Blogs from Ensenada, Los Lagos, Chile, South America
December 28th 2008
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
November 3rd 2008
During my stay in Puerto Varas, I joined a tour one late afternoon for a tour of Volcan Osorno and its environs. It was a wonderful opportunity considering the perfect weather with no cloud in the sky to see the volcano clearly. I got picked up at the guest house and after picking other passengers, we drove along the eastern shore of Lago Llanquihue stopping once to take photos of Volcan Osorno in the distance. After going through Ensenada, we entered in Parque Nacionale Vicentre Perez Rosales where we ascended to the volcano's base. There was an opportunity to go up on the chair lift. Some of us including me went up and we got to three quarters of a way up to the summit where we were greeted with stunning and clear views of the ... read more
March 6th 2007
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
Craters, Lakes and Hot Springs
Published: March 24th 2006South America » Chile » Los Lagos » Ensenada
March 24th 2006
After sadly saying goodbye to Ben and Subhani, Angus and I headed to Chile to do a different kind of trek. It was a four day trek around a beautiful volcano in the Southern lake district of Chile. We camped at the bottom for the first day and then climbed over 1000 metres to the refugio half way up. It was a wooden hut with beds for 16 people and a wood burning stove. We met lots of interesting people including a friendly Belgium couple, a German policewoman and some Israelis. The next day everyone set off at the crack of dawn to climb to the summit of Volcano Puyehue. After a torrential down pour the first day, we had perfect clear blue skies. At the top we had wonderful views of all the surrounding volcanos ... read more
My first night without Christie :(
Published: November 28th 2005South America » Chile » Los Lagos » Ensenada
November 24th 2005
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
