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TRIP TO MEXICO: OVERVIEW AND POSTSCRIPT

Myself in front of  Pancho Villa's

Statue on Cerro La Bufa, Zacatecas.

NOTE:  For some reason many of the pictures here got rudely cropped when I published this post.  So I suggest that you click on each one to see the full version....

I just got back home yesterday following a veritable whirlwind visit to Mexico.  It actually was a pretty amazing journey, and it never would have happened were it not for the efforts of my Mexican Revolution research friend, Juany Gutiérrez and her husband Leo, who put together a truly demanding itinerary and then followed through with it practically to the letter, including a very adventurous trip by auto to the city of Zacatecas.

Now I am charged with the task of composing a complete overview of this remarkable week-long journey through the heart of Mexico.  I'd have liked to have done regular trip reports as the days went forward, but this was really not possible, given the realities of following Juany and Leo's rather rigorous schedule. 

 Anyway, I arrived in Mexico City at about 3 p.m. local time on April 4th, on a direct flight from Salt Lake City.  Passing through Mexican customs went a lot more smoothly than I had expected, and sure enough, once I passed through the last passport check and emerged into the waiting area of Benito Juárez International Airport there in Mexico City, there were my hosts Juany and Leo both beaming smiles to greet me.
After a meal in one of the airport's restaurants my hosts brought me to the adjacent bus station and we got tickets for the next bus departing for their home city of Pachuca, in the Mexican state of Hidalgo.  Pachuca is some 130 km northeast of Mexico City, so the bus ride took us less than two hours.  The above picture was taken shortly after my arrival and shows my hotel, which is the bright orange building.  It's known as the Hotel Ciros, and boasts of a three-star rating.  It was definitely comfortable and quiet.  I ended up staying there a total of five nights, out of my total of seven spent in Mexico, so I suppose that you could call it my "home base."

Now, the reality of this trip happened to be meant for Mexican Revolution historical research, and one thing that Juany had concentrated on when she put together our itinerary were crucial visits to important resource centers like the one pictured above, which houses the famed Casasola Photographic Archives.  Agustín Victor Casasola had been perhaps the most prolific of all the photographers to document the events of the Mexican Revolution, and his reputation in that regard is every bit as significant as that of Mathew Brady during the United States Civil War.  The archives that today bear his name house countless images of Mexican history, including the revolution, and Juany had made arrangements for us to pay an extended visit there starting at noon on Tuesday, April 5th. 
The above picture shows the entrance to Casasola, an older building in Pachuca which had originally been a convent.  We were duly signed in and were then assigned an agent who led us through the specific photo archives we had requested on a computer monitor, and we noted specific pictures of interest to our project.  Specifically, these were, archival photos of Felipe Angeles, and we announced that we were looking for photographs that we could later ask permission to publish in a biography of General Angeles, which is more or less the goal I have set for myself  - to eventually publish a new biography of General Felipe Angeles in English.
In the end, the Casasola people gathered together the 37 images Juany and I had chosen and put them in order on a CD in low resolution, complete with identifications and with specific archive catalog numbers, so that when I would make my final choices in writing, then they would be able to send me high resolution copies with the permission to publish included.  It was a very good start to my first day of research in Mexico.

That night, Juany's husband Leo took us to the new Rotonda de los Hidalguenses Ilustres, a monument that had only been dedicated last November - which was the Bicentennial of Mexican Independence and the Centennial of the Mexican Revolution.  The Rotonda is a memorial to the twelve most illustrious people in Hidalgo's history, and the earthly remains of all twelve - eleven men and one woman - have been placed beneath their appropriate headstones in a semi-circle.  Included here are the remains of Felipe Angeles, whose headstone is shown in the following photo:

The idea of honoring the twelve most important citizens of the state is worthwhile, but in this case, I think that the government of the state of Hidalgo really made a mistake when they decided to place the Rotonda in the middle of one of the busiest thoroughfares in the city of Pachuca!  That's right, this "hallowed" monument is not located in some revered spot like a state cemetery but is surrounded by automobile (and taxi, bus, and truck) traffic...certainly not a place for reflection or meditation!
Well, on Wednesday, the 6th of April, Leo, Juany and I took a trip by auto into the heart of the state of Hidalgo, driving northward from Pachuca to visit the towns of Zacualtipán (pop. 25,000) and Molango (pop. 10,000).  Zacualtipán was the birthplace of Felipe Angeles, and while there we visited the municipal building where Juany had arranged for the town's chief administrator to dig out the original Felipe Angeles birth certificate (which Juany photographed) and then we went to the site where he was born.  The picture below is of the statue of Felipe Angeles which is located at the entrance to the city, and both Juany and myself took multiple pictures of it from various angles.

