Jan 2008

The 3am bus was half the adventure to get to the end of the world. We had a big meal around 10pm to try and kill as much time as possible leading up to the bus ride. Went to a Tenador Libre...local buffet style restaurant with all you can eat meat....surprisingly it was pretty good! A cow body stretched open is hanging off these picks in the window when you walk in, next to a huge BBQ where the cook can grill all sorts of meat, sausages and co. Quite a feast...but as you can imagine we were about to hit food coma with 2hrs to kill at the bus station...not a good idea as you want to stay awake to guard your bags...and not miss the bus! we were lucky to get a bench, most everyone else was sleeping on the floor. Long story short, we got on the bus at 3am, switched to another one at about 9am after a 2 hr wait in another bus terminal, and finally made it to Ushuaia around 11pm. We had to cross so many borders, not even funny....first out of Argentina, then into Chile, then out of Chile, and back into Argentina...my passport is already full of stamps. No comment on the efficiency of the border crossings...took 1 or 2 hour each time. Also no comment on the bus stops....so many missed opportunities to sell snacks to hungry travelers. The problem is you can't bring vegetables, cheese, meat and co into Chile. So J and I packed bread and Dulce de Leche (caramel paste...equivalent to peanut butter in the US or Nutella in france) as our food... breakfast, lunch and dinner. If anyone ever dares to offer me dulce de leche for a snack from now on, I think I'll just throw it back in their face. Yes, i feel that strongly about it.

So finally we get to Ushuaia...thankfully we had reserved a hostal because everything was full and other travelers were struggling to find a bed at 11pm. J and I had to walk up the hill 10 blocks or so which we made me nervous at first but we walked by a police station and our hostal was only 3 blocks further: a huge house with cozy living room, big TV, big kitchen, and a balcony overlooking the town. The house was full of Israeli travelers... quite a loud crew... J and I ended up meeting 2 young Argentians from Buenos Aires who were sharing our room....we got to practice some Spanish at last! One guy was so sweet and gave us a CD with his favorite Argentinian tunes...that made up for his snooring at night...couldn't sleep the first night...J barely believed me....but the second night, he was up too....i can't wait to have my own bedroom back at some point!

Ushuaia was quite a disappointment...the town caters to cruiseships...so it's full of souvenir shops and travel agencies....nothing attractive whatsoever. The street by the water is a mix of loading zones, parking areas, and gas stations, instead of a terraces and cafes! Our first day there was Sunday so all the travel agencies were closed...couldn't organize our bus out of there....which is tricky considering the amount of tourists around and the little transportation available. Nothing we could do, so we decided to go hike in the Terra del Fugeo park. After Torres del Paine and Fitz Roy, this park is a bit of a joke. You walk to the 'most southern point' but it doesn't feel like that much because you're in a channel and you can see land ahead of you...not like the world is ending!
That night, we cooked at the hostal...needed green stuff....made the biggest salad ever...and bought some Malbec alond the way too. Had our aperitivo on the balcony. Now we're talking.

The next day was a true extract from 'amazing race'. J and I went to a travel agency to get bus tickets...even though we were there for the opening, 10 other travelers were there before us! damn. That agency didn't have the tickets we needed, so we ran to the other side of town...people on the street were probably wondering who were those 2 crazy gringos running across town. Finally we get to the agency...4 other tourists made it before us... they got the last 2 bus tickets for wednesday...what a stress. This older french guy walked in and also needed a ticket...he tried to make all nice with us and thought he could jump ahead or join us in our requests...but J and I made it clear that we were booking our tickets first...every man for himself! Luckly, i don't know how, we got 2 tickets for the bus we wanted on Tuesday....leaving at 5hr30am. yeah! That french guy also got his ticket... sometimes, these french!!! they need to be reminded about 'lines'. That Monday, we ended up chilling... went for lunch...and did some internet...so slow though....to be expected at the end of the world.

Next am, we're off to Punta Arenas....ends up being a 12hr bus ride, with only 1 border crossing, phew! Argentina is a little more organized and we were able to get some food at the border crossing before heading into Chile. Sounds like details, but when you're traveling, food and finding a room are your biggest concerns!

Punta Arenas is probably the biggest town we've seen in a few weeks. Nothing very attractive, but that's where the airport is to head back north. In the bus up, we met an American couple who were also only staying 1 day in Punta Arenas. I figured we might as well split costs to visit the Penguin colony, the main attraction in the area, so they ended up camping at the hostal where we were staying and sharing a cab with us the next am to the penguin colony...worked out great. The penguins were so cute...you walk along this boardwalk and observe them in their natural habitat... very fun. The young ones were still shedding their feathers and looked pretty ugly. The parents took turns guarding their nest (more like a whole in the ground, ie like a fox) and going for a swim...they are like bullets in the water!

