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Published: November 15th 2006
Nick:
Well. Since we last posted and aired our concerns on the trip things have taken a turn: for the best!! We left the farm house after our last post and headed for Quellon in order to be in situ for the ferry crossing the next day, at midday. We rode into town, found a nice (in fact THE NICEST YET) cabaña and got ready for a meal.
Whilst out we met up with a German couple: Dirk and Brita, who like us, had ordered from the restaurant menu and found themselves with a dish piled higher than it was wide. As it turns out they, too, were there for the ferry. We went home, started a fire in the stove and listened to the driving wind and rain before rolling up, cosy and warm, in the bed, safe from the weather outside.
The next morning the weather had abated, somewhat, and we went into town to embark. When we got there we met the same couple and discovered that “climatic conditions” had meant that the crossing was postponed for 6-7 hours (this did not sound good as the ship was a 40m long cargo vessel: not known for their
Nick...
...looking relaxed and totally unprepared for a photo. Giorgio just looks bemused.comfort and stabilisers for the rough seas, coupled with the fact that I have the sea legs of a pipistrelle bat, i.e. none). So we did what any self-respecting tourist would do in our situation: we walked for 45 minutes, before returning to a restaurant, right next to the shipping office and spent the next 5 hours drinking beer and eating. There we sat chatting, before being joined, too, by Giorgio; an Italian traveler, and all the while being regaled with stories from the restaurant owner: a motorcycle crazed Chilean Croat…naturally. 18.00 came and went leaving us with the simple instructions “come back at 22.00”. That we did, to be told that we would board at 22.00-22.15 but not leave the port before 05.00 the next morning!!
What followed was a singularly uncomfortable event: a seat designed to keep all manner of therapists, physios, and spine specialists in business and, once we set sail, a rough sea that, if you went out on deck, could be seen showering the vehicles, including my poor bike, with salt water and actually flexing the hull of the ship: Great! At just before 11.00 we docked and there things changed. It may have been
As you can see,
some of the birds around here are REALLY big, and not very considerate wet and cloudy, but already both Kris and I could see and feel that we had found it: the Chile we had been looking and waiting for: the real Chile!!
As had been agreed the night before we met Henrietta, a traveling German girl, now living in South America and presently looking after the Casa Hexagon: the house of a another German who was away, and our home for the next few nights. Giorgio, Dirk and Brita also ended up in the same spot and we then all went into town to catch the minibus we had booked for a visit to some thermal baths. We had known such baths to be very good at relieving trauma to body and mind and it was no different with the aches, pains and lack of sleep from the crossing. We relaxed in far warmer waters than those of Villarica and also tried the mud bath where Kristina lovingly threw mud at me, all the while marveling at how the strong sulphurous odour was in no way any different from my natural perfume: thank you for your contribution, my dear!!
The next day the others caught the bus and moved on, whilst we
Our fellow ferry crossing veterans!
(only they all slept better than Nick)The young lady next to Nick is Henrietta, hostess of the Casa Hexagon spent a day in doors near the fire, watching nature give Chaiten and thorough hiding! None of this sounds so glamorous perhaps, but the stark, wild surroundings that had not been tempered by man for our arrival, where we compromised and not the landscape, showed us what was available to experience and, rain and wind aside, we wanted more. So plan C to head straight East for the border was scrapped and we went back to Plan B, first hatched in Tecka, a month before, and decided to push on South to the border crossing at Chile Chico.
This road is a good 300 KM of gravel and dirt and so will be a challenge for us, but it is going to be the isolated and untouched Chile we had waited for. How nice to discover it now, rather than come here first as Plan A had required, when we would have then headed North to the more synthesized nature of middle Chile.
Things always seem to work out in the end!
Krissu:
Have you ever seen a raincloud beating up a town? We are in it (the cloud) at this very moment! Apparently it rains 4 meters (!!)
a year in this part of the world! England should be in shame for complaining about their weather, compared to the rains at this part of the world... 😊
We have finally arrived to the lands that we love - we know now that Carretera Austral is what we have been looking for during the last 4 weeks in Chile.
