Tammy's Chile/New Zealand/Australia Trip

Kia ora 🦋  Wednesday, April 24: Margaret and I took a walk in the lovely park behind their home. Then they drove me to the bus station, stopping at Sulphur Point to see the view of the city of Auckland on the way.  At the bus station, I bought a Chicken Schnitzel (coleslaw?) sandwich, barbecued chips, and a kiwi fruit for lunch on the bus ride to Tauranga, which took about 5 hours. (You have to eat kiwi fruit when you're in New Zealand! There were 2 kinds. I chose Sungold, and it was delicious!) Unfortunately, on that bus I didn't get on the upper level, which would have been even better for seeing the views: beautiful countryside full of big ranches. There was a lot of cattle and some sheep. I saw more sheep yesterday than today. Apparently they raise pigs in this area also, but I didn't see any. Bacon is very popular in NZ. It must be cold for horses here at this time of year, because they were all wearing blankets. We went through a lot of towns with interesting names:...

Kia ora 🦋  Sunday/Monday/Tuesday, April 21/22/23 After I arrived in Santiago from Temuco, I waited for 9 hours in the Santiago airport. In line for security again California Pizza Kitchen, of course! A yummy gluten-free, sugar-free, and lactose-free dessert Then I flew for 12 ½ hours until finally I arrived in Auckland,  New Zealand on Tuesday morning at 4:45 a.m.  The Auckland airport My first hosts from West Auckland came to pick me up at 7:45. (That was 27 total hours in airports or flying from the time the Smiths dropped me off at the airport in Temuco!) Needless to say I am happy to be away from airports for a week and that the flight to Sydney on the 30th is a short one. Monday was lost entirely due to the change of time zones and the long flight. As I write this, my body thinks it’s 7:15 p.m. (Chile time) Monday, and it’s 11:16 a.m. Tuesday here in New Zealand!  When planning this trip, I made the decision to stop for a week in New Zealand because I saw...

¡Hola! 🦋  Sunday, April 21 I woke up feeling fine. Thank you, Jesus!  Russ & Heidi and I went to have breakfast at the house of their daughter Joyanne and her husband Pedro. Joyanne is my goddaughter. On the way, I got to see a little more of Temuco. An interesting bridge A glimpse of the city from a high road Pedro's family is Mapuche, and they live on beautiful, pastoral Mapuche land in the country.  Joyanne and Pedro built a beautiful, modern house next to his parents on their property.  She is especially proud of her American-style kitchen.  Joyanne & Pedro have a sweet dog, Bobby,  that they rescued from a garbage enclosure as a puppy It was good to catch up with Joyanne, as I haven’t seen her in a long time, and this is the first time I've met Pedro. From Joyanne's, Russ & Heidi drove me to the Temuco airport, and I flew back to Santiago. In Temuco, many signs are in Spanish, English, and Mapudungun I landed in Santiago at around 3:30 p.m...

¡Hola! 🦋 Fríday, 4/19 continued: I forgot to include this video in my last post. Jugglers entertaining motorists at stoplights for tips! I ended my last post on the bus to the airport in Santiago. I arrived in plenty of time and worked on my last post while waiting for them to post which gate my flight would be using. There were a lot of soccer teams at the airport! Where to buy lunch in the Santiago airport? I settled on this place. At least the name was in Spanish! (Although I'm not sure what the name means - Birria means either garbage or a Mexican meat stew) This is what I bought: Chicken Caesar salad, yogurt & granola parfait, and bubbly mineral water Santiago from the sky - a huge city with lots of smog. The Andes mountains - towering above the smog and holding it in. Llaima volcano towering above the clouds as we approach Temuco Here’s another one (center right) ⇨ There are at least 5 volcanoes near Temuco. This one might be Villarrica, which we saw later up close while...