That night, we made it to Santiago....the flight was spectacular....you could see all these glaciers from up top...i'll post pics...so incredible...perfect way to leave Patagonia with these great images in mind. Arrived to 'my favorite hostal in Santiago, the casa roja' and didn't waste a minute to go out for our last aperitivo, pisco sour! We slept in the next am...but we couldn't wrap up J's trip with an idle afternoon, so we went to visit the Concha y Toro vineyard. Fun little tour with 3 tastings but you don't see the production side...just the caves. By the far the first well organized Chilean tourist attraction though!

And that's how J ended his trip in Chile... so sad to part with him...had such a great time....good laughs...and the best memories!

A new chapter begins...off to Pucon and the Lake districts....followed by Argentina!

After our Torres del Paine adventure, we continued on the hiking circuit and left Puerto Natales to El Calafate, Argentina. The town itself purely caters to tourists which makes it a little unattractive, not to mention all the new constructions going up with no codes whatsoever (you have swiss chalet type house next to brick houses next to ugly cement constructions....)....yet it was only a preview for the next town El Chalten, 4 hrs north from here...a town built in the last 10yrs and still in construction. The road to get there is not even finished so the last 1hr or so is just gravel. I´m getting ahead though.

From El Calafate, we went on a day tour to visit the Moreno Glacier...again, wao wao wao... the glacier just looks like a ´coulee de lave´, like lava just came down the mountain, except it´s all ice....from up close you can see all the crevasses and once and a while huge chunks crash into the water with a thundering noise... very cool.... we took a boat ride to go even closer and realize the sheer grandness of the glacier. We have so many pics... I´ll post them soon.

That evening we took the bus to El Chalten, the hiking mecca in the Argentinian Patagonia. As mentioned earlier, the town is still in construction...which makes the place look like a real mess....doesn´t seem to be a lot of order in how things are being built... demand is way too high...locals are renting every square meter to tourists...and everything is expensive since it has to be ´imported´ from El Calafate. The advantage of El Chalten is the hiking tracks start right in town, as opposed to Torres where you had to take a 3hr bus ride to get to it. J and I went on a day hike to see the famous Fitz Roy mountain, another set of granit pinacles and ´must hit´ spot for rock climbers (we saw so many going up with their equipment...their bags must have weighed 20kgs...wish i could´ve seen them rock climb!). The landscape here is much less interesting than in Torres....the weather is tough, windy and rainy most of the time, so only this steppe vegetation can survive. The last hour of the hike is another of those crazy hikes up vertical rocky hills (small rocks this time, almost harder than the boulders in Torres....or we were just really tired by then). The view from the top was again a postcard landscape, even though we hit some clouds. Wouldn´t you know it was blue sky the next day....but no way we were heading back. J and I figured that although some hiking was fun... it wasn´t our thing...we prefer hanging out at the beach with a margarita and going diving!!! So the second day, we moved our bus ticket up to head back to El Calafate and connect to our 3am bus for Ushuaia.

The second night in El Chalten, we ended up hanging out with 3 argentinians and 3 other foreigners staying at the hostal. The Argentinians tried to teach us how to play ´truco´, a card game that apparently every argentinian learns the minute they can walk...it´s so hard to grasp...the cards have swords and cups and coins... the whole point of the game is bluffing and lying...you can imagine how loud and intense it can gets in a latin kind of way... very fun.

That´s it for now... waiting for the 3 am bus...which gets in Ushuaia at 9pm... yes, we have good books with us...and just bought some snacks.... the movies better be decent...either way we´ll end up watching them!

Ushuaia, here we come!!!

I guess I never really knew what hiking was all about. I´ve gone on day walks but never had to carry around a tent, duvet, food, and stuff for 4 days...and that´s the short version of the trek (the ´W´) in the famous Torres del Paine park in Patagonia, Chile. Torres means towers for all of you non-spanish speakers... The park consists indeed of huge granit towers with black granit tops...quite unique, especially if you can catch a sunrise when all the rocks turn orange-pink...but that´s probably twice a year, if you´re lucky! The park is apparently a ´must´ for avid hikers who go around the whole circuit for 8 to 10 days. J and I figured 4 days would give us a good feel of the place...plus we didn´t have all the special hiking gear (ie: clothes that dry super fast, light rain coats, etc..)... we used trash bags to protect our packs... i think we probably got some funny knicknames, but never heard them to our face...only though each time we talked to someone they said they had noticed us...hehe. The park is quite tricky...the weather changes all the time...4 seasons in day! We got rain the first two nights...which didn´t stop us from hiking or anything, but just made the nights a little less restful. Add that to the fatigue of carrying huge packs around (12kg or so)...let me tell you that we were glad to wrap it up after 4 days...glad but happy to have lived such an experience...seen so many great landscapes and met so many interesting people.

