Not quite such a cold, snowy and spectacular month but ... er ....
interesting nevertheless (is that really one word)...
Zigzagging my way between Chile and Argentina. From Puerto Natales in South
Chile I took a 4 night boat trip north to Puerto Montt, then down to Chiloe
a poor but traditional island on the west coast, back across into Argentina
to Bariloche (the most trendy ski resort type place that you can imagine),
San Martin de los Andes which is even more trendy than the place you just
imagined (probably cos it has a longer name), back into Chile to Pucon, a
town with a huge snowed capped volcano and nothing else. Northwards via
Santiago to Mendoza (yes back into Argentina) where they make wine and
therefore they have sunshine Hurrah!! About time too. Northwards again to
Cordoba and Salta in the north West of Argentina.
It´s difficult to imagine that the villages in these areas are in the same country as the major
European style towns. Some of the villages are third world, the houses made
of mud and the people native indians. Here as in most places the whiter the
skin the greater the affluence.
Just for a change the downers (Lows) first ........
- On top of a very snowy mountain in Barriloche admiring the incredible
views I trod on a virgin piece of snow (there were a lot of them about) but
I didnt expect from such a piece of snow that it was just a thin cover over
a huge hole ! My leg was strangely drawn right into this orrifice which
wouldn´t have been a disaster except that in the course of it´s penetration
my knee met a piece of sharp rock - it stopped suddenly, and hurt!
For the first time in my life I could see inside my knee through a hole I could have fitted my little finger into (although I didn´t actually try ´cos rolling around in the snow uttering
expletives, and seeing the remainder of my trip flash before my eyes, seemed
far more appropriate behaviour at this point). After a half hour ´walk´
through sometimes deep snow to the chairlift I tried to keep my leg as
straight as possible as each time I bent it my newly acquired aerosol in the
knee sprayed my boot and the snow bright red. Eventually I got back to
civilisation and to a hospital emergency room where I got stiched up (for
US$ 4 - a bargain). Now 3 weeks later I can at least walk properly again !
- Economic Crisis - Fortunately not mine, but the whole of Argentina´s.
Things don´t get any better for the locals. At end April all the banks, ATMs and
foreign exchange places were closed for a week to stop the withdrawls (cos no-one here trusts the banks anymore)! It worked. Luckily I had US$ cash so I changed money with the locals on the street. I heard about some riots in Buenos Aires but I am a long way from there at the moment. When I arrived in Argentina 2 months ago I was getting 2 pesos to the dollar, now I am getting well over 3 so you can imagine how cheap everything is to us foreign
folk (in December it was 1 pesos = 1 dollar).
Put it this way : Argentina. Probably the only place in the world where you can enjoy first
world quality at third world prices ! That´s why I´m still here (and it´s
an amazing place).
- Pucon, the place with the great volcano. Couldn´t climb it cos I hurt my
knee. Bugger.
Time for some High bits
- Bariloche only had 2 types of shops. Chocolate shops and ice cream shops.
Most shops sold Chocolate flavoured ice cream, but I didn´t find anywhere
that sold ice cream flavoured chocolate, and it was nearly all excellent.
And, thanks to the exchange rate it was all really cheap. We stayed there a
while ! - well I had hurt my knee and all that ....
- The 4 night boat trip. Great scenery (just the usual snow capped peaks
and glaciers) although it was cloudy most of the time. At night the sea
glowed an incredible bright green due to phospheresence (a bio-chemical
reaction ....... algae ........ or something like that).
- The wine! Did I mention the wine yet! Chilean wine rates far better than
Argentinian, amongst the cheap US$1 per litre stuff I mean - I´m a bit of an
expert on that now (well it´s cheaper than the beer litre for litre).
- Stayed at a top hotel, one of the ´Leading Hotels of the World Group´.
Well when I say ´stayed there´ it was more like sneaking in and enjoying
their facilities for an afternoon, drinking our 20 pence a litre supermarket
wine on their sunbeds.
- The food in Mendoza - Imagine a top class ´All you can eat´ with loads of
variety for US$3 (2 pounds). Or all you can eat pasta for US$1 (60p). I
think I´ve put on a bit of weight recently.
Oh and culture. Of course culture. I mean I have seen some, cos that´s
what I came for. I have seen some cultural things...... at least I think so
........ 9th April I think it was.
- Difunta Correa Shrine - The most materialistic semi-religious place
imagineable. Argentinians pray for houses, cars and anything else they want
and if they get it they build a model of the house, truck or car and leave
it at the shrine. There is a whole town of houses (several hundred) about
1m high on the hillside and a roomful of trucks about 1m long. The room
where those who prayed for sporting success looks more impressive that Real
Madrids trophy room. There are even some rooms that are vaguely religious
but the catholic church apparently shuns this shrine and it is not
surprising. Surreal... it has more goods that some shopping centres I have
been in.
