EE & S Adventures

What I think about Chile is that it has beautiful scenery. Including glaciers, mountains and snowy peaks. I have taken some pictures*. I fancy myself as a bit of a photographer. I like taking photos of cats**. I have seen some beautiful hanging glaciers and seen some beautiful walks. I took some pictures. One was 18 km and two were 6 km. Most of the 18 km one was climb and boy was it hard going. *photos here **sorry no cat photos today

In movies, sequels never seem to live up to the standards set by first episodes.   However in the case of Parque Nacional Queulat, the second visit definitely surpassed the first. Leaving Villa Armengual we had planned to drive about 35km back to the park and try a walk in the south part of the park up a steep gully with a dodgy river crossing to a glacier view.   But when we arrived at the trailhead there was a locked gate across the track and a sign (Spanish AND English) saying “No Entry – don’t risk your lives and the lives of your rescuers”.   So our morning activities were limited to two 200 meter walks to waterfall viewpoints. At lunchtime we decided to return to park headquarters and redo the walk we did last week to the vantage point for the Queulat glacier.   This time the rain and clouds were nowhere to be seen and the views were simply stunning.   From a distance the water falling from the terminal face of the glacier seems to fall in slow motio...

This post will not have pretty pictures or be as exciting as our other posts. It is more a reflection..... Having only been in Chile for a short time I have a few observations about how life differs here to life in Australia. I’m sure I will soon see that some of these things are common in other countries but they have struck me here first. People are encouraged to walk, evidence of this is not exactly people walking but the number and frequency of pedestrian crossings. They are everywhere, on every intersection, in every town no matter how small.  This is a good thing if one is not driving. There are tonnes of street dogs, they do not seem vicious or troubling, just after scraps, inclined to follow one and sometimes to bark a bit. Obviously much road work has to occur durning the short summer months. We have seen a lot of it, every trip of a few hours involves at least 20 minutes of waiting for road work. There are also a lot of workers cleaning up beside the road...

What might you find in a restaurant or café on the Carretera Austral? Drinks - for Eric the Hopperdietzel, a local ale with real flavour; for Elise the Calafate Pisco Sour, a Pisco Sour made with the Calafate berry and for Samuel the local fruit juice made of something like plums Lamb with quinoa Gnocchi with curry  Local fish in foil with potato, onion, cheese and carrot The drinks are $4-7 each and the mains $17 so pretty good value. Artesan ales of the Carretera Austral

Friday dawned with showers and a grey overcast sky. A poor day for bushwalks but a good day for visiting towns.  So we took a scenic 30km detour off the Carretera Austral to visit Puerto Cisnes or "Port Swans" in Spanish ("The town of detested footy teams" in Australian). Our choice was however inspired as it corresponded with the local house moving festival.  As best we could understand, once a year the townfolk band together to build a house on the outskirts of town for a needy family.  After singing, eating and dancing, everyone joins together to tow the house into the harbour where it's floated around the point to it's resting place in town.  Sadly we didn't stay long enough for the big move but we did see the house being set up for it's journey. Note the kids get their own house to move - I guess this becomes the doghouse when in situ We did watch some of the dancing and singing.  We also brought some nice woollen handicrafts and ate Em...

Originally we had planned to drive the Carretera Austral at least as far as Puerto Rio Tranquilo, but the thought of another 120 kilometres of dirt road (each way) with all the ruts and roadworks led us to decide that Villa Cerro Castillo would be our most southerly point on the road. Dawn over Villa Cerro Castillo So back we went, through Coyhaique (with supermarket stop), back to Villa Amengual to sate Elise's new found addiction to Pisco Sour. Some more photos from yesterday.

Kiwis call the Tongariro Crossing the worlds best one day walk.  I've only done half the crossing but the half I didn't do would have to be very special for the Tongariro Crossing to surpass the climb to the Mirador Cerro Castillo. The full Cerro Castillo Circuit is a 3 or 4 day trek.  We did an abbreviated version that climbs up from Villa Cerro Castillo to the Cerro Castillo Glacier lake.  It's 7km each way from the trailhead or 8km from the village where we started.  The total climb was around 1000m.  It was an expensive walk - about $55 for the three of us but well worth the money spent. Our only regret was that a few clouds obscured the mountain top when we arrived at the glacier lake overlook for our half hour lunch break before turning around, however considering the very still conditions and lack of rain (always an issue in Patagonia), we couldn't really complain. On the way down we did an extra 1km detour to see some nice cascades.  A...

A town where the highlights are the supermarket and the laundry is probably an unfair way to characterise Coyhaique. The town has a few attractions, but for us it was a one day and night stopover to clean clothes and visit the biggest supermarket for 500km around. We stayed in an apartment which gave us the opportunity to cook our own food for the first time in a while. Leaving town in the afternoon after our laundry had finished we passed scores of backpackers hitching rides north and south. As we approached Parque Nacional Cerro Castillo the landscape changed from rolling steep rocky farmland to rich glacial mountains and forests.  Arriving in Villa Cerro Castillo we set up camp to plan for our next days trekking adventure. On the road from Coyhaique to Villa Cerro Castillo

After a few days of cloudless skies, the forecast was for a change in the weather as we left Futaleufu via the local bakery. Our main destination for the day was Park Nacional Queulat  home of the famous hanging glacier of the same name. Driving out of Futaleufu The glacier's behind the cloud  We arrived in mid afternoon just as the first drops of rain fell. The hike to the glacier is about 3.5km each way on a rough undulating track that gradually became a muddy river as the rain got heavier.  After a physical hour of walking dodging water and tree roots we arrived at the viewpoint only to be told we missed seeing the glacier by 5 minutes as the fog and mist got denser and lower.  The view was still impressive out over the lake at the foot of the glacier and half way up the waterfall cascading from the face however we felt a tad disappointed as we retraced our steps to the car.  At least we had proper rain gear, the by now very muddy track was makin...

