in going door-to-door throughout the city asking for donations of food and essentials. A request on national TV and radio for donations, encouraged many more people to contribute. The university was one centre for these donations and once they began to arrive, we needed to sort and then begin putting together the boxes. There were two types of boxes, the first contained food items including; dried milk, tinned fish, pasta, rice, sugar, salt, tinned tomato paste, beans/lentils/chickpeas, oil, flour etc. whilst the second box was crammed full of soap, toothpaste, toothbrushes, shampoo, toilet rolls, disinfectant etc. Bottles of water were also included in the essentials for these parcels. Over the first few days we put together thousands of these boxes which were shippped south in large containers and distributed to those communities most in need. Other projects I´ve worked on during my initial two weeks here in Chile have included constructing temporary shelters and helping families gather their belongings from their ruined homes and help move them to new temporary accommodation. It´s certainly been an exhausting start to my South American adventure, but one which has given me a first hand insight into the spirit of Chilean people and the love they have for their nation.

Santiago from above

After a day of making up food parcels at the University of Santiago, I walked up the highest hill (some 6km) to get a view of Santiago from a different perspective!

Market & dogs

A few days after arriving in Santiago I headed to a local market to do some shopping for the family I have been helping ... the main difference was that there appeared to be no bartering taking place as all the fresh produce was already priced up!

Another observation has been the number of dogs on the streets ... they look well fed, which is because they are. The locals can often be seen feeding these dogs, so there´s no wonder they´re hanging around the streets in packs!

Arrival in Santiago, Chile following the earthquake

At first I didn´t think I´d be flying to Chile as reports indicated that Santiago airport would be closed until further notice ... but I decided to fly into Buenos Aires, Argentina and see if I could take a flight from there. Luckily for me I got a seat on the first flight into Santiago from Argentina.

On arrival in Santiago I took a day to sort myself out before I was introduced to a family of 5 who had been affected by the quake here in Santiago. Their home (along with over 1500 others in their district) had been severely damaged by the quake and was no longer habitable. I spent a few days helping them salvage their belongings from the ruins and move into temporary accommodation across the city. I spent most of my first week between sleeping in a tent in the garden of their ruined home and on the floor in their temporary shelter. They really welcomed me into their family and gave me areal insight into family life here in Chile. Below is a clip from inside their old home.

On a brief tour around the city the destruction caused by the earthquake, which took place overe 300km from Santiago, was evident at every turn. Historic buildings appeared to have been most severely affected by the quake, as the clip below shows

I´ve now been in Chile for 10 days now ... in which time so much has happened. Here are a selection of links to articles on the BBC News site to give you a taste of what has been happening here in Chile over the past fortnight since the massive 8.8 earthquake.

Animated guide: Earthquakes
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7533950.stm

14-3-2010 Chile plunged into darkness by power cut http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8567910.stm

5-2-2010 Looters strike after quake
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8550960.stm

2-3-2010 Earthquake devastation in Constitucion, Chile
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8546648.stm

1-3-2010 Why did fewer die in Chile than in Haiti?
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8543324.stm

28-2-2010 Shaken Santiago counts itself lucky http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8541410.stm

27-2-2010 Chile´s long experience of quakes
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8540522.stm

CHILE

Good morning iCAN!

Well, I´ve finally arrived in Chile after what has certainly felt like an epic journey. I´ve spent the past 2 weeks on the north island in New Zealand, where I was Best Man at my mate Grahams wedding - it was a stunning setting on the beach (with black sand) and we took most of the wedding pics up in the caves and crevices of the cliffs - can´t wait to see how they look ... although my hair looked pretty wild (which I didn´t know about until we returned to the reception and I saw my reflection for the first time in a couple of hours!)

Onto my journey to Chile ... as most of you I´m sure will know, there was a massive earthquake here on Saturday which reached 8.8 on the richter scale - in comparison it was 500 times more powerful than the earthquake which devastated Haiti in January. Scientists have concluded that the shake was so strong, it has altered the orbit of the earth and shortened the length of each year ... do any of you know how much shorter each year will be from now on¿ (I can´t find a question mark the right way up on this keyboard!). There was lots of uncertainty whether I would actually arrive in Chile, as the main airport in Santiago has been closed. In fact when I went to check in yesterday in Auckland I was given the option of staying in a hotel in Auckland for a few days until they could confirm the airport would be receiving incoming flights and would be fully operational. But as I wanted to get to Chile so that I could volunteer in the relief effort, there was really no decision to make, so I took a chance and boarded the plane to Buenos Aires (Argentina) where I would see if I could catch my connection.

On my flight across South America towards Buenos Aires I saw the most amazing sight from the window ... we flew over what appeared to be an active volcano. The smoke/steam was pumping out of the centre and the surrounding 5km or so of land was glowing pink and orange in the heat. Can any of you track down which volcano it might have been - it was about 2 hours on the plane SW or SSW of Buenos Aires. I only wish I´d taken a flip-clip to show you all!

However, the attached clip is me looking tired, bedraggled and in need of a shave at Buenos Aires airport (I´ve tried uploading but my batteries have just died - will hopefully attach next time). After a few hours delay ... luckily the onward flight to Santiago was going to be happening (the first one since Saturday) I was on my way to Chile.

On arrival at Santiago airport we had to stay on the plane for what seemed like hours, as they offloaded all the baggage from the hold (... just my luck, when I´d only brought carry on baggage with me ... my mates in NZ think I must be the lightest traveller ever as my whole bag only weighed 6kg ... for the 11 weeks that I´m away!). I had packed all the essentials though ... 1 pair trousers, 2 pairs of shorts, 3 t-shirts, 2 shirts, 3 boxers, 1 pair trainer socks, 1 pair crocs and 1 pair flip-flops, along with a couple of books (both of which I´ve already read on the plane) and my phone and flip. It felt a bit like a warzone getting off the plane and reminded me of programmes I´d seen about evacuees during the WW2 - we were all being directed (in Spanish ... I just followed everyone else) by a lady on a loud speaker. There was no entry to the terminal building, just makeshift tents next to the runway. Everyone had to collect their luggage which was all in a pile next to the runway and then make one straight line ... I didn´t get the straight line bit at first and was put in place by the guy in front who thought I was pushing in! Once we were all in a straight line (which felt like it took another hour, whilst everyone found their luggage) we had to put all our bags on the floor and the sniffer dogs worked their way down the line, checking we weren´t carrying anything we shouldn´t be. Then we progressed, in single file, to the police who checked and stamped passports before being allowed to leave. And that was that ... I was in Chile with only a few words of basic Spanish and no means of making my way into the centre, as the ATM I´d been hoping to access at the airport was down! I eventually managed to flag down a taxi driver, Philippe, who took me to the centre and an ATM then onto my apartment, which I´ve rented for the first couple of days whilst I get my bearings and sort myself out to head south.

So, after a HUGE sleep (waking up at 3pm local time ... does anyone know how many hours ahead of PP I am here¿) I headed into the city to buy a sim card and find this internet cafe! I´ve also made a contact at the Red Cross so will hopefully be able to update you with my volunteering in my next mail. My planned route whilst in South America is:
March in Chile
March/April in Bolivia
April in PeruMay in Argentina
iCAN on Monday 17th May!

Let me know if there´s anything I should definitely be visiting on my travels - the next couple of weeks or so will most likely be spent volunteering in the south of Chile.

Amigos Mr. D