We seemed to have spent the last few days of the holiday, sightseeing and eating! The Rodeo in San Fernando was interesting (for a while at least) and very different to the North American version. It was a very serious competition of two cowboys (Huasos) who have to guide a young bull (novillo) around the ring and then pin it against one of the padded areas. Points are awarded for style and various other aspects. I was a bit concerned of the animal welfare involved in slamming the young bull against a section of the arena. The event seemed went on for the whole day but we left about half way through and headed off on the bus back to Santiago.
The following day we did the proper tourist thing and got the bus (which was nice as we were unencumbered with bikes and luggage) to the coastal city of Valparaiso, A wonderful city arranged of steep coastal hills. The residential buildings and houses arranged on the slopes in a haphazard connected by a labyrinth of streets and alleyways. We could've spent days exploring the city! However as we only had a day we did a whistle stop tour of the main sites - we had lunch at one of the recommended fish restaurants in the market area and a visit to Pablo Nerudo's (famous Chilean poet) house, at the top of one the city's many slopes. We also got to go on a few of the city's 15 funicular railways with (possibly predictably) incredible panoramic views at the top.
The following day was the last day in Chile, we spent the whole morning preparing the bikes for their next ordeal - the voyage home. So lots of tape, polystyrene and cardboard were used to pad and attempt to protect the poor bikes from the luggage handlers at various airports. Later on we went to explore the Bellavista area and to find out why it was so called. There's a hill (mountain?) of 860metres towering over the area which we'd never seen before (probably because we'd only seen it in the dark). So Jo and I decided to walk up it! (instead of the more sensible option of the funicular). 360 degree view at the top along with a huge statue of the Virgin Mary plus many cafes. The view over the entire city was well worth the effort.
The rest of the afternoon was spent getting to and at the airport - where Jo and I said our goodbyes - my next stop was New York while Jo was off down to Patagonia for a hiking 'holiday'. The flight out of Santiago was blighted by a bout of food poisoning (I blame the restaurant in Bellavista, but not really sure as I'd eaten so much in the last previous 24hours that it could've been anything). However was looked after by the LAN airline stewardesses and given lots of tea so was fit enough to face New York. This was a great stopover getting out of JFK airport without too much difficulty (once I'd worked out which terminal to re-check all my luggage back into) getting the subway into the city was not too tricky either. I had a brief look round Central Park before meeting Chris for lunch followed by a look at Times Square and some it's crazy billboards (for want of a better phrase) then back on the subway to meet Tara, who took me on a tour of the Highline - the new landscaped walkway which has been re-engineered from an old raised railway track. Thus making a great public park with some super views!
Sadly, it was time to leave and head home for the final leg - thankfully uneventful, but Heathrow was like mayhem as snow had forced various flights to be rediverted here so there were even more people than normal. At the Heathrow Express station (fewer people), I reassembled the bike for the snowy, slushy, and slippery ride from Paddington to home!
So it's all over! Here is the Chilean schedule:
December
16th Arrive Santiago
17th Santiago - Bus toward Calama
18th Arrive in Calama, camping in the Atacama desert
19th Toconce (overlooking village)
20th somewhere near Linzor
21st Refugio past the Tatio geysers
22nd San Pedro
23rd San Pedro (rest day) evening ride out to Valle de la Lune
24th Atacama Salt plain (flamingoes at Laguna Chaxa)
25th Ride back to San Pedro followed by evening bus toward Arica
26th Arrive in Arica, cycle up the Azapa valley to find ourselves stuck in a gorge nr Humagatta
27th somewhere on the main road to Putre
28th Putre
29th Parinacota
30th Terms de Curigualla
31st Police station at Salar de Sirrius
January
1st A sandy gulley near Enquelga
2nd Colchane
3rd ~65km from Huara
4th Iquique
5th rest day in Iquique
6th Iquique - bus toward Santiago
7th arrive Santiago, train to San Fernando
8th Ride out along the Colchagua Valley to Viu Manent vinyard
9th San Fernando - Rodeo. Bus back to Santiago
10th Valparaiso day trip
11th/12th/13th Santiago - New York - home