Adventures of Dean and Sophie

In Pucon “Adventure capital of Chile” we were not able to be too adventurous unfortunately. I was still suffering from an upset tummy and Soph was coming down with the flu. So, beneath the looming, smoking volcano and beside the gorgeous blue lake, we simply relaxed. We stayed with Pablo, a friend we met in Puerto Montt, and our main activities were watching movies, cooking, eating and playing Go.

The town itself is in an incredibly beautiful location, and although we weren’t able to swing through gorges, raft rapids or hike up smoking volcanoes, our stay in Pucon was just what we needed. Besides, Pablo’s friend Gonzalo’s Macchas Parmesiana (fresh muscles, grilled on the shell with Parmesian cheese) were as amazing as any volcano hike.

We decided we had to do at least one touristy excursion, so on our last day we bussed out to Los Posones hot springs and spent a blissful couple of hours in the crystal clear pools there. Then it was straight onto an overnighter to Santiago and on to Valparaiso, apparently the place that invented the word “bohemian”.

Pucon

Sophie is hurriedly tapping away on this one, but till she’s done, here are some pictures!

Chiloe Island, Chile
A beautiful, rural, rustic island, where people make huge blocks of cheese and knit cosy woolen goods.

For a long time Sophie and I Ummmed and Ahhhed about the best way to go north from Puerto Natales. We had originally planned to go on the Navimag, a five day cruise through the islands along the coast. The website makes it sound like a tourist cruise with spectacular views the whole way, but the boat is actually primarily a transport ship, and after more research and the cheapest fare of US$420 seemed a bit steep to hitch a ride on potentially a ship full of cows. The other option at one quarter the price was a huge bus trip that would take at least 3 days and would require us to back track into Argentina. It was just then that Gloria came to our rescue and suggested we just fly. Just like that. The same price as the bus and only few hours travel. So we did.

At the airport we had a last minute crisis  when Sophie realised that we were missing a potential opportunity to see penguins in Puntas Arenas, but I managed to convince her that this wasn’t worth cancelling our flight for and that we would probably get another chance later. (Luckily we did…)

While the ferry would have had some awesome scenery, so did the flight, and with the clear weather we had, the views of the moutains and ice fields below were unbelieveable. For a “cheap” flight, the service on our our “SkyAerolines”  flight was great and we even got dinner and drinks. Not the most original name, but great service.

Our stay in Puerto Montt was something like our stay in Bahia Blanca. Its not a particularly pretty place and definiitly not on the list of tourist hotspots, however after all the very tourist-centric towns of the south it was actually quite refreshing. Simple things like buying yummy candied peanuts or chocolate marshmallows really cheap at the bus station, and shops that charge non-tourist prices were very exciting. Combine that with meeting up with some really awesome guys through CouchSurfing and you have a really great few days.

On the first night we met up with Christian through CouchSurfing and he took us for a drink and some cerviche (yummy seafood with lemon, coriander and chilly). The next day him and his friend Roosevelt borrowed a car and took us out on a road trip to the nearby lakes at Puerto Varas and the beautiful nearby National Park. Later on we met up with more of his friends and many beers were had, followed by some exceptional homemade sushi that we all put together. We were also taught how to make pisco sours, from the raw ingredients, which added to the fun.

We woke up a bit groggy the next day and made the biggest, baddest cooked breakkie for Christian and his sister. It was a real treat for us too as they don’t seem to know about huge, unhealthy cooked breakkies here. A roll and some coffee is the usual fare.

With very happy tummies we headed off to Chiloe island for (what became) a week. On our return from Chiloe, we had a great day helping Christian make an authentic PVC didgeridoo. I crafted a real wax mouthpiece for it and we all contributed to what in the end was a very cool, pseudo aboriginal paint job. Having travelled for so long, we found it really enjoyable to sit down for a while and make something crafty. You just don’t get usually get the chance to do stuff like that. Of course that was followed by another typical Austalian meal, stir-fry, along with lots more pisco sours.

So like Bahia Blanca, not such an attractive town, but the hospitality shown to us by our new friends there was just amazing and we had a really special time as a result.

Puerto Montt

Our trip there did not start too well. The bus leaves early and on the morning we were set to leave it was cold windy and raining. We slept in. In our defense though we were also waiting on some news of my gran who was very sick at that time. The next morning it was also cold and wet. We slept in again. Who needs an expensive bus, we’d just hitchhike a bit later in the day. So a bit later on with the sun out we set off to hitchhike there.

