Travelog for: Chrissi

Hola mamá! ¿Cómo estás?

Today I'm going to show you photos of the day we went to the Elqui Valley (valle del elqui). It is the place with the clearest sky in the world! That's why there are many obstervatories around these hills
Actually this was already a while ago but I haven't had many time to do updates because we've been traveling quite a lot

The valley is crossed along by a river, and can you believe there is a whole town under it!? One day in 1996 the inhabitants of Gualliguaica town were told they had to leave their houses because a dam was going to be built nearby and the next day their whole town was under water! It was rebuilt nearby but there are people still sad about it, specially old people who lived all their lives in their original town...  I feel sorry for them.



After about one hour going into the valley we got to its first town, Vicuña This is the main church right by the main square.



And this is the old city hall used around 1800 by the mayor and other politicians Now the main room is a museum where you can see pictures of the important guys who used to attend meetings there. I wonder how was this place when they were alive? how were their lives...? I bet they were very different to the traveler life I know so far



Then we took another bus to go deeper into the valley to a small town called Pisco Elqui

As we went further into the valley it became nicer and nicer! The mountanis were bigger and the fields greener!



Mum, this is the place with the clearest sky in the world!!
- Astronomers: envy me!



And we got to Pisco Elqui! Even though there wasn't much to see there it was a nice place, very in touch with nature... small streets, small houses, many of them made of clay! This is the main church.



This is it in the inside



Then we went to have lunch to a nice open air restaurant, it was very late for lunch, but when we are traveling we use to forget about eating until we suddenly realize we are starving! hehe There's so much to see that one doesn't really care about trivial stuff like that, right?

This is a mix of different hot chilies, called pebre.



Next to our table there was a cactus... and guess what ... Leslie made me sit on it!
She said her excuse this time was the funny name of this cactus... although I think that's a pretty lame excuse! One of these days I'll put a cactus branch on her seat... let's see if she likes it!
Anyway, this is called "mother in law's cushion" (cojín de la suegra) I'm pretty sure that name was made by a mean man!



I'll write again soon!
Bye!

PS: my bum still hurts

Hola mamá!

Our days in La Serena came to end, but before we left I climbed a tree to pack some cherries for our 15 hour trip There were plenty of them in our hostel backyard!

There were some birds standing on the higher branches staring at me with a face of saying "hey! don't steal our fruits!" but I just ignored them and kept picking



There was also a thornless cactus which I liked very much



Back in the south we did not stay in Temuco but came to Queule right away to navigate!
As you can see the sky wasn't blue but it feels nice to cool down after so many days in the desertic north!



The boat had a cool name!



And after hours rowing through the river and the sea we were hungry so went to have our meal. At home they were waiting for us with some yummy goldenberry jam   And a goldenberry itself!



Kisses from your sailor zebra

Chrissi

There are so many carnivals going on around the world and here we have nothing! It's unfair! ...so we decided to do something about it... Our own carnival!!

We weren't quite sure wether to do it the brazilian way, or more venetian... so we decided to do a mix, or own carnival style

This is what I gathered for a costume, how do I look? I know it's not as fancy as the ones that the samba dancers wear in Rio, or the elegant costumes from Venice, but it'll do for now



Then we all gathered on our colorful costumes to let the party begin!



We lit some candles and Ducky, who was wearing a more tropical style, started to play some music so we all started to dance!



Then I took the guitar and played some slower melodies





Did you know what a talented musician your little zebra is, mum?



Our carnival was awesome! At the very level of Venice and Brazil I dare to say



What a great day!
See you soon mum!
Bye bye!

Hola mum!

This is your adventurer zebra reporting from Bolivia!
Yay! After more than 50 hours traveling, we got to the highest city in the world, Potosí!

Here we are outside the customs office in the middle of the andean plateau at 3.695 m.a.s.l waiting for our turn... At this height you can already feel the lack of oxygen and it was cold and windy but we were all very happy to be there!



After we crossed the border we kept going through the plateau...
For hours the landscape outside the window was like this, and we could see some aborigins' houses from time to time.



