Adios Santiago

Fourteen days in Santiago turned out to be way too long a visit. The problem was that nearly all the museums and art galleries, which is the reason I went there, were closed. Not even the tourism office knew they were closed. Stranger still, neither do the museum websites let the public know. One day…

BytarpleyFebruary 16, 20172Comments

Chile 2017

Art Everywhere. But, Is It Legal?

Today is my final day in Valparaiso. I will be sad to leave this unique city. After walking up and down numerous hills, I think what interests me the most are the artists who paint huge murals on or next to very small dwellings, like the one in the featured image. Here is another one: My photos…

BytarpleyFebruary 7, 20171Comment

Chile 2017

That Valparaiso!

The poet, Pablo Neruda, in an ode to his city, captures it: "What nonsense you are. What a crazy insane port. Your mounded head disheveled. You never finish combing your hair. Life always surprised you." The city is in a continual state of delapidated and new construction. The old area of "Valpo", where Europeans lived during the…

BytarpleyFebruary 4, 20175Comments

Chile 2017

The Female Traveler

Before I knew anything about the painting in today's featured image, I took a photograph of her. She is part of the permanent collection in Santiago's Belles Artes Museum. A woman alone on a train, going somewhere, accompanied by a book. The 1928 painting is by Chilean artist Camilo Mori and is titled La Viajera,…

BytarpleyJanuary 30, 20171Comment

Chile 2017

Why Instant Nescafé Rules in Chile.

This is my third trip to Chile (although have not been to Santiago before) and this time, I had the presence of mind to bring along my own ground coffee, filters and filter paper holder. It remained a mystery to me until yesterday why when ordering coffee, even in the best hotels, means you will…

BytarpleyJanuary 26, 20171Comment

Chile 2017

Mr. Rodas: A Dream Come True

The featured image shows me sitting with Claudio Amarza, a renowned Chilean photographer whose work has appeared in National Geographic, among other publications. Here is the back story: In December, 2013, I went on a hiking tour of Patagonia. Our group stopped for lunch in Punto Arenas and a black and white photograph on the wall…

BytarpleyJanuary 23, 20170Comments

Chile 2017

The Wheels on the Bus Go Round and Round

See all the primary colors? Red, blue, green and yellow. Our 18 year old bus attendants wore white shirts, ties, dark slacks and tie shoes. The passengers piled on dressed in shorts, t shirts and atheletic shoes and carried backpacks. This "establishment shot" set the tone of a 10 hour bus trip from Mendoza to…

BytarpleyJanuary 22, 20170Comments

Argentina 2017

Art in Mendoza

The featured image is the top of a sculpture in the Plaza Espana and is my favorite work of art in Mendoza. On the left is Spain, symbolized as the older, more motherly woman, reaching out and holding on to securely her new daughter, Argentina, by way of the Santa Maria, which brought them together.…

BytarpleyJanuary 19, 20174Comments

Argentina 2017

Living in Mendoza

What I enjoy most about travel is recreating my daily routine in an environment that may or may not be compatible. Since I retired, I arise at 7:30 and go to bed at 11. I eat breakfast at 8, lunch at 1 and dinner at 7:30-8. If I lived like a Mendoza local, I would…

BytarpleyJanuary 19, 20171Comment

Argentina 2017

City Within a City

The featured image is a view taken while walking around in General San Martin park. The nearly 1000 acre park was built in the early 1900s and has something for everyone - a zoo, an anthropology museum, a rowing lake, a boarding school for poor children and orphans, an elite country club, football stadiums, a…

BytarpleyJanuary 18, 20170Comments