From Zacualtipán we continued northward en route to the town of Molango, where Felipe Angeles had spent some time in his childhood and youth while his father, Colonel Felipe Angeles Melo, had been the town's political chief.  Juany had contacted the current municipal manager before our arrival with document information she had already so that they could pull out the documents she wanted.  These were: (1.) a marriage certificate for Colonel Felipe Angeles Melo and Maria Martinez (dated 1883), and (2.) the death certificate of Colonel Felipe Angeles Melo (dated August 29, 1899).
Before we left Molango, we got the town's archivist to allow us to rummage through their archival boxes in ther basement, and we found a whole host of municipal documents (1884) signed by the elder Angeles - these were documents that their archivist didn't even know existed!  In that endeavor, Juany and I were pressed for time, as they were to close in 15 minutes!  So while I flipped the pages, Juany frantically photographed what we'd found.  Tragically, she was plagued by failing batteries, so much of what she had photographed turned out blank.  She will return to Molango one of these days and do a much more thorough search through that basement archive.
Anyway, it is interesting to note that in the town plaza of Molango, there are only two statues: one of them is General Felipe Angeles, and the other is his father, Colonel Felipe Angeles Melo...

 Statue of General Felipe Angeles, in the plaza of Molango

 Statue of Colonel Felipe Angeles Melo, in the plaza of Molango

As we were leaving Molango, Leo stopped the car to take some pictures from the vista point above the town.  The below picture of me was taken by Leo, with Molango in the background...

On our next day (April7th - Thursday) Leo had to work, so Juany and I took the bus into Mexico City where we visited Mexico's Archivo General de la Nación (AGN), which is housed in the historic building that once was the infamous Lecumberri Prison, also known as "The Black Palace of Lecumberri."  This building is seen in the following photograph:

 The old Lecumberri prison had been originally dedicated by General Porfirio Díaz in 1900, and it housed a number of famous inmates including Pancho Villa.  Villa, by the way, was one of only two persons ever to escape from the place, the other being an American named Dwight Worker, who had been convicted of cocaine smuggling and had excaped in 1975.  Perhaps the most significant historic event associated with the Lecumberri prison took place during Mexico's most lamentable time - the so-called Decena Trágica, or "Tragic Ten Days," when the just-deposed President Francisco I. Madero and his Vice President José María Pino Suárez were murdered while en route to Lecumberri.
It was decommissioned as a prison in 1976, and in 1980 it became the new home for Mexico's national archives.
Juany and I spent most of the afternoon at the Archivo General del la Nación, but most of the time was spent getting ourselves registered and in their system.  When the lengthy process was finished, they gave each of us an ID card with our photos included.  These ID cards are good for five years, so if I want to return sometime, I will not have to spend two hours re-registering.
We did get to finally see some documents, and Juany photographed a few of them, and I suppose that she will be sending me copies of those documents when she can find the time, but for the most part, for me, it was a lot of effort for few results (it's not the first time I have spent a whole afternoon perusing documents in vain).
Afterwards, Juany took me to see the famous Zócalo, which is the main plaza in Mexico City.  The trip there was by taxi, and our driver took us through some very narrow streets, which also happened to be clogged with people (Mexico City, its super-metropolis being something like 20 million souls, is like the fifth largest megalopolis in the world, behind places like Tokyo, Sao Palo, Mumbai and the like).  When we were dropped off in the Zócalo, it was the only time when I felt a tug of fear, mainly because it was such a crowded place!  Below is a picture of the Palacio Nacional, in the Zócalo:

