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Published: January 2nd 2007
Leaving Santiago was a wrench as we had such a good time with Penelope, James, Henry and Isobel. Dipping our toes back into the murky world of flash-packing we have moved further down south into the Chilean Lake District or little Deutschland as it could be called. Were it not for the towering snow-capped volcanoes dotted around the region you could really believe you were in the south of Germany. The lush green surroundings are very European but more importantly the whole place is full of Germans. The first of many influxes from Germany took place in the mid 19th century and as a consequence, much of the architecture would be more at home in Bavaria than Chile. Many of the shop signs are in German and you're as likely to find apfel strudel on the menu as an empanada.
The first stop after Santiago was Pucon, a small town nestled between and huge lake and the spectacular snow capped Villaricca volcano. The top of the volcano is a perfect cone and can be seen from anywhere in the town. Small beaches of black sand surround the lake and brave souls were sun bathing and swimming. We stayed at the
Aaaaaargh!
Zip lining in PuconEcole hostal which had a vegetarian restaurant and was hyped in the (evil) Lonely Planet as 'a travel experience in itself'. Well, for poor Nos hostel Ecole in Pucon was more like hostel ecoli in Puke-on. Before she was bedridden with food poisoning we had managed to go zip-lining through the canopy of a local forest and attempt to climb the volcano. (Yes another volcano - will we never learn) On both occasions we booked the tours completely forgetting that I, in effect, only have one useful arm. Thus I found myself swinging in the highest branches of a very tall tree being asked to hang on with an arm that starts to hurt if it has to hold an egg. It was more than a little relief to get back down to earth on a zip line as planned, with only a painful arm to show for my trouble.
The next day, and somehow without a second thought, we headed up the volcano. Apparently there is a crater at the top of the volcano which you can look down into and see bubbling lava. The volcano is largely covered in snow and ice and you need crampons and
The intrepid mountaineer..
Before the attempted climb of Villaricca volcano, with ice axe in tow an ice axe to climb it. So why we didn’t consider the consequences for the one armed bandit is a mystery to me! The first half of the climb proved no problem and at lunch we were afforded fantastic views over the surrounding lakes and mountains. As soon as we finished lunch the clouds really started to come in and as we continued to climb the morning´s soft snow turned into sheet ice. The steeper and more slippery it got the more likely the chances of falling became. This was a problem because the only way to stop yourself plummeting down the mountain after falling was to dig in the ice axe with one hand and hang on with the other. Given that I couldn’t even hold the axe with my bad arm I rapidly began to lose my bottle.
Thus we happily joined the 1st group of the faint hearted and headed back down the mountain. This was no easy feet and proved pretty dangerous especially when Nos was (according to her) blown over by the wind (!!?). Totally forgetting the safety talk she duly dropped her ice axe and started flying down the mountain to God knows
where. Fortunately our guide (Indiana Wolfgang) managed to slide down after her and on the second attempt slow them both down to a stop. That put the wind up our group of cowardly souls and one by one we all managed to fall and my arm ended up getting a right old pounding. It was a huge relief when we got back to having snow underfoot at which point we were able to slide down (in control) on our bums. This was great fun and we were pretty much able to slide down all the way back to the van. I have well and truly decided that ice climbing is not my thing and that is definitely the first and last time I will be doing it. As it turned out the bad weather meant that it was impossible to reach the top so the rest of our original group just got longer on the ice in the driving wind for their brave perseverance.
Next up was the town of Valdivia which the Lonely Planet describes as an 'impossibly charming' Lake District town. Quite apart from the ridiculous expression the place proved to be anything but. I am beginning
Puerto Varas
On the shores of Lake Llanquihue with Osorno Volcano in the background. to hate the Lonely Planet and think it is written by half-wits or people having a good old laugh about directing travelers to crap places. I went for an explore of the town on my own as Nos was still bedridden with food poisoning. I did find the fish market where the local attraction was feeding the local sea lions in river. I fear this has been going on for too long because what I saw were a collection of the most obese sea lions I have ever seen. They could barely move and flopped about in the water as more fish was chucked down their throats. Finally I decided that like Santa Cruz, the best thing to do here was go to the cinema. Valdivia does have one major saving grace though and that is the Kunstmann (stoutly Spanish name that) brewery which brews some very good beers, Torobayo being my particular favorite.
