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Published: January 26th 2006
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Sorry you haven't heard from us for a couple of weeks ... we've been busy enjoying ourselves! Anyway can't hang about so here's the latest instalment which covers the last 10 days in South America.
Our sojourn in Chile started with arrival at Puerto Natales but this was just an overnight stop en route to 3 unforgettable days in the Torres del Paine National Park (in Chilean Southern Patagonia!). The first day (22 September) we drove over 250 kilometres through terrain studded with lakes & mountains - lunch stop included a rather improbable, but very good, nouvelle cuisine meal in a smart sun-filled dining room overlooking an iceberg laden glacier lake (lake Gray) complete with glacier & icefield stretching up into the mountains in the distance. The Chileans certainly know how to organise a tour!
Pete was over the moon to catch his first glimpse of the 9,000ft high triple granite pillars of the Torres del Paine - until now this had only ever been a dream. We had booked ourselves into a "hostelria" within the park for a couple of nights uncertain what to expect ... but we found ourselves amongst a handful of other guests in one of
the most impressive establishments we've ever stayed at - literally miles away from anywhere (at the foot of Almirante Nieto - another 9,000ft neighbour of the aforementioned) and in some of the most wowing landscape we've yet to see (the photos will prove it!).
Sunrise on the second day saw the Torres & the snowcapped granite backdrop glowing in pinks & golds in a blue sky ... & Pete leaping about in his underpants trying to get the best photos from the bedroom window!! After breakfast we set off with our own guide to climb to the base of the granite pillars. Provided with hiking sticks & appropriate clothing (it was snowing between sunny periods) we crossed the scree slopes & Liz took the opportunity to stop at a mountain refuge hut after a couple of hours while Pete & Eduardo (the ranger / guide) climbed on up through the snowline to a much higher vantage point where the Torres could be viewed in all their glory - a pretty tough but very rewarding experience. They collected Liz several hours later on their way back down & all were happy with their day!
The following day we walked by ourselves
in the park (about the size of south east England) exploring trails & walking for miles without seeing a soul ... just the mountains for company. All good things come to an end & on this occasion we had to take a 6 hour bus journey from the hostelria via Puerto Natales to Punta Arenas (the far south of Chile) where another pleasant accommodation surprise awaited (Hotel Finis Terrae was great!) before we flew north to Puerto Montt / Puerto Varas a little over half-way up to Santiago. The flight over the southern Andes just drove home the overall impression of an immense land covered with very big mountains, ice-fields, glacier lakes. Pete had forgotten why he'd opted for our short week-end stopover at Puerto Varas until the clouds cleared across the lake to reveal the huge conical volcano by the name of Mt Osorno (Chile's very own Mt Fuji!).
Then after another short (2 hour) flight on to Santiago, Chile's capital. We only had one full day to take in the sights of Santiago and were pleasantly surprised - we saw it at its best after a downpour overnight had cleared the smog. The city is busy & modern,
set on a plain at the foot of the Andes which tower in the distance over the highrise office blocks & older ornate 19th/early 20th century buildings. Lunchtime saw us at the public fish market where despite the language barrier Pete ordered a plateful of oysters at Donde Augusto's (a fittingly atmospheric seafood restaurant). We watched a party of people at the next table eat a whole king crab (@GBP58 each!) which was expertly extracted from its shell in front of us by an accomplished waiter.
Then on to Easter Island / Rapa Nui (4 October), an island isolated by some 2,000 miles of Pacific ocean but still part of Chile - it has one of the longest runways in the world ... courtesy of NASA in case the shuttle needed an emergency landing strip mid-Pacific! Despite this there are only 4 passenger flights a week using it and they're all from Santiago! The island itself is a surf-battered triangle of land formed from 3 large volcanos (one at each vertex, and a few small ones in between - all dormant ... at least while we were there). First impressions were of unrelenting waves which broke on the black volcanic
Chile ... Torres del Paine - the last few metres of the climb
... the next photos were taken from viewing point just to the left of the big rock at the top! rock all around the island, splashing spray which drifted in the constant wind. Hanga Roa, the only settlement, is a rather spreadout collection of wind-battered huts but then one notices the moai ...
All around the coast the ancient inhabitants placed enormous stone statues (moai) on rock platforms (ahus). Originally these moai faced inwards protecting the native tribes from the sea & keeping their 'mana' or power within the island. At some point the tribes stopped carving these statues & knocked them all down so now the majority are fallen although some have been recently re-erected to show how they would have looked. It was just (again we're afraid!) awe-inspiring to walk among st the fallen statues & marvel at the work & ingenuity required to carve, move & erect these giants with only stone-age technology.
The high point of the visit to Easter Island was our trip to the "nursery" - Rano Raraku - where all the maui were carved out of the rockface of the hill.
A 5 hour flight back to Santiago followed by a 13 hour overnight flight to Auckland brought us to the start of our New Zealand adventure which started on 10 October
Chile ... Torres del Paine - the highest point
... Peter's biggest high of the whole trip (the sheer granite towers are over 1,000m tall & rise nearly 3,000m above sea level) ... but more of that shortly!
Suffice it to say we're both fine & we hope all goes well for you. Bye for now - Liz & Pete
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