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Puerto Montt
The small fishing town Places Visited: Puerto Montt (Chile), Puerto Varas (Chile), Bariloche (Argentina), El Bolson (Argentina), Pucon (Chile), Mendoza (Aregentina) & Santiago (Chile)
So this part of my trip has seen me fill 4 pages of my passport due to the large number of border crossings i have made. The route that tended to be planned on the spur of the moment with quite a few places added due to recommendations form other travellers may not have been logical, but has given me some great experiences. This part of my trip has also seen me identify 3 potential career paths (Mum & Dad will be so proud) so read on to see some of the great jobs i may be looking into when i get back....
I started with a flight up to a place called Puerto Montt, a pretty small town in Chile. This was just a stopping point for further travels but surprisingly i did end up having one of the best steaks i have had on my trip so far. This was also an important place as here I was introduced to the Pisco Sour, the national drink of both Chile and Peru. I have now become quite addicted
Puerto Varas
One of the only photos i have where it wasn´t raining to this drink and it has been the source of many amusing nights out and a few memory blanks too.
So after a couple of days i headed on to a really nice town called Puerto Varas which lies on the shore of a very picturesque lake surrounded by a number of active volcanos. Unfortunately this was the point where the weather decided to turn somewhat. For the 3 days i was there it rained pretty much constantly, except for one afternoon where i tried to go up the volcano and it decided to start snowing and i was forced back down the volcano without having seen anything. The winds were also strong enough to turn over 2 boats in the harbour so my exploring of the place was limited. Weather aside, i still had a great time and the food (especially the fish) was spectacular.
From there i headed back into Argentina to a town called Bariloche. This is known as the adventure capital of Argentina and somewhere i had really been looking forward to. Another town set on a lake, this place had a really Swiss village feel to it with more snow capped mountains in the
Puerto Varas
The volcano that i never actually got to see background. The weather was much improved here and i ended up staying in a really nice hostel with a good bunch of people. We did a number of treks up some of the mountains and a bike ride in the national park there which was stunning. I then decided to give Paragliding a go and absolutely loved it. Taking off from one of the mountains overlooking the town i got around 25 minutes up in the air. The views were incredible and it was unbelievably peaceful, with the only noise being the inquisitive Condors that came to use the same thermals we were. At the end of the flight i decided that perhaps becoming a paragliding instructor could be the job for me splitting my time between the Alps and the Andes (Career path 1).
My next location visited came about after i had met a group of people in the hostel who i had travelled with a few weeks earlier in Torres Del Paine. They were all on their way to a little town called El Bolson and ended up dragging me along. It turned out to be a great place, really chilled and basically inhabited by a bunch
Bariloche
View from the top of one of the many mountains there of hippies. The landscape was incredible but the best feature here was the fact that they brewed their own beers. A night of tasting all they had to offer followed and of what i can remember it was great!! Two days in El Bolson was incredibly relaxing and i could have stayed for far longer, but a tight timeline meant i had to make a move and back to Bariloche i went.
I went and stayed at the same hostel i had been in before and got to know the owners quite well who were a Kiwi couple who had been travelling and decided they liked Bariloche and so set up a hostel. This seemed like such a great idea that this quickly became potential career path number 2 (i just need to decide where first). Whilst in the hostel i also met a new group of people who managed to convince me that i had to go Pucon in Chile to see the volcano with them, so the next day off we set.
Pucon was another small town which only really existed to allow people to climb up the imposing active volcano Villarica which loomed over the place,
Bariloche
The lakes with its eerie red glow when the sun set. i am very glad that i was talked into going there as it turned out to be one of the highlights of my trip so far. The climb up the volcano was tough and required the full crampon and ice pick accessory set but the views you were rewarded with were spectacular. When we finally reached the top it was breathtaking, although that may have been due to the sulphur!! 5 minutes was about all our lungs could cope with but the journey back down was far easier. The guides handed out some plastic tea trays and we were then thrown down the icy peak (trying to avoid the occasional rocky outcrop). Some pretty impressive speeds were reached and we ended up getting to the bottom in about a third of the time it had taken us to climb, all with incredibly large grins fixed to our faces. That evening we were rewarded with a Chilean style barbecue where massive joints of beef were thrown on the coals and constantly covered in copious amounts of salt. This method of cooking kept the meat incredibly tender and is a technique i have
Paragliding
Photo from the descent in Bariloche now dazzled people with in other hostels (look out for this when i get back to the UK, it is amazing).
After this short detour to Pucon i headed back to Argentina and to Mendoza which is the top wine region in the country. I had an awesome week, hiring bikes and then cycling around the numerous wineries and enjoying their hospitality and more importantly their wine. I absolutely loved this place, the sun, the wine and the people were great. So it won´t be too surprising to here that when doing one of the many wine tours i decided that working at a vineyard could be my third career path and probably my top choice so far!! So it was reluctance that i said goodbye to Mendoza and the people i had met there but Santiago beckoned and the start of another tour taking me up to La Paz in Bolivia via the Attacama desert and salt flats. So from Santiago i write this looking forward to exploring what i have heard is a very different country in Bolivia!!
All the best
Charlie
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jo
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Yaaaah
At last, a new post......and well worth waiting for. Great pictures; and stories are great too. I am totally jealous about almost all of you interesting times- except perhaps the sulphur breathing that does not sound that healthy. I am also loving the job suggestions- are we allowed a vote? That is what happens on all the best blogs........I will kick it off by voting for the paragliding. I would love any excuse to paraglide- either the Alps or Andes will do. It is good to see you having so much fun- although we are missing you loads. xxx