South Patagonia - 20.01.2014 - 3rd Post

South Patagonia - Chile

20.01.2014

Left Pucan for a 5 hour bus drive to Puerto Montt, an overnight stop and then a flight to Punta Arenas.  We are now 4,800 Km south of the heat of Atacama, and it sure feels like it, it will drop to zero tonight.  Arrived at our booked hostel to find that they had no notice of us coming – we did have a confirmation.  However we were soon able to find another place – panic over.

Another bus tomorrow for a 3 hour drive to Puerto Natales, the gateway to the Torres del Paine National Park.  We are praying for good weather for our 4 day visit – but good weather is only a possibility this close to Antarctica.

22.01.2014

Arrived at our hostel in Puerto Natales, quaint little town where tourism has taken over from their mining past.  Have 2 nights here before the 3 hour bus to Torres del Paine.

Our hostel in Puerto Natales

24.01.2014

Torres del Paine

We were half way through our bus trip from Puerto Natales, sitting directly behind the driver’s cab when we spotted streams of smoke coming out of the dashboard.  The cab was becoming immersed in smoke as the driver pulled up and then fearing for his own safety - he abandoned ship – leaving the 20 or so passengers onboard – reminiscent of the Costa Concordia !!  

After a minute or so he did return to the bus to let us out, the smoke subsided once he turned the ignition off, we were luckily able to transfer to a passing bus and resume our journey – we are pleased the Chilean aircraft are more reliable than the Chilean buses !

We have finally arrived at the Torres del Paine National Park – WOW.

We had totally miscalculated the size of the park, believing the distance between our two locations was around 10 mile – in fact it was 75 kilometres.  A couple of the treks we had planned were impossible, as somebody had put a river between it and us!  However all turned out OK, Hotel Lago Grey, overlooking the Grey Glacier, was a lovely location for walks, and the panoramic view from our room was to die for.

Trips to the Grey Glacier via boat were cancelled due to the high winds, and boy were they high, we had to abandon a hilltop walk at the halfway stage as it became too dangerous, but the views were still worth the climb.

One trek took took us across a small suspension bridge and around an island in Lago Grey, you could just see the Grey Glacier from here, with icebergs from the glacier aplenty. 

Now to the Hotel Les Torres – in the shadow of the Torres (towers).  We had planned to attempt the full walk to the Mirador directly from our hotel (only feet and horses are allowed ) but were prepared cut it short as we knew it was pretty long and pretty tough.  Stiff gradients up and down greeted us every few kilometres, and just as you thought you were close to the summit, down and then up again.

At one point we thought we had finally conquered it, but realised we had another hour of climbing over boulders before the towers came into view. 

Unfortunately, cloud and snow prevented us from having a clear view of these granite wonders, but it was still a sight for sore limbs.

We were jubilantly satisfied with our achievement, but apprehensive, as we knew the return trip would be equally challenging.

We finally arrived back at our hotel, totally shattered, 10 hours and 22 kilometeres after we set out, and did that gin and tonic taste good!

                                                     Our final view of The Torres del Paine

After 4 super nights in the national park it was time to leave and make our way back to Puerto Nateles for a night before leaving Chile and crossing to Argentina.

Chile - 16.01.2014 - 2nd Post

Pucon – The Chilean Lake District – North Patagonia.

 16.01.2014

Well,what a complete change from the Atacama.

We have grass and trees, but it’s still hot and we still have volcanoes.  Volcan Villarrica is one of Chiles’ most active volcanoes and it towers above the town of Pucon.  Although it is permanently active, it does not present a significant threat to the towns below, but it did cause 73 deaths between 1949 to 1971.

And you do see these signs.

Pucon is a lovely place but we have to say a little bit on the touristy side for us.  It’s very much a sporting venue with climbing (including to the top of the volcano), white water rafting, horse riding, canoeing etc, etc, etc. We hired a car to visit some of the other lakes in the area, but most of them are only accessible by a 4x4.  So we opted for a thermal spring instead – lovely, an ideal opportunity to enjoy the warm weather before moving south to near zero temperatures.

After a guided tour of Pucon:-

think I’ve pulled one of the locals!

Caught the local bus to see the ‘Ojos del Caburgua’waterfalls – all set in a lovely forest – great walking area.  Made the mistake of leaving the park via a different exit – a further 3 mile walk to the bus stop!

19.01.2014

Tomorrow, we head 3,000 Km south by bus and plane, to South Patagonia where we will visit 2 sites in the Torres del Paine region.  From there, across to Argentina to glaciers and icebergs.  

To date, nothing booked thereafter until we reach Rio in March, although we do have a few ideas!