There's an unbelievable amount of volcanoes up there!!
I had never seen so many and so close to eachother!



And then for some more hours the landscape turned more montainous.



And after many many hours, we arrived to Potosí! the highest city in the world at 4060 m.a.s.l!

As soon as we got to our hotel we dropped our baggage and went out running to explore! Of course, we only run a few meters and realized how much oxygen we were missing and how super tired and extremely exhausted we were feeling, so we just walked from that moment on, which is somewhat awkward for us who are all used to be running and jumping around


I learned new things, so I want to teach them to you
The first thing we saw was this old church called "Nuestra Señora de la Merced" and it was built in 1555 when the spanish conquered Bolivia and forced the natives to build churches for a God they didn't even believe in...



And this is San Lorenzo church



The natives were forced to build and build as slaves, and they were so angry to be building churches to God that they decided to add some of their beliefs' elements to the contrsuctions, even if it costed them their lives.
Here you can see a sun and a moon in the corners, they represent the sun and moon deities that they worshipped.
I admire how brave they were to add these details even if they knew the spanish would kill them for doing it!




Then we went back to out hotel to recover some oxygen!

Tomorrow, city tour
Stay tuned!

Love from the highest city in the world!
Your explorer zebra, Chrissi

Hi mum!

The sun raises here in Potosí and the city awaits to be discovered! so here we go!

The first thing that caught my attention when we started walking were the very narrow streets!
The tour guide lady told us it's because they were made for tumbrils in the past! Now it's difficult to drive cars through these streets!!



We found a beautiful church, but couldn't take a better photo because the streets are so narrow!



Then we made a little stop at the post office where Leslie kept talking about postcards and stamps but I was paying more attention to the old construction



Then we came to this viewpoint where we could see a part of the city... 



Back there is "cerro rico" (rich hill) that one day contained the mines with most silver in the world!
But the tour guide told us it was all taken to Europe and the city was left very poor with no silver left... now they extract some other less important minerals from the hill...
This city has a very sad history...



Then we kept walking and went to Santa Terera church What a bell tower!



And last but not least we went to see the most famous icon of Potosí, that rather ugly face behing me. This is the patio of the goverment palace and that face belongs to a guard that many years ago discovered some fraud going on with the city's money.

Do you see how much I've learned mum!



And here ended our tour

What a day, mum!
I'm very happy I got to visit this city, everything here is so different to Chile, and of course, to home!

Many hugs and kisses for you!

Chrissi

Hi mum!

I know it's been a long time since I updated here... but it's all Leslie's fault! she keps saying she's busy with her studies and all sort of excuses to not help me! But today we hid her books and won't give them back until she helps us update!

These photos are from the wonderful, glorious day we visited the biggest salt flat in the world!

After our stay in Potosí we took a bus to the town of Uyuni, and the next day we took our so awaited tour!

First they took us to the "train cemetery", a place in the middle of nowhere with many many abandoned old trains!



...And then... They took us to the Uyuni salt flat! The world's largest salt flat at 10,582 Km²!



We were all so excited to be there! This place is so amazing... and salty



We are all very lucky guys, aren't we?



Look mum! It's all salt!



This is how they extract the salt!
First they make these cones and then load them on tracks.



Then we had to say good bye to the salt flat, but when we were going back to the Uyuni town we passed through a very small town called Colchani. The houses were all made of rocks and mud!



This is so different to everything I had ever seen before, mum!




And well, then we returned to Uyuni town and washed all the salt away

It was a very amazing day!!

Love from Bolivia!

Hi all!

After our stay in Bolivia we came back to Chile through the Atacama desert and started heading to a little town in the middle of it!



For hours all we saw out the window was sand...



Did you know mum that this is the driest desert in the world!??



And here I am! This is San Pedro de Atacama, the little town in the middle of the desert that I told you about! All houses here are made of clay!



We went to a shop to buy some souvenirs... I loved all these musical instruments!



Then we heard some music so we started following it and it led us to the main church of the town!



Suddenly some louder music started playing and many dancers appeared on the street!
It was the carnival of "la virgen de la Candelaria" that had just started!



Look at those amazing costumes! wow!



