Wander With Stella

Santiago Chile

There are so many reasons to go to Chile the least of which is the Capital, Santiago. Santiago is encircled by the Andes to the east and the costal mountains to the west. On a breezy day this is a beautful setting but when the wind drops the air is grey with pollution, captured in the bowl of the mountains. I read that Chile is making an effort to clean things up and that they had signed the Paris Accord.

Chileno’s are warm and friendly people and we were very lucky to rent an apartment close to el centro that kept all four of us together. It was high up on the fourteenth floor and we a great view.

Altogether we had four days for wandering around and hitting the highlights including Santa Lucía park. A bit of a climb to the top but well worth the effort for the views. Santiago is easy to explore, a good guide book, google maps on your phone and maps from local tourist booths point the way to the main attractions.

Santiago like other South American cities has been rebuilt many times after devastating earthquakes and so it is a jumble of architectural styles depending on the era, the amount of rebuilding needed and the economía of the day. The oldest building we saw was the Iglesia San Francisco which dates back to the 16th century….a while ago.

I was in Santiago briefly in 2006 or so on my way to Valparaiso to catch a cruise ship bound for Antártica. At that time I had very little time to “see” Santiago so was happy to have a longer stay this time. We weren’t able to see as much as we wanted but we have one more day as we exit South America and return to Mexico.

Food in Santiago was very good and like many places in the world restaurants are using local ingredients to prepare innovative and traditional dishes. Chile is of course no slouch when it comes to wine and we had our share of very good ones. There are lots of wine tours available we did all of our tasting with meals or relaxing in our apartment after a busy day of sightseeing. Fish and shellfish were great as were the asados (barbque) and emanadas, although my friends from Mexico felt that the food lacked spice but they carried small bottles of chile sauce to pica the food.

Our plan is to see the central part of Chile first from the Pacific to the Andes, so after leaving Santiago we took the bus to Valparaiso, a coastal port town.

A Month in Mexico…next stop South America

Mexico is beginning to feel like my second home. On the 29th of December I flew direct to Cancun and stayed overnight in my favourite little Mexican hotel, El Caribe. It is right across the street from the ADO bus station and after breakfast I took the ADO bus to Merida, changed for the bus to Progreso and by the late afternoon I was once again the proud tenant of Unit 3 in Casa Sol Mar. The hotel in Cancun and the buses to and from Cancun run frequently and are very affordable and break up the trip from Vancouver if you have the time.

Three weeks flew by and I occupied my time in Progreso with visiting friends, trips to Merida, a soccer game, volunteering in an English class and walks on the beach, a nice way to start a New Year. It’s interesting how Progreso changes every year and yet is always the same. Return visits to a hacienda, cenote and a Mayan Ruin never go amiss. while in the Yucatan, and this year I went to two new cenotes. One just outside of Progreso in the direction of Telchac named Sinache and the other in the direction of Campeche. The great thing about Sinache was the long paddle through the mangroves and the reward of swimming in the cenote with large carp. Had a return visit to a Hacienda (Sotuta de Peon) and yes the tour had changed to a degree but my favourite parts, the specialized equipment for making heinequein rope and the cenote were the same.

I rented a car and my neighbors and I drove to Campeche, stopping along the way at the “Chocolate Museum”. Campeche was as nice as ever and we stayed in a lovely hotel in El Centro and had dinner on a terrace overlooking the cathedral and the mainsquare. Night live in Campeche is vibrant and the outdoor bars and restaurants do a steady business with locals and tourists alike. It’s hard not to return to Campeche while I’m in Progreso because the Old City is so lovely. The malecón en Campeche is great and they had the remnants of a Christmas market just outside the walls of the city.

After a family wedding in Playa del Carmen I had four days in Mexico City where I was able to resume my love affair with the place and put some finishing touches on my trip to South America.

Roma

Rome is like opening your grandmother’s attic only to discover that she had squirrelled away some amazing treasures and just when you think there couldn’t be anything else to surprise and delight, something else amazing jumps out to surprise you. The heart of Rome is not that big and in four days of wandering I covered a great deal of ground. Wandering is different from touring in that you don’t go to the sights but rather you let the sights come to you, emerging in your path, sometimes dictating the direction of your wander but never setting the agenda. This is my favourite way of traveling now that I can take the time to savour the treasures that spring from grandmother’s attic in no particular order and Rome did not disappoint.

If you’ve been to Rome and you’ve already done the “tour thing”, including the Vatican then you will appreciate my desire to just wander and let each turn of a corner bring back memories of my first visit and fuel new interests and ideas.

As luck would have it a friend was in Milan and came down on the train to meet me in Rome so I had some company to enjoy what Rome offers in the way of sights, sounds, food, aromas and people.

One of the best things to do in Rome is people watch and of course listen. Romans tend to dress well and rarely do you see anyone slopping around in baggy pants and runners. Conversations tend to be loud, boisterous and accompanied by energetic gesticulations, as incomprehensible to me as the Italian language. It’s hard to imagine living your life in Rome but the people who are do it with style and ease.