- Salta - The landscape looks like Arizona or Colorado. The shapes of the
rock almost defy belief. The colours of the rock make up an artists
palette, almost all the colours of the rainbow - ever seen green and blue
rock - it´s all here.
So where to go next? Bolivia soon, maybe via Chile, and I must get
somewhere decent to watch some world cup action, not a good time to be in
Argentina just in case England get an unlikely win. Winning the world cup
won´t solve Argentina´s problems but there are a lot of pissed off people
here already and getting knocked out early on sure won´t help !
Bye for now
Luv Pete
Showing posts with label Chile. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Chile. Show all posts
Wednesday, 8 May 2002
Thursday, 4 April 2002
Where 16 Puerto Natales, Chile --OR-- Why I Camped for a Week in Freezing Rain just to See Ice
HI Guys,
Since Buenos Aires a month ago I seem to have travelled on a lot of buses and seen loads of stuff in Patagonia (which consists of the southern
parts of Chile and Argentina).
Starting with a 22 hour bus journey down to Puerto Madryn on the east coast
and then travelled for 34 hours to reach Ushuaia, the most southerly place
of any note on the planet and only 1000km from Antartica which proudly
proclaims that it is ´the end of the world´ and the town itself looks like
it.
From there the only way is north (Antartica will have to wait for another
time when I have loadsa money) to the wonders of the Patagonian Andes - to
El Calafate and El Chalten in Argentina and then across into Chile to Puerto
Natales.
The Ups
- Magallenic penguins at Puerto Tombo on the east coast. It was easy to get
within 1m of them as they just stand or lie around on the path. If you get
too close they start shaking their heads from side to side as a warning and
then they will attack with their powerful beaks.
- The armadillos - Cute but different to how I imagined. I thought they
would move like tortoises due to the weight of their armour, but in fact
they scurry like hedgehogs (and are about the same size) - but they are not flat like
most hedgehogs seen in UK.
- Moreno Glacier - This huge glacieris about 160m high at the face although
a max of 55m is above water, and the face is 6km wide. Not only can you get
within 250m of it to see the detail of the cracking ice under huge pressure,
but because the lake suddenly gets very deep and the glacier is moving at 2m
per day at the centre, it calves (huge chanks of ice up to 40m high break
off and crash into the water). The noise is deafening as it cracks and
tonnes of ice hit the water. A spectacular blue ice giant, a random ice
sculpture in motion - it easily lives up to all the hype.
- Trekking in the FitzRoy Range - spent 3 days doing day treks around a
group of incredible spikey snowcapped mountains with a few glaciers and
corresponding lakes thrown in. There was also a load of rain and some
extremely stong winds when it was only just possible to remain standing. It
throughly tested my wet weather and wind proof gear , not to mention my legs
and made for an interesting few days.
The Downs
- Trying to see Orcas (Killer Whales) snatching seal pups off the beach. We
spent a whole day at the only place in the world where they have learned to
do this successfully but despite appearing the previous 2 days they didn´t
show up.
- The Welsh towns in Argentina are a big tourist draw. Colonised by the
Welsh in 19th Century because they felt oppressed at the English not allowing
them to speak Welsh in Wales, they moved here and now all speak Spanish !
The Welsh teas are famous and expensive except no-one from the UK had ever
heard of them. The only things that these towns really have in common with
Wales are the surrounding hills which look like slag heaps and the very high
unemployment rate.
- After 34 hours travelling to Ushuaia we arrived 3 hours late due to
roughweather on the ferry crossing to find that our reserved hostel places had been
given to other people. Since it was already 1am by this stage we ended up
spending the night sleeping in a corridor.
- Trekking in Tierra del Fuego National Park I got snowed off a small mountain. Strange to think that England must have had snow in March and here I was at the other end of the earth getting exactly the same weather - and it´s only early autumn here.
- Took a very cheap flight from Ushuaia to El Calafate but because of rain
at the destination airport it was closed so we were diverted and then got a
bus the rest of the way. We were supposed to arrive at 6.30pm but didn´t
get there until 3am by which time the hostel was closed and so we had to
sleep in a bus station until 6.30am when the hostel opened. Then I was stuck there for 2 more days as the rain poured down and the roads to both my possible destinations had been washed away. It doesn´t help when the locals say "It´s very unusual
for this time of year".