It took us altogether 23 hours before we could step down to the grounds of this small town, Chaiten. We met some very nice people during our long journey - Nick has already introduced you to Dirk, Brita and Giorgio. It is weird how sometimes your path crosses with people who are so similar and yet so different to you, you link with a total stranger for a day or two and part as a friend. After saying goodbyes in the Chaiten ferry terminal we ended up sharing the same hotel, by a pure co-incidence. A very nice co-incidence 😊
I have to tell you a bit about Casa Hexagon, our home here in Chaiten: as you might guess by the name of the place, it is an six-cornered house, designed, built and run by a German artist
Stephan. It is a true piece of art by itself! Standing on the banks of Rio Blanco, a wild mountain river, all its 7 rooms have fantastic views to the surrounding landscape. The front door takes you in to a living room with a floor made of river stones, and leaves you standing next to a hot wood-burning oven. In the middle of the lounge is a wooden staircase, supported by a tree (yes, there's a tree trunk rising through the house) that takes you up to the five bedrooms, one on each side around the stairs. You can then continue by climbing up on the ladder that takes you to the "treehouse", a circular room right under the roof. All beds are covered with soft, white woolly blankets and the lampshades are the origami artwork of Stephan himself.
We have not however had the pleasure of meeting the Master as he is currently in Germany, at a Christmas origami exhibition. Meanwhile, he has left the house to the hands of Henrietta, a colourful jewelry maker. Henrietta reminds me of Björk - it is difficult to tell her age, she looks very young with her blond rasta locks, platted with
tiny shells and beeds, but listening to the stories of her life as a pottery artist for 20 years and her travels in South America for 4 years leaves us thinking that she is probably a bit older than the 30 years she looks to be!
I would not call Casa Hexagon a hotel as despite the stunning scenery it seerms wrong to just sit in your room. The heat-glowing oven downstairs is a perfect place to relax with a nice bottle of wine, some chocolate and the rest of the hotel guests 😊 And that's exactly what has kept us busy during the last few days!
Around the house you will see mountains so high that their peaks stay hidden from your sight, surrounding you like a black, rigid wall, covered with ancient trees. Giant rhubarbs and fern are growing taller before your eyes. You can hear sounds of birds that are unknown to you. There are waterfalls, glaciers and through all this the road that will take us towards the end of the continent - a tough dirt path, covered with a thick layer of black volcanic ash. This is the beginning of the Carretera Austral.
Chaiten: small but with plenty of spirit Fighting our way through the pouring rain and beating winds, we finally made it to the local supermercado to purchase two local raincoats (my "european" raincoat started leaking after the first 10 minutes in the rain). Soaking wet from knees down, our little feet then took us to a place where we hoped to get a bite to eat, called Cosineras-something. It was basically a corridor with 5 mini-kitchens and some tables-chairs. We fancied something quick and easy so we headed towards the empañada's (warm, cheese or meat-filled pastries) counter. It suddenly felt like we had simultaneously entered in the home kitchens of five Chilean grandparents! Our cooks were an eldery couple, she cooking in the tidy & tiny, 1.5x1.5m kitchen with dishes and cutlery every grandparent has in their household. He was sitting next to us, shelling mussles and other shellfish I was not familiar with. We were a bit cold and the best drink to warm up on a day like this is a cup of hot lemon & honey infusion. We were sipping our drinks, listening to Madonna singing "Material Girl" and wondering how we would make it back to the Casa Hexagon through the blasting coastal storm. Despite the chilly room and damp clothes, I suddenly realised how happy I was to to be there, with Nick, and all the annoying thoughts about the "outside world" that I had had for the last few weeks had somehow dissapeared. It was such a perfect moment.
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karyn forster
non-member comment
last day
HI guys glad you are still having a great time. last day at ORION so going off line and won't get to see the end of your trip will expect updates next year when i visit. hope you keep having a great time luv Kx