December 30, 2003
30 December 2004 - The end has arrived
Hi all
Well, am now back in the UK, my trip finally came to an end just before Christmas. It was tempting not to get on the plane, especially as I was leaving blazing sunshine to return to the grey drizzle of London.
In my last mail , I was trying to learn spanish and enjoying steak dinners in Mendoza. I then went south to Bariloche, a popular winter ski resort which is also great in the summer. It's a pretty location on the shore of a lake with lots of snow capped mountains around and plenty of good paradilla restaurants so yet more steak dinners.
It was then goodbye to Argentina and hello Chile. I decided to take the lakes crossing from Bariloche to Puerto Varas, which involved crossing 3 lakes with 2 bus rides between. Great scenery, snow capped mountains, volcanoes and clear blue lakes.
Then northwards, as I needed to be in Santiago to meet Mary. Stopped off at Pucon on the way where the weather turned nasty the following day, rain all day. My first really bad weather day. Further north, and out of the lakes district , it was sunny again. Decided to stay in Valparaiso on the coast, not Santiago as hadn't met anyone who had a good thing to say about it. Mary arrived the next day and we explored the hills of Valparaiso and the rickety old ascencors.
It was then southwards, back to Pucon, where it was still raining. So no volcano climbing, (phew) instead a very wet and muddy walk through the forests of Huerquehue national park.
Another stop at Puerto Varas for a trip across Todo Los Santos lake before crossing to the island of Chiloe. Lovely green rolling hills, with lots of small fishing villages and lots of rain! Having learnt from or trip in Pucon, most of our time was spent inside in a lovely hostal at Ancud, the islands capital.
As the road was running out, the only way to get further south without crossing into Argentina was to take the Navimag ferry, from Puerto Montt to Puerto Natales. 3 days on a roll on roll off cargo ferry. We decided to splash out and pay for a 4 berth cabin, therefore only sharing with 2 other people rather than 20 others in 'rat' class. Not much to do except look at the view, walk around the deck, eat, drink and chat in the bar. Only one day of rough sailing, when we hit the open sea across the gulf of pains. About half the boat took to their berths, however we found strong G&T's helped enormously. Puerto Natales turned out to be a wet and windy town. We were several hours late getting off the ferry as it was too windy for them to be able to tie up at the dock.
So, booked our Torres Del Paine Refugio's for the following week and set off for Argentina. First stop was El Calafate and a visit to the Perito Moreno glacier. Amazingly blue and noisy, lots of creaking and cracking of ice. The a few hours north to El Chalten, a tiny town, built in 1985 at the foot of the spectacular Fitzroy torres. So we had 2 days walking in the park.
Then back to wind swept and snowy Puerto Natales ready for our 5 days walking in Torres del Paine national park. We had only planned on basing ourselves in a refugio and doing day hikes if the weather was ok. However that plan failed as the refugios were booked out, and the only ones we could get meant we had to walk whatever the weather. As it turned out we were lucky, biting snow and strong winds on the first day, which gave way to 2 great days, another day of light rain and grey skies then finally clear blue skies.
Back to civilization, well Puerto Natales and further south to Punta Arena and a visit to the penguin colony on Isla Magdalena. Finally I have some decent photos of penguins and not tiny dots in the distance.
Marys 4 weeks were almost at an end, we flew back to Santiago for a couple of days. Then she headed home and I went to Easter Island.
An amazing place, in the middle of the ocean miles from anywhere and full of huge carved moai.
My trip was then drawing to a close, back to the mainland and headed north to a hacienda in the foothills of the Andes for a few days of luxury, with a bit of horse riding too.
So, now off to Hereford for New Year and then a few days in France before settling back into London and my flat.
Hope you all had a good Christmas and have a fab New Year and catch up with you soon
Hazel.
PS.
Yet more photos if you need a distraction from work.
Puno and around
San Pedro De Atacama and around
Uyuni Trip
Tupiza
Potosi, Sucre and Santa Cruz
Posted by Mary at 1:39 PM | Comments (0)
December 19, 2003
Back.....
Hazel got back today - we managed to rendezvous in Kings Cross to hand over keys and presents. She will be spending festive season visiting the rellies and Christmasing in Yatton, biding her time until Cam vacates her flat in the New Year......
