The end

This is the end of our tripping around Chile. Even with my suspect memory, I'm sure many of these amazing experiences and encounters will be with me forever, unless of course I turn into a dribbling, vegetable hull of a human, but at least until then.

Every trip has a signature phrase or thing that we might associate with where we are or have been. With Chile, it's whenever we did the quick calculation in our head or on the currency exchange app of what the thing we're buying in CLP costs us in CAD, and realize how fucking expensive it is, we would shrug and say, "well...we're in Chile." There was a bit of sticker shock at the beginning but we eventually became accostmed to it. Yes, it's that expensive here. Not Switzerland expensive, but it's definitely the most expensive South American country I've been to, but I haven't been to Argentina yet, and I've heard things can get pretty pricey over there, and worse, it can change by the hour what with their crazy inflation rate. I knew going in that it would be more expensive than Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador and Colombia, the SA countries I've been to, but I was a bit surprised that things like groceries, restaurants, accommodations, etc. would often be more or less the same price, or even sometimes more! than in Toronto.

But on to the memories...

Soooo many great hikes, countless times saying, "wow! how amazing is this?!", big sandwiches, completos, good beer, decent beaches, freakiest seaweed ever, beautiful sunsets and sunrises, the soaring granite spires aka Torres del Paine, helpful Chileans, drivers that stop for pedestrians at crosswalks, many many bus rides on top notch buses, endless landscapes on buses, condors, penguins, whales, woodpeckers, flamingos, punky birds, many many vicuñas and others camelids, street art, murals, very fast "what the heck did they say?" Spanish, Costa "chocolate" cookies, Evercrisp roasted peanuts, turquoise lakes and lagoons, Atacama desert, ferries and flights, sandwhich & chips lunches during our hikes, horses, sheep, goat traffic jam, elqui vallley stars and lightening show, lúcuma ice cream, Maracuyá anything, and more I'm sure but I really want to post this because if not, it may never get done.

Much love to everyone and we'll see you all down the road somewhere, sometime.Read more