Postcards from the Trail

Hello friends

It is time again for Marta and George to go on another vacation. This year our plans take us south to Chile. Yes, Chile! We have always dreamed of visiting the country and doing some hiking and this year we are living out the dream.

We are leaving today Thursday November 20th and we will be spending three weeks touring country. We are mainly focusing on three areas, the Far North, the Lake District and Patagonia. We plan to spend about 4 days in each area seeing the natural wonders and doing some hiking. We will start and end our journey with a few days in Santiago.

We expect to see some pretty amazing things while in Chile. From the birds and flowers of the Altiplano plain at 14,000 near the Bolivian border, the volcanoes and monkey puzzle trees of the Lake District and the icy peaks and glacier of Patagonia. We are so excited and of course a little anxious. This is our first trip to South America. But everyone we have dealt with in arranging this trip has been extremely helpful and friendly.

We will be sending back e-mails along the way when we find internet access. I've also kept a web-log (blog) while making our trip plans. Check it out at http://www.slowtrav.com/marta. You can find our itinerary and archives of my logs in the links on the right.

Hasta Luego and Happy Thanksgiving,

Marta and George

It is Sunday evening here in Santiago and we are somewhat recovered from our travel. The flight was good. We got some sleep on the plane since we brought along some Sleepytime Tea with Valerian. We awoke to the sight of the Andes and Aconcagua, the highest peak in South America. Of course, we got in the slow line at customs and by time we made it to baggage claim, they were gathering up the few bags that remained. We spotted two of our bags but my bag was not there. Oh no... not Italy over again. We started our lost claim when George spotted a carabinero (security) with a rather distressed woman in tow. She had picked up my bag by mistake. Major Sigh of relief. And so our adventure began.

We went in search of an ATM. Of course, the first one we found was out of order. Second minor panic attack since we did not have any Chilean money. But we found another one and figured out how to get money. We took the bus into Santiago, and then the Metro on to our Hotel. It took us about 2 hours to get through customs and to our hotel. Our room was ready even though we were early. Hotel Orly is very nice. The exterior and interior is very French with a curving stair and antiques reproductions. Our room faces the street and is noisy but we have ear plugs.

After a shower and brief rest we headed down to the heart of Santiago. The tourist office was closed for some anniversary so we had to rely on our maps in our guide books. The Metro is excellent, clean and cheap. It costs about 50cents a ride and the train seems to always come in a few minutes. The buses meanwhile are very chaotic, dirty, curtained with no organization. They speed along the avenues spewing diseil fumes.

We went to Conaf (National Parks) headquarter for a few brochures, finally got a map, and sat around Plaza des Armes for a while. Boy is it hot. The temperatures have been in the upper 80s and 90s. I have not been drinking enough water. I need to do a better job. We headed back to the hotel and had hoped to get a late lunch but we hadn't yet figured out the Santiago eating times. Lunch is 1pm-3pm and Dinner is at 9pm-11pm. We ended up going back out in the evening. We ate at El Huerto, a vegetarian restaurant that was quite good. We had our first Pisco Sours, a potent apertif of white brandy distilled from Moscatel grapes, lemon juice and sugar. We finished our meal with some herbal tea and fell promptly to sleep.

Saturday was our culture day. We started off with a tour of Chascona, Pablo Neruda's house. He built it for his mistress who later became his third wife. He designed the house himself in a nautical theme. He was enamored and inspired by the sea. The rooms were made to look like rooms on a ship or a light house in three levels. It was still decorated with many of his furnishing from the 60s and his art collection which included several gifts from painters like Legar and Diego Rivera. It is at the food of Cerro San Cristobal a huge peak overlooking Santiago and includes one of the largest urban parks in the world. George wanted to go in search of the Botanical Garden. We took the funicular up to the top and then started down in the noon day sun looking for it. After walking down for 15 minutes, Marta was getting pretty grumpy. Fortunately for George there was another cable car station so we could take it back up.

We had learned our lesson from yesterday and headed to lunch. We had an extra half hour and came across a free exhibit of Joan Miro paintings and sculptures at the Telephone company headquarters. Then off to lunch. We had a great fish lunch with a bottle of wine and a pisco sour at Aqui esta Coco. We decided to take in another park and headed to Cerro Santa Lucia where we sat in the shade and watched the couples. We meandered back to the Plaza des Armes where we watched a mime and a crazy guy doing Tai Chi. We decided to head back to La Moneda for a photograph and came across another chance art exhibit. The was an outdoors photography exhibit by a French photographer. All the photos were taken from the air. We spend over an hour viewing the photos.

