Chile

South America
December 23rd 2009

Published: December 22nd 2009

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beefy

Torres Del Paine

ferry crossing..

The Chile and Argentina blogs are a bit mixed up due to the fact that I have been zig zagging in between Chile and Argentina. Think there are 3 Chile stamps in my passport now !

Chile is a strange country geographically, running from Ecuador right down the West coast of South America (unless Bolivia ever get the coast land back, very unlikely though !) Over half the continent.
It has 6,435km of coastline
Santiago is the capital
Population of 16 million
Currency is Pesos, roughly £1 = 800 pesos, which makes it quite annoying to work prices out in your head, especially when you often cross into Argentina in the same day and
6 Argentinian Pesos = £1
Chile is famous in South America for Politics (especially General Augusto Pinochet), Pisco (brandy like liquor, also claimed to be the national drink of Peru) and Patagonian peaks. (oh and its probably up there as one of the most expensive countries in South America. Chile is a well organised country and currently 37th most developed country in the world, having potential to be South America's 1st first world nation.
Chile goes from the driest desert in the world to glacial fields.

San Pedro de Atacama

Day 1 in Chile, afternoon drinking, good start !

A mix of volcanoes, geyser, beaches, lakes rivers and countless islands (including Easter Island and Isla Robinson Crusoe)

Chile Part 1 (San Pedro de Atacama, coming in from Uyuni in Bolivia)

20th - Got on the bus, everyone a bit grumpy from lack of sleep, (always hard to sleep with 6 people in a room) visited some Geysers 30 mins away. Very different to when I saw them in New Zealand as in no health and safety, you could practically jump in if you want, which I didn't obviously. We then went to the Aguas Calientes (thermal spas) which was perfect to sit in 34oC water after having had no shower for the previous day or so. It was a bit odd sat in the thermal spa with Bolivians stood around watching, clearly no interest in getting in, one for the tourists. Our guide / driver then took us to the border with Chile, we waited around for a while in the sunshine, there were a few heated discussions then eventually we boarded a minibus heading to San Pedro in Chile. Arrived at the border at about 11ish. The border control seemed un necessarily strict, looking in every

San Pedro de Atacama

Hanging around the hostel early evening

bag. Chile has a reputation for being very strict on what you can bring in including literature, fruit, veg and even coca leaves (which are happily sold and eaten everywhere else in South America. The bus eventually took us to San Pedro de Atacama. The next hour so was a bit hectic, it was very hot and everyone seemed to be a bit wound up trying to find a hostel and book a bus ticket to get out of San Pedro asap (mainly because of the cost and eagerness to get to Argentina). I actually liked the place but it was very expensive as everything has to be shipped in including the water. After lunch we had a relaxing afternoon drinking with the guest house manager , A Chilean and a Brazilian. After a siesta we went for dinner then a few beers before going to a party in the desert. San Pedro is a small town with strict police so basically all the parties happen just out of town. Strange experience, everyone congregates in the plaza about midnight before wandering down country lanes. Eventually we ended up at what I would describe as a a social gathering, a car

San Pedro de Atacama

Celebrating Dad's birthday with Pizza and a bottle of Vino tinto..

with 2 big speakers on it, a guy / DJ with a laptop a couple of bonfires, and a projection of a James Bond film playing, of course ! There was obviously a bar set up, charging 4,000 pesos a drink, about £5.
I went out with Doron, we staggered back separately about 6am , I think. Met a variety or people from America, France, Chile and England, really good night.

21st - Not a lot of activity except sleeping and lunch before watching United Vs Everton about 2.30pm. The locals seem to find my behavior very amusing, shouting at the TV as usual and pouring beer everywhere, not a very steady hand trying to pour a big jug of lager still shaking from the night before, hair of the dog and all that. After the game I had a kip before getting a pizza with Doron and buying a lovely bottle of red wine. The wine was in honour of dads birthday, I normally buy a bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon from Chile for his Birthday which was in a couple of days time. It probably cost's less in Tesco's, work that out ! After popping to the internet

Pucon

The Lake district

place to back up some photos to sent back with a nice English couple that I'd met that day, met up with the group at their hostel. Doron and I were staying round the corner from what seemed to be the party hostel, to me it just looked noisy and dirty ! Being Saturday night there was another desert party, most people decided not to go except for Doron, myself and a couple of Kiwi girls. It was a similar set up to the night before, just a different venue. We got a taxi back to the hostel for about 5ish I think.

Chile (part 2 - Lake District, came in from Argentina drove to Valdivia)

7th December - Had breakfast at the strange hostel in Valdivia then wandered down the road to see the sea wolves (kind of massive sea lions). They just lie next to the fish market by the lake for obvious reasons. We then popped in to see a fort then to the Kuntsman beer museum, supposedly the best in South America. Being German it opened at exactly 12 as stated on the door. We did some beer tasting and had some daft photos,

Lake district

Walking in the national parks

couldn't resist ! We then set off to Pucon, stopping for lunch at Valiricie for the biggest fish lunch you'll ever see. Bread, followed by salad, followed by 3 pieces of fish, chips, onions and 2 eggs on top !! Got to Pucon for 4ish, hung around the hostel before heading out for food and a few beers, the next day being a bank holiday and the weather wasn't good enough to climb the volcano, so not much else to do

8th - Andy a guy from the hostel, Doron and I decided to drive to the national park and go for a walk, approx 5 hours, lovely scenery, lake after lake after lake, took some lunch and a really nice walk and some good exercise. Unfortunately a knee problem I seem to have picked up on the Inca trail flared up again, which made the walk back down hill a tad painful. Early evening we went to the thermal baths, perfect to try to shake off a cold that seemed to be coming on and help ease the knee problem. Cooked a nice steak and salad dinner with a glass of red wine and an early night

More Lakes

9th - Nothing planned at all except recovery, internet time, sleep, food and planning the next few weeks in Patagonia. Definitely need quiet days from time to time..

