Marble Caves
Marble Caves is one of the main reasons for me to be on this trip and I have been dreaming about coming here to see them for quite a few years. It paid off and paid off well.
There are several difficult technical issues in taking photos with Marble Caves and here they are:
- The weather. The weather is always the biggest variable especially for outdoor photography and it’s no difference here at the Marble Caves. It’s located at a lake and the weather in the area could change in minutes from pouring rain to sunny day. According to the locals, the best time to visit those caves is early, very early in the morning. I always took local people’s advice seriously so I headed out at 7:30am in the morning, the first boat available to be out there on the lake.
The trip started with calm weather but soon the rain started pouring and I was lucky that I had my rain coat on before I got onto the boat. I only regretted that I didn’t put on my rain pants too. As you could imagine, I was half wet through the entire trip. - The instability of the boat. The boat is relatively big which could accommodate 12 people or so but still very tiny in such a vast lake. You may easily see the waves caused by the moving boat in the following image:
Because of the instability, I need to use higher shutter speed to freeze a shot. Otherwise, it’s very easy to get blurred images. - Lighting. Lighting is the biggest and very tricky issue in taking photos at Marble Caves. It’s not only that the light is low in caves but also the range of the available light is very broad. It could be as much as up to 10 stops in variant and not even the most advanced camera could cover it well. Because of the instability of the boat, bracketing is not an option. With higher shutter speed because of the instability of the boat and the low light, it’s quite a challenge to take photos at the Marble Caves. (This following image is a good example on lighting issue. It was taken inside a cave shooting toward outside and light difference is too broad for the camera to handle. The bright skylight was burned out and couldn’t be recovered. I tried to do multiple shots and then HDR composing but because of the moment of the boat it didn’t work.)
Another lighting problem is there are sky, white clouds, dark clouds, caves, rocks, trees and grasses and lake water and all these absorbing and reflecting lights in different ways which complicates things enormously. (The following image is yet another difficult lighting situation. Post processing couldn’t save it very well.)
- Surprising objects. When I came onto the boat, my mind was set at photo opportunity on the subject of landscape. I was very wrong. Halfway through the trip, the local guide started to introduce a few local wildlife including a very special bird, Ashv-headed Goose, residing on the lake. Even though we repetitively seeing the birds, I had hard time to take good images of them because I didn’t have my long lens with me on the boat. (Here is an image of Ashv-headed Goose and it’s heavily cropped because I didn’t have my telephoto lens with me. It’s shot with Nikon Z 24-120mm at 120mm.)
This is one of the biggest regrets for this trip. I never knew that I could have the opportunity.
The entire trip took about two hours and it’s a very intense two hours because of all the above reasons. The boat kept moving and I must give my undivided attention to every single moment. I actually regret that I missed a few shots just because I was looking at one direction but missed excellent opportunity at other directions until it was split second too late. If I could have another chance to go back and do it again, I won’t hesitate to take it and vow to myself that I must do better.
Driving in Chile
I have been traveling and driving around the world quite a bit and driving in Chile is relatively easy. I live in the US and the rules and regulations aren’t too much different than in the US. However, there are a few differences other than the kilometer vs mile and so on worth noting.
First of all, though the road signs are mostly similar with in the US but most of the time they are decoration only. People generally ignore the existence of them. For example, if I drive at 50 km/h at the 50 km/h zone, I am impeding the traffic heavily and dangerously. When I drove 120 km/h at the speed limit on a highway, cars zoomed me by constantly. What even more astonishing me was that people generally ignore the “no passing area” sign. I was passed by the other cars in the double white or yellow line zone all the time even I was exceeding the speed limit already. I sometimes got cold sweat just by looking at them makes this stunt. This really surprised me because to my observation Chilean are very relaxing, lay-back and optimistic people, what’s the hurry when they are behind the steering wheels?
Second, people here like to use the emergency lights and tend to over use them from my point of view. If there is a red traffic light and they would turn it on while slowing down and stop in front of the traffic light. Or, when they tried to stop and park on the side of a road, they would turn on the emergency signal too. I could fully understand that they were trying to warn the cars behind them to slow down too but wasn’t that the purpose of breaking lights?