Today is Sunday. Most everything is closed including a lot of the restaurants. We headed to the Mercado Centrale to see the fish market and have lunch. Talk about pressure sales. The fish and restaurant hawkers start the moment you walk in. It was great to see the different fishes. I've already had conger eel which isn't an eel but is a rockfish. I also had Reinite which was a firm white fish somewhat like trout. George has had corvina which is a sea bass. We had some time before lunch so we walked over to the vegetable market. Totally different feel. There were very few tourists in this market and stalls upon stalls. Most selling vegetables but some selling meat, chicken, and even pet food (dry Purina chow). It wasn't emaculate like the other markets but it stillwas someone clean and we didn't feel unsafe. We really like the Chermoyia fruit. It is also called custard apple and has a great taste.

We finally burned out and has taken refuge in our hotel. It has airconditioning which really helps. Tomorrow we leave for Arica and the North. This should be a totally different experience. Until then,

Hasta Luego.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone. Here we are in Arica after three amazing days in the Altiplano. Words can barely describe the scenery. Now... if there just wasn"t the effects of the altitude to deal with. But it unavoidable when you are over 15,000ft.

We started our journey on Monday when we flew from Santiago to Arica. We picked up our "camioneta" (extra cab pickup with extra big wheels and high clearance). Perfect for the roads were to be traveling on. We had to make a quick trip into Arica to pick up an extra gas can "bidon" because there are no gas stations outside of Arica. We also stopped at the Ekono supermarket to pick up breakfast supplies for the next three days and 7 liters of water.

We headed up Ruta 11 to Putre. Ruta 11 starts out in the Lluta valley which is a green belt of agriculture surrounded by huge mountains devoid of all plant life. But along these cliffs were some geoglyphs of giant men and animals that were made using dark stones. After about 40km, the road starts to climb through these arid mountains which really looks like piles of sand. You even pass a borax mine so we think we are in Death Valley. At about 80km, what appears to be telephone poles scattered about the landscape are really candleabra cactus. These are similar to Saguaro cactus standing 10 ft high with a massive tangle of arms at the top and spiny trunk. And that is all there was for kilometers. Almost all the traffic that we met was camions (trucks) coming from Bolivia and moving very slow.

At 100km, we reached 3000m or almost 10,000ft. We enter the pre-cordillera and there is life again. We see several types of cactus along with a variety of plants. We make several stops to allow us to adjust but we are already noticing the thin air. At 124km, Putre appears in the green valley below. Our home for the next three days.

Putre is not a city but a real Aymara village. It is at 3300m or about 11,000 ft. We head in for the evening and easily find Casa Barbarita at Alto Andino and met Barbara, the owner and guide for one of the days. We discuss our options and decide to follow here suggestion of staying in the village to acclimate and going to Lauca the day after. I am glad we did.

That night we could not sleep. The headaches were almost unbearable. But we knew they were temporary and would subside with time. George went back to bed for two hours next morning and Marta spent the time walking and exploring the village which also helped to relieve the headache. We spent the day botanizing around the area. We had a good vegetarian lunch in the village (soup and salad) and then we headed to the Termas outside of Putre which is hotspring. It has two enclosed hot pools, a large outdoor swimming pool and a mud bath area. Here you sat in warm red muddy water and rubbed red clay mud over your face and body. You let this dry and then washed it off. This softens the skin and it was great fun. We also met some nice Chileans who showed us the what to do. After another dip in the enclosed pool, we head back to Casa Barbarita.

Casa Barbarita is very nice. It is rustic adobe building with two bedrooms a large living room, small kitchen with stove and a large bath with lots of hot water since all heat was supplied by propane. You needed it. It got very cold after the sun went down. It was below 40 degrees. The beds were great. They had flannel sheets, alpaca blankets and a huge comforter. We were toasty.

The next day we met Barbara at 8am for our trip up higher to Lake Chungara and Lauca National Park. We started by exploring the mountain that looked down on Putre. We were able to drive to a high pass at 4700m (15,600Ft) and explore the wild plants that survived at these extreme conditions. Very bizarre. There were huges carpets of llareta, a dense shrub that looks like a large cushion. Imagine a large rock covered mounds of green, but it wasn"t a rock... it was all a plant. The wind was cold, the air extremely thin and sun blinding. The views over the pre-cordillera was spectacular.