Posted by Mary at 2:34 PM | Comments (0)
October 29, 2003
Land of steaks and wine
Hi folks,
have found myself unexpectedly in Argentina. Bolivia became impossible to travel around, all the major roads were blocked by protesting campase
Posted by Mary at 9:08 AM | Comments (0)
October 16, 2003
Re: Lan Chile flights and prices....
Hi - from Salta Argentina!
yes - from Santa Crus decided it was about time to get out of the country before all the roads got blocked!. Things have been getting worse in La Paz , and the roadblocks were spreading.....so took the train - a very slow overnight train - on monday night down to the border town of Yacuiba. Then took over 3 hours to cross the border - took forever as eveyone had to have their bag checked and there was only one person doing that. Finally got through - didn't even have to open my bag! , then the
Posted by Mary at 10:07 AM | Comments (1)
October 13, 2003
Boliva
Hi , am now in Bolivia - took a bit of doing but made it here eventually.
Anyway - here's the update of what I've been doing - No photo's this time as the internet connections have been so slow since I left Cuzco and there are hardly any PC's with CD drives! You'll have to wait till I'm in Chile!
Last time i wrote I was just about to head off to do the Inca trail trek to Machu Picchu.This was a 4 day walk following an old Inca road. There were 13 of us in the group with a range of fitness - so I wasn't left on my own at the back! An absolutely fabulous walk - but tough especially as I hadn't hired a porter to carry my bag! Everyone had said that the 2nd day was the toughest as we had to walk up 1200m to a pass at 4,100m, what people hadn't mentioned was that the 3rd day just seemed to go on forever - the final stage of which was over 2000 steps down. Luckily the 'campsite' that night had a bar so after a few beers was feeling refreshed and ready for the 4am wake up call the next day. Got up the next morning for the final walk to Machu Picchu - had a fabulous day there - lots of photo's to come.
Back to the comforts of Cuzco for a day before heading off to the jungle - Manu. Another week of camping and getting up at 5am - never seen so many sunrises! saw monkeys, macaws, caimen, capybarra, giant otters and peccary - which you could smell from a mile away! My photos will be like 'spot the animal' as unlike the Galapagos they tended to run away once they saw us!
Back to Cuzco again - last meal at my favorite cafe Jacks - and went to Puno and lake Titicaca. Puno was a disappointment - not a particularly nice town and the islands were very touristy. By now I'd got to hear that there were some problems in Bolivia - a strike or two and a few stoning of buses. Anyway couldn't't get a bus ticket to Copacabana in Bolivia but managed to buy one to La Paz instead.
So caught the bus from Puno , only for it to stop about an hour into the journey - the bus on the other side had been stoned in El Alto (La Paz) so wouldn't be coming to take us from the border. The choice was to go back to puno or continue onto the border where we'd have to make our own arrangements. Plan B came into action - to go into Bolivia via the south - and continued onto the border but caught a local bus down to Tacna instead - the Peruvian border with Chile. So, me and another English girl were on a local bus for the 7 hour journey. We ended up staying in a bit of a dodgy hotel - the owner was amazed that we turned up and was surprised to find it was recommended in my guide book - after staying there we were too! So the next day crossed into Chile with no problems.
Spent the day in Arica before catching the night bus to San Pedro de Atacama. A fabulous little town in the middle of the desert surrounded by volcanoes and salt lakes. Spent a few days here before crossing to Bolivia on a 3 day 4x4 trip to Uyuni. This absolutely stunning scenery - volcanoes of all hues, pink, blue and green lakes , thousands of flamingos and mile after mile of salt lake.
Uyuni was totally unaffected by any protests , so headed south to Butch cassidy and the sundance kid territory, Tupiza. This trip the bus was a jeep as the road was dry river beds for most of the journey - like all buses they squeeze as many people in as possible - 13 people in a jeep is not comfy! Spent a day horse riding around the wild west landscape of Tupiza on the slowest horse in the world, which given my lack of riding experience was probably a good thing.
An easy bus journey then took me to Potosi, where there main attraction is to go down the silver mines of cerro rico. An unforgettable trip - spent about 2 hours crawling around dirty, smelly, wet, hot tunnels. Most of the miners work 12 hour shifts with just coca leaves and alcohol to keep them going.
So am now in Sucre , where I've spent the last few days doing nothing much. Checked out a few museums and the dinosaur prints in a cement quarry. Bumped into a few people from earlier in my travels so caught up over a few beers.
Off to Samaipata and Santa Cruz in the east - blockades permitting......
Hazel.
Posted by Mary at 9:23 AM | Comments (0)
