(allt ì fìna) From Argentina - part I
Click
here for a map of Patagonia:
It was a long busride from Pucón, Chile to San Martin de los Andes, Argentina. The driving was not the worst factor but the endless waiting for something or sometimes, apparently, nothing. The stops at the border were long and teadious...first at the Chilian border and then at the Argentinian border. On the bus i met Sarha and Caroline from Canada and as it was very hard to get accomodation in San Martin, we ended up finding a triple room together... and a pretty expensive one. We had a nice dinner... I had pizza with deer meat!!! and after a short stop at the local market we called it a day. The next day we went bike riding around Lago Lacar (photo above) or at least around half of it (riding 12 km. up a hill) and after a lunch break at the beach we took the ferry back to San Martin. After delivering the bikes we took the bus to Villa de Angostura and from there straight to Bariloche. Two pretty scary busrides. In the first, we had to have the windows open because the aircon. was broken (not unusual here) and there was dust everywere. The driver was trying to fix some box above his seat using boath hands driving at 80km an hour on a narrow road, and we almost drove into a horse. The next bus was a little overcrowded so I had to sit on a box in front of the bus that drove almost one hour in the dark without headlights!
Then we got to the hostal from hell...it seamed to be the only hostal available in Bariloche. It was like cut out of a Stephen King novel. I am almost sure that they filmed the horrior film "The Hostel" here. The owners were also very spooky. I only took one nioght there and found something else for the next night....took a long time and was about us$7 more expensive...but worth every penny!! The next day we chilled in Bariloche went down to the beach and watched a kitesurfing competition (photo below).
Then we found a restaurant for snacks with a beautiful view of the lake. I also used this day to find a tour for the next day to Calafate with stops at Perito Moreno (the town...there is also a glacier by the same name) and El Chalten.
That night I said good buy to Sarah and Caroline and the next day I boarded the
Route 40 bus heading for Calafate. Buses in Argentina are, as a rule, between one and three hours late and pretty used up with numerous cracks in the front window...this particular bus had 6 big cracks in the front window, the breaks were really dodgy, the oil was leaking and our driver had only slept 3 hours the night before. We sat in this bus for over 13 hours to Perito Moreno where we finally arrived at midnight only to find out that the hostel people had given up on us and there were no longer rooms for everyone. We had to wait while they found something else for us, some stayed with a family and even one guy had to sleep at the camping place. Up early the next morning for an excusion to
Cueva de los manos a very nice drive to a very cool place. The Cueva De Los Manos or the Cave of Hands, is situated in a big canion and on the way we also saw lots of animals both domestic and wild. like
Guanaco ,Armadillo, and
ostrich. After the caves we drove on the last part about 6 hours to El Chaltén where I found my accomodation after a short walk in the dark with silhouettes of the huge cliffs hanging gostly over the town....(To be continued.)
The Ultimate Volcano Experience
Parque Nacional Conguillio (photo top left) was spectacular. We had a spot of bad weather in the beginning of our walk (very unusual for this time of year) but later it cleared up. We walked for about 4 hours mostly in the forest. There were spectacular views og lake Conguillio and the Sierra Nevada.
the next day I went to the small town of Villarica.
Beautiful town right by the lake and it has Vulcan Villarica in the background (photo middle left). After a 3 hour hike in the countryside the next day - just south of Villarica - molested by huge flies that wanted my nothing but harm, I took the bus to Pucòn which is a nice resort town...a little bit turisty but nice all the same. From there I took a tour up to the very active volcano Villarica. If you
look into the crater you see the the lava bubbling and sometimes it erupts a couple of meters in the air. Very impressive sight. I took a special early morning tour that started from Pucón at 4:00 in the morning. A group of 6 persons + two guides. As all the other tours start at 7:00 there were just us on the Volcano. After 1 hour in the dark the sun came up and the view was quite spectacular: I think we could see about 4 or 5 other volcanoes from the top. The worst thing was the sulphor gases that the crater emittet. Reminded me of my teargas experience in Quito four years ago. We slided most of the way back so the trip down was only an hour. That night I ran into a guy I had met in Villarica and we had a Pisco Sour and a "few" beers in the
Mamas and Tapas bar. Tomorrow I am taking the bus to
San Martin de los Andes in Argentina.
Hasta Argentina
All roads lead to......the next.
Hello from Temuco, Chile!
Now, finally, it should be more intersting to read my blog as now starts the longest travelling part of my trip.