Soph was looking particularly cute in her scarf and adorable hand written sign, I was doing my best not to look too tall. Our technique was perfect, however, there were just not enough cars going to the park so we had to retreat back to the expensive bus station. So we finally arrived at the park in the late afternoon and, somewhat grumpy, set off on our eight days of adventure.

Torres Del Paine! The Towers of Pain! Would you believe the merchandising people have not capitalised on this at all!?
I’d be all over it with the funny teashirts. Its actually pronounced more like Pie-neh and has nothing to do with pain, being an old Indian word for the blue colour of one of the lakes. But the funny slogan potential is HUGE!

The park itself is a most spectacular area of rivers, forests, snow capped mountains, huge glaciers and the Torres themselves, massive spires of grante rising 3000m or so. The route we took is known as Circuito Grande del Paine, The Big Circuit of Paine! (Not on a single teashirt!) It is a trail that runs in a big circle around the monumental peaks in the centre of the park. In total we carried our packs 110km over a period of 8 days and it was the absolute limit of Sophie’s tolerance of time sleeping in a tent in the cold. It was also quite close to mine as well I think. But not only was there cold, but also a lot of rain and a LOT of wind. Some days were quite bad, but given the park’s notoriety for insane weather, comparatively the weather was apparently not too hard on us.

I won’t write up a blow by blow account, rather limit it to the highlights and you can look at the pictures.

Some of the highlights were:

• Seeing the mountains dusted with fresh snow after a cold night.
• Climbing up the John Gardner Pass and actually walking through some of the fresh snow.
• Building a tiny snowman.
• Crossing the pass, with the most spectacular view of the ice fields of Glaciar Grey, while trying desparately to persuade my fingers to operate my camera in 70knot wind at 1 degree celcius.
• Walking along next to a huge glacier (Grey) for several kilometres.
• Walking through the forest in the Valle Frances with a layer of soft white snow on the ground.
• Having the sun pop out in an otherwise dreary day, just as we reached the Valle Frances viewpoint. The view from there was breathtaking.
• Building an even bigger snowman.
• An absolutely mind-blowing sunrise on our last morning. The sun managed, beyond any expectation, to find a way through the cloud filled sky to light up the mountains in the most intense glowing orange, before disappearing again for the rest of the day. Looking at the time-lapse that I managed to get, you can actually see a small avalanche happening, just as the sun hits the mountains.
  
• Hungrily eating delicious meals after hours of walking. I think we have got our camping cuisine down to a fine art at this stage.

Some tough bits:

• Walking most of the day every day. I think it would have been nicer to take more days, but I guess then we wouldn’t have seen as much.
• Arriving at a Refugio Grey in the rain, cold and very wet. In this case though, luckily there was a warm room with a wood oven that we could recover in.
• Being milked like a cow at every oppurtunity. Although its worth every cent, tourists pay through the nose for everything there. The buses there and back, entry fee, camping fees, and shop prices were all exhorbitant. It’s not even possible to camp cheaply, as camping is only allowed at designated sites, most of which charge the amounts we usually reserve for a bed, internet and breakfast. So out of spite (and also necessity on the first night) we made use of a couple of unofficial campsites a score or so metres off the beaten path.

So all in all an amazing experience. The weather could have been better, but it could have been so very much worse. We survived and we saw some unbelievable scenery along the way.

Torres Del Paine National Park, Chile
Reputed to be one of the best spots of hiking in the ENTIRE WORLD. However this is much dependent on the weather which can be ferocious. We had some good and some bad…

We arrived in Puerto Natales (Southern Chile) nearly 2 weeks ago… 8 of those days we spent exploring – walking over 100km’s – in the neighboring very beautiful National Park Torres Del Paine. Somehow, we spent the rest of the time was spent hanging out with the Seguel Albernoz family of Puerto Natales.

I don’t know where to begin to try and explain this extrodinary family. Their house was originally set up as a resturant out the front and hostel out the back but after hearing about Couch Surfing a few years ago they have opened up their house to the world. Since then they have had almost one thousand people from across the globe stay with them. We arrived to an open armed Gloria and we’re welcomed by a warm cosy, delicious-smelling house filled with kids, dogs and other travlers.