 On Friday, April 8th, we set out on what would be the most adventurous part of our itinerary:  The drive northward to visit the city of Zacatecas (pop. 135,000).  In June 1914, Zacatecas was the scene of Pancho Villa's greatest victory in the Mexican Revolution.  His fabled División del Norte virtually decimated the federal army forces who defended the city, and the victory essentially broke the back of the usurper General Victoriano Huerta's army.  The victory stands out also as General Felipe Angeles' greatest triumph as well, because he was the strategic mastermind behind the defeat of Huerta's forces.  Because of the significance of the victory, Mexico erected a stunning monument to the battle on the top of the Cerro de la Bufa, or La Bufa Peak, which was where the hardest fighting took place, and which overlooks the city.  Included in the monument are three spectacular statues: the first one is of Pánfilo Natera, the commander of the División del Centro, who had been besieging Zacatecas when Villa and Angeles arrived; then there is the striking statue of Pancho Villa (seen in the first picture, above) and also the statue of Felipe Angeles.  In the following picture you can see both the Angeles and the Villa statues - Angeles in the foreground, and Villa farther back. Partially obscured is the Natera statue, on the far right: 

 Here I am, on the crest of La Bufa, with the city of Zacatecas spreasding out below me:

 Here is another view of the statue of Pancho Villa:

 -And here is a better view of the statue of Felipe Angeles:

Well, besides these amazing statues, La Bufa also is home to the superb Museo de la Toma de Zacatecas, or "Museum of the Capture of Zacatecas," which presents artifacts and photos from the famous battle.  It was worth the long drive to get there, especially since both Juany and I are actively researching the life of General Felipe Angeles.  We will now be collaborators in our historical research, and I know we will be sharing much in the future. 

Anyway, the Zacatecas trip was pretty much the high point to a very busy and demanding week of discovery.  It took one full day of travel by car to get there, and another full day to get back to Pachuca, which we did on April 10th.  Then on the 11th, Juany accompanied me once more on the bus from Pachuca into Mexico City, where I caught my flight back to the United States - and home.

FROM A CASUAL CHILE TRIP INTO THE MEXICAN REVOLUTION

There it is, La Toma de Zacatecas (Capture of Zacatecas), one of the most notable mural paintings of an event in the Mexican Revolution that wasn't done by Diego Rivera.  Honestly, I've done a thorough search to try to find the name of the artist online, but to no avail - vexing, to say the least.
Regardless, I am sure that this image will cross my path again when I make my special one-week historical research junket to Mexico.  I took it from a Mexican Zacatecas website, which assures its users that they are allowed to use the image, so I took their word for it and posted it here for all to see.

As many of you know, for over a decade now I have been spending my own money to make extensive research trips to scores of libraries to research the life of Mexican General Felipe Angeles, who was perhaps the most enigmatic of all of the major participants in the 1910-1920 Mexican Revolution.
In 1914, he was Pancho Villa's artillery commander and chief strategist.  He is depicted in the idealized image above mounted on horseback on Villa's left side.  Directly behind them are Panfilo Natera, from Durango, and other aides.

Anyway, I'm posting the above painting to celebrate my imminent pending trip to central Mexico, invited by a wonderful pair of young Mexican professionals who have been doing research as I have on the life of Felipe Angeles. 

Of course, I've already posted notice of this trip here on my blog, but now as the actual trip draws near, I felt it only right to add details.

General Angeles and an aide, ca. June 1914

(Library of Congress)

I will be flying to Mexico City on April 4th, and will be met by a young professional couple who will be my hosts named Leo and Juany Gutierrez, who live in the city of Pachuca, in the Mexican state of Hidaldo, which is northeast of Mexico City and is the historical home of Felipe Angeles.

Juany and Leo have laid out an incredibly impressive itinerary for my week in Mexico:

4th April:

Meet me at the airport in Mexico City and bring me via autobus to Pachuca, Hidalgo where they will see to having me booked into a local hotel.  Dinner afterwards.

5th April:

After breakfast, a visit to the famed Casasola Library of Revolution pictures, which is in Pachuca, and then a visit to the Rotonda de los Hidalguenses Ilustres, where the remains of Felipe Angeles are interred.  Following that we will examine files at the University State of Hidalgo.

6th April:

After breakfast we will travel to Zacualtipán, which is the town in Hidalgo where Felipe Angeles was born.  We will visit the home of his birth as well as the town hall to see his birth registration.

Then we will head out further up the road to the town of Molango, Hidalgo to visit its town hall and also the tomb of Colonel Felipe Angeles Melo (father of General Felipe Angeles who fought against both the USA in 1847 as well as against the French intervention in the 1860's).

7th April:

We will travel into Mexico City to access Mexico's Archivo General de la Nación.  Juany tells me that I can have access to the archives simply with my passport. It ought to be an engaging day, to say the least!  Of course, we will return to Pachuca by bus in the late afternoon.

