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Published: February 21st 2010
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We headed out of Santiago, with our first destination being the Pacific coast, and our first campsite. We found a spectacular setting for our first camp, at a place called Las Gaviotas, perched high on the cliff, with the sound of the Pacific crashing on the rocks below us. With no-one else camping around us and magnificent views, it was the solitude we've been hoping for. And with the campsite facilities being pretty awful and unusable, it was almost like wild camping!
Down the coast a few kilometres, we found a quaint little fishing village called Quintay, with brightly coloured wooden houses perched all around the steep rocky cove. We had a fantastic lunch of 'Curanto' (a Chilean seafood stew) in a restaurant by the quay.
After a couple of nights in the tent and having not been able to bring ourselves to use the campsite facilities, we were in need of a shower! We headed north a few kms to Valparaiso, one of Chile's most famous and supposedly beguiling cities. The cith of Valparaiso is formed of clusters of communities perched on a number of steep hills which rise up from the broad bay. The brightly painted houses
are built all up the hillsides, in a higgledy piggledy fashion, looking like they might all topple down. We spent the night in a fantastic hostel called the Yellow House, run by an Aussie-Chilean couple, Martin and Lisette and assisted by a lovely American girl called Rachel. The house was great and they were all very friendly and helpful. We had a fantastic seafood meal in a restaurant that night, which was a Christmas dinner we hadn't had yet. Yum!
After a few days on the coast, we headed inland again to Parque Nacional La Campana and found another fantastic place to camp. So our second camp was in amongst the trees and by the stream, where it was warm enough to sit out and relax in the open air for the evening. The next morning, we had an early start as we planned to hike up the Cerro La Campana, which is the hill which gives the park it's name. We had a map from the park guards and knew that it was supposed to be a fairly tough hike of 4.5km uphill to the summit at 1,900.
We set off and climbed steadily and steeply for
an hour or more. We were joined by a Canadian lady, called Linda, who had been advised by the park guides that she should not attempt the final 2 hour climb on her own, as it is too dangerous. After a couple of hours climbing, we arrived at the sign which indicated 2 more hours to the top. We still didn't realise quite what we had let ourselves in for! It was one of those hills which just kept going up and up! You think you must be nearly at the top by now and then you round another corner and see that you still have a lot further to go. It became very steep and we were having to scramble over boulders. After about another 2 hours, we finally reached the summit, hot and exhausted, fo the incredible views across the countryside to the sea, and on the other side to the Andes and Argentina. We even caught a glimpse of Aconcagua, which we won't see again until much later in our trip. On the way down, Linda told us about her recent trip to climb Aconcagua (we think she was probably about 65)! After a very difficult and
steep climb down, we arrived back in camp, aching and exhausted after nearly 9 hours. Cold showers were the order of the day (there is no hot water in national parks!). At this point it was starting to feel rather like Boot Camp!! We couldn't even be bothered to cook dinner that evening so after a glass or two of wine and some snacks, we crawled into our sleeping bags at about 8.30. Having had a lazy few weeks over Christmas and New Year in Buenosn Aires and in Santiago, we really hurt the next day!
After La Campana, it was time to head back to Santiago briefly to pick up ther permits we need to take the car into Argentina as we head south.
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