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Published: February 2nd 2007
It would appear that I've not been very good at keeping my travel blog updated, now having at least a month's worth of backlog, but I have lot's of excuses, the main one of which is that I've been in the middle of nowhere for a long time now, and when we've got to somewhere with internet facilities, we usually don't have time to do anything at all. I've also had problems with getting some of my photos scanned (too expensive in Ushuaia, will take too long in Buenos Aires), so there's a bit of a gap in the photos, but I'll just do a photo update when I manage to get them done. Despite these difficulties, I will bravely soldier on for your benefit, but as I'm now in Buenos Aires, which is a great city, I'm not going to soldier on too much, as I'd rather be outside than in an internet cafe!! So this will be the bullet point version of my travels, accompanied by some photos taken by Hugo, one of the tour leaders, who very kindly copies CDs for us of his photos. Thanks Hugo!
So rewind to where I left you last, in La
La Paz
From the viewing point as you come down to the city from the Altiplano (Hugo's photo)Paz. Great city, not like anywhere else, completely mad, stalls everywhere, women in traditional dress including bowler hats. It was the rainy season, so we got caught in a few heavy showers, but still managed to have a great time. Did a bit of Christmas shopping, as it was the last chance to buy toys for the kids we were to visit at an orphanage on Christmas day.
From there to Potosi across the Altiplano, a mining town near the silver mines which on their own paid for Spains national debt for 200 years. Then went to Uyuni, the town next to the salt flats. On Christmas Eve we went to the flats, which were completely amazing, you just can't get a sense of how big an area it is until you're standing on them. Visited the island which is covered in cacti, and also conveniently has a pub. Watched sunset at the far end of the flats, then drove back to town.
On Christmas day ourselves and the group from another overland truck went to deliver Christmas presents to kids at the local orphanage. It was amazing to see the difference that the presents we'd bought in
Witches market, La Paz
Selling all sorts of strange things, including llama foetuses, dried frogs etc. 'Witches market' is a tourist term, the stuff is really used by normal people to bring good luck (Hugo's photo) la Paz - most of which cost a couple of dollars - made to the kids, some of whom had never had a Christmas present in their life. They were so excited, and they were really lovely kids. This was the first year that this had been organised with the overland trucks, and the woman who ran the orphanage gave a wee speech and got quite emotional in thanking us, so needless to say there was not a dry eye in the house. We got a tour of the orphanage, and it really brings it home to you the conditions that they're living in, when you see that they can't afford to repair broken panes of glass on the dormitory windows, and this is in a place which in winter has extremely cold temperatures. Andrew and Sally in our group had asked their friends and family for some money and some of the rest of us chipped in, so they were able to hand over enough money to get windows and floorboards repaired, and hopefully do a bit of painting and general repairs. We´re hoping that the people that run the hotel we stayed in and organised us going to
Train graveyard, near Uyuni
Stopped to look at these old trains on the way to the salt flats (Hugo's photo) the orphanage will set up something for us to be able to give some money next Christmas as well, because it's amazing when you're actually there to see the impact just a small amount can have.
On Boxing Day we tried to set off but the truck had a hangover due to excessive use of it's sound systme the previous night, so we called the Bolivian army (who were conveniently stationed next door) to give us a push, and they were assisted by an old woman with a shopping bag who happened to be passing. Between us all we eventually managed to get the truck going and set off with a guide, who was needed to tell the drivers which dirt track to take through the mountains - the tracks all criss cross and there are no signs to tell you which direction to take. We spent the night in a very small place, and after a couple of glasses of wine, I suggested that we climb up the hill which didn't look very big for sunrise. So 5 of us got up about 4.30 to go up the hill which actually ended up being very big. Didn't get
Wee people
the obligatory illusion photo, one of many that were taken on the salt flats, featuring everyone in the group (hugo's photo) to the top for sunrise, but did get a good vantage point to see the light come up on the surrounding mountains and valleys. That was quite an eventful day, as we also went to Laguna Colorado which had hundreds of flamingos, Laguna Verde (which was very green, not surprisingly), the Dali desert, which is just big isolated and funny shaped rock formations in the middle of nowhere, stopped to look at some geysers, went up to 5020m and crossed the border into Chile. Evidence of frosty relations between Bolivia and Chile can be seen in how long it takes to drive through no man's land between the borders - roughly an hour!
We camped at San Pedro de Atacama, a really nice little town, from where we went on a tour of the Valley of the Moon in the desert the next day - we ran down giant sand dunes (ot sort of half trotted in my case) and watched the sunset from above some giant dunes. The next day we drove through the Atacama desert all day, camped on the beach, and then drove though the Atacama desert all the next day, stopping at the hand of
Cactus island
An island in the middle of the salt flats covered in cactus plants, some of them were meant to be hundreds of years old (Hugo's photo) the desert for pics.