8th April:

We will go together by car to Zacatecas, a full day's journey.

9th April:

We will visit the "Museo de la toma de Zacatecas" (Museum of the capture of Zacatecas), which commemorates perhaps the single most significant battle of the Mexican Revolution, which happened in JUne, 1914.  We will also be visiting the "Cerro de la Bufa", which was the small mountain on the city's edge where the artillery of General Angeles broke the resistance of the federal defenders in the Battle of Zacatecas.  There we will see the huge statues of Pancho Villa, Felipe Angeles and Panfilo Natera, the three heroes of the victory.

10th April:

Drive back to Pachuca from Zacatecas.

11th April:

Possibly visit some local sites of interest in Pachuca before Leo and Juany get me back to Mexico City for my flight back to the USA that afternoon.  The picture below shows my dear Mexican hosts, Juany and Leo...

-PICTURE REMOVED BY REQUEST-

SANTA CRUZ YESTERDAY, SANTIAGO TODAY, FLY HOME TOMORROW

And now, the final act in this all-too-short trip to Chile is set to play out.  Today Andres and I drove back to Santiago for a final night in a high-rise hotel in El Centro, and tomorrow afternoon Andres will drive me to the airport so that I can catch the long flight home.

But in our last day at our base in Pichilemu, we took a day trip over to the city of Santa Cruz located in the heart of Chile´s rich wine-producing Colchagua Valley, where we had lunch and then visited an absolutely amazing museum. . .the Museo de Colchagua, which is an incredible find in itself.  Above is a picture Andres took of me photographing the valley as we entered it from the coast, following a well-graded "ripio" dirt road which saved us perhaps 10 km on our drive.

Anyway, back to Santa Cruz.  This town of some 16,000 residents has become something of a closet tourist destination because of the celebrated (and expensive) tour of the wineries, aka La Ruta del Vino, which is the main reason why accomodations there are more costly (and why we made it a day trip as opposed to an overnighter).  Of course, the presence of the museum adds something extra to the tourist draw because its exhibits are so special.   Besides, the contents were so great that we simply couldn´t take everything in!  One of my guide books recommended at least a two-hour visit, but in reality one should plan a good half day, or four hours to do it justice.  From the entrance, the visitor initially passes through the incredible exhibit of fossils (Andres´ favorite of course) and then proceeds into the palentology wing, where the visitor encounters the bones of extinct mammals (including megatherium and saber-toothed tiger) plus the most extensive private collection of amber in the world, the fossilized resins of which contain many examples of insects and plant matter frozen in time that goes back some 45 million years.

Beyond the paleontology exhibit the visitor enters the Precolombian Cultures wing with an incredible display of pottery, tools, weapons, clothing remnants, and even mummified remains from nearly every Precolombian American civilization, from the Mayans and Aztecs to virtually scores of ancient South American cultures.  Then it is on to the wing dedicated to the Spanish - including both the conquest and colonial periods, with too many artifacts to recount.  One unique item is Bernardo O´Higgins´ elegant upright piano from 1810.  O´Higgins is considered to be the George Washington of Chile - the father of the country who lives on as the character on practically every denomination of Chilean coin.

The museum continues on and on and on...Chilean history continues with the Independence and the Republic wings, including a special section on the War of the Pacific (1879-1884), Liturgy and the Catholic Church and then on to more modern times.  There is a particularly fascinating wing dedicated to the Huasos and their gear (Chilean cowboy culture) and then a special wing devoted to an immaculate collection of horse-drawn carriages.  Then there is the wing dedicated to automobiles, which includes some very special antique vehicles of local Chilean interest, plus old racing cars and a few examples of early gas station pumps from Chile too.

I never even made it to see the wine cultivation exhibit or the exhibit of ancient firearms and weaponry or the Railroads of Chile display, and I could only walk through the exhibits of vintage farm implements and machinery, and sadly, the Charles Darwin wing was closed for remodeling.  In reality, I couldn´t give this extra special museum the royal treatment it deserved because we had to head back to our base at Pichilemu.  Regardless, if I should be able to return once again to Chile, visiting this museum again will be a priority, and I highly recommend it to anyone going to Chile.

Now on a more sober note, I´ll close out this blog post tonight by noting that in many places we visited, there was still ample evidence of the destruction of the massive 8.8 scale earthquake that happened here just over a year ago.  In this picture above, which was taken from right next to where we had parked out rental car in Santa Cruz when we went to the museum, you can see one example of the damage done, even a full year later.  And there are many buildings like this in Santa Cruz, many of which looked to have been historic buildings, but now await an uncertain fate.