Third, because of the narrow alley or streets around towns, it seems people could park their car anywhere and ignore any regulations. I saw cars parked at a zone clearly marked no parking which is a capital “E” with a slash on it. It sometimes makes passing through the already narrow streets very difficult. Nevertheless, I also must say they do sometimes park half the car on the street and half on the side walk, pedestrian walkway, to make things slightly easier. I guess this is a compromise with the narrow streets and people’s need.
Forth, many of the roads weren’t paved but rough gravel roads. When I was at the car rental pick up site, the staff led me to the car, open the trunk and show me where was the spare tire, tire replacement tools and even briefly introducing how to use these tools, I was a bit excited with their thoughtful service because this was a first after I rented and drove a rental car at 30+ countries. I then soon found out why. Some of the rough gravel roads worried me quite a bit and made me prey that I won’t need to open the trunk for the purpose of replacing tire in a heavy rainy day.
Other than the above observations, I really enjoy the traveling and driving around Chile. It’s a beautiful place and people are generally very nice and friendly. If you speak Spanish, this is really a place for you to enjoy beautiful scenery, relaxing and interacting with different cultures. Come, come and experience all these yourselves.
A moment with Wildlife
It’s late in a day after dinner and shower and a bit stuffy staying in the hotel room so I decided to take a walk along the shoreline while there were still some daylight. As soon as I get to the nearby shoreline, I realized that it’s low tide and there were plenty of birds seeking for food. Immediately I turned around and went back to my room to grab my photo equipment.
It was a long day and I was tired so I picked a big rock, sat on it to make myself comfortable first and then set up the tripod and my camera gears. Because of the low tide, birds were not far from where I was, approximately 30 to 50 meters (100 – 160ft). It’s like fishing, shooting wildlife requires patience and most of the time nothing exciting happens. I sat there for about forty-five minutes and took quite some not so interesting or boring birds pictures and switching between a small group of Blacked-face Ibis and an lone Whimbrel. I started with the lone Whimbrel and followed it from left of the shoreline to the right then back and forth quite a few times. Nothing special happened and I got bored. In the mean time, I noticed that there was a small flock of Black-faced Ibis close by and hoping to see some interaction among them so I switched my attention to them. After another period of time, I got bored with them too because there was no interaction among them like I expected.
It’s late in the day, almost 8:00pm. The light was getting insufficient and the temperature was dropping. Just as I was thinking about retreating back to my cozy little hotel room, I decided to give that lone Whimbrel a last chance. About 10 seconds after I switched back to the lone Whimbrel, I saw it picked up a small crab. Without hesitation and like instinct reaction, I triggered the shutter but questioning myself in my mind is this even real? 
There was not much room for me to have any doubt or think. Once an action started in wildlife, it’s like lighting fast and short. I couldn’t think and must gave my 100% attention to the viewfinder. All I saw was the lone Whimbrel kept picking up the crab, shook it violently a few times and then dropped it back into water. I was confused for this kind of action. Why wouldn’t the Whimbrel just eat the crab? Why would it shake it violently? And, even more puzzling is why would the Whimbrel drop the crab back into the water? What if the crab escaped? 
With all these questions bearing in my mind, my eye were following the Whimbrel in the viewfinder constantly, checking the exposure data and zoom focal length repetitively and my finger kept pressure on and off the shutter. To me, it’s like a twenty minutes process and the action was like last forever because I must give all my energy and attention to the moment. Only later while I was doing post-processing, I realized that the entire action lasted only close to three minutes.
After I didn’t know how long at the time, I finally realized what was the Whimbrel doing. The Whimbrel picked up the crab, shook it violently to “dis-arm” the crab. In this picture, we could see one of the claw was broken from the crab. 
That’s what the Whimbrel doing! It’s smart, way more smart than I could imagine. In the remaining time, the lone Whimbrel repeated this action till all the limbs were removed from the crab. We could see this from the following pictures. 
Finally, the crab became “naked”, limbless and defenseless and only by then the Whimbrel swallowed it in whole.
In the real wild nature environment, a show like this re-playing itself all the time. Some may think it’s cruel and brutal but it’s real and it’s happening. To me, I observed and recorded a true moment of wildlife in the natural world. I was excited and joyful. A lot of effort, a little patience and a grain of luck paid off and paid off well.