The family consists of Gloria – Our tempoary and very loving mum, Oscar – our temporary and very strict espanol proffesor! And their four children, Alison and Enzo of which we spent the most of our days with, exploring strange and wonderful fruits in their garden, playing games like limbo and how-long-can-you-balance-a-stick-for and experiencing the great Enzo’s magic tricks!

Every night was a new taste experience depending on the nationality of the chef. Austalianos you will be proud to know that our Pumpkin Pie and Pavlova was a success (As was our big, fried Sunday breakfast!) But despite the nationality of the food dinnertime was always a noisy, memorable and delicious Chileno family experience! Due to our limited Spanish and their complete lack of English we were never really sure what was going on in the house. On a couple occaisions we made the mistake of going out for dinner, having a big dinner out in the local restaurant only to arrive home to table piled with steaming food! One thing is for sure, we have left Puerto Natales with very satisfied tummies and a warmth in our hearts!

Traditional chilean food consists of all of my favourite things. Fresh seafood, soups, corriander, potatoes and a delicious local drink called pisco sours (a local spirit served with lemon and icing sugar mmm). In most of the restaurants you will find ‘menu del dia’ which is set three course menu that costs between $4-6 aussie dollars, consisiting usually of a home made soup, a main of locally caught fish (or chicken) and a dessert. Much to our delight we found another cheap and very popular delicacy amoung the locals is helados – ice cream! Every afternoon at about 4pm there is a long line outisde the tiny ice cream shop of kids both young and old… For two aussie dollars you can have two giant scoops of any flavour ice cream in a wafer cone…

I could go on and on about the time we spent in Puerto Natales, the tiny little southern chilean town, but I will leave you to read about our 8 long (and very beautiful) days in Torres Del Paine….

Puerto Natales
The gateway to the famous Torres Del Paine National Park in the far south of Chile, but also a great place to hang out.

After spending roughly a week in the mountains and glaciers of El Chalten it was time to hit the road and head to El Calafate. When we arrived, and in trying to stay within our budget, we moved from the trailer in Chalten to a bed in a shipping container in Calafate! True Style…

One of the reasons we wanted to come to Calfate was to see the spectacular Glacier Perito Moreno, considered number 8 on the great wonders of the world list. After a bit of investigation into the buses to Perito Moreno we quickly discovered that it had rapidly become a day trip tourist attraction with a strict no camping allowed. The bus ticket combined with entry fee to the park was going to blow our budget by quite a bit… We we’re considering hitch hiking when the owner of the camp ground mentioned that the two motor homes next door to us we’re heading that way the next day and that we should ask them.

After much deliberation we left a note on thier windscreen and it turned out to be the best thing we could have done. Not only did they allow us a very swish ride in the back of their fully equipped motor home to the glacier but a friendship with two very lovely couples from Brazil. ~ Thank you Hugo, Nancy, Louis and Giselda! ~

To be in the presence of the Glacier was truly an amazing experience. Fragments of the glacier crack and fall off into the beautiful milky sky-blue water below creating a indescribable sound.

The glacier is one of the few in the world that is constantly growing. As it grows it touches the mountainside and separates the lake in two. With no escape route, the water-level on one side rises above the level of the main lake. There is then a huge amount of pressure produced by the height of the dammed water and it will finally break the ice barrier in a spectacular rupture event. This dam/rupture cycle is not regular and it recurs naturally at any time between once a year to less than once a decade. We unfortunatley we’re not a witness to this, but to just simply be in the presence of this amazing natural phenomenon  is something we will never forget.

Glaciar Perito Moreno
A huge glaciar 30m high and kilometers across. A perfect tourist attraction.

El Calafate was not really more than a stopover town for us, a gateway to visiting the amazing Perito Moreno Glacier However we did end up spending three nights here. It it is a bit bigger than El Chalten and a bit less touristy. On the main street there is plenty of the same tourist shops filled with delicious hand made chocolates and crafts, but on the edges of the city are some charming rustic houses.

At one place we saw a beautiful scene with a family running around on their horses in the field behind their house, wild flowers everywhere of course.

Another highlight was the park on the edge of the town. A bird sanctuary, it is full of different birds, including hundreds of flamingos hanging out in the ponds. At the particular time of year that we visited however, the grassy marshes were absolutely packed solid with more daisies than you could shake a stick at.

El Calafate, Argentina
Gateway to the very popular Perito Moreno Glaciar.

