Zelma’s Trip

We headed into town in the morning and I put my laundry in.  We also spent a little while looking for a clinic, doctor or dentist.  This was as, about two days after being assaulted in Wanaka, I developed a strange solid lump in my mouth.  Since then it hasn´t gone down and I vary from thinking I have a fractured jaw to not actually thinking about it at all.  It´s something I guess I will get checked out at some point but, as it doesn´t really actually hurt now, it doesn´t feel like a priority to take time out of traveling and pay a lot of money to have someone tell me about it in a language that I don´t understand that they don´t know what it is.  Anyway, we didn´t find anywhere and instead headed to Isla Negra.  Isla Negra was a lovely place with some really nice artisan stalls.  There were also some rather less nice pieces akin to those found in places in Blackpool.  You know the whole sea shells stuck together to look like a penguin with Blackpool written on the bottom in biro type jobbies?  Except in this case obviously they didn´t say Blackpool but Isla Negra.  Along with being a lovely place Isla Negra is famous for being one of the places that Pablo Neruda chose to call home.  Neruda was a Chilean poet who is hugely respected here and there are various museums and the like around the country.  We ate lunch in a place where he used to stay which was lovely with amazing ocean views.

After buying Mum a few Birthday pressies we headed back to Pao Pao in Algarobbo and the llamas, played some bridge, had supper and supped wine.

The following day we collected my laundry and used the free internet in the library.  We decided to head up the coast slightly but the road we had chosen was closed and apparently could be so for some time.  We decided to head to Penulela National Park instead which was a park around a large dammed lake.  That is right rather than damned lake, which is what I was thinking isn´t it?  Not that I´m thinking anything negative about the lake you understand, it´s just that dammed looks a bit strange to me having typed it.  Okay, so we went to the lake place with a dam, oh, I should have just done it like that in the first place.  It was really lovely, although you could hear the motoway noise in parts.  There were fun tracks to drive though and a llama, or other camelid wandering about.  There was also plentiful birdlife as always.

After the darned lake we headed back to Algarobbo where we had a great meal in a lovely restaurant frequented by locals.  Having packed and cleaned the van we sat by the swimming pool (which we had somehow previously managed not to discover) and sipped Gin and Tonics.