Veronika Wild

Dark History -Palacio de la Moneda - The Presidential Palace - Santiago I was rather dreading a city of six million people but it proved to be quite interesting with lots of parks, fine buildings and  wide tree -lined avenues. It also ranks third in  South America when it comes to air pollution. This is partly due to its geography, lying in a basin with the Andes behind it, but also because it has more cars than any other city in Chile.  It also has more stray dogs per head of population than any other city though it is hard to get a figure on this.Unlike the dogs in Bolivia, these dogs are sleek and well fed and better looked after than many a homeless person. They have kennels in the parks and little coats to wear in winter. Chileans and probably South Americans in general do not believe in de -sexing their animals - not even the strays and there was a public outcry when the local authorities put three of them down. Instead, everyone feels obliged to feed them,...

Yay! I'm back. Apologies for the long delay between posts. My computer suffered a nervous breakdown after I loaded up the 2,000 photos I took. It has now been restored to prime condition (thanks Clu) and has stopped saying weird things like" would you like to change the colour scheme" or interminably trying to install update 1 of 1 whenever I log on so the story continues.... More awesome Waterfalls From Pucon I ventured south to Puerto Varas in Patagonia where there were said to be more volcanoes and more waterfalls.  Alas, it also had real West Coast rain - it rains 200 days a year there -and was freezing cold. There was no breakfast and as it was Sunday everything was closed. Ended up eating half a stale lukewarm empanada with a slightly off filling for lunch followed by some of my packaged soup. There was still a lot of soup mix left and a few carrots, so I offered to make soup for everyone in the hostel that night. This proved to be an excellent idea as other h...

Postcard from Pucon   I arrived in Pucon in the dark - how could I resist a hostel named La Princessa Insolente. When I woke up I was amazed to find a volcano smoking gently at the end of the street. Pucon is a small resort town in the Lakes District, around 860 km and 16 hours from Valparaiso. It  not only has a volcano but a huge lake and is is surrounded by national parks. It is very popular with Chileans and other tourists alike. In no time at all, I found myself shuffled onto a mini bus heading to the base of the volcano and the beginner ski slopes. As I left the bus I was handed this flat plastic thing shaped almost like a frying pan with a handle sticking out at one end. The others grabbed ski gear and snowboards and we all looked like Michelin men in the borrowed clothing. As it happened I may have had the best deal of all. Most of the other passengers were still stuck at the ski lift or the ticket booth for the entire two hours we spent there, while I had fun t...