The last days in Quito were uneventful and the flight to Santiago was pretty normal apart from the fact that I had to fly to Bogotà,Colombia to catch my flight to Santiago (two hours north to fly almost six hours south). Santiago
(photo above) was nice..I was staying in an OK hostal in the center (placa de Armas) called Navetierra. I walked around the city and went to the park Metropolitan with a nice couple from France, Celine and Pierre, that I met at the ascensor (A kind of a lift thet runs up the hill). All around the town were ppl waving flags with pictures of the two presidential candidates. A man: Sebastian Pinera, and a woman
:
Michelle Bachelet. If she is elected she will be the first woman president in chile. The election is tomorrow Sunday.
Yesterday I went to Valparaiso
(photo below) and spend the day there with Celine and Pierre. Valparaiso is a very intersting city. It is on the pacific coast and spreads up into the hills. They have lot of
ascensores there because of the many steep hills.
La Sebastiana ,the house of nobel prize poet Pablo Neruba was especially interesting, very beautiful both inside and out and the view is spectacular.
After a short stop in Viña del Mar (the twin town of Valparaiso) I headed back to Santiago. The next day I took the train (the only train left in all of Chile) to Temuco. The nine hours felt like four or five hours. There was lots of space in the half emty train and looking at the beautiful landscape and blasting icelandic music (Sàlin hans Jòns Mìns & Quarasi) and spanish music (Juanes & Oreja de Van Goch) on my CD player, made for a very enjoyable mix.
I arrived at 19:30 at the train-station in Temuco and got a hostel just outside of the center. The hostal is near a big moll where there is a cinema where I am going to night to see King Kong :). Tomorrow, as I do not have the right to vote, I am going to visit
Parque National Conguillio.
I must say that I really like it here in the south of Chile...the weather is like on a very nice summersday in Iceland. It is also interesting to notice how the landscape changes...it is kind of like driving from spain north through france, into germany and ending up in the south of sweden!! I look forward to arriving in "Norway" next week.;).
hasta pronto
p.s.
If you don't allready know the colombian band
Juanes then I highly recommend that you check it out right now!!!!!
It is better to leave, then never to arrive!
Hello again and a very happy new year to ya´ll!
After a 13 hour trip back to Otavalo (in actually a very confortable bus)I continued the waiting game. This time I was waiting for the pin number for my credit card. It arrived the next day...so now I was all set to continue my travels. I spend the new years in Otavalo. Around 20:00 on the 31th. I went out with the family and we walked around town. Here ppl. dress up for new year...and I don´t mean put on nice clothes, but put on costumes or masks. Many places there were ppl. in the streets dancing in funny costumes. There was a lot of men dressed as women, so it was a kind of a mixture between Halloween and the Gay Parade. They also make live sized dolls that they burn at midnight in the middle of the street with som other stuff...it´s called burning the old year. There were almost NO fieworks! There was not much drinking that night and I went to bed at around 00:45...very unusual for me!
On the fourth of January I packed my stuff and went to Quito. There I met up with Laerke and Ida again. I got a ticket for Santiago for the 10th of January which was kind of unlucky because my visa expires saturday the 7th. I then used almost 2 days going between immigration offices to arange 3 days more so I would not loose my ticket. One officer even told me that I had to go to Colombia and get a new visa there and then re-enter the country. Luckily I found a immigration office in the end that could help me and gave me the days that I needed. Normally it is not a problem to get an extention but the embassy in Panama City had given me a special student visa which is harder to extend. Tipical! Anyways, here in Quito, we have been to the old town, gone to Mitad del Mundo (center of the earth) which is very cool; and today we went to the Park Carolina where there was outdore arobic and drum playing, amongst other things. After a short stop at the moll (El Jardín) We had lunch and here I am.
In two days I´m flying to Santiago de Chile were the third part of my trip begins (the lucky part I hope). I had two choices: To go to Patagonia and continue more or less as planed or go strait to Brazil and and stay there for a couple of weeks before heading home. I took the first option, even though I will be deep in debt when I get back home, because...well, I´m in South America now and who knows when I´m coming back. I will probably be in Brazil around the 10th. of february and back in Denmark at the end of February. Hasta la pasta.
Next time...from Chile!
Juan de Chevere
p.s.
A funny thing happend as I came out of the immigration office the other day...I had just finished arranging my visa, when somebody called my name in the street. I looked around and saw Freddy. He was coming from the coast and had a few hours in Quito before returning to Ibarra. He was going to try to meet me at the hostal but in stead he just happend to see me from his bus. What are the odds of that happening in a huge city like Quito!
J
Click here for a map of Patagonia: 
Then we found a restaurant for snacks with a beautiful view of the lake. I also used this day to find a tour for the next day to Calafate with stops at Perito Moreno (the town...there is also a glacier by the same name) and El Chalten. 
