Cousin Celeste

Celeste is Tia Andrea's daughter. On our last full day in Chile we went to a very cool park and a Pueblito de Los Dominicos, where you shop for crafty things. A very fun day...

Me and Abuelo at Fray Jorge

Fray Jorge is interesting. It's on top of a coastal range in the middle of a desert. Despite this, it's a forest. Basically the ocean and hills here act like a continuous misting system keeping this ancient relic forest alive.

Mmmm..Jelly

We went to a beach resort called Puerto Velero near the town of Tongoy for New Years with Abuelo and Abuela. The beach was beautiful but you had to watch out for the jellies. These didn't sting but they were kinda gross if you stepped on them.

Christmas in Santiago

We had a great Christmas in Santiago and have been trying to visit Nisha's tia's houses. Last night we were at Tia Javi's where we had an excellent asado of Chorripan (sausage in good bread) and steak. Low fat and cholesterol free. Nisha got invited to a sleep-over so Ian is posting today. From here, we're heading to the beach for New Year's. 
And finally, the torch has been passed. After several years of dominating the ugly sweater scene, Ian's sweater will rally on with Uncle Hernan at various holiday events in Chile. Hernan even has plans to show up at parties in May when it's cold here and see if anyone mentions out loud that it's not quite Christmas. This might make for good betting. What's the over/under on the number of minutes before anyone brings up the sweater? I'd wager for certain parties with certain overly-polite company you might take the roses with a zero-mentions bet. However, funny looks are pretty much a certainty.

Vicunas

I can't believe the number of Vicunas up here now. They are becoming like the Pronghorn in Montana. They seem to be quite numerous at the higher altitudes.

Geyser Party

Our last day in Atacacma, and we visited the Geyser field of El Tatio at about 13000 feet. Nisha felt a little light headed and seriously tired. But very cool visit nonetheless.

High Andean Lakes

Here we are some high Andean lakes with our guide Carolina (on the far right). This place is beautiful and has flamingos, crazy seagulls (just 2) which love to beg for food, and 20 vicunas which were really far away but we could see with binoculars. We had a great lunch up here and dumb dad fed the seagulls...duh.