You may also see the entire process in the following time-lapse action clip:
ATM episode
Before I even started this trip, my banker asked me if I want to take some foreign currency with me. I carelessly answered “no” because I had been traveled many places and countries around the world already and rarely had problems in withdrawing cash from an ATM machine.
After I landed at the airport and picked up the rental car, I specifically asked the rental car staff whether I need to get some cash before I drive to my next destination in case there is any toll booth. The staff told me they have the automatically electronic payment device installed and no worry on the toll. I was happily on my way.
It started like the rental car staff said the electronic payment device would “beep” when there is a toll. Everything was smooth and nice until I was exiting the highway 5 and heading toward a local town for the night. I could see a toll booth far away at the highway exit and thought the electronic payment would take care of the business. No, not at all. I was stopped by the booth and the toll collector was asking me for cash. Of course, I don’t speak Spanish so naturally I have no idea what she was talking about only know that I need to pay a toll. I first took out my credit card and praying in my mind this would work. No, not at all. Luckily, I didn’t clean up my wallet before I left the US so I took out a US dollar bill and hoping this would work. No, not at all. I tried to communicate with the toll collector in vain because we couldn’t understand each other. In the meantime, there was a long line of cars parked right behind me. I was in panic mode starting to sweat and didn’t know what to do. Finally I think the toll collector was also under pressure and took my dollar bill. I think the toll was like $0.25 but couldn’t careless at the moment. I would pay $10 dollar if the collector would take it. I was just very happy that I could be getting on my way.
After I arrived my hotel, the first order of business other than checking in, I asked the front desk where I could find an ATM to get some cash. Of course, this was under the help of Google translate since no one could understand me nor could I understand anyone. I was told the nearest ATM is located at a gas station not far from the hotel. I was happy, very happy since I need to refill my gas tank too and rushed over there.
I entered the gas station booth, looked around to search for the ATM and saw a big sign on the machine says “broken” in Spanish. How do I know? Because there was a huge “X” on it next to the word. I was frustrated but then tried to communicate with the staff at the gas station with Google translate asking where I could find another ATM. I was directed to a nearby supermarket.
The good thing is the ATM machine is very easy to spot as soon as I entered the supermarket. The bad news is it’s all Spanish. It’s time for Google translate again. I turned on my phone, started Google translate to scan and found “withdraw”. After all the required steps and pass code, nothing happened and my card was spitted out. I inserted my ATM card, tried again and failed again. There was a line started to form behind me. I gave up and yielded to the people waiting behind me. Luckily there was an “information” booth and I immediately walked over to ask for help. With Google translate, of course. The on duty staff understood my plea and tried to help me out at the ATM machine. We were going nowhere as before.
People would get smarter when under pressure, tremendous pressure. Finally, I asked if I could buy something and then get cash back. I had never done it in the US but it just dawn on me worth a try. The staff was very nice, patient and told me let’s try it. I grabbed a bottle of soft drink and started trying at a check-out. Everything seems ok till the last step, the supermarket clerk raised her head and asked me for my passport because I am a foreigner after all. I kept the passport in the hotel room since I thought it’s safer. Well, you never could be too careful in a foreign country and unfamiliar territory. The supermarket staff was very nice told me that I could go and pick up my passport and she would wait for me there.
Since last try at the supermarket worked smoothly, I had high hope with my passport in my pocket. It failed again. No, I couldn’t get cash this way either. I ran out of idea. More importantly, I was in trouble, big trouble. I didn’t have any cash on me. What if at the next stop when I exit at the highway it requires cash to pay for it? As the matter of fact, I ran into trouble sooner than that.
It’s late and dinner time. I left the hotel and drove around trying to find a restaurant for dinner. The traffic was light but it’s extremely difficult to park. I finally spotted a restaurant, parked my car, entered the restaurant only found out “cash only”! I was lucky that I asked before I ordered, otherwise, I would be staying there and washing dishes. I tried another two restaurants, same stories. I was tired, hungry, thirsty, frustrated and didn’t know what to do. Right at this moment, I saw a McDonald sign far away. I rushed over and sure enough, it’s a McDonald. I had never been so happy and satisfied chewing on a Big Mac like this before. I even ordered a Big Mac and a Cheese Burger at the same time, not mentioned a large drink. The best thing is I could pay all these with a credit card.
