We had a very pleasant breakfast at our hotel and while loading the van kept hearing cattle lowing in the distance and noise that suggested a cattle drive or something. We decided to take a walk and investigate. Down the street we found a livestock auction arena just revving up for a day of selling. There were 30 or 40 pens that had raised walkways all around them so prospective buyers could investigate the stock. We took seats in the stands and watched as the preparations were made. Luckily they started with the horses, because we had much more interest in them. We resisted bidding on a mare/foal duo and one or two other good looking horses! Around quarter of 11, we realized we had better get going if we were going to arrive in Concepcion by early afternoon.
The drive from Talca was an easy one and although we saw several carabineros set up for traffic stops, we were spared today. Patrick Clemo, who has been keeping in touch with Grandma (who is now going to be referred to as Tia Peddie-as that is her name here in the Clemo family) over the years through e-mail, told us to call him when we were south of the town of Chillan where there is a new turnoff for Concepcion so that he could come and meet us to lead us into town. It was a good thing because Nuvi seems to have gotten confused the farther south we go and, although our little blue arrow was always on the street that it said we were on, it couldn't seem to find the way to Patrick's house! Patrick rode with us while Jay and Pegg rode into town with Patrick's son David and his girlfriend, Melanie. We learned from Patrick that Melanie was very interested to hear about the 1976 hosting of the Esmeralda crew by the Robinson family, because her grandfather was the captain of the Esmeralda at that time!! We had a long talk about it with her at dinner.
The Clemo family very graciously offered to house all six of us during our stay in Concepcion, so Barb and Tia Peddie are staying with Patrick's mother, Joan. Pegg and Jay are staying with Patrick and his wife Rose, and Dan and Martha are staying with Patrick's sister Beverly and her husband Antonio. We all settled into our respective homes and then met at Patrick and Rose's for a BBQ. Lots of great pictures were taken there, but not by us, as we had misplaced the camera and forgot to collect everyone else's camera before splitting up to go back "home" to bed! More pictures tomorrow. Buenas noches, The Blissful Blisses
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After breakfast at the hotel, Dan, Martha, Jay and Pegg walked down the Avenida San Miguel toward Talca to find the source of a lot of cattle lowing and found a livestock auction arena. We climbed into the stand and watched while the horses and cattle were herded into different pens in preparations for the auction. We enjoyed watching the subtle bidding action for about half an hour.
Get out the tissues again. Grandma could barely contain herself when we saw the first sign showing that Concepcion was only 136 km away!
As we left Ruta 5 just south of Chillan and headed toward the ocean (and Concepcion) we went over the coastal range where much of the land is taken up by stands of very regimented plantings of both pine and eucalyptus trees. We understood why when we came upon a tremendous paper mill.
This is the incredible view from Dan and Martha's room (at Beverly and Antonio's house) high above the city of Concepcion and the BioBio River. We'll get a daytime shot tomorrow.
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