The scenery is so breathtaking....the first day we camped alongside this turquoise lake... the water felt like mercury...viscous almost...we hiked up the first arm of the W toward the Grey glacier... just wao... smalls icebergs were floating in the river leading up to the glacier...the blue ice is so unreal! We hiked for 4 hours but didn´t go all the way to the refuge from where you could see the glacier from the top...quite amazing from the pics we saw...but just as well we didn´t push ourselves considering what laid ahead. Also, even though it´s light out until 11pm, we didn´t want to hike past 8pm...especially with the tempermental weather.

The second day we hiked up the ´French Valley´up to a mirador for some great views of the mountain, but the hike got tricky...tons of rocks which got slippery in the rain...so we headed back...still hiked for a good 6-7hrs. The third day was the hardest...had to carry our big packs for the longest time...a good 6hr30m...with a hill for the last hour that just wouldn´t finish...the views were worth it... but that last hour was a nightmare....it wasn´t all though....we got to camp...set up for the night...and went up to ´the´ mirador to see the towers....another 1hr30 hike up rocks...just rocks...like a huge pile of rocks...what a killer for the legs... but we made it...saw the towers...well, almost all of them... a little cloudy... at the foot of the towers you could see a green lagoon which felt like a crater from another planet....the pure size of it all is mindboggling and makes you feel like a little ant in the world. The last day was just hiking back down to base...with a huge smile on your face as you pass all the hikers going up, sweating and puffing away!

All in all: a really fun adventure.... Jonathan is great to have around...always game for everything...so fun...and so thoughtful. Great bonding! And you definitively want to make sure you go hiking with the right person...just setting up the tent or preparing food on a tiny gas burner could be the source of so many fights!!! But for us it was good old fun all along.

Jonathan arrived safe and sound and ready to tour Santiago after his red eye down to Chile. That night we took a night bus to Puerto Varas, where we recoup for 2 days before taking the Navimag boat down to Patagonia. When I say ´recoup´ i´m being a little laxist there. We toured around the lake Los Santos the first day and went canyoning the second day....ie: jumping in rivers and waterfalls up to 8m high. Jonathan had no fear, always jumping from the highest point and showing off ´fancy´dives. I just closed my eyes and pinched my nose and jumped. It was good fun though, especially sliding down natural tobogans. The water was cold but we had thick wetsuits on from head to toe. To wrap up the day, we had to repel down a 30m cliff alongside a waterfall, spectacular setting, but with my fear of heights, I was almost having a breakdown as i was hanging in mid-air. Talk about pushing your limits.

At the hostal we met 3 other fellow travellers who were also going on the Navimag....two surfer guys from California...and a swiss girl....we ended up hanging out with them quite a bit over the next 10 days. The boat trip was quite an experience...the boat is a reconverted cargo boat... reconverted is loosely used though, as it´s still quite a modest set up. The sleeping accommodations are fine...big dorms for 320 people separated in groups of 4. J and I ended up sharing our ´cabin´with a nice italian couple. My short critic of the boat would be: need more lounge space and need more fun entertainment (so many missed opportunities to make it a really amazing experience). The landscapes end up being quite repetitive over four days, but still it´s fun to walk around the deck and feel like you´re the only ones left on earth...it´s so peaceful...well, except when we had to sail into the ocean before heading back into the canals... most travellers took sea sick pills...J and I thought we could tough it out...we were in bed by 8 trying not to get sick...ended up sleeping 12hrs and felt great the next am. Overall, it was just fun hanging out, reading, playing cards, and meeting some of the other passengers. J and I made it a mission to have our meals next to new people each time. Funny to see how humans are such creatures of habits... people formed their own little groups and within a day started to have their routines. Actually the greatest benefit of the trip was meeting everyone again as we were hiking in Torres del Paine... we kept bumping into everyone from the boat...felt like a game...amazing race meets survivor. Even now, we still bump into the ´boat people´as we call them....so many germans...only a handleful of french....feels like you know someone everywhere you go!

Hola,
Back on line after a little running around up and down the southern part of Chile.