10th - Set off to do the 7 lakes road to San Martin de Los Andes, having checked the ferry times (8am, 1pm and 6pm) Got to the ferry terminal at 3pm ready for the 6pm ferry, which didn't exist. One a day which left at 2pm. Then decided to drive off road to another border crossing, took nearly 2 hours, we got there to find out its just an army border crossing, great ! Nearly destroyed the hire car. Then made the tough call to drive all the way back to Pucon, where we started..A good 8 hour round trip. Doron and I somehow saw the funny side of it, cooked a lovely steak dinner (again !) and crashed, knackered after a lot of driving.

11th - Full day of driving from Pucon to Bariloche, successful border crossing. Arrived about 6pm and met up with Abbey and Stan (met in La Paz) free food in the hostel, bonus and lots of beers and a good chat.

Chile part

stunning

3 (Patagonia, coming in by bus and then plane from Bariloche in Argentina)

14th - Got a shuttle service from the airport to the town centre of Punto Areynas. Decided to head to a hostel with A Chilean guy who had a reservation, meaning that there would be somebody awake at the hostel. Arrived at the hostel for 2.30am and went straight to sleep. Woke up about 10ish, had breakfast then went to the bus station to get the bus to Puerto Natales, about 3 hours North. Got there for about 4pm, eventually found a hostel, nothing special, but would do a job for a couple of days. Cooked some dinner and an early night after a bit of a chat with a South Korean called Ji as in Ji Sun Park, predictable I know.

15th - Got up about 10am, had breakfast and then went for a walk to test the knee out (result not being great !). Had lunch then went to a hostel called Erratic Rocks who give a talk on the Torres Del Paine national park, so a bit of a fact finding mission. Spent the evening organising the next few days in the

Relaxing at the thermal spas

national park, buying food, a knee support, bus tickets and trying to sort out BA for Christmas and New year. Went out for dinner with 4 Israeli girls that were staying in my dorm room. Had Steak again which was nothing special and a bit pricey.

16th - Got the bus at 7.30am to the National Park of Torres Del Paine, arrived at the Ferry terminal at 12ish. The ferry was full, after 30 mins they decided to throw health and safety out of the window and load an extra 30 odd people on board including myself. It was a windy crossing but the scenery was spectacular and it was sunny. The weather in The Torres Del Paine national park and Patagonia for that matter is very changeable to say the least.. I got off the ferry and pitched my tent on the camp site next to the Refugio Grande. Actually took me 5 mins max to set up including putting rocks in the tent as it was very windy, very sensible hey ! I then helped an Italian guy called Stefano put his tent up, we were actually planning to do the same walk that day, so about

Lake District

Having a break from the driving..

1pm we set off heading to Refugio Italiano, approx 2 hours walk away. We got there in good time and decided to keep going up to the viewpoint of the towers and the glacier. It was a tough walk for another hour, especially with a dodgy knee. After a photos and 5 mins for some chocolate and taking in the view we set off back to camp, basically 3 hours back, oh and it started raining a lot. We got back to camp for about 7pm, having covered about 22km. I had a shower and ate one of the rationed sandwiches and some peanuts. Chatted to a lovely Brazilian couple and a girl called Anna who was half English half German. Hit the sack / tent about 10ish after a long day.

17th - Up at sunrise which was incredible then set off about 6.30am heading to Glacier Grey. Got to the Mirador (viewpoint) about 9am. I decided that my knee was in a bad way and turned back aiming to get the ferry back at 12.30. Got back in good time, put down the tent, had my last butty, got the ferry and bus back to town. Dropped

Valdivia

Fish market

off all the hired gear, cooked dinner and hit the bed. Went to bed early as I had to get up at 7.30am to get the bus back to Argentina and I was knackered !

Chile is hard to describe as I had visited it 3 times and got a page of stamps in the passport to prove it. Coming in to the desert in the North, the lake district in the middle ish and Patagonia in the south. Its therefore hard to sum up the country having spent only about 12 days in total in Chile in 3 places. It was certainly expensive, apparently the Torres Del Paine national park is the most expensive national park in the world (according to an American in my hostel, so could well be nonsense !) I have enjoyed my time in Chile, the people were lovely and friendly, the scenery and views were incredible, somehow it feels like out of all the countries in South America I had visited I would be less inclined to re visit. Sort of ticked off the list if that makes sense. I had forced myself a bit to have a crack at the outdoors and

Sea Lions

big and noisy ones..

even though I like camping and seeing stunning scenery its potentially not me and I'm more of a city person. Guess living in Manchester and vising the Lakes and Peak district so little would indicate that...

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