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Published: March 19th 2009
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A family friend with Chilean contacts arranged for us to meet his friend in the small village of Cochamo. His instructions were: "go to centre of town near church and ask for Cochelo. Everybody know him". We realized we were heading into a pretty rural area so we thought it would be funny to see if it all worked out as the directions said they would!
Arriving in Petrohue we had a taxi driver pick us up to drive us to Cochamo. The trip takes about one hour and we had to arrange for it since there is not a bus and we weren't sure exactly when we would arrive.
Our driver Rodrigo was a very nice man and although he spoke very little English we managed to have a good conversation with him. We learned that Cochamo is a very remote village with a population of a few thousand people. On the way we stopped at a farm and a man waved to the taxi. Rodrigo said "Mi padre!" (my father). We were invited in to see Rodrigo's father's farm and noticed hundreds of bees buzzing around and some people wearing beekeeper outfits. Rodrigo's family farms honey among other
Cochamo - Iglesia
A national monument. things. The family was so nice and after seeing how much we liked the honey they gave us a small jar. Then the father asked Rodrigo why we were in Cochamo and Rodrigo explained we were on our way to meet Cochelo. Rodrigo's father said excitedly "I know him!" and joined us for the rest of the ride to introduce us to Cochelo!
So our instructions were right, everybody does know Cochelo! We were also amazed with how friendly everyone is. And this was just our taxi driver!
Rodrigo and his father dropped us in front of the Iglesia (church) and introduced us to Cochelo, whose house is across from the church.
Cochamo is a really neat town on the bay of a fjord. Across the bay you can see a white-capped volcano named Yate. The town feels like it's from a totally different era. We really enjoyed strolling along the scenic harbour.
Cochelo and his family were so welcoming and gracious. They made us feel at home and we enjoyed some great meals prepared by Mama Mendez. It was great to experience the day to day life of a Chilean family as opposed to staying in
hostels with other tourists. Along with Cochelo and his mother, were his sister Mary and her daugther Antonia, and his niece Veronica. It was quite a full house when the two of us moved in! Our first night there she prepared a traditional Chilean meal for us: including Sopaipillas and fresh baked bread, delicious home grown lettuce in freshly squeezed lemon dressing, local fresh salmon, and potatoes from the Mendez garden.
Cochelo is a
Gaucho who was born and raised on the mountains and on a horse. It is amazing watching him work with the horses. If he makes a "shhhhhhtt" sound the horses stop what they are doing and look to him for direction. He can start a fire before you have even dismounted from your horse, and he even started one in the pouring rain. His asado was one of the best meals we've had.
All of the horses that we rode on the trek were the same breed -
Criollo. These horses were remarkable. They negotiated the most treacherous terrain imaginable with little more than the occasional grunt. They slid down muddy trails, splashed through the powerful river's currents, and slipped over muddy makeshift log
Horse Trek
Cochelo the Gaucho trails. They picked their way down cascading rock trails, over scree and loose rock paths, through passes so thin that rider's knees brush both sides, and passes taller than horse and rider. We can't explain how amazing these animals are, our words won't do them justice!
Travis rode a black stallion named Rebelde. Michelle rode a chestnut stallion named Pinchuchu (not sure how it´s spelt!). Eva rode her black stallion named Diego and Cochelo rode a chestnut stallion, along with another chestnut pack horse and Cochelo's dog Mono (spanish for Monkey) - that made 10 mammals on the trek. Mono was hilarious, he was so excited every time we would get ready to ride that he would bark at all the horses as if to say "hurry up! let's go already!".
The trek took us into
Cochamo Valley which was stunning. It was really nice to be able to trust the amazing horses with the hard work and just relax and enjoy the scenery. Our first day was cloudy, but the clouds soon parted and we were blessed with a spectacularly sunny day. After a few hours making our way up the mountain, Gaucho Cochelo called for a break
Horse Trek - La Junta
We couldn't believe the beauty that surrounded us on all sides! for the horses and we stopped for lunch. The two of us are inexperienced riders so we had some sore muscles to stretch out. Cochelo quickly had a fire going and prepared tea and sandwiches that Mama Mendez had made for us. We continued on the path until we reached La Junta - one of the most beautiful places either of us has ever seen. Eva, who has been all over the world, says La Junta is one of the reasons she keeps coming back to Chile. We stopped to enjoy the scenery and take some pictures before continuing on to Cochelo's family's property, and where we would camp for the night.
We arrived at La Traidor and were able to make camp in complete privacy. Cochelo took the saddles off the horses and let the five of them run free for the night. They were content to run and play with each other, and roll on the ground to scratch their backs. Cochelo made a fire, and fashioned a stake out of a tree branch to use for the Asado. While Cochelo was cooking we set up camp and enjoyed the awesome scenery and the sunset. The Asado
was fantastic! Eva also said she's never tasted an Asado as good as one prepared by Gaucho. Cochelo cooked a half lamb to perfection over a few hours. At one point he fashioned a rotating spit out of a few branches and continued cooking the animal. It was amazing! We also had some salad and bread and a bit of whiskey to wash it down.
We had great conversation getting to know each other and feel so lucky that Eva was there to translate for us. When the full moon rose we couldn't believe how bright it was since there was no light pollution. We finally know what Cat Stevens was talking about in his song Moonshadow! We also got to see some of the southern hemisphere's constellations which was amazing. We slept very well as the horses munched on grass and trotted around us.
We awoke to some light rain and a breakfast that Cochelo had prepared for us. Due to the weather we decided to head back straight away. We were again amazed at the sure-footedness of our horses especially since the mud made the going more slick. Cochelo led us to a beautiful waterfall that
Cochamo
The Mendez family in their kitchen. They were all so nice! you can use as a natural waterslide during warmer months. We rode for about 7 hours on the way down with a few breaks. We laughed when our horses munched on some of the wild blackberries that lined the road back into town - they had blackberry juice dribbling down their chins! We think our two horses must have a weight problem since the kept stopping for food!
We arrived back to the small village and warmed up with a hot shower and another one of Mama Mendez's fantastic meals. This time she made us Shellfish soup and salmon bake on bread. A few additional members of the Mendez family dropped by and we had fun getting to know them with our horrible spanish. Such a nice family.
Tomorrow we will head to Puerto Montt where we will leave on a 5 day cruise for the glacier and Laguna San Rafael. We're looking forward to it as neither of us has seen a glacier before!!
thanks for reading, and hope you are all well,
love Michelle and Travis
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Adam
non-member comment
Meat on a Stick
That looks like an amazing adventure. Well done Cochelo!!!