Spent Xmas in Chiloe, ended up bumping into the ´international´ friends I had made in Puerto Varas while at the xmas concert. (BTW, a soccer match just ended that pm and all the fans were celebrating in the streets...felt like a riot...people chanting, cars honking, kids hanging out car windows waving the team´s flag, drunk men jumping up and down and eventually breaking the fence into the park to take over the small outdoor stage... flares and drums... the whole 9 yards...the pics on the paper the next day were quite impressive.... all that while i was waiting to go to the xmas concert, keeping my distance from all these fanatics...such bad timing though... you can imagine ´silent night´ with drum beats and honking in the background... quite special!).

Dinner was fun as everyone cooked something from their country...german potato salad with pickles, italian meatballs, stir fry veggies from me (not very french but needed green stuff) and some chocolates (milk, but had to do for the occasion!)...the guy running the hostal treated us to the Chilean version of eggnog which resembles bailey´s but with pisco, no comment. Missed home of course.

I was lucky with the weather in Chiloe as it´s famous for all the rain it gets. I got to visit some of the small islands along the coast, quite spectacular views. Tons of salmon factories all around. Chileans advised me not to eat any as it´s stuffed with hormones...oh no! so much for my yummy lunch from 2 days ago!

Headed back to Puerto Varas to go on a horse trip of a life time. See separate entry for that. I´m continuing on with the holiday theme....with New Year´s.

Took the night bus from Puerto Varas up to Santiago and down to Pichilemu (no connections as bus drops people off on the highway...not sure how you´re expected to get to the bus station 2km away and find another bus to the coast, at 4am!!)...so 19hrs later, on Dec 31st, I got to Pichilemu, a little surf town with huge black sand beaches (see pic). I ended up getting adopted by the host family at the residential where i was staying. I was the only tourist there...i think it was a place geared towards locals traveling to the beach. The owner had her whole family over for a big dinner, so when they saw me eating alone they invited me to their table. Conversation was limited as I couldn´t understand what the older people were saying but a younger girl in her 20´s helped me out. So many uncles and aunts, i never figured out how they were all connected. We all walked over to the beach to watch the fireworks together. They shared their fake champagne with me (which included froth made of beat white egg...just great for digestion!) and red wine mixed with coke (i passed, thank you!). So sweet of them. They were parading me to all their friends and neighbors as the ´french girl´... i felt like a alien. People do stare at my blue eyes...something quite rare over here. Anyways, at midnight, they all started crying and hugging each other and me. Very touching. By 2am we made it back to the hostal...happy to go to bed after such a long day...a sweet long day.

Spent the next 2 days perfecting my tan. Had the beach to myself in the morning, quite a treat as it gets packed in the pm. Fun to watch the surfers, pros and beginners alike, and the whole folklore of the beach. One sad note is the lack of concept of what trash cans are for. And that´s true not only here at the beach but all over. People here tend to throw everything on the street, out the bus window, on the beach... you can imagine how dirty the beach was after a full day of families hanging out. Plus, people here (sorry, don´t want to sound like i´m making generalizations, but these are facts) snack a lot....i mean A LOT...all day long...kids are constantly eating chips or popsicles...adults too eat icecream all the time...and they love to drink fruit juices and chemical (ie: Fanta type) drinks... obesity will definitively be an issue in a few years! Meanwhile, it´s the trash all over that´s pretty disgusting.

Anyways, on a positive note... the tanning went well... I headed up to Santiago, got my new passport with the scariest pic ever (just need black lines in the background and it would be the perfect mug shot)...and met up with Jonathan, my younger brother, who will be traveling with me for the next 3 weeks as we go explore Patagonia.

As mentioned in my previous entry, between xmas and New Year´s I went on this incredible 4 day horse trip adventure on the pioneer trail, 2 hours east of Puerto Varas, in the Cochamo valley, at the foot of the Andes close to the Argentina border.

I can´t begin to express how amazing the adventure was...i hope the pics come out Ok from the throw away camera. The gaucho cowboy who was the guide was such a character himself, I could write pages about him. He had trained the horses himself, extremely well by the way... I think he thought of himself as a horse whisperer type. He was on the quiet side, happy to take in the scenery and live with his animals. At night, he slept by the fire on the mats from his saddle, goat skins and various pieces of blankets...and a duvet of course...he would just lay it all down by the fire next to the cow and horse shit... i mean 10cm away...everything was ´10 cm away´ with him ...the fire, the knife, the cow shit... he would empty the bags practically shaking them upside down...camp was a mess.. not sure how he found anything... the whole time i was thinking of the Myers Briggs test (wink to my friends at CCSR) and how people have different personalities but can achieve the same thing... the camp looked like a hurricane went through it... he would hang food bags on trees, leave his knife on the ground, put the hot water kettle by where we sat... i mean, it was just an accident waiting to happen... the second day he pulled out a piece of meat out of his bag...and hung it to a tree: our dinner. After 2 days in the blazing heat, i was trying not to think how safe it would be to eat those ribs...ended up being a delicious asado. Packing up each morning was quite a show...somehow he found all the ropes and pieces he needed to saddle up... quite a routine. So not me!!! not that i want to sound like a neat freak, but there´s a minimum!!

