Santiago
Our first stop in South America was the capital city Santiago de Chile. We arrived tired and dazed after a 11 hour flight from Auckland but after a quick powernap we were soon out exploring the city. Our first impression of Santiago was how similar it is to cities in Europe, like Madrid for instance. This wasn't what I had expected at all. The architecture, plazas and alfresco dining created lots of beautiful shaded areas to relax in and people watch.
After a couple of days of wandering around the city and seeing the tourist sights we decided to go on a days hike into the Andes. It took about two hours of driving on bumpy dirt track roads to finally get to our destination but it was well worth it. Once we had arrived we ate a traditional Chilean BBQ whilst taking in the magnificent Andean mountain ranges and spotting condors soaring high above in the skies. The food sustained us for the hike to a waterfall and along the way we saw some Hausos (Chilean cowboys) riding on their horses looking after the cattle.
Lucy infront of the chillian andes
At the waterfall
Valparaiso
Our next destination was the small city Valparaiso situated about 120km north of Santiago. It's nickname is 'The Jewel of the Pacific' and it is a UNESCO World heritage site due to it's improvised urban design and unique architecture. The city also has an unusual system of funicular elevators to transport people up the steep hills within the city.
Valparaiso has a great atmosphere, the colourful buildings and arty feel reminds me of Bristol. It's a lovely city.
Valparaiso's painted walls
Mendoza (Argentina)
As we are fairly close to Mendoza we decided to pop across the border and visit the city which is in the heart of one of Argentina's wine districts....and what does one do when you find yourself in a wine region....but drink wine of course! We opted for Mr Hugo's bicycle wine tours which was a very amusing day involving cycling to vineyards to sample their wines and trying not to crash in between. The city itself was great, with lots of plazas and alfresco restuarants. We had an amazing Bife de Lomo (steak) accompanied with some more wine of course!
Villaricca
We leave Mendoza to head south into Chile's Lake District to a small town called Villaricca. This town isn't as touristy compared to it's nearby neighbour Pucon and we feel like we are in a more authentic Chilean town. Whilst we are here we decide to climb to the top of Volcan Villaricca (an active volcano) with an organised group. It's a very hard four hour hike to the top and it is covered in snow so we have to use our ice picks to stabilise ourselves. When we get to the top we have an amazing view of the surrounding area and the volcano itself is slowly puffing out steam and gas. The best part was coming down, we had flat flexible pieces of plastic which we used as sledges and Rich and me went down so fast, laughing the entire time.
The view from our room of Volcan Villaricca
Stopping for a sandwich on our way up
This volcano has got gas
Lucy in full, volcano hiking gear
Valdivia
Our next stop going south was the city Valdivia. It is a fairly big city with several universities and makes an interesting stop on our journey down through the country. The city isn't touristy and it's nice to experience an authentic Chilean city. We spend the day wandering the streets and in the evening we enjoy another steak in a traditional Parrilla. We order Pisco Sours which are famous Chilean and Peruvian alcoholic drinks made with Pisco (grape brandy) and lemon. Yummy!
Puerto Varas
Just before our epic four day ferry cruise in Patagonia we stop at a pretty town called Puerto Varas which is on the edge of a lake. It's a lovely place with loads of German influence. We relax here for the day and then wander around the art fair and afterwards we listen to a Chilean Philharmonic orchestra which is playing for free in the main plaza.
The Navimag freighter ferry pulls in
Puerto Montt to Puerto Natales
Puerto Montt is a city on the edge of Patagonia and is the starting point for our ferry trip down through the Fjords of Patagonia. We check in our bags and wait excitedly for our trip to begin. After a couple of hours of waiting we finally get to board and we find our small room which we are sharing with two lovely Australians. The ferry gets going after a long wait and we enjoy the sunny weather as we slowly start working our way through the Fjords. The next day sees a change in the weather as it is raining and most people relax in the bar. We´ve been told that at around 17:00pm we will exit the Fjords and go into the open sea for 12 hours....this means waves and pretty bigs ones at that as they will be 5 metres high. People have taken their sea sickness tablets and are feeling nervous....Rich and me decide that we aren't going to take any tablets! True enough the waves are big, I´ve never experienced anything like it, it's hard to walk and sleeping is impossible as it's like being on a scary ride.
