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Published: January 27th 2007
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Hasta Luego Santiago...
(Dan) Began writing this entry in Ushuaia, "Southernmost city in the world" apparently, according to the post cards. Was bloody freezing, but we´ll get to that...
Our "Pachamama by Bus" tourbus arrived on 4th of January to sweep us away from our beloved "Hostal de Sammy" and Santiago. Said all the goodbyes and embarked on a new adventure. First stop Pomaire. "Where the hell is Pomaire?" Good question. After an empenada and a coke (just a lunch break), we hit the road for real, and made a quaint little seaside town called Pichilemu by mid afternoon. Somewhat acquainted with our tour group companions, which consisted of a few young brits, Heath and I felt it pertinent to asert some Australian authority. A decent enough beach nearby was considered ideal as the setting for such an exercise. So donning boardies and thongs (flip-flops/jandals, whatever!), we set of for the black sands of Pichilemu beach. Thinking it might be only a little chilly, not fully appreciating the proximity of Pichilemu to the Southern Ocean (ie. adjacent), all the boys charged in with the bravado of dick-togged bondi life-savers. A little cold??
Jeebus, it was freezing. Approximately 0.5 seconds after
Sunset at Pichilemu Beach (2)
Heath, the big softy, still suffering shock from the afternoon dip, had to borrow the driver's jacket at sunset. diving under the surface, a wave of regret swept over me. This was followed by a slow numbing of limbs until the the thirty second mark, at which point I had lost all feeling below my chin, and decided it was best that I get the hell out. Pichilemu: great little town, but if you go to the beach, stick to the sand.
From Pichilemu it was on to Pucon. Rolling into Pucon, one is presented with magnificent countryside and alpine views, the most spectacular feature of which is the volcano Villarreca, which stands at an impressive 2800m. Our guide, Niko, had mentioned to us that a "volcano climb" was available... but upon seeing this thing sticking up 2 km higher than the horizon, complete with whisps of smoke trailing from the top, I was sure that we would be climbing some smaller, less intimidating, less 'active' volcano nearby. Alas, I was mistaken. We set off early the next morning and after a short drive we reached the base. The climb itself is from 1400m to the summit, and most of it is incredibly steep. Most of the mountain from this altitude was covered in snow. After the Pichilemu
beach episode, it was time to restore some manhood, so we hiked on bravely, and quietly thanked god every time the guide called for a rest stop. After the bussing of the last few days, I´d learnt how to as "Are we there yet?" in spanish: "¿A llegamos?", which was never far from my mind as we trudged ever upward. Roughly 4 hours later, we reached the summit. The view was obviously spectacular, and we were lucky to be enjoying a perfectly clear day, with a perfect view of the surrounding mountains, including Osorno (another larger snow-capped volcano, about 200km to the south!!), the South Pacific Ocean to the west, and the caldera itself was amazing. Every now and then, a huge splash of lava would explode onto the visible rocks some 50m below our vantage point at the edge, followed by a decent release of gas and smoke. Was very cool, but a little unnerving... The journey down was a little more enjoyable than the ascent - basically you slide down on your arse at very high velocity (fast for arse-sliding at least). Nothing much to it really.
We spent the very same afternoon having a few quiet
Villarreca from Pucon
That´s not a volcano, this is a volcano! bevvies in a mountain hot spring. Bloody marvellous after the climb, capping off one of the best days of the tour.
Verdict, Pucon:
Excellent. The next few days were spent passing through a couple more small towns and finally ending the tour in Puerto Veras. In PV, we met a Dutch girl called Jessica who, in honour of her own 26th birthday, decided to cook apple pie for everyone else at the hostel. I like the way those Dutch think! Finally the Pachamama by Bus team disbanded and we said goodbye to some great friends that we'd spent the last week with.
