Blogs from Ensenada, Los Lagos, Chile, South America

We vertrekken pas om half acht ‘s avonds met Iberia richting Madrid, een vluchtje van maar twee uur. Het vliegveld van Madrid is bijna helemaal uitgestorven, er gaan alleen nog wat langeafstandsvluchten naar Zuid-Amerika toe. Eenmaal bij de gate kunnen we nog een half uur zitten voordat we aan boord gaan van de A340-600 van Iberia. We zitten op een tweezits aan het gangpad, een stoelconfiguratie die niet veel meer voorkomt (het is nu voornamelijk 3-3-3). Ondanks dat we net na middernacht vertrekken krijgen we eenmaal op kruishoogte een diner geserveerd, couscous salade, pasta en een kersentaartje. De vlucht naar Santiago duurt 13 uur, dus we hopen toch nog wat te kunnen slapen. De stoelen zitten niet echt heel lekker, ze zijn vooral hard, maar toch kunnen we nog wat slaap pakken. Via de Afrikaanse kust, ... read more

The weather is beautiful, sun is shining and sky is clear and blue. We head down toward Cochamó and Puelo, two very small towns along the Reloncaví Estuary. The road is gravel for a good portion of the distance and there’s not much traffic, which is a good thing because the views of the volcanoes, especially Osorno, are beautiful and we make a lot of stops for pictures. If we had more time, we would have made the drive a loop and taken a ferry over the river to a different road for the return to Ensenada but we have activities scheduled for the afternoon. Another day or so in this area, and we would have gone horseback riding overnight deeper into the Cochamó Valley, which is supposed to be quite nice and similar to Yosemite ... read more

Cas se pomalu ale jiste nachyluje ke konci roku a tudiz i nasi cesty a tak se vydavame do posledniho narodniho parku, ktery v dlouhem Chile stihame navstivit, cesta tam z Puerto Varas trva cca 1 hodinu. Jedeme mensim autobuskem s ridicem, ktery ma velmi silne reproduktory a hraje nam skladby z Dirty Dancing, na radu prichazi Scorpions, Europe atd., povidat jsme si pritom moc nemohli, ale pan ridic byl velitel vozu a jeho usmev a potukavani si na volant bylo v danou chvili to nejdulezitejsi. Prijizdime do pristavu k jezeru Todos Santos, smlouvame si prevoz na druhy breh, k rodine Kuschl, kde je rodinny kemp a ubytko v soukromi a zakempovavame se. Netrva dlouho a stezejni jev, vsemi knihami avizovany a vsemi mistnimi obyvateli sdeleny - tedy "petros" a "tabanos", chilske kousave muchnicky a chilska ... read more

After parting ways with David, who headed north to hike Volcán Lanín, I ended up heading toward Cochamó Valley, which is fast becoming a mecca for climbers. The valley is known as the Yosemite of South America for it´s granite batholiths that rim it´s edges. Because it remains icefree for much of the year, it´s gaining popularily among international climbers, partially to the hard work of Daniel and Silvina, a Nevada-Argentine pair who own a refugio in the heart of the valley. On the second day up there I day hiked up a recently constructed trail for better views. While lunching on a granite outcrop high above the valley I was treated to a pair of condors that for about 20 minutes soared just under me, giving me a great look at their enormous wingspans. On ... read more

I tried my best to get my $US90 worth at breakfast, and I think I almost made it. Breakfast almost made up for what dinner lacked. It absolutely poured with rain all morning, so we just sat lounged around in the hotel reading, had a late lunch and kileld time until the scheduled 2pm ferry departure. I cycled the 1km down to the ferry and got absolutely drenched in the process ... It has rained for 7 days straight now. Ferry trip was nice, and would have been spectacular on a clear day, then at the other end, everyone else jumped onto the nice warm bus while I squirmed back into my smelly, wet cycling gear and took off down the muddy road. A kilometre of so down the road, there was a bit of a ... read more