Next we headed for the park. We started to see vicuna. Imagine llamas with short hair or small camels traveling in packs many times right next to the road. We stopped at Restaurant Matilde for lunch of alpaca soup and coca tea. Yes George ate the soup, but I ate the meat. The soup had lots of different vegetables, potatoes, green beans, red peppers and bits of freeze dried potatoes which tasted like mushrooms. Sitting in the middle was a meaty bone of alpaca. It had a strong meat taste similar to deer meat. The restaurant is basically a truck stop for Bolivian truck drivers crossing the altiplano.

Next we headed for Lago Chungara. We passed by the bofedals of Parincota, large wetlands where the Aymara herded their llamas and alpaca. Many birds also gathered there to feed. We got our first views of Volcan Parinacota. Parinacota is a beautiful volcano very much like Mt. Fuji in Japan. It is cone and the top is coated with permanent snow field. Kinda like an ice cream cone. Off in the distance was Bolivia"s highest peak. We were now at 4500m or 15,000ft. And the headaches had returned.

We stopped just before the customs station to Bolivia to see the flamingos. We were also able to see andean geese, giant coots, gulls, greebs and ibises. It was amazing to see the amount of wildlife so high. We headed back and stopped at the village of Parinacota to see the church which has wonderful murals similar to Bosch of heaven and hell. Along with this mural was also murals of the stations of the cross which has Spanish soldiers instead of Roman soldiers leading Chris to the cross. These were painted by 1600 by Aymaras that were trained by the Spainards in La Paz.

The altitude was continuing to give us headaches so we headed back. It was perfect day, just what we had hoped for. Barbara was a great guide. We spent a relaxing evening but had another sleepless night. This time it was not due to the altitude but to the music all night that was in preparation for a big festival this weekend. I wish we could have stayed.

Today, we left Putre and are now in Arica. We have an early flight tomorrow to Puerto Montt and a long drive up to Villarrica in the Lake district. Until next time.

Hasta Luego,

Trees, Waterfalls and Volcanoes are three words to describe the area north of the lake district, Araucariana.

We left off at Arica. We had a major travel day on Friday which went well even with a few hitches. We got up at 5:30am and decended in darkness and awaken the night clerk. He sleepily checked us out and walked across the street to wake up the owner of the parking lot where we left our truck. We made it to the airport and turned in the "mountain goat" and made out plane. Unfortunately, there was mechanical issues in Iquique and it was enough of a delay to miss our connection in Santiago. Fortunately there was another flight in 2 hours and we made it to Puerto Montt by 3. We had 4 hour drive yet to do to Villarrica. Fortunately the roads were great.

Here in the South, the Pan American Highway, Ruta 5, a continuation of I-5 in Seattle. It is a 4lane highway peppered with toll booths. 50 cents here, 1.50 there. That is probably why they are mostly empty except for the truck and busses. What is also different is there are people walking and crossing the hwy everywhere as well as oxen carts hauling wood. But the speed limit is 120km so we made great time.

Our hotel for the 4 days was the Hosteria de la Colina, an outstanding bed and breakfast owned by Glen and Bev Aldrich. They are wonderful hosts who are extremely knowledgeable of the area and can supply lots of handdrawn maps and recommendations for everything. They have a beautiful garden and nursery which got George's attention. Our room was panelled in the local wood and had a huge window with a view of the garden and lake Villarrica. Unfortunately, we only saw the volcano the day we arrived as it was cloudy
the rest of the days.

Our first day was a hike to Los Lagos in Huerquique National park to see the Araucaria (monkey puzzle) trees. It was a 14km rt hike which climbed up through beech trees and bamboo. George immediately spotted orchids, ephiphytes and a wonderful red trumped flower related to african violets. They were everywhere. The trail switched backed with views back down the valley and if it has been clear we would have seen the volcano. At the ridge top, we came across our first Araucaria. The trail took us through three Andean lakes which felt somewhat prehistoric walking under the trees. We returned to the Colina for a beer and soak in the hottub. We ate all our dinners at the Colina also which had great kitchen. A couple of baby salmons and salad and it was off to bed.

The next day we toured the waterfalls near the Argentian border. There were three of them that were reached via a dirt road. We did a lot of driving on dirt roads during our time in Villarrica. The Toyota Yaris did great.

