Feb.10

The task this morning was to finish packing and take a taxi to the airport. We had made a reservation yesterday and the taxi cab was waiting when we got to the taxi stand. When we checked in the agent looked at our mound of paper work and said Perfecto. Not sure what he looked at, but as long as we could get on the plane, that was all we needed. We are on our way to Buenos Aires.

Looks like it is going to be a beautiful day for flying,

We see Chile out of the plane and realize how close we are, but we need to go to Santiago first which is the entry point for covid times.

We have a two hour layover in Buenos Aires. We hope that is enough time. When we get off of the plane we look for an agent to tell us where to go to get an international flight. Alas, there is none to be seen. We walk past several empty counters and finally see one with an agent. She told us to go downstairs and to hurry. With that direction we take off, find the stairs and a bit of panic sets in as we see that there is no obvious international gate. There is a sign saying that we can not go back up the stairs and if we go out the door we can not come back in. This could get interesting. Finally we see an official looking person that tells us go out side and you will see a sign that says international flights. We are off doing the 50 yard dash to the gate. We are pointed to an agent who once again looks at our forms and tells us that we have what we need and more. He gets rid of the more. He senses that we are a little frazzled, but he tells us that he has seen worse and shows us the way to the immigration line where we will exit Argentina. A man who seems very bored with this procedure, takes our photo, stamps our passport and we are on our way to Chile. We get to our departure gate with plenty of time to spare. It is a two hour flight to Santiago. The clouds over the Andes are amazing as we make our way to a new country.

There was some turbulence as we headed through the clouds.

We land and are immediately directed to where the lines are for taking the PCR Tests. The procedure is fine tuned with paperwork checking and efficient test swabs. We get deep swabs in both our nose and throat. If there is any covid germs they will find them. They hand us more papers and tell us we should know the results in 24 hours. The challenge will be if we test positive we will be quarantined. We don’t even go there and gather our luggage after going thru the Chilean immigration. We head outside and are immediately asked if we need a ride. We have reserved a room in a hotel that is adjacent to the airport and in walking distance. Not the cheapest place we have stayed but it is quite convenient. We are somewhat exhausted and the best plan is ta take a shower and go to bed. We are in Chile!

Feb.11

When we wake up, we grab our phone and check to see if our results have been sent. They are and we both are negative. We are going to go explore Chile! we can even start to plan. We had done a little research, but wanted to wait to do more after we knew the results of our covid test.

We pack up and make our way back to the airport by 9:30. We fill out the required form for being negative and smile!

We wheel our luggage over to a kiosk. A man sees our hesitancy and immediately says follow me. He essentially walks us thru the whole process of checking our luggage and getting our boarding passes. I think that we could have figured it out, but it was fun to see this man at work. He tells us that he has done this occupation for 25 years. He knows how to hustle!. Before sending us thru the X-rays, he looks at us and says a very good tip. Don has already gotten out a tip for him and he sends us on our way.

We have time for breakfast before our gate opens. Prices are quite similar to what we would expect in the USA. It is quite different than what we paid for food in Argentina. At the gate a man starts talking to us and as the conversation continues, we have mutual friends. He lives near the NOLS branch in Coyhaique. He and his son are returning from a ski trip in Italy. It was extended by 3 weeks when he tested positive with Covid. They are ready to be home.

The flight to Coyhaique didn’t disappoint. We went over the mountains, past numerous lakes and even a smoking volcano.

Somehow we got premium seats so were treated quite well with lunch, water and comfortable seats.

We arrived at a much smaller airport and sensed a sigh of relief when our luggage showed up.

A shuttle had been recommended for us to take to the NOLS branch. We looked at the many vans and found the right one. He assured us that he would drop us off at the branch. However when we stopped and he turned around we realized that he had missed it. He left us off at the parking lot and Marissa came out to greet us. She had been waiting for our arrival. Marissa lives in Alaska near where we have our property. She gave us a tour and showed us where we would be staying.

We had a room in this straw bale house. The tree on the right was full of pie cherries. We are back in full summer.

NOLS has a branch here that they continue to improve. It is a beautiful location.

This is what we looked at from our window.

We plan to spend several days here and figure out an itinerary. We catch a ride with some instructors going to town and buy some groceries as well as eat at a vegetarian restaurant. It is easy to catch a ride back to the branch.

Feb.12

It felt good to sleep in and not have to be anywhere today. The last couple of days have kept us on the run. We head up to the staff house and see a familiar face. It is Flavio from Brazil. He has worked in Alaska and we catch up on what we all have been doing. He has just finished a course and is heading back to Brazil today. He has spent several months here which included doing some hikes with his daughter. He gives us some ideas of places we should visit.

Flavio helps with showing us places we should go.

Patty another NOLS instructor that we knew while our time in Alaska has invited us to lunch. What happens with our meeting can be found under the title Gaucho trip Feb. 2022 This blog will continue after our time spent with the Gauchos and Patty. (See Gaucho trip Feb. 2022) After lunch we return back to the NOLS branch and can’t resist picking cherries and making a cherry crisp