The Trek (Ups and Downs) - Torres del Paine, Chile
If you want to eat 0.75kg of chocolate, 1kg of nuts and raisens, loads of
pasta and rice and still lose weight, with a free leg muscle tone up thrown
in then this is for you. 7 days hiking and 7 nights camping around ´The
Circuit´ which circles a group of improbably shaped spectacular mountains -
strangely eroded sedimentary layers pierced by hard volcanic plugs which now
stand high above their surrounds. The whole area is a birthing place for
glaciers which dangle down steep mountains and sweep through valleys.
The Torres (towers) themselves are spear shaped granite plugs thrusting vertically 1.8km (over 1 mile) upwards from our viewpoint at 1000m. Well worth the 30 minute dawn race in freezing weather, from the campsite up the scree to see them change from purple to pink then orange and yellow in the first rays of the sun before it gets fully light. Just below them there is a glacier which crumbles into a lake full of icebergs. An incredible sight.
There are downsides however. Apart from the climb up with full pack
(weighing over 20kg) there was camping in sub-zero temperatures - I left my
water bottle outside on the first 2 nights and the water was distinctly
lumpy the next morning. I hardly slept for the first 2 nights as my feet
were freezing despite me wearing all my clothes in my sleeping bag. It is
also difficult to keep your hands clean as washing them in freezing water is
simply not a good idea in the morning or evening as they simply never get
warm again. And as for wearing the same clothes for 8 days without a
shower.... well .... everyone does it so no-one notices !
All round the circuit (we walked 6 or 7 hours a day) the views were
amazing, snowcapped jagged peaks were the norm, spectacular summits were
always there (if only that cloud would move !) and there were glaciers around
almost every corner. If you were looking at an incredible view ahead of you
then there was probably one at least as good behind you as well.
The best view of all is when you trek up through areas of snow and rise to
a height of over 1200m to go over ´The Pass´. From here there is not only
an almost aerial view of the huge Glacier Grey 1000m below but a view up to
the source of many of the glaciers in the area - the huge Southern
Patagonian Ice Field. A huge sheet of ice stretching across mountain tops,
over 320km long, covering an area of over 13,000 square km and hundreds of
metres thick. Vast is too small a word - it is a sheet laying across
everything, smoothing out what would otherwise be a mountainous landscape,
stretching further than the eye can see, emitting glaciers at every possible
opportunity down every valley, flowing like rivers, colliding smoothly in an
ever increasing mass and constantly restucturing to fit the valley´s width.
A No. 1 sight - perhaps the No.1 sight in an incredible part of the world. It rained for days 7 and 8 but by then we had seen so much we weren´t so bothered - although camping in the cold rain is not particuarly recommended.
Tonight I am catching a boat up to Pueto Montt - a 3 day and night trip
through some incredible scenery - that is if the weather holds good.
Bye for now
Luv
Pete
Since Buenos Aires a month ago I seem to have travelled on a lot of buses and seen loads of stuff in Patagonia (which consists of the southern
parts of Chile and Argentina).
Starting with a 22 hour bus journey down to Puerto Madryn on the east coast
and then travelled for 34 hours to reach Ushuaia, the most southerly place
of any note on the planet and only 1000km from Antartica which proudly
proclaims that it is ´the end of the world´ and the town itself looks like
it.
From there the only way is north (Antartica will have to wait for another
time when I have loadsa money) to the wonders of the Patagonian Andes - to
El Calafate and El Chalten in Argentina and then across into Chile to Puerto
Natales.
The Ups
- Magallenic penguins at Puerto Tombo on the east coast. It was easy to get
within 1m of them as they just stand or lie around on the path. If you get
too close they start shaking their heads from side to side as a warning and
then they will attack with their powerful beaks.
- The armadillos - Cute but different to how I imagined. I thought they
would move like tortoises due to the weight of their armour, but in fact
they scurry like hedgehogs (and are about the same size) - but they are not flat like
most hedgehogs seen in UK.
- Moreno Glacier - This huge glacieris about 160m high at the face although
a max of 55m is above water, and the face is 6km wide. Not only can you get
within 250m of it to see the detail of the cracking ice under huge pressure,
but because the lake suddenly gets very deep and the glacier is moving at 2m
per day at the centre, it calves (huge chanks of ice up to 40m high break
off and crash into the water). The noise is deafening as it cracks and
tonnes of ice hit the water. A spectacular blue ice giant, a random ice
sculpture in motion - it easily lives up to all the hype.
