Sorry. Bad pun. I’m posting a couple of photos from Chile today since there’s been so much in the news since the earthquake last week. The shot above is from Valparaiso, on the coast west of Santiago. It and the following shot are from a trip I took to Chile a couple of years ago. If you want to see coverage post-earthquake, check out The Boston Globe’s Big Picture here and here. The following shot is of a more modern side of Chile in the bustling capital city of Santiago.

Chile has also lately been appearing on television in the Amazing Race 16. This show is a guilty pleasure of mine as I love to see the contestants panic when thrown into the various situations that so often come with travel. I had to laugh when the cowboys changed their money for “Brazilian” when they heard they would be flying to Santiago. Obviously, that didn’t work out so well for them upon arrival in Chile, but they’ve been doing much better ever since.

Valparaiso was also the scene of a challenge when team members had to “wire walk” across a deep valley in that very hilly city. I knew exactly where this challenge took place and can say that I would not have wanted to participate myself. In fact, there are few of the challenges that I would want to participate in but I would love to be on the crew of this show and travel to all of the exotic destinations. Maybe be the camera guy that travels with the host, Phil. I imagine they get to stay and eat in the nicer places.

If you haven’t seen the show, check it out this Sunday. I think the cowboys might take the million dollars this year.

Oh, and back to my pun… it IS getting warmer. Finally! The last couple of days it has reached the 60s after three months of deep freeze temps and repeated ice and snow storms. There’s still ice in some areas of our yard but it shouldn’t last long now. I’ll be leaving in a week for even warmer temperatures but more on that later.