Our final stop in the Lake District was at Puerto Varas which is a lovely little town on the banks of another lake set against 2 more snow capped volcanoes. We had decided to stop here for New Year so that we could get to
the nearby port on New Years Day for the Navimag ferry. This ferry takes 4 days to go through the Chilean fjords right down to the South of Patagonia and is supposed to be one of the highlights of South America. We had basically sacrificed New Year in Buenos Aires so we could get on this ferry, so we were naturally gutted to get an email on New Year´s Eve informing us that the ferry had broken down and was out of action for 2 months. I guess having to change plans is the beauty of backpacking but having to take another flipping internal flight and miss the fjords is very disappointing. What kind of boat company doesn’t have a spare tanker floating around?
Still being in a fantastic little town with apfel strudel and beer coming out of our ears meant we couldn’t really bemoan our luck. In fact we were very lucky as we met up with Albert and Sylvie who we first met in Peru and also with Geoff and Angela who we had met at a BBQ in Santiago on Christmas Day. Two very drunken and enjoyable nights followed and a great day driving around
Parque National Vicente Perez Rosales
We had a great day with Jeff and Angela, the Australian couple we´d met in Santiago. the lakes and volcanoes. We booked into a veggie restaurant for New Year's Eve and although it was massively expensive, as is everything in Chile, there was unlimited booze and we were able to watch the fireworks over the lake from the balcony. It was still not the same as being at home but was memorable all the same. I have no recollection of getting home but fear I may have broken our hostels weird toiletry rules a couple of times that night.
I am still enjoying being in a country where things seem to work properly. It is noticeable that the even dogs in Chile are a good deal better behaved than in the rest of South America. It’s said that a dog becomes like its owner so I reckon the behavior of dogs pretty much reflects the people that live in a country. It is a welcome relief whilst daydreaming along a street at dusk for a dog to gently make you aware of its presence by the patter of its paws as it follows you along the garden fence. This is in stark contrast to the rest of South America where dogs would shatter my daydreaming
As seen in Motorcycle Diaries
Lago Todos los Santos, where "Che" and Alberto crossed from Argentina into Chile on their epic journey in 1952. by violently throwing themselves at garden fences barking, howling and baring their teeth and almost causing my heart to leap out of my chest. In saying that people have been really nice everywhere in South America and in fact Chile supported a pretty brutal régime up to 1990 which was responsible for over 30,000 deaths (that is actually 3000 deaths and 35000 people tortured - my editor added an extra naught for affect I think) . So I accept that my pronouncements on human nature based on the behavior of dogs could be flawed.
In fact, while we were at Penny and James’s a friend of theirs came round and told us how her father had been imprisoned and tortured by the Pinochet régime. At one point the Red Cross declared that he had been murdered but her mother had managed to track him down in a different prison after he had been secretly moved. Only a UN deal to release some political prisoners had saved his life but as part of the deal he had been forced to go abroad and agree never to return. What I find amazing is that this all went on in my lifetime
and yet I knew nothing about it. It still seems odd that a country that seems so modern and civilized was run in such a way so recently. It has been interesting talking to people about how the country is still so split in how it views the old régime. The rich still like Pinochet because his coup stopped the redistribution of the country´s wealth and they strangely seem to be able to ignore the years of state murders and torture. Feelings run high here, especially after the mass street celebrations and rioting that broke out in the wake of his recent death.
On that happy note I’ll sign off. Hope you all had a great New Year. We missed you all lots and are starting a new count down until we will see you all in 31 days x
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rubalcaba
non-member comment
feliz año
glad you've enjoyed chile. i just wanted to comment that the pinochet regime killed just under 3200 in 17yrs, not 30k (the argentine military killed 30k in 7yrs). i'm not a fan of pinochet and you're right in that it is still a very divisive topic in chile (as the reactions to his death showed) but in fact the majority of chileans at the time supported the coup (though no one expected the repression that followed, since chile didn't have a history of totalitarianism). one must recall that allende was elected with the support of just over 33% of the electorate (pinochet received 45% support for the '88 plebisite), but he attempted changes that could only work with a mandate that he didn't have. there was, of course, a lot of external and internal sabotaging of the economy and of allende's regime, but there was also a lot of mismanagement on the part of the UP (union popular, allende's political alliance). the country was in chaos and the ecomomy was shattered, hence most chileans wanted it all to end and supported the coup. as with the situation in iraq right now, there comes a point when people are willing to trade in democracy for authoriarianism (at least for a time) in exchange for order, security, and stability. as bad as pinochet was, when compared to other 3rd world authoriarian regimes, his was the least bloody and violent, and he laid the foundations for the modern chilean state (though life began to improve for the majority of chileans only after the return to democracy). for most chileans, things aren't black and white, good vs evil. pinochet was a mixed bag. the repression was bad, what he did for the economy in the long run has been good. sorry to get so serious on your blog. i just wanted to share my perspective as a chilean. cheers!