For now, this will be my final post from Chile since by this time tomorrow evening I will be boarding my flight to go back to the USA.  I am not sure yet if I will be posting a post-mortem on this trip, so let me just say that I´ve had a grand time once again visiting here, and especially having the opportunity to spend part of this trip with Constanza, Matias and Cristobal - Andres´ three wonderful kids.  And of course, it has been a blast to tour around with Andres.  I also think we saved some major $$ by deciding to make Pichilemu our home base and then to do a variety of day trips rather than relocating every couple of days.  In the end, the venerable Hotel Asthur kind of became our "home" on the road, and it was even kind of sad to leave it this morning...

Now my NEXT adventure will be coming up in just about three weeks!  I am announcing here and now that I will be visiting Mexico for the first time in nearly 20 years, going as an invited guest of a young woman who has been researching the life of Felipe Angeles (just like me) who lives in the home state of General Angeles - Hidalgo, Mexico.  Her name is Juany Gutierrez and she has done some graduate studies on Angeles and she found me on the internet a couple of years ago and we have been in correspondence ever since.  She and her husband Leo will meet me at the airport in Mexico City on April 4th, and then they will bring me back to their home in Pachuca, Hidalgo.  Then they will take me to all of the pertinent sites and museums there, plus a research trip back into Mexico City, and finally, a drive north to they city of Zacatecas, where General Angeles engineered his greatest military victory when he masterminded Pancho Villa´s defeat of the traitor General Huerta´s federal Mexican army in June 1914.  At one point I argued against the Zacatecas trip simply because of logistics of it all...it will be a 10-hour drive there, and another 10 hours back to Pachuca.  But Juany and Leo said that they really wanted to take me to Zacatecas so I finally agreed.

The Mexico trip will last only one week, from April 4 to 11, but I´ll try to post images and stories here as best as I can - so stay tuned!

Cheers!!

ON THE ROAD LITERATURE: READING MATERIAL FOR THIS TRIP TO CHILE

As many of you who have been following my South America travel blog for some time know, I usually dedicate one blog post on each trip to the reading materials I´ve brought along with me.  Since late last year I have been busy writing essays and doing translations of materials relating to the Mexican Revolution - which of course is one of the most significant events in Latin American history (one only needs to check out the link I have on this blog to the Mexican Revolution study group which I run to learn more), so I decided to bring along a trio of books that deal directly with this epic historical event, which also happens to be in the midst of its own ´Centennial´(1910-1920).  For the sake of improving my own Spanish abilities, all of these books were written in Español...

Alejandro Rosas: Charlas de Cafe Con Felipe Angeles (2009)
Published in 2009 with the intent of being one of a series of books commemorating Mexico´s Independence Bicentennial as well as the Revolution´s Centennial, this surprising little book also manages to illuminate the life of one of the most enigmatic and least-understood major characters of the Mexican Revolution, General Felipe Angeles.  And just in case you didn´t know it, I myself have been working on and off on researching the life of General Angeles for about a dozen years now, so I feel that I am qualified, to some degree, to review this book.

The outline of Felipe Angeles´ story is unique in the annals of the Mexican Revolution, having started out as a career officer in the Mexican federal army of Porfirio Diaz and then with the coming of the revolution, becoming the trusted friend of  revolutionary President Francisco I.Madero and eventually Pancho Villa´s most trusted advisor, tactician and artillery commander.  Then, after suffering serious reverses on the battlefield, Angeles found himself in exile in the United States, remaining an exile there for over three years before making his final quixotic return to Mexico in a futile attempt to salvage the mess that his country had turned into only to be executed by firing squad after a sham trial on November 26, 1919.

Rojas has constructed his book as if it really is a series of conversations held with the near-mythical Mexican General, or at least with his soul.  The concept may sound a bit absurd, but Rojas has pulled it off regardless, displaying a deep understanding of the major events (while utilizing many bits of minutiae as well) in the life of Felipe Angeles.  I personally felt that he had captured the essence of the General´s ultimate philosophy as it had evolved through the smoke and fire of the revolution and on to his final trial and execution.  If one is rating the book, it should earn five stars.