We arrived in La Serena the next day, which was where we were to spend New Year, and went to an observatory up in the hills in the evening. Because there is so little cloud in that are of the world, lots of organisations have large observatories in the hills. The tour was really great, we looked at the moon first using big telelscopes outside, then we went in to use the main telelscope. It was all a bit James Bond / Austin Powers as the roof rotated right round so the gap was lined up to what we were looking at. We had a look at a few stars, which looked more like entire solar systems close up, but the whole thing was really interesting and really well presented. And we got a free Pisco sour at the end, which usually keep us happy.
On New Year's Eve we had a BBQ and went down to the beach to join the locals who didn't seem that lively until after midnight - it turns out you spend until the bells with your family and then go out with your friends after, so that probably
Salt flats
Me and Becky guddling for salt crystals. The crust is only about a foot thick, so if you break through, you can pull crystals off the bottom of the crust (Hugo's photo) explains why we were leading the dancing until about 1! But it was a really good night, there was a stage on the beach with bands and lots of fireworks. Spent New Year's day hungover in my tent. On the 2nd we had to push start the truck again and headed to Santiago.
We only had one full day there, which was a bit of a shame as it seemed to be a really lovely city. We went up a couple of hills to get views of the city, had a wander and then went out for dinner with the new people who were joining the next section of the trip.
On the first day of the next section we visited a vineyard and camped next to a waterfall, then the next day we arrived in Pucon, near to Volcan Villarica and on the shores of a lake. The following day we climbed the volcano, which was definitely one of the highlights of the trip so far. We had amazing weather and got great views. We started off getting a chairlift up to the snowline, and then walked up for about 4 hours to get to the top.
Totally preoccupied
Me examining my findings. Don't worry, the jeans have been washed since then (Hugo's photo) we could see the red stuff (magma?) getting thrown out the mouth of the volcano every so often, and there were huge clouds of sulphurous smoke. We got amazing views of other volcanoes in the distance and the whole lakes area. But the best bit was still to come - rather than walking back down, you got equipped with trousers with a plastic patch on the bum and an ice axe, and you just sat down and slid your way back down using the ice axe as a brake! it was really good fun, and definitely cut a few hours off the return trip!
From Pucon we drove to Bariloche, crossing the border to Argentina for the first, but not the last, time. From bariloche we went on a trip to Isla Victoria, which was ok, but not really spectacular, and also stopped off at a wood of myrtle trees, which Walt Disney was supposed to have seen and been inspired to make Bambi - or at least make the trees look the same.
When we left Bariloche we had a couple of nights bush camping in fairly windy places before we got to El Chalten, near the
Lunch time
Setting up for lunch high up on the Altiplano. The lake you can see in the picture had llamas, sheep and flamingos standing next to each other, which was a bit strange. (Hugo's photo) Viedma glacier and the Fitzroy mountain range. When we arrived we could see Fitzroy really clearly and we were told that it was the first time in a month it had been visible. the next day some of us went on a walk for about 6 hours up to Lago Torres, which took us to the edge of the lake with a glaciar on the other side and the mountians behind it - really spectacular. The next I went on a bit of a shorter walk up to the lookout point for Fitzroy, and on the way we saw quite a few Magellanic woodpeckers, which have an entirely red head and black body. You can walk right up to them, they just don't bother at all.
From El Chalten we went to El Calafate, which is an incredibly windy town. A waitress in a cafe told us 'In the winter it's cold, in the summer it's windy'. Great. The next day we went on a trip to the Perito Moreno glacier, which is just amazing, and photos don't really do it justice (which is just as well, because you can't see them anyway, as they are in the 'can't
Flamingos
At Laguna Colorada, high up in Bolivia on the way to the Chilean border (Hugo's photo) get anyone to scan them' category. We went out on a boat trip first and saw huge chunks falling off, and then walked along a path facing the glacier. it might sound as if a whole day of looking at a glacier would be too much, but it was really easy to while away the time just wandering up and down looking at it.
The next day we drove to Torres del Paine national park, and crossed the border into Chile again. We camped facing the Cuernos (horns) mountains, I even had a great view of them when I got out of my tent in the morning.
And I'm afraid I'll have to leave it there, as I've spent 3 and a half hours in this internet cafe, which is a bit of a waste of Buenos Aires! So I'm off out to enjoy the heatwave (they were talking about it being 36degrees today). Sorry that the info is a bit all over the place and doesn't always match up with the pictures, but I think all this will be remedied when I begin travelling myself and am on my own itinerary!
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