Anyways, the riding was just incredible...we rode through flowers fields where farmers had little yellow, red, orange boxes to collect honey...cute little colored spots against the green valley, almost fluorescent green...it rains so much here. The off through the valley and up the mountain with huge rocks dominating all around us. We had to climb through the forest through huge tree roots and across rivers...i had to lift my feet to tell you how deep it was... not once did the horses complain... not sure how they could even see where they were stepping... also had to cross mud baths and rocky paths... at some points we were in tranches with mud walls on each side and either rocks or timber on the path... the horse could climb over those rocks, not sure how... if i looked at the horse in front of me, he looked like a new born trying to walk with his feet sliding all over the place... i was closing my eyes half the time... crossing rivers was fun...the water was crystal clear...from turquoise to green, depending on the reflection...felt like in a movie...even better. The first day was a 6 hr ride to a ´green plateau´in between these huge rocky mountains with pine trees up to 2/3 of the way up and cascades running down in a few creases...quite spectacular... the green plateau felt like a little paradise out of nowhere...an american bought the land there and built a summer house where he lives 3 months of the year... he has a young chilean boy looking over some cows... and built a refuge for other courageous riders and hikers to camp there... that night the stars were out full force...such a spectacle... i think there´s way more stars in the south hemisphere...i have to check online.

The next day we rode for another 4-5 hrs... went to this beautiful waterfall, that you couldn´t even make up it was so unique and fairytale like...there was a natural bridge coming out of it crossing 1/2 the waterfall...with a tree growing right in the middle... i can´t even describe it was so bizarre...and beautiful... we tied up the horses to some trees and went for a swim in the freezing water... such a dream...(also the only shower for the next few days!)... That night is when we cooked the meat... tasted wonderful...well deserved after the freezing swim.

The third day we started with a hike through a bamboo forest...the gaucho was literally cutting branches and bamboo with his machete to forge the trail... i was trying to keep up the best i can, crawling on all fours at times, balancing on tree trunks that we used as bridges to cross over rocks and bamboo shoots, rappelling with branches over the water trying not to step in the freezing water...eventually we had to cross the river, so we all had to undress to our underwear, carry our pants and shoes to cross over... not sure that a US tour would allow this...hmm... my feet were so red when we arrived to the other side, i couldn´t feel them... anyways, after an hour of playing Indiana Jones, we got to this beautiful water fall... worth every drop of sweat to get there... the way back was easier but still, had to plow through spider webs and mud patches... yuk... happy to get back on the horse and let him do all the hard work.

The 4th day we camped by this unusual waterfall, very wide bolders with water rushing over from all sides (see pic)...we actually went tobogganing on the rocks...so much fun...the rocks are so soft, you just sit with your feet in front, as breaks, and slide ride down to the pool area... freezing though... gets your adrenaline going for sure...and the shock of the cold water surprises you each time, no matter what... happy to get dressed and sit by the fire after that...

On the last day it rained as we made our way back... we had huge ponchos to protect ourselves...and actually in the forest, we weren´t getting too wet... didn´t bother me...made the trip even more unreal and memorable. This fog was hovering over us, made the whole scenery ghostly and fantastical (if that´s a word).

Got back to Cochamo in time for the 5pm bus back to Puerto Varas. Such an incredible trip. I couldn´t believe the horses made it back in one piece or that they didn´t just buck me off after all they went through. The ride itself was quite comfortable...big saddle...no problem there... what you had to be careful of was your legs, especially in the tranches, not to get squished against a rock ... the whole day you´re trying not to get your legs pancaked, your eyes poked by branches, and your body impaled by bamboo... what fun!! I don´t think there would be any travel insurance who would cover such a trip!

All is all, such a fun adventure, especially after reading Ines of my Soul from Isabel Allende where she describes how the pioneers discovered Chile and their adventures crossing the forests and meeting the local Andeans. Felt very similar!!

Will try to post pics as they will tell all.
Off to go canyoning this pm...with Jonathan....as if one crazy adventure wasn´t enough...now i´m going jumping off rocks 8m high into freezing water again (with a wet suit this time!)