Greetings All
For those of you who are unaware the long delayed completion of our Americas journey has started. I’m sitting in a hostel called Villa Kuntebunt in the port city of Valparaiso, Chile which is about a 120km from the capital, Santiago.
I’ve been in Chile for 11 days now and while I arrived here with no issues I can’t say that it’s been the smoothest start to the trip, several weeks earlier Kitty was put into a crate for shipping to get her to Valparaiso where I was to collect her about a week after I arrived. There was some early problems with the paperwork but that was sorted and as far as anyone knew she was enjoying her sea voyage somewhere in the Pacific on her way to Valparaiso.
They lied
Kitty and her temporary home, Thanks to both Ewen and Chris for their help
As it turns out the day before I flew out of Oz I found out that Kitty was still in Busan, Korea waiting for the ship to arrive. I was not a happy camper when I heard this especially when I had been repeatedly assured that she was on her way for at least the last couple of weeks. Ah the joys of sea freight.
Just to make life that little bit more interesting when I left Melbourne for the flight to Chile I checked in two pieces of luggage but only one arrived in Santiago airport. The airport staff seemed to think it would arrive the next day and then be sent down to Valparaiso and were not that concerned, well they would be since they had had more than one set of socks and undies to call their own.
They lied.
Four days later, and while I now own extra underwear (luminous green and that was the most subtle that I could buy, and there will be no photos published). I know my missing bag had landed in Santiago but since Thursday and Friday were public holidays here and then it was the weekend I wouldn’t be reunited with my bag until at least Tuesday, maybe.
Eventually I decided to hop on the bus head back to Santiago airport and see if I could rescue it. As it turned out the baggage people found it in a few minutes and I was back on the bus to Villa Kuntebunt that afternoon. When they would have delivered it is anybody’s guess.
A big thank you to Linda for for chasing this up with Qantas.
When I got back to Valparaiso that afternoon Chris, Lindsay and Dale had arrived back at the Villa after travelling around southern Chile in a Dongfeng S30 car, this was an unscheduled trip due to Lindsay and Dale’s bike’s also suffering from shipping delays. They described the S30 as… a car, but probably not one you would want to buy second hand, or at least not they one they finished driving.
Lindsay, Dale and Chris anxiously waiting for the first Pisco Sour to arrive
A few days later after getting the bikes packed up the boys are now in Argentina you can follow their adventures on Chris’s blog.
Chris’s Frankenbeemer
Lindsay and his GSPD
As I mentioned earlier the hostel I’m staying at is called Villa Kuntebunt it’s run by Martina and Enzo and caters to foreigners bringing in motorcycles and cars from the port. When I arrived there was a group of German bike riders already in residence about to leave to go home after touring around the area and another group who were about to leave on their trip. As you can guess it’s been a busy few days and as you can see it’s quite a funky house.
Villa Kuntebunt
The latest news is that I won’t be able to rescue Kitty from the port until 30 November so the cunning plan is to go and study Spanish for a couple of weeks and then hire a car and travel down south, well that is today’s plan. We’ll see what tomorrow brings.
In the words of the Beloved it could be a lot worse. Hans is one of the German bike riders who arrived just before I did. They picked up their bikes and rode them from the port to the hostel, unfortunately Hans had a low speed crash and broke his collarbone so he is also stuck here in Valparaiso for the next four weeks waiting for it to heal.
This is what a broken collarbone looks like
There is not a lot of action at the moment just a lot of waiting around and learning nouns, verbs, conjugations and other exiting pieces of Spanish grammar but highlights from our next update will include
– A tour of Valparaiso and how to avoid the dodgy parts of town
– How the new science of bus physics will revolutionise our understanding of time
– Motorcycles and how they survive ocean travels
– A feature for the train spotters out there (you know who you are)
That’s all for now
Ian & the Beloved
Ah, the joys of international travel, eh Ian? I have no doubt all will be sorted in due (Chilean) course. And think how fluent you will be: ‘my hovercraft is full of eels’ will trip effortlessly to your lips…
Enjoy your rest – shall I post you some normal undies?