Paco Ignacio Taibo II: Temporada de Zopilotes (2009)
One of the most prolific of contemporary Mexican writers working today, Paco Ignacio Taibo II surprised everybody with an eye towards the historiography of the Mexican Revolution back in 2006 when he published his monumental biography of Pancho Villa - a book which nobody had expected, especially since the late, great historian Friedrich Katz had published only a few years before what many felt would be the final word on Pancho Villa for at least a generation with his Life and Times of Pancho Villa.


Many have judged Taibo to be a mere writer of fiction, but he actually cut his teeth on an acclaimed biography of Che Guevara and shortly later, a political novel commissioned by Subcomandte Marcos in 2005 entitled Muertos Incomodos.

This new work is a worthy addition to his list of acclaimed works as it is perhaps the best narritive history of Mexico´s Decena Tragica, or "tragic ten days" when the relatively new and truly democratically elected government of Francisco I. Madero was rudely overturned in a coup détat with culminated in the assassinations of both President Madero and Vice President Jose Maria Pino Suarez, leaving the presidency of Mexico in the hands of the traitor General Victoriano Huerta.

The book flows along like an espionage thriller, which, in a sense, it is, albeit as a horribly true story.  Taibo has studied his material well, and he has woven the resulting piece into a gripping history which needs to be read by anybody with an eye toward understanding the crux of the Mexican Revolution.

Alberto Calzadiaz Barrera: Gral. Martin Lopez: Grandioso Dorado de Pancho Villa (1968)
Okay, so this is the book I´m currently reading.  Unlike the other two above, this one is not a contemporary effort, but rather, a book written by one of the primary original historians of the Mexican Revolution, and a man who was alive to witness the event first-hand.  Calzadiaz Barrera is best known for his multi-volume Hechos Reales de la Revolucion, whose three main volumes chronicle the birth, the success and glory, and finally the agony and defeat of Villa´s fabled Division del Norte, the rebel army which made him famous and vice versa.

This effort is a corollary to those other books in thew sense that it is a biography of the young Martin Lopez, who was only a teenager when he signed up with Villa´s band in 1911 to help fight for the cause of Francisco I. Madero, and who stayed with his chief through thick and thin until he ultimately was mortally wounded in a skirmish in the closing years of the armed struggle in 1919.  Lopez was, of course, one of Villa´s favorites, and he treated him like a true son.  Right now I am only up to the point where Villais fighting alongside Victoriano Huerta against the anti-Madero revolt of Pascual Orozco, so I´ve gor a lot of territory to cover between now and when  I get home in a few days.  Regardless, one of the most interesting things about the book are the first-person accounts of revolutionary veterans Calzadiaz Barrera uses throughout.  It is an oldie but a goodie...

CAHUIL, MATANZAS AND LA BOCA

Andres and I maintained our base at Pichilemu for the past couple of days, opting even to stay once again tonight and likely tomorrow as well after finally deciding to cut short the driving and concentrate on the goal of simply taking it easy for these last couple of days before a return to Santiago to prepare for my flight home.

CAHUIL:
But for the moment, let´s take a look at our most recent excursions.  On the day before yesterday we took a drive a short way south - to the coastal village of Cahuil, and inland to the Estuary Nilahue and the Laguna de Cahuil, where we saw salt evaporation ponds.  Many of the older ponds were either inactive or had been abandoned years ago and thus, had become prime wetlands where we were able to appreciate seeing a significant number of water fowl, like these Black Neck Swans  shown below:

Those two pictures were taken by Andres, as are all of today´s posted images.  Since he has become the semi-official photographer for this blog, at least for this current trip, he´s got me in way too many pictures. . .but sure, I agree with him that posting pictures of the blogger works to personalize the posts and connect with the reader.  So here I am, caught in the act of trying to photograph some of the water fowl in the estuary...

WEDNESDAY NIGHT PISCO SOUR LESSON:
Anyway, that evening, I had my own "pisco sour preparation lession," taught by Andres, and assisted by Guillermo, who works as the handyman here at the Hotel Asthur in Pichilemu.  This next picture shows Guillermo preparing the blender while I look on. . .

In the end, Andres and I had concocted enough pisco sour to put us both away for the night.  But before we consumed the product, we gave it a salute, photographed by Guillermo:

THURSDAY TRIP TO MATANZAS AND LA BOCA:
Yesterday Andres and I decided to drive about 90 km north of here to explore the coastal regions around the mouth of the Rio Rapel, which represents the  boundary between the Chilean V Region (de Valparaiso) and the VI Region (del Lib. Gral. Bernardo O´Higgins).  The views were supposed to be spectacular, and Andres had understood that there was good fossil hunting along the cliffs overlooking the ocean.