How about these!?



After a while the dancers were all very tired, you can see it in their faces... they were not jumping as much as when they first started. It was terribly hot that day and I was wearing tons of sunscreen! Well, this is the desert after all!



Mum, it was an amazing and unexpected day!
We had no idea about the carnival and got here in perfect time!

Love!
Chrissi

Hi dear mummy and audience!

So, where was I? Oh I remember, San Pedro de Atacama!
This was actually quite a while ago, but due to Leslie's laziness (she calls it "studies"...) I'm showing you these photos just now.

Here I am in the very middle of the Atacama desert!



We took a very cool tour and they made us walk under the hottest sun I've ever felt! But don't worry, I was wearing lots and lots of some powerful sunscreen

We walked some meters and got to a high place where we could see the "Death Valley" Can you guess why it's called like that?

I certainly would not like to be lost down there...



Then they took us in the tour van (which had cooled air, thank goodnes for that!) to another part of the desert, called "Moon Valley", why?, because it looks like the moon!



There were some very strange formations on the rocks!



Walking through the shadow felt very nice



Then we crossed a cave! Mum! I'm in a cave in the Atacama desert! Could you possibly think of a more exotic place to be?




The tour guide said we were going to go watch the sun set soon, but first we had to visit one of the most famous spots of the desert!

This is it! The "Three Marys". They are called like that because they look like three women praying... well... that's what they say, but to me they just look like fingers, or sausages

The tour guide told us that the left one was bigger, but some years ago a tourist climbed on it and broke it! Since then it's forbidden to touch them



Then it was time to watch the sunset, so they took us to another part of the Moon Valley!
...The sun setting in the desert!



It was really beautiful, all of us were so happy to be there enjoying the view together!



What a day, mum!
I'm so happy to have added the desert to my list of visited places! I really liked it!

Many hugs and kisses!

Love,
Chrissi!

Just to let you know: I am at home ! For a while already. Just didn't have time to update.

Love,
Chrissi

I am alive, I am at home and I am happy.

This is kind of dried fruit called "Korogaki", dried fruit of Kaki(Japanese persimmon), it is one of food of winter.

Hi, mom!
I have arrived in Japan this evening.
My host's place is little warm, she said "We have no snow in Yokosuka".
Here is Yokosuka with about 400,000 people, located an 1hour south of capital Tokyo by train, it is beautiful seaside city.
My host and little toys gave me warm welcome.
I'm very excited because Christmas is coming.
However, Christmas Day is not a national holiday in Japan.
Most people in Japan, not only Christians, They will enjoy Christmas Eve by exchanging presents with family and sweethearts and by eating dinner together.
It's more like a festival or commercial event.
See you soon!
your little Chrissi

We went to the Yokosuka city museum (Admission free) today!
Although that was a small museum, it was enough to see the life of Japanese people's ancient times.
I saw the skeleton model of naumanni,Then, we relaxed sitting together on the veranda of the house of the old fisherman.
There was a "Irori"(fireplace) in the living room, square place floor, to cause charcoal and firewood on the ashes, also we have warm here, and can cook.
Then I saw a textile machine for weaving yarn into a textile, Farming equipment, fishing equipment, and burial mounds.
I was able to see beetles and jewel beetle, a beautiful butterfly at the exhibition floor of the organism.
If you were not good at insect you should not better see it.
shellfish and giant crab was very interesting.

Today is "Toji"(winter solstice) in Japan.
It is the time when the day time is the shortest and the night time is the longest.
In Japan we have a custom to bath with "Yuzu"(kind of Japanese citrus) and eat pumpkin on Toji.
If you do so, it is said you won't get a cold.
In Japan we soak in the warm water (about 40-42 degrees centigrade) to relax every day.
There are many kinds of bath powder to enjoy the fragrance or effect.
Yuzu is very good smell.

We looked Japanese calendar.

December 23 became a national holiday to celebrate the present Emperor's birthday in 1989.

Christmas was originally an annual Christian celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ and is a widely observed holiday around the world, but it is not a national holiday in Japan.

With best wishes for Merry Christmas.