A Chilean Building or Landmark

Hi there FAU Bloggers:

Today I'd like you to write about a Chilean building or a landmark that you like. I've opted for a landmark I visited last year, "the Marble Caves" on General Carrera Lake near Coyhaique. I went with my wife and her mum to celebrate my wife's birthday. Up until that point, the furthest South I'd travelled was Chiloe and I was really eager to see what the landscape was like.
Well, it was amazing, the area surrounding Coyhaique is beautiful and, for my taste, the most beautiful place of all was the Marble Caves. It's a 4 or 5 hour drive from Coyhaique to General Carrera Lake. A lot of the route is unpaved and also winding and bumpy. The boat tour to the caves departs from Puerto Tranquillo - a tiny village that is basically 2 shops, a petrol station and 5 or 6 little businesses offering boat trips to the caves. We were lucky with the weather, it was mid-September and the sit was really sunny with very little wind. However, once we got out on the lake it became quite cold. It took about 20 minutes or so to reach the caves. They were only us and another couple on the boat so we had plenty of time to look around and take photos. I guess summer would be a better time to visit because the water-line is lower and you can go further into the caves with the boat as more caverns are exposed. However, I think the bad thing about going in the summer would be the amount of boats. We only saw one other while we were out on the lake but I'm sure there would be dozens during the high season. It's hard to describe how beautiful the caves are because it has to do with both the experience and the environment. It was amazingly peaceful and quiet, just the sound of the water lapping against the boat and the rocks. A wonderful memory of a beautiful landmark:)

Write about a Chilean building or landmark you like.
Say:
Where it is,
When you visited it,
Who you went with,
What you did there,
Why you like it.

Mention anything else you thing is interesting. Write at least 250 words. Leave a comment on my blog and on the blogs of at least 3 classmates.

Free Post: Something you feel passionate about

Hi Blogheads,

Something I feel passionate about is reading. I don't know how I "got the reading bug" but I've loved reading since I was very young. I guess my earliest memories are of going to the local library at age 7. It was amazing that you could borrow 5 or 6 books at a time and keep then for 3 weeks or even renew them if you need more time. So, I became an avid reader from the age of 7 or 8 years old, maybe what some people would call a "bookworm". I remember going to bed and using a torch to read under the covers. Eventually, when my parents found out they used to confiscate my torch and I remember I secretly bought a second torch so, if they caught me I had a back up.

As a child my favourite authors were Enid Blyton and Arthur Ransome. Enid Blyton wrote over 250 books and I must have read most of them, many 4 or 5 times. Later, at school I joined the book club and we had to read at least 4 books a month. As a teenager I got into Science Fiction and read 100's of Sci-Fi novels. Usually, if I like an author I read all their works. At different times in my life this has included: Tolkien, Franz Kafka, Dostoiefski. Jack Kerouac, Michael Moorcock, Frank Herbert, Ray Bradbury, Tricia Sullivan, Elmore Leonard, Herman Hesse, George Orwell, Mervyn Peake, Frank Herbet, Robert Heinlein. Phillip K Dick and lots of others I can't really remember now. Currently, my favourite modern authors are Haruki Murakami, David Mitchell and Margret Atwood.

I often read books more than once. For example, this year I read 1984 by Orwell for the 5th or 6th time. At the moment I'm finishing (& really enjoying) All Tomorrow's Parties by cyberpunk author William Gibson. Now I have to decide what to read next. Any suggestions?

Write about something you feel passionate about. Write about 250 words. Leave a comment on my blog & on the blogs of at least 3 classmates.

A Holiday

Hi Bloggers!

This week I'd like you to write about a great holiday you had. I'm going to tell you about a trip my wife and I made to Peru and Bolivia in 2001. We flew to Arica and stayed the night in a hostel. The next day we took a minibus to Tacna and a bus to Arequipa. We stayed in a cheap hostel in Arequipa but also spent one night in Colca Canyon (to see the baby Condors). On the trip to Colca we made friends with 2 Italian guys and 2 Israeli girls who we kept meeting throughout our trip. After about 4 days in Arequipa we took a flight to Cusco. We could have taken a 19-hour bus ride for about 2 dollars but we decided on the 30-minute, 50 dollar flight because it was rainy season and some of the roads were blocked. Also there had been rumours of bandits holding up the buses and robbing the tourists. Cusco was great. Obviously we went to Machu Picchu which was amazing. It was raining when we arrived but the sun came out late in the afternoon when all the one-day tourists had left. My wife and I had arranged to stay overnight in Aguas Calientes, the nearest village, and we walked up to Machu Picchu again the following day at 8 am to see the sunrise. We also climbed Huayna Picchu as well which has an amazing view and is a great place to take photos. In Aguas Calientes we met a group of Argentines in a bar and they told us about an amazing hotel in Coroico, Bolivia that involved travelling down the "Road of Death". So, off we went to Coroico via Puno (for 30 minutes), Copacobana for two nights, with trips on Lake Titicaca to La Isla del Sol and La Isla de la Luna included, and La Paz. Coroico was great.

The Road of Death was scary and the hotel was just as amazing as the Argentines had said it was.
Actually, the Road of Death was so scary I didn't want to leave Coroico! Eventually, I had to. Luckily we made it back to La Paz safe and sound. A couple of days we took a bus back to Chile via Lake Chungara. Great trip!

So, write about a great holiday you had.
Say:
Where you went,
Who you went with,
How long you stayed,
What you did,
Why you enjoyed it so much.
Mention anything else you thing is important.
Write at least 250 words. Write a comment on your teacher's blog and on the blogs of at least 3 classmates.