The first waterfall, La China, was the highest. It was 70-80 meters high. The walls surrounding were lined with gunnera (a native plant to Chile which looks like a huge rhubarb plant). The next waterfall, Los Leon, was the wettest. We got soaked by the spray but fortunately we were wearing our waterproof hiking gear. The last waterfall, La Puna, was the most remote. It was a staircase fall and we found calceolaria or pouch plant scattered throughout the forest. We returned to a leisurely evening at the hosteria.

Yesterday we drove to Conguillio National Park, two and half hours from Villarrica mostly on gravel. In the center of the park is a recently active volcano. but we only saw the base but we saw evidence of it everywhere. After entering the park, we drove through a huge lava bed on a single lane pumice road. You could see the path of the flow from the mountain side and it left two large green islands of trees. Here we did a hike up the ridge above Lago Conguillo where we had spectacular views of the lake and the Sierra Nevada Mountains with all the araucarias. It was a scene from Jurassic Park. We expected to see dinosaurs lifting their heads at any moment. We later found out that BBC filmed the "Walking with Dinosaurs" series in the park. We returned to our car for the long drive back via the north road which took us through rolling green hills and dairies. The sun peeked in and out of the clouds. No hot tub because we were too tired. A shower and dinner would have to do.

Today, we sadly left Hosteria de la Colina and are making our way down to Puerto Varas about 200 miles away. We are in Valdivia to see the fish market and see the botanical garden and then we will be on our way. Tomorrow we fly to Patagonia. Time to get our all the warm clothes we have and hope for the best weather possible. Some guests at the Colina had been there two weeks ago and it snowed a bit. The wind will be the biggest challenge. But the views and scenery will be awesome. Until later,

Hasta Luego,

Hola,

Last we left off, we were in Valdivia heading for Puerto Varas and on to Patagonia. The remaining drive to Puerto Varas was uneventful except for the endless toll booths. We usually tried to dump off all our change which smounted to a lot of coins. One tolltaker called us something which we later found out meant "You have broken the piggy bank!".

It was rainy and dreary overcast when we arrived at Puerto Varas. The city tumbles down the hillside around the lake. The buildings are mostly unpainted wood and were built by German immigrants in the early 1900s. The town has a great view of Volcan Osorno but we saw nothing but dark clouds and rain drops. It is supposedly a very charming town but it was lost on me with the weather.

We quickly found the Guest House even with the tangle of one way streets. It is a large German-Victorian style house built in the 1930s. It has been restored by the owner and nicely decorated but a bit cold in temperature since the heat had not been turned on for the evening. That evening, we ate at Merlin, one of the best fish restaurants in Southern Chile. The food and the wine was good. During our meal, we noticed a dog hanging out on the front steps. We saved a bit a bread and thought it would be nice to give him something to eat. Wrong! Do not feed Chilean homeless dogs. They will follow you back to America. All the way back to the Guest House, we tried to ditch him by crossing back and forth on the street and walking faster but he was relentless and ended up at the Guest House. The next morning we saw him again a couple blocks away downtown as we drove away. Fortunately, he didn't see us. ;)

We caught our plane in Puerto Montt in the rain and headed for Patagonia. We were met at the airport by Jerome who would be our guide for the next 5 days and Carlos our driver. In the van, we met Emma and Sam, two young Australian lawyers from Melbourne who were finishing a 3 month round the world tour and Ydriss, a French bank trader who had been living in New York and was just starting his 3 month trip around the world. They quickly started exchanging stories and tips.

Ahead of us was a 6 hour drive to the camp at Los Torres. We crossed a wide plain with low shrubs with the mountains far in the distance. It reminded me a lot of driving across Wyoming. The highway stretched ahead for miles, a long thread into the distance and we met very few cars. But lots of wildlife including foxes, rheas, geese, ibises, condors and flamingos. We stopped at Hotel Rubens for lunch which is in the middle of nowhere. We made a quick stop in Puerto Natales to meet the staff and stretch our legs. The town was windy and felt a lot like a fishing village in Alaska. Next stop was the Milodon cave, where a large skin of a prehistoric sloth was found in the late 1800s. It was thought that the natives kept it as a pet. I doubt it given the large claws but it was vegetarian.

After two more hours on dirt road, we reached the eco-camp. The camp is on private land along with the Hosteria de los Torres. It is collection of geodesic canvas dome tents which are elevated on platforms. They are large enough for you to stand and have two very comforable and warm twin beds. Our dome had a wonderful view of the Torres which were visble. The camp also had hot showers and a nice bathroom facilities. We headed off to the main dome which is a large dome with sofas, kitchen, dining area and a very nice warm wood burning stove. We met for appetizers and pisco sours which became our nightly ritual. We had dinner and tumbled into bed even though it was still light at 11pm.