Of course the ancient ruins of the Colosseum, the Roman Forum and Palantine Hill, the Vatican, Sistine Chapel and St. Paul’s Basilica are good reasons to go to Rome the first time. The grand piazzas, like Piazza Navona with its entertainers, street sellers and palaces, the views from the seven hills and making a wish in the Trevi Fountain are all traditional fair.

But when you make a return visit you should go prepared to savour and to experience Rome the city, greater than the sum of its parts. Seeing Rome as a living, breathing entity is seeing and appreciating its personality. Because Rome is a beautiful old thing and a self restoring treasure chest it transcends the normal experience of a city. Rome the “Eternal City” has earned its title for it truly is a place where the present lives alongside the past and the past enjoys a place in the sun out of the shadows of grandmother’s attic.

Sicily

Palermo

My father would talk about Sicily and what it was like during the Allied Invasion in WWII, so its no surprise that many of the place names had a familiar ring to them. Syracuse, Messina, Taormina, Palermo, Catania all those exotic sounding far away places from long ago stories have now come to life for me. Although Sicily was the launch pad for the Allied Invasion of Italy during the war, that particular chapter is tiny in the grand scale of Sicilian history that includes the Greeks, the Romans, the Normans, the Arabs etc..

Wandering the streets of Palermo was a great way to spend a day on Sicily. Two neighbourhoods not to miss are La Kalsa and Albergheria, both very old neighbourhoods with narrow streets, pretty piazzas and markets that date back to Arab times and even Phonecian times.

Palermo has great shopping, eateries and markets. The patina of the worn cobbled streets shines in the dimly lit passageways that lead to the brilliantly colourful markets.

Mt Etna – A Living, Breathing, Steaming Volcano

Mt Etna the Sicilian volcano was been active for ever and one crater steams on a daily basis. In 1971 lava buried the Etna Observatory and destroyed the original cable car, threatening villages as well. It’s a popular attraction and quite pricey but worth the money just for the views from the top. You can see for miles along the coast of Sicily and the beautiful blue ocean. You ride a cable car up the mountain and then if you want to pay more you can continue by truck to get even closer to the craters edges. We opted to hike around the station and enjoy the lava formations and the strange but colourful plants that manage to grow from the rock and lava. It was cold at the top of the mountain and we were glad to have our jackets along.

Argigenta and La Scala die Turchi

I never expected to see Greek ruins on Sicily but apparently the Greeks were a huge presence on the island and left many reminders of their civilization. You can see ruins on Sicily in many places including, Syracuse, Taormina, Catania and Selinunte but we drove from our villa to Agrigento to see the ruins there. The site itself is large and contains several structures and good descriptions.

We ended our day at an extraordinary beach with limestone cliffs that have been eroded into amazing wave like shapes. The Scala die Turchi, Stair of the Turks, as it is called, has become quite an attraction and it was busy. There are several bar/restaurants that have sprung up, providing parking and access to Scala. You can climb up the limestone cliffs for a great view of the surrounding area and after its a great cool down to dive off the lower rocks for a swim. We stayed for sunset and had a drink at one of the bars.

Collesano Villa and Ancient Cefalu

In our own neighbourhood in the town of Collesano, we were close to nice beaches, other small villages and the ancient town of Cefalu. Another pretty place with a Norman cathedral and the ruins of an ancient castle that demonstrates that Sicilians have not shied away from building as high up as humanly possible. The modern day roads that must follow ancient paths to these great heights, wend back and forth sharply and steeply in many places on the island. Great fun to drive until you meet a bus loaded with tourists on one of the hair pin curves. Our villa was great, clean, nicely decorated, big decks and of course a pool. Since we were off season we were alone there for most of our stay until a nice family from Poland came and of course they spoke English and Italian! The day we went to Cefalu I forgot my camera so I have to credit my friend Dawn with the Cefalu photos. This was our last day together on Sicily. Dawn and Craig were returning to the UK and I was staying on for a few days of solo travel before heading to Rome.

Solo Time In Taormina and Messina

I rented a Smart Car in Catania and headed north to Taormina. This city climbs from the beaches of the Mediterranean to the great heights of the mountains above. It is a maze of roads, lanes, highways and freeways and access to individual towns and villages along the shore is limited and often requires some backtracking and heading in directions that don’t make sense. The hotel I found on the internet was in the town of Letojanni, considered part of Taormina and accessible by one road only and to get to it you had to go over, under and around the highway on a combination of paved roads, potholed lanes and sharp turns. I finally figured it out on the last day. The beach is great in Letojanni and I have to admit I spent two days just enjoying quiet time. I did explore Taormina and it’s great heights and drove north to Messina for a day but sadly I did not make it back down south to Syracuse and Noto, both of which sound very interesting. Next time.