Thank you but the underwear situation has been resolved you can stop thinking about my nether regions
I only have one other thing to say “mi aerodeslizador es lleno de anguilas”
Ola, do they use this phrase where you are? Cerveca? Barcelona? Espero que estén disfrutando de Chile? Tenga cuidado en el tráfico
There, spanish lesson done, send me a cheque for two hours consulting.
Good to hear from you somewhere in the world. Doesn’t matter where or when, as long as you’re out there somewhere. Please include pronunciations in English when using words that appear to be “sweary-cats,” like the hotel name. Ian (known as sedvitae – for life)
Good to hear from you.
Do not know much about south America but I think they have their own time scale, most things get done “mañana”. Enjoy today!
All the Best
Well, you’ve proved that there is a quick way and a slow way to collect lost luggage!
Does that mean you find a quick way to collect lost/ delayed Kitty?
Are you purchasing a canoe/ dinghy/container ship to sail off and rescue her? If so you should use the luminous green undies as your flag- not sure what country they would represent but they’d give everyone a laugh!
Looking forward to many more tales and Spanish phrases interspersed with great photos!
Take care with your travels- I’m not there to oversee the “dribbling with dignity” issue!
Larni and crew. xx
As a special gift I’ll present you the remains of my luminous green under wear when I return to Oz.
One of my primary goals on this trip is to avoid any dribbling with dignity situations, and any on-coming buses.
Disfrute de sus clases de espanol. Definitivamente mirar hacia fuera para los autobuses, camiones, burros y los ninos en las bicis! Usted debe aprender a pedir cerveza y un buen chocolate de immediato!
Enjoy your Spanish lessons. Definitely look out for buses, trucks, donkeys and children on bikes! You must learn how to order beer and good chocolate immediately!
Keep up the good work!!!
whats the proposed travel plan? any timeframes? which have already adjusted by the mariniers…………
It will be a bit tight as I have to get to Tierro del Fuego by Christmas then up the east coast and around the continent via many places including Machu Picchu then back to Chile for bike shipping back to Oz. It will take as long as it takes. Now you know and I know how you like to be kept informed 🙂
What a great fun adventure and its just started!!! Stay well and keep yourself in clean undies 🙂
Washed, starched and pressed
Yay! Another fun trip-a-log from Kitty and the gang! Love the open schedule (if only us mortals could afford it). Have fun! Try to stay sober (when you’re not hammered), and keep the dirty part down. Watch out for llamas crossing the road. Mas cerveza por favor…
Glad to hear the travels have resumed. Love the updates, keep them coming! Safe travelling.
Hey Ian,
Sounds like you are raring to go. Enjoy your travels and all those that you meet.
Im very impressed by this blog site – it looks very professional – well done.
Look forward to hearing more of your travels…
Templates are a wonderful thing. The people at WordPress have done a lot of work to make blog sites very easy
all the best with the adventure and keep safe. Will read and watch with interest
It is great to hear that you are on another journey. Travel well , stay well and keep upright. Cheers Ian, take care
May good luck bestow you from now on; your undies are kept in check and Kitty arrives safely so you can soak up the America’s atmosphere and enjoy a safe venture so all back home can be filled with envy.
I seem to have uncovered an underwear fetish among my readers, I’m starting to get concerned……
🙂
And whats wrong with that??
Only kidding….keep it coming Ian, looking forward to the journey. Lots of hugs and of course a ” Big Sloppy Kiss”……. Haven’t heard that one for such a long time.
Cheers
Hi Ian – sorry for the lateness of getting onto your very cool website, Rita and i are touring in the Van again and have been off the air until now (currently in Henty for a few days before heading back to Canberra.
Looking forward to the next Installment – its nice to see we are not alone when it comes to Airline travel and Baggage!!
Cheers for now
Tony & Rita
So they could use “Inch Allah” over there too…
Hi Ian,
Hope you’re well and enjoyimg the sense of freedom that travelling brings – have a Happy Christmas!
Take care,
Tony
We need a December update! 🙂
Excuse my French but what are you telling me in Spanish that your hostel is called ? Lost in translation perhaps ?? Keep safe old boy.
Oh and by the way we are 3-0 up in the cricket. Honest.
Happy New Year. Love the trip updates. Never a dull moment on your travels. Stay safe and enjoy the trip.