Chile - 01.02.2014- 1st Post

Our South American Tour

After a 2 ½ hour flight from Heathrow, we left Madrid airport at 23.55 hours on New Years Eve.  We could see the firework celebrations over Madrid, and were treated to a few glasses of bubbly by the airline staff and finished with a large glass of whisky to bring in Hogmanay.  After flying over the Atlantic, Brazil and Argentina we drifted over the Andes to land safely in Santiago some 13 hours later.

Santiago - Chile (01.01.2014) 

As we were here in 2013, we had seen most of the recommended sights, just the hill of San Cristobel to see, which was via a funicular.  Here you had a perfect view of the city and appreciated how vast it is.  

As the railway system in Chile is virtually non-existent, you need to rely on buses and flights.  The buses are well organised and reasonably priced.  We decided to take the bus to La Serena, 6 hours and 500 Km north.  Having purchased tickets in advance, we arrived at the bus station well ahead of time.  There are literally hundreds of buses coming and going per hour, we were told to watch for our bus arriving between platform 30 and platform 41.  Ten minutes after our planned departure, still no bus.  Forty minutes later still no bus – we were convinced we had missed it in the pandemonium – the bus finally arrived, an hour late – and nobody seemed to be bothered!!

Our semi-cama seats were extremely comfortable, very wide, similar to business class air travel. Two thirds through the journey, we noticed the bus was not travelling as fast as it previously had and over the next 20 minutes it got slower and slower until, at a snails pace – ‘Phutt’ we were at a standstill, and in the middle of a wilderness.  One of the bus crew came to explain the problem, as the only non-Chileans on board and not understanding the Spanish explanation we were left in the dark.  During the next half an hour, the word ‘Kaput’ was used several times.  The crew were frantically throwing bottles of drinking water at the engine – we assumed from this that there was an overheating problem.

Eventually they managed to re-start the engine and we made the next town for running repairs.  We were extremely relieved to be spending the night in a bed instead of among the brushwood and cacti in the foothills of the Andes.

LA SERENA (04.1.2014) 

We were a little apprehensive in booking our hostel called Diaguitas as the name  reminded us of the one-way ticket to a hostel in Switzerland!  

Is this an inmate trying to escape??

We should not of worried – Maria greeted us with open arms and kisses, as if they were greeting long lost friends, and so started a friendship that was to last the 4 days.  Over bottles of Vino Blanco, sign language and Google Translate, we learnt all about Maria and Nelson, and them about us.  The place it self was pretty naff, but their hospitality more than made up for it.

La Serena is a lovely place, clean and tidy with lots of street vendors and restaurants, but no bars – there is some law that alcohol must be served with food - but we did find a way around it !!

We had a trip to Isla Damas, some 100 Km north of La Serena and were treated to Humboudt Penguins, Peruvian Boobies, coloured Cormorants, Sea Lions and finished with a pod of Bottleneck Dolphins swimming around our small boat.  

After 4 nights in La Sarena, it was back on the bus for our 800 mile trip to the Atacama Desert to the town of  San Pedro.  We had ‘full-cama’ seating for this 17 hour overnight trip and it was superb.

SAN PEDRO DE ATACAMA (10.01.2014)

 An oasis in the middle of the Atacama Desert (the driest desert in the world).  They have tried to keep their identity by building the façade of their houses and businesses the same as around 100 years ago, so you enter a small door in a restaurant thinking it’s a tiny intimate place to find a 60 seater behind it!  All single storey of course, as it’s in an earthquake region.  It’s a really atmospheric place and look forward to spending the next 6 days here. 

It’s hot – VERY HOT !

11.01.2014

Visited the La Tatio geysers – superb – still comparing them with the Bolivian ones just a few kilometres away over the Andes – these were more spectacular, an extraordinary site.  Skipped the swimming in the thermal ponds – maybe the water was more than warm enough but the air temperature at 7am was too cold to even think about it!!

12.01.2014

What a cracking day.  Visited the volcanoes and their lagoons – absolutely stunning, every bit as good as the Bolivian ones we saw in 2012 if not better.  Chile has 150 volcanoes, 35 still active, you can see Mt Lascar from our hostel, last eruption 2009 !!

Onto the Atacama Salt flats, the third biggest in the world, behind Bolivia and Salt Lake City.  We could not understand why it looked so different from the Bolivian one which was totally flat (it resembles a hugh ice rink) whilst this one was so hugely crystallised – our guide soon enlightened us – the Bolivian salt flats experiences rain which flattens the crystals while the Atacama has no rain.  

14.01.2014

Another super trip – this time to the Valle del la Luna  (Moons Valley).  It certainly lived up to its name, just as you would imagine the moon’s surface to be.  All shaped in the last million years or so by the wind and by the earth’s tectonic plate disruptions.  It seems that there are hundreds of acres all with different landscapes just 30 Km from San Pedro.

We have come to the end of our time in northern Chile, tomorrow we head 2,300 Km south to the Chilean Lake District.  We’ve really enjoyed these last two weeks and hope that the coming weeks can offer just as much.