Teaming up with the british crew, Heath and I decided to head inland and over the border to Bariloche, Argentina. The busride alone, provided us with some of the most spectacular views we'd seen but I was soon getting bored of snow-covered mountains and gushing ravines and pine forests etc, and thinking "¿A llegamos?" ... We finally arrived in Bariloche and spent the afternoon (seven of us in all) looking for lodgings. Could only manage a 1 bedroom apartment, which amazingly slept 7 of us relatively comfortably. Sure, Gordy and Faheem(Irish and English, respectively),
Villarreca
On the morning of the climb. had to share a double, but they didn't seem to mind much...
Did a great day-trip hike in Bariloche, which is right in the heart of the "7 lakes district" of Argentina. Again, spectacular views and sore legs at the end of it all.
From Bariloche, we parted from the british crew and headed south towards Ushuaia. Incidently, we ran into a friendly Melbournian called Andy, at the bus station, who after 3 minutes of informal traveller-speak, decided to change his plans of travelling to El Calafate (reportedly a very beautiful spot) and heading south with Heath and I to the infamous Ushuaia. In doing so, he initiated one of the bigger mistakes that he would make on his travels...
Ushuaia...
To get to Ushuaia from Bariloche by bus, one must first endure roughly two days of travelling just to get to Rio Gellegos.
Don´t do it. To get from Rio Gallegos (by my reckoning, the worst destination in South America) to Ushuaia, one must then endure a further "12" hours of bussing, including 2 border crossings (Arg-Chile, Chile-Arg).
Don´t do it. We finally arrived in Ushuaia 16 hours after we left Rio Gallegos, at 1
Dan does Villarreca
The view from the top was magnificent. So I just had to spoil it. in the morning. To make things a little more interesting, the gods conspired to make it a little under 3 degrees celcius when we were unceremoniusly dumped at the docks by the Don Otto (
Shit Bus company. Don´t do it.) bus. Packs on backs, we unsuccessfully hunted for lodgings until we gave up at around 2.30 am. The disadvantages of not "having a plan" had become all to apparent. We ended up spending the night in a 24-hour convenience store, eating hamburgers and buying hot-chocolates occasionally, to keep the owners from kicking us out. At 7 in the morning we hit streets again, and a very tired trio finally sorted a couple of nights accom at two separate hostels at around 11 the next morning. (apparently summer is the busiest time of year in Ushuaia... who'd've thunk it??
Idiots.)
After the horrors of the ride into town, we were determined to make a better time of it in Ushuaia.
Had a great night at our first hostel - spent the evening in the common room with about a dozen other
"travellers" (I feel a little strange calling myself that, given that I've proven to be quite bad at
Heath at the Summit
Heath goes one better by wearing his steppenwolf T-shirt. Tosser! it so far) from all over, putting a couple of guitars and beer bottles to use.
On our second day in Ushuaia, we got out to the nearby Glacier for another hike. Started out fairly pleasant, the track up the mountain being not too steep, and the weather being a balmy 10 degrees. However, when snow began to fall after about 20 seconds of walking, I was instinctively glad that I had worn almost my entire wardrobe. Now I've never been in a true "blizzard" before, God knows there hasn't been a blizzard in Brissy or Darwin for quite some time, but I swear the wind and snow that hit us up that mountain was arctic. When we finally reached the edge of the ice, about 100m short of the true glacier, it wasn't a toughy to decide to turn and retreat. In any case, our asics runners weren´t exactly built for scaling pack ice. Fortunately, a small cabin halfway down the mountain, provided some warmth and refreshments. Incidently, we ran into Jess here also (the apple pie-cooking Dutchwoman).
We left Ushuaia the next day,
by plane, headed finally for Andy's original destination El Calafate... All in all,
Dan at the caldera.
To quote one of my favourite Home Alone 2 lines: "What a hole!!" Ushuaia was ok, but I suspect it's one of those places that
travellers like to say they've been.
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Katrina
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jealous!
Hey guys, Looks like you're enjoying yourselves... keep it up. I'm jealous as hell here in shitty London still looking for work... keep it coming it gives me hope and inspirations for when the bank account looks healthier!