Sun came up about 5am and we later got up for our first hike. At 5am we could see the towers but by time we hit the trail, it was overcast and windy but no rain. The trail headed up a steep grade past the hosteria and then dropped down to the refugio. Along the way George and Jerome talked plants.. There were lots to discover, orchids, calceolaria and escalonia. After the refugio, the path went through the lenga beech forest up and down crosing small streams. We never had the same type of bridge or crossing. Sometimes a few rocks, sometimes a full bridge, other time a few shaky branches. After 4 hours hiking, we reached an open area and we could see part of one tower above. We could also see what we needed to climb in the next 40 minutes. A big rock scramble up a talas-moraine slope. The path was marked with red-orange dots painted on the rocks. But once we reached the top, it was magnificant. The towers peeked in and out of the clouds like a picture from a calendar. It was sunny and windy. We had our lunch with about 40 other people and could not stop taking pictures. This was our best hike. We finally had to leave and returned to camp for our pisco sours and dinner.

The next morning, I awoke to the glow of the sun on the towers and the pink sunrise. The weather changes so fast that by time we left for our next hike and destination, it was rainy. We drove to Lago Pehoe and boarded a catarmarin boat for the crosing to Camp Pehoe which would be our location for the next night. We left out backup clothes and headed for Lago Grey and the Grey Glacier. We had a 24km (15mile) roundtrip hike ahead of us. The trail started out between the hills and the wind increased as we got closer to the lake. The lake is strewn with white-blue iceburgs and we could feel it in the wind. We climbed to the appropriately named "Windy Pass" where we saw the glacier in the distance. The wind at this time was blowing about 40mph. It about knocked us over. The hard part was next. We had to climb down from the pass over some of the worse trail I have ever been on. Wet slippery rocky path down along streams and crawling down on muddy slopes. All along we kept thinking, we have to come back this way. After about 4 hours, we finally reached the glacier look out which was even more windy but so spectacular. The glacier goes for 18km and is huge, 120 ft high. It was amazing to see. Also above was the Gran Paine Massif which was being dusted with new snow. We started back and tackled the cliff again. I finally had to have Jerome carry my pack which really helped. I know... whimp! But hey... it is vacation.

The next day, we went to the Francis valley to view the Cuernos and more glaciers. The weather was not on our side and we had wind and rain most of the day. But it was not a heavy rain so we were never really miserable. There were more rock moraine scrambles, more mud and more cliffs to climb but the views were amazing even in the rain and clouds. At the lookout, we even had some sleet and constantly heard avalanches off the snowfields and Francis glacier. It was a long day back. We had to wait about 2hours for the boat and
waited mostly in the warm refugio packed with other hikers. We went out early to get a seat on the boat which was a mistake. The wind whipped across the lake and the boat was lake. We were frozen to the bones by time we got back to the main eco-camp. The hot shower felt so good but I still had to hang out by the wood stove for a long while to finally get warm.

It was sad to say goodbye to our fellow hikers. We were very lucky to have such a nice group of fellow world travelers. We had similar outlooks on life and really hit it off. We exchanged addresses and hugs before going to bed.

It was a long travel day as we drove back 6 hours to Punta Arena and our 4 hour flight to Santiago. We stumbled back into the Hotel Orly around 12:30am and crashed. Today, we are being lazy and walking around the malls in Santiago. They are the only thing open since today is a public holiday, Immaculate Conception. I wish I had realized it before and we could have returned to the US earlier. Oh well. Tomorrow we have a wine tour and very late flight at midnight back to the states. The vacation has been wonderful. Would we come back? You bet.

Hasta Luego,

It has been almost two months since we returned from Chile. It feels like ages ago. Memory has sifted the experience and what is left are impressions of the altiplano and Patagonia. Both area were the most striking and different. And wouldn't it be at the different ends of the country?

Altiplano, the brightness, the altitude, the different culture, the confusion and altitude sickness. Patagonia, the vastness, the wind, the ice, the animals.

I have posted a photo gallery of pictures of the trips. Check them out. Photos from Chile

Now it is time to plan for 2004. Australia and Tasmania is a strong possibility. We also want to climb Mt. Whitney and applied to the Whitney lottery. More on that to come.