Advertisement
poncho, poncho man
between Pucon, Chile and San Martin de Los Andes, Argentina The flight out of Quito to Europe is drawing ever closer - only a month left until I fly to Madrid!
Today I´m in Huaraz, in the northern regions of Peru. I´m here in search of a flowering Puya raimondii - the plant with the world´s largest inflorescence. If nothing else, this is the only reason for my visit in Peru (Machu Picchu - meh ...). My tour has been booked, and I´ll head out early tomorrow morning. The normal tour spends only 20-30 minutes in the Puya areas before heading up over the 5000m mark to the snow, and anyone that has seen me travel at altitude will realise that this really ain´t my bag, baby. So I organised with the tour guide that whilst everyone else goes to look at snow (which you can see from anywhere in Huaraz, incidentally), I´m going to stay at the Puya area, which gives me THREE HOURS of planty fun! Expect hundreds of Puya photographs in the next blog entry. Surely with three hours to search I should be able to find at least one in flower! More details after the tour...
There´s been little blog action since I was in
autumn poplars
between Pucon, Chile and San Martin de los Andes, Argentina Miraflores a fortnight ago, and this is because I have been living the high life in Chile and Argentina. Sure, it would have been more exciting for you guys to hear about my ascent of Volcan Villarica, but the weather was not obliging, so the climb did not go ahead. However I found plenty to keep me amused for the five days that I was stuck in a hostel room in Pucon during a rainstorm... no details (sorry).
In the five minute intervals when it was not raining, the views were superb - just as I remembered them from my last visit, but with the addition of autumn colour. The food was just as I remembered it too - lots of naughty things like ice-cream, chocolate and seafood. It´s a very nice change from the less-than-inspiring menus in other South American towns.
After waiting for five days for the weather to clear, it was decided that Argentina might be drier, so over the Andes to one of my favourite Argentine towns - San Martin de Los Andes, for more good food and good times.
Took two days to go camping at Quila Quina, on the shores of Lago
Chilean country home
between Pucon, Chile and San Martin de los Andes, Argentina Lacar (mostly becuse we got lost walking to the intended campsite, and had to settle somewhere else for the night). It was cold enough overnight that there was frost on the ground in the morning, but my -6C sleeping bag kept me cosy. The ferry ride from San Martin to Quila Quina was beautiful, and it seems such a shame that most of the tourists forsake San Martin for Bariloche (but good for me I guess, as there were very few gringos in town).
The bus journey from San Martin to Mar del Plata (Argentina´s premier seaside town) was fairly uninteresting, as most long-distance bus trips are. It was a little warmer once we got there, but the Atlantic ocean winds kept things cool enough to need pants and jackets - unfortunately as I had dropped off all my clothing to be washed that morning, I had to freeze off my proverbials in t-shirt and shorts.
Mar del Plata could be Viña del Mar in Chile, except for the fact that Mar Del Plata seemed like more of a ghost town than Viña - the summer tourist season is over, and most of the apartment owners in MDP have
blurry view from the bus
between Pucon, Chile and San Martin de los Andes, Argentina gone back to their jobs in Buenos Aires. Spent an interesting couple of days there before hightailing it out to get to the bright lights of BA.
Based myself in San Telmo once more, it being a lot easier to eat, shop etc. when you know where everything is. Only being able to spend 4 days in BA meant that there was little time to waste trying to orient oneself. Took in a live tango show at Cafe Tortoni, one of the oldest tango establishments in BA - not only was the show amazing (including the striptease at the start, which had me crying with laughter), but the food ... and ... mmmmm the hot chocolate (just a sec, need to take a cold shower) ... okay, I´m back again. I also found a new drink - Grenadine and soda water - sure, it looks and tastes just like raspberry lemonade, but it sounds a lot cooler to order at the bar, and at Cafe Tortini the soda water comes in one of the seltzer water bottles (the ones that clowns use to spray people in the face). I dreaded trying to use it at first, sure that I
my dream block of land
between Pucon, Chile and San Martin de los Andes, Argentina was going to cover the swanky clientele (and myself) in bright red granadine, but I managed to control the bottle and not embarass myself.
Tried to have dinner at my fave restaurant in BA on my last night, but wouldn´t you know it with my restaurant curse, the place caught fire and was closed for the rest of the night. Managed to find a nice place down the road, and spent the rest of the evening being talked two by a South African couple. Had to get up at stupid o´clock the following morning to catch my flight back to Lima, but figured it was easier to just try and stay awake - which I succeeded in doing for all but the last hour or so. So as a result, I had been living on one hour of sleep until I got to Huaraz this morning - now I´m living on 6 hours in three days, but I´ll make sure I get to bed early tonight for my big botanical expedition tomorrow.
My two week hiatus from my other holiday (god, I have a tough life) was the best time I had in my trip - the most relaxing,
another nice Chilean country home
between Pucon, Chile and San Martin de los Andes, Argentina fun, envelope-pushing series of moments ever! Leaving BA was hard, but as they say, the show must go on. I have seen far too many airports now to be excited by them any more; I guess that makes me a seasoned traveller. My nonchalance will no doubt be counteracted by the fact that I´ll probably pee my plants with excitment when I see a Puya plant in flower - only planty people know what I mean.
So some photos to keep you amused ...
Next posting will probably be tomorrow night, with lots of photos! Ciao XXX
Advertisement
Tot: 0.218s; Tpl: 0.012s; cc: 15; qc: 105; dbt: 0.159s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.3mb
Part time Lover
non-member comment
Gossip
I just want more details on this hotel room stuff in Pucon. What really happened?! Give us the scoop! The world has a right to know these things...