Hello all,

We’ve just learned about the huge earthquake in Chile. For anyone concerned we are currently a long way from that area and so were not affected at all. However, I think it will make the rest of our trip very interesting.

Our hearts go out to all those who were not so lucky.

At five o clock, an hour before our bus to El Calafate was scheduled to depart we were sitting in the sun getting our stuff organised when we were stumbled upon by Shawn, an American friend from the previous hike. He started telling us about the next hike he was planning, and once he started with his American enthusiasm we really couldn’t argue with the fact that there was still much more to see, and that the weather was being undeniably and uncommonly kind to us and that suddenly we were feeling much more ready to do another slog. So come six o clock, we were hauling our stuff past our waiting bus, and to a trailer at the back of a hostel that was to be our base for the next few days.

The trip proposed was much more adventurous than our previous one. It would take a total of about 20 hours of walking and two nights camping. The goal was to reach the campsite at Lago Toro and then push on up the mountains to the Ponta del viente (Pass of wind?) which is the pass through which one must go to reach the Southern Ice fields, which are the top of the massive Glaciar Viedma. Accompanying us on the trip was another of our friends from the previous hike, a Belgian guy called Francois.

The first day went really nicely with a long but fairly easy walk across mostly open hills with lovely open views of the surrounding mountains and the huge Lago Viedma. The second day was when things got really adventurous. The first challenge was to cross the icy river that runs down from the glacer above. For most people this is not a problem as there is a cable tyrolean which allows an easy crossing, with the right equipment. For us however, it was a wade barefoot through the numerous knee deep branches of the river that spread out just before meeting the lake. So one after the other we waded through the 10m wide stretches, with breaks after each to curse and temporarily curl into the foetal position. Walking through ice cold water may not sound too bad in theory, but I can tell you it is a painful experience, especially after going through twelve or so stretches. We got across in the end however and after a short climb we hit the next challenge, a glacier.

Initially we didn’t walk on the ice, but instead tried to navigate around along a steep slope of delicately piled rocks with sizes ranging from about the size of a football to a small car. This got extremely hairy at some points so we opted to climb down and did the rest of the crossing on the ice itself, which luckily was scattered with small rocks, providing our boots with a bit of traction.

At lunch time we had not gone nearly as far as expected and were on the point of calling it a day and returning. But luckily the spirit of adventure prevailed and we continued on, now with a deadline. From there we were on a clear path again and though it wound steeply up the slopes on loose rock, it was not nearly as hazardous as the previous slopes and we made good progress. It is very arid terrain but there are some lovely streams coming down and also some really interesting flowers and plants. We were even able to appreciate the amazing view, but tried not to spend too long looking down the 45 degree slope to our right.

And then we were at the pass, bracing ourselves against the powerful gusts of cold wind coming through. The view out over the ice fields was worth it though. Miles and miles of jagged ice stretching out like a frozen ocean, with ice capped mountains beyond. We couldn’t stay too long though, so after a few photos and a play in a patch of snow we set off down the slopes again.

With the help of gravity the steep slopes flew past and come to the rocky slopes we took the much safer option (relatively) of crossing the ice. This was a bit hairy too however as there were now some really strong gusts of wind coming down which seemed to be timed to hit us just as we would approach one of the numerous gaping cracks in the ice. Very exciting to be walking on a huge slab of ice as it grinds down a mountain.

From there it was one more session of torture crossing the river and then we were back in camp having dinner and a milky sweet hot chocolate.

The next day we began our return. However on the way we came across a “shortcut” that would allow us to visit another, apparently spectacular viewpoint, Mirador Pliegue Tumbado, on our way. Sophie was not having a bar of it and decided to stay on the level track and wait while Francois and I diverged from the path. The detour took us over some really interesting, moon-like plains of small, sharp, rock shards. We eventually made it to the top of the viewpoint which was actually higher than our climb the previous day. It offered an amazing 360 degree view of Cerro Torre and Fiz-Roy in front, the huge, milkly-blue Lago Viedma behind and to the left now a long way away and far below, the pass where we’d been the previous day. Then it was a fast march back to El Chalten as the sun sank behind the mountains.

The next day we found ourselves waiting for the bus again, and this time we actually got on it. Our desination, El Calafate, home to the huge Perito Moreno Glacier, and probably the last town we will visit before we cross the border into Chile.

El Chalten, Hike Two
From El Chalten to Laguna Toro, then on to the Pass of Wind, and back.