The drive took us somewhat inland, away from the coastal fog, and through some colorful pastoral country which included the towns of Las Damas, Litueche, Rapel, Navidad and finally, the small balneario of Las Matanzas, so named, I understand, because of an old slaughtering of sea lions which happend there centuries ago.  Here in this next picture, we get a view of a unique cultivated plant known as proteas, with distinctive red color.  I have no idea what it is cultivated for, but here´s the image:

Now the bush directly in front of the fence in the above picture happened to be a wild Chilean blackberry, and its berries were, for the most part, ripe enough to eat, so I sampled a few.  Fairly tasty berries, although a bit smaller than the similar sort of thing one finds along the roadsides in California and Oregon.

The next picture shows the view of the ocean from an overlook just a couple of kilometers from Matanzas:

We had lunch at a small cafe in the town of Navidad, and then continued on northward until we reached the town of La Boca, so-named because it faces the very impressive mouth of the Rio Rapel and its so-called Desembocadura del Rio.  Here´s several views, courtesy of Andres:

Here Andres captured me in the act of photographing the statue of San Pedro de Rapel, erected in 1942, overlooking the Desembocadura. . .

After absorbing the views over the mouth of the river, we traversed our way down through La Boca and onto the seashore.  There Andres had stumbled upon a real treasure trove of fossils and proto-fossils, so he dug out a good sampling of specimens.  And while he was doing that, I took the opportunity to get my feet wet in the waters of the Pacific... That´s me in the lower right hand corner.

More later, my friends.. By the way, remember that you can click on any one of these images to get a slightly larger version of that particular photo.

ON THE PACIFIC COAST AT PICHILEMU

The drive from Santiago to the coast of the South Pacific went smoothly - Andres and I started out heading southward on Ruta 5, the Carretera Panamericana, eventually torning westward on two-lane paved roads that led through the Chilean towns of Peumo, Pichidegua and Marchihue before our arrival at Pichilemu, a small city with perhaps 13,000 inhabitants.  Since I have stayed here before, and because I´d enjoyed and appreciated my old accomodations at Pichilemu´s Hotel Asthur, I recommended this quiet and comfortable 2-star hotel to Andres.  Now we have been here for two nights, and plan to stay again tonight before heading out tomorrow for a still undetermined destination where we will locate for our last three nights before making our return to Santiago on the 13th - to settle in and make preparations for my return flight to the USA on the 14th (arriving in Salt Lake City on March 15th).

For today´s post, I am using photos exclusively taken by Andres.  The above image shows me out on the balcony on the second floor of Hotel Asthur, where Andres and I occupy two separate rooms.  The view from the balcony is quite nice - to the left, one can see the wide expanse of the black sand beach; while to the right one can see the northern part of the town with the surrounding hills in the distance, as shown in the following image:

Pichilemu is known as the Chilean "capitol of surfing," and here they hold the annual Campeonato Internacional de Surf between October and December.  And even though the competitive season here is over, there are still plenty of surfers in town.  Of course, they do a lot of surfing at the westernmost point along the city´s principal beach, but the surf´s even better about 6 km south of town at a place called Punta de Lobos, where the strong left swells can carry the more ambitious surfers quite a long ways.

Yesterday Andres and I visited Punta de Lobos, and that is where the following pictures were taken:

Yesterday was cloudy, so the above images might seem a little grey; regardless, they should give you a little idea of things here.  Today we might be going a bit further southward, to a small settlement known as Cahuil, also on the coast about 12 km south of here.  Andres is still lusting after finding fossils, and he says that there are supposedly good places to look for that sort of thing in the vicinity of that village.  It is also where there are some wetlands present along the so-named Nilahue Estuary and the Laguna de Cahuil, which would make for some decent viewing of bird populations.  Cahuil is a small place with a population of around 400 or 500 people, many of whom work as fishermen or in sea salt extraction at the salt ponds located a bit up the estuary.

Later on this evening Andres is going to give me lessons on how to prepare Pisco Sour.  Although I already know how to prepare this mixed drink, a lesson from an expert still won´t hurt; and it will give me cause to bring some pisco back with me when I fly home...