The next morning came and my problem remained. I asked the hotel staff how could I get cash in town? The staff answered that I could get cash at the money exchange downtown. I was searching on Google map for a money exchange. It suddenly dawn on me, it’s a Saturday and nothing is open on a Saturday. The next day, of course, is Sunday and nothing opens on a Sunday either. I was trapped, most definitely trapped in this small town. I couldn’t leave because I didn’t have any cash to pay for another highway exit.
I circled around the entire town and tried to find any ATM listed on Google map in vain. It’s a Saturday, most businesses were closed and locked with metal fences even if there was an ATM. I was lost, totally, entirely lost. It’s very early morning on a Saturday, I sat on a side walk, an almost empty street side walk, flipped through the Google map on my iPhone and tried to find any solution. Another ATM machine showed up on the map and it’s at a gas station. I tried both an ATM and a gas station before without any luck but it didn’t seem I have any other choices. It’s early in the morning around 8:00 so everything was quiet and not too many people. I entered the gas station, opened my Google translate on my phone. Since there was no one behind me to give me any pressure, I decided to take my time. I failed at the first try like before but then I recalled I saw something on the screen but skipped it because I was too eager to get it to work. The second time I took even more time to scan the ATM machine screen with Google translate. Bingo! There was an item hiding at the very lower left corner says “Foreign”. That’s the holly key. I didn’t see it before because I was so fixed on looking for the word “Withdraw” plus Google translate is nice but not that easy to use. I must scan up and down to get that word translated and just didn’t get a chance to go that far down to see the word “Foreign”. The previous day at the supermarket the clerk who helped me didn’t see the item “Foreign” either because both of us were looking for “withdraw”. I got cash. Just to prove my point, I operated it a second time to withdraw more cash at that machine. There were two staff standing behind the counter at the gas station and they had no idea why I was cheering, dancing and existing it like I just robbed the ATM with a million dollars.
The moral of the story is bring some foreign cash with you when you entering it to avoid big, unnecessary surprises especially if your banker offering you the service.
Car rental in Chile
Roughly speaking, I had probably rented cars at 20+ countries in the past so it’s not an unusual thing for me. However, renting a car in Chile opened my eyes. As usual, we will process all the procedures at the counter including checking passport, sign papers and charge credit card like everywhere else in the world. However, the biggest difference comes after the paper process is done.
Once the paper work is done, the clerk will lead you to the parking lot. At this moment, the car you are renting is ready and parked away from all the others and another staff member would be waiting aside the car for you. I was very surprised for this extra nice step. Usually the clerk would just give you a set of keys at the desk and let you find out where the car is in a huge parking lot on your own. Then the staff who was waiting for you would open the trunk and tell you where the spare tire and tools are and how to use them. He will then lead you to the car, sit in the car with you and explain things in the car including which button is for what and/or jew levers function if there is any. At the end, he will even ask you if you have any questions. This is an unprecedented experience and I was very surprised. This is a first and absolutely beyond my wildest expectations. Wow, I thought car rental service in Chile is really exceptional until I hit the road.
Things turn out roads in Chile aren’t always smooth and even paved. Many section of roads are unpaved gravel roads. Even though a regular car is capable of taking on this kind of road surface but no guarantee and there is a good chance you may need to replace tires on this kind of road condition. Sometimes it’s even a very long stretch of gravel roads like more than one or two hundred kilometers. Sometimes, you are driving on a smooth and well paved road but suddenly a section of gravel road appears. Whenever this happens, I would prey in my mind that I don’t need to replace the tires, any tires. It’s not that I don’t know how. It’s first I am too lazy to perform that kind of extra curriculum activities and second it’s raining a lot of times and relatively cold outside of the car. The image of replacing tires in a cold raining day is just not pleasant to say the least.
However, I must say I enjoy the unprecedented service from car rental in Chile because they take care of their customers. Not every car designed or built the same and there are some big differences among European, American and Japanese cars. More than once after I rented a car and sit in it, I had hard time to find the revers gear in the case of a manual transmission car. And there was no one that I could ask help for especially if when I flying in in the midnight, pitch dark outside and car rental staff went home right after I signed the paper. It’s frustrating at that kind of moment. Not here in Chile. I rented three cars in three different occasions in Chile and every time I felt that I was treat like a king at the car rental.
Yes, Chile may not have the best road conditions in the world, nevertheless, Chile has the world class services at its car rental.