I was rather sad after we went hiking.  Because most other hikes will be an anti climax after this one... It was a tough climb on a hot day under a cloudless sky.  We started down next to the river where we rafted in the morning.  The views made the walk worthwhile though.  Futaleufu is the town down the valley in the background of the photo of Sam and Elise.

Just some random scenery on the drive from Chaiten to Futaleufu.  Nothing special really... Futaleufu may be the worlds prettiest town at the end of the worlds worst roadway.  The 70 odd kms detour of the Carretera Austral took a good 2 hours of endless bumpy driving.  One benefit is that it helps keep tourist numbers to reasonable levels although the town was still busy with backpackers and mountain bikers. We stayed in a Cabana on the hill The view from our Cabana in Futaleufu Futaleufu is world famous for its high quality whitewater, with visitors coming from all over the globe to experience the power of the Futaleufu River.  While Elise and I couldn't take Sam on a serious adventure, we did enjoy a nice "family float" on the river above the town.  It had a couple of very mild stretches of choppy water (grade 1ish) and was ideal for us.

The Hornopiren to Caleta Gonzalo ferry crossing is a great way to get a scenic fjord cruise for the cost of a commuter ferry.  For nearly 5 hours the ferry takes you south around a break in the Carretera Austral, bypassing a stretch of rugged coastline so far adjudged too difficult to build a road around (or through).  Located on the northern part of the Carretera Austral just after the ferry terminus at Caleta Gonzalo is Parque Pumalin .  Although we were back on the gravel road it was a small inconvenience traded off against the very pretty forest, rivers and mountains. We too a few short walks, discovering the hard way that in Chile, the distance of bushwalks (like orienteering courses) appears to be measured as the crow flies. Add in the nearly vertical forest and it's easy to see how a supposed 1.8km return bushwalk (easy moderate rating), took us the best part of 90 minutes. No problem however as the scenery made it all worthwhile. Moving on to...

Despite its potentially majestic setting by the water, Puerto Montt didn’t impress us.   It’s a town seemingly the size of Albury with the aesthetic appeal of Port Kembla and the traffic congestion of Bangkok.   Our mood wasn’t helped by a wasted few hours trying to book ferries online, though the culprit was surprisingly not the Spanish language website but our Australian bank being unable to confirm our credit card transaction. After picking up the car and a short one night and half day stay, we left civilisation behind and set off on the Carretera Austral. The road starts in Puerto Montt and runs south for 1200km of ferries, fjords, glaciers, mountains and forests.   We aren’t doing the whole journey and back – just travelling as far as we feel comfortable. First impressions on the first ferry crossing 50km south of Puerto Montt were very much of New Zealands fjordland (rather than Norways fjords).  After a very slow afternoon drive thanks to th...

We took it easy again today (E and S not yet sleeping properly through the night) and walked to the presidents palace (twice) near which we attended the cultural centre where there were a few exhibitions. One exhibition had what appeared to be artifacts from Thor Heyerdahl’s raft trip from Ecuador. This was a nice tie in to our previous experience on our European holiday where we went to the museum dedicated to him in Norway. S and I saw an exhibition ‘the land of the riders’. It showed historical Chilean and Argentinian riders’ costumes, bridles, saddles etc. It really did conform to the Wild West stereotype. Men in capes equipped with thin swords and knives in fancy scabbards on very large horses riding through the dust and heat.  This is a picture of the President’s palace.

Cerro San Cristobal is a steepish hill in the middle of downtown Santiago. We played lazy tourists taking the Funicular up to the top and the Teleferico (cable car) down the far side.  After a break for expensive ice cream we repeated the process in reverse.  Plenty of people were doing the same journey on foot or by bike.  Sadly we can only claim jet lag as an excuse for one day! Cerro San Cristobal the really easy way - as seen from our apartment window Speaking of doing it by human power, Sunday must be exercise day in Santiago. And not just the hordes running, walking and biking on Cerro San Cristobal.  Walking out of our apartment in  central Santiago in the morning, our street was closed for several blocks to accommodate hordes of cyclists and joggers.  Lollypop people stood on each road crossing to help control the crossing flows of cars and people.  Somehow I couldn't imagine the same in the Sydney or Melbourne CBDs!  

So we made it. Feel pretty weird. Ages in customs. Fee for Australians only coming into Chile, love the agreements between our governments. View from our hotel window.

All is packed and everything seems to be in order. Tomorrow we set out. A long flight is ahead of us then our adventure begins. Here is a picture of our final home cooked meal, E did the honours.