Rich and me successfully manage not to be sick hooray!!!
People eyeing up the ice
It was VERY cold outside by the glacier
The 3rd day is the most interesting, we sail up to a massive glacier and are stunned by it's scale, people are really overwelmed and decide to celebrate by drinking. It's the last night and people want to party! At around 2:00am the party stops and everyone gets settled into bed........
only to be woken up at 3:00am by the sensation of the ferry hitting something hard and crashing. People are panicing, the captain announces that everyone must immediately put their life jackets on and get to the bar on the top deck ASAP! It's a scary hour! They announce that we have infact hit an island but luckily we aren´t taking on water, although we have damaged one of the engines. People are angry and scared but everyone tries to get back to sleep... The following morning we are informed that we are now going half the speed so we won't be arriving to Puerto Natales until a day later, Rich and me think this is great but there are a lot of angry people on board!
Dolphins!!!!!
A day later we arrive and get settled into our hostel, it´s been an amazing trip through the Fjords and despite nearly having a 'Titanic' moment we are fine and have had a great time.
This is the ship whilst not hitting any lovely islands
After the crash - a navy ship pulls along side
Torres de Paine National Park
Most people go to Puerto Natales to go to the Torres de Paine national park as it's meant to be the best and most beautiful park in Chile. Rich and me decide to do the four day 'W' trek so we hire all our camping equipment ready for our adventure. We met a lovely German girl on the ferry and invite her to join us as well. The first day of the trek involves a katamaran ride over a lake to the western starting point of the 'W'. We pitch our tent and then set off for the 22km return trek to the Glacier Grey. It's an amazing sight but unfortunately we don't get as close as we'd like due to the time, we head back for our campsite and cook a delicious meal of pasta and tuna...yummy. Rich admits that he LOVES this kind of food as it reminds him of being a student again!
A view of the Torres from the katamaran
Our first night's campsite
Lucy and Steff
After a 'cosy' and uncomfortable night we set off for the 2nd day hike (around 19km). We take down the tent and walk for 2.5 hours to a free campsite. Once we get their we pitch our tent and hike up the Valle de Frances. It´s amazing but hard work, the weather is beautiful and sunny and the scenery is stunning. As we get higher we walk past a mountain on our left and we constantly see avalanches as bits of the glaciers break off. When we finally get to the top we are stunned by what we see, it's like being in an ampitheatre as there are huge looming cathedral like pinnacles of rock all around us. We head back down but unfortunately we cannot rest here and have to pack the tent up again and walk another 2.5 hours. When we finally make it too the next campsite we are exhausted but very happy.
Lots of tall rock
Lucy infront of more tall rock
The 3rd day is going to be tough as we are walking 8 hours up hill the entire day. We set off early and make it to the half way point in no time at all. The weather today isn´t very nice so we don't stop much. After 8 hours of walking we get to our final destination - Campamento Torres. We try and get to bed early as we are getting up at 5:30am tomorrow morning.
The final campsite
The alarm goes off but we are already awake as we can hear noises that suggest that everyone in the campsite is heading up to the Torres. It's a 45 minute scramble up a very steep and rocky path, it's hard and it's pitch black. When we finally get to the top we try and find a sheltered spot from the wind and snow and then get in our sleeping bags to keep warm and wait for the sunrise.
Lucy in sleeping bag beneath the Torres
The morning sunrise on the towers
It doesn't let us down, the sunrise is amazing and as it rises it casts a brilliant red light on the Torres, it's a really special thing to see. After we've seen the sunrise we pack up our tent and head back down to the bus stop....another 7 hours of walking!
It's been such a fantastic thing to do and the scenery has been simple breathtaking.
No comments:
Post a Comment