- Trekking in the FitzRoy Range - spent 3 days doing day treks around a
group of incredible spikey snowcapped mountains with a few glaciers and
corresponding lakes thrown in. There was also a load of rain and some
extremely stong winds when it was only just possible to remain standing. It
throughly tested my wet weather and wind proof gear , not to mention my legs
and made for an interesting few days.
The Downs
- Trying to see Orcas (Killer Whales) snatching seal pups off the beach. We
spent a whole day at the only place in the world where they have learned to
do this successfully but despite appearing the previous 2 days they didn´t
show up.
- The Welsh towns in Argentina are a big tourist draw. Colonised by the
Welsh in 19th Century because they felt oppressed at the English not allowing
them to speak Welsh in Wales, they moved here and now all speak Spanish !
The Welsh teas are famous and expensive except no-one from the UK had ever
heard of them. The only things that these towns really have in common with
Wales are the surrounding hills which look like slag heaps and the very high
unemployment rate.
- After 34 hours travelling to Ushuaia we arrived 3 hours late due to
roughweather on the ferry crossing to find that our reserved hostel places had been
given to other people. Since it was already 1am by this stage we ended up
spending the night sleeping in a corridor.
- Trekking in Tierra del Fuego National Park I got snowed off a small mountain. Strange to think that England must have had snow in March and here I was at the other end of the earth getting exactly the same weather - and it´s only early autumn here.
- Took a very cheap flight from Ushuaia to El Calafate but because of rain
at the destination airport it was closed so we were diverted and then got a
bus the rest of the way. We were supposed to arrive at 6.30pm but didn´t
get there until 3am by which time the hostel was closed and so we had to
sleep in a bus station until 6.30am when the hostel opened. Then I was stuck there for 2 more days as the rain poured down and the roads to both my possible destinations had been washed away. It doesn´t help when the locals say "It´s very unusual
for this time of year".
The Trek (Ups and Downs) - Torres del Paine, Chile
If you want to eat 0.75kg of chocolate, 1kg of nuts and raisens, loads of
pasta and rice and still lose weight, with a free leg muscle tone up thrown
in then this is for you. 7 days hiking and 7 nights camping around ´The
Circuit´ which circles a group of improbably shaped spectacular mountains -
strangely eroded sedimentary layers pierced by hard volcanic plugs which now
stand high above their surrounds. The whole area is a birthing place for
glaciers which dangle down steep mountains and sweep through valleys.
The Torres (towers) themselves are spear shaped granite plugs thrusting vertically 1.8km (over 1 mile) upwards from our viewpoint at 1000m. Well worth the 30 minute dawn race in freezing weather, from the campsite up the scree to see them change from purple to pink then orange and yellow in the first rays of the sun before it gets fully light. Just below them there is a glacier which crumbles into a lake full of icebergs. An incredible sight.
There are downsides however. Apart from the climb up with full pack
(weighing over 20kg) there was camping in sub-zero temperatures - I left my
water bottle outside on the first 2 nights and the water was distinctly
lumpy the next morning. I hardly slept for the first 2 nights as my feet
were freezing despite me wearing all my clothes in my sleeping bag. It is
also difficult to keep your hands clean as washing them in freezing water is
simply not a good idea in the morning or evening as they simply never get
warm again. And as for wearing the same clothes for 8 days without a
shower.... well .... everyone does it so no-one notices !
All round the circuit (we walked 6 or 7 hours a day) the views were
amazing, snowcapped jagged peaks were the norm, spectacular summits were
always there (if only that cloud would move !) and there were glaciers around
almost every corner. If you were looking at an incredible view ahead of you
then there was probably one at least as good behind you as well.
The best view of all is when you trek up through areas of snow and rise to
a height of over 1200m to go over ´The Pass´. From here there is not only
an almost aerial view of the huge Glacier Grey 1000m below but a view up to
the source of many of the glaciers in the area - the huge Southern
Patagonian Ice Field. A huge sheet of ice stretching across mountain tops,
over 320km long, covering an area of over 13,000 square km and hundreds of
metres thick. Vast is too small a word - it is a sheet laying across
everything, smoothing out what would otherwise be a mountainous landscape,
stretching further than the eye can see, emitting glaciers at every possible
opportunity down every valley, flowing like rivers, colliding smoothly in an
ever increasing mass and constantly restucturing to fit the valley´s width.
A No. 1 sight - perhaps the No.1 sight in an incredible part of the world. It rained for days 7 and 8 but by then we had seen so much we weren´t so bothered - although camping in the cold rain is not particuarly recommended.
Tonight I am catching a boat up to Pueto Montt - a 3 day and night trip
through some incredible scenery - that is if the weather holds good.
Bye for now
Luv
Pete
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