Yesterday was a travel day, and boy did we travel a very long way south. 2,722 kms to be exact. Chile is one frigging long country! As long as the moon is wide. Think about that for a moment.
We started our journey waiting in the 32° heat outside our nice little hostel for the 11:00 shuttle to the airport in Calama about 100kms to the north. Two shuttles passed us by and as it was approaching 11:15 we were beginning to wonder what was happening. A lone cab stopped opposite me and in rapid Spanish asked if we wanted a ride to the airport. I tried to explain that we were taking the shuttle, and then he said the magic words or rather number cinco, and held up 5 fingers for 5,000 pesos. We looked at each other and asked para dos? He replied, si. We said vale and he put our packs in the trunk and we were on our way, 100kms for just $9. The shuttle was 24,000 pesos or $40. We sat in the back wondering a bit if this was a scam and we’d end up with our throats cut in the surroundings lunar landscape, but had noticed that he had all the proper credentials on the windows of his car. As we drove out of town and past the road check the cops nodded to him. We began to relax as he turned onto the highway going north, direction Calama. The irony of this is that travelling at 130 kms/hr he passed both shuttles that had left us behind earlier! Sweet revenge:) We figured that he was dead heading back to the airport having driven others to Atacama and just wanted a fair to cover his fuel. Big business transporting folks back and forth and we understood that there are no taxis in San Pedro. So when he deposited us safely at the airport I gave him twice what he’d asked for and received a very nice handshake and smile in return. Honest guy, and a pretty sharp driver as well! Departing Calama.
Transiting the desert. So much of Chile’s massive mining is conducted in the north of the country.
We landed in Santiago and waited about two hours for our flight out. Most of the planes were coming and going and we figured the smoke in the distance was just the usual haze associated with a big city. The expected military presence at the airport just wasn’t there as we’d expected, unless they were undercover somewhere. We never did see them if they were. We climbed happily on our next flight and had a brief view of the city as we winged out. We have a day here at the end of our trip before flying home and intend to visit the city if things have quieted down. We'll see.
This time we were seated on the port side of the plane meaning we had a good view of the Andes until the clouds closed in.
At one point I spotted a volcano with N active steam vent. Pretty cool!
We landed at 20:00 and being so far south it was still light out, but by the time we’d sorted out our rental car the sun had set and it was pitch black. I’d intended to use the CDW attached to my credit card, and I’d had the insurance underwriters actually prepare a letter in Spanish explaining the need only to have the rental company provide their party liability insurance. However, in spite of all that it proved to difficult to make this arrangement with the language barrier and I finally decided to simply take their expensive full coverage insurance. No point in taking the risk to save about $300 for the week. Sometimes you just have to decide that sometimes there’s a certain cost to travel! It’s the first time this has happened, so I figure we’ve kind of averaged the cost way down over the years: ) In any event we stepped out of the terminal and were astonished to find the air felt exactly like at home. Sea level again! That nice feel of Pacific air made us both feel quite at home!
We took a while to find our b&b in the dark, rural dark! They had no signage, but I’d taken the time to look for the property on Google Earth before leaving home knowing that we’d arrive very late. We found it! Really nice hosts who have this very interesting place with birds, chickens of all types and they also breed Burmese Mountain dogs. Nice. They also have a ridiculously friendly cat who followed me around everywhere as I introduced myself to the animals this morning.
After a decent sleep in our little cabin, we enjoyed a really nice breakfast and a chat with our hosts. Then we climbed into our new Peugeot and headed off into Puerto Varas with the intent of circumnavigating Lago Llanquihue, the second largest lake in Chile. As it turns out we clocked about 250 kms today on good paved roads and also some gravel roads. The lake is about 200 kms around. The big attraction of the lake are the two massive volcanoes at the eastern end of the lake. Only one, the highest and most impressive of the two was visible for most of the day. It’s a real stunner!
We stopped in several villages to walk and snack. These villages and much of the settlement around the lake, and in fact much of the Chilean Lake District was created in more recent times by German colonials. Great parcels of land were granted in the late 1800’s and soon much of the land was cleared, farmed and then small businesses were established. Seriously, some of the towns and most of the names make one think they are in old Germany.
We stopped for tea and elevens and both agreed that the nice big piece of Black Forest cake we shared was probably the best we’d ever had. It was that good. It was all good!
As we continued on our way we moved closer to the volcano, Clouds drifted in to shroud parts of the mountain.
Without much of a map we still managed to somehow find small roads down to the lake shore where we continued to find some good views. We began to realize just how big this lake was!
While down at this particular break I heard some interesting humming. Being interested in honey bees and of course honey, I discovered the source of the buzzing was being provided by a type of honey be I’d never encountered before. An orange bee! Amazing! Will hav3 to look this one up when I return home. Flowers out everywhere. It’s Spring!
As we continued to wind our way along the very twisty highway I suddenly saw a left turn sign which said something about some stuff followed by the word ‘volcano’. We turned very suddenly and found ourselves on a road up the very volcano we’d been watching all day! We stopped part way up for a mirador, but the view had grown over. There was however, a little wildlife.
We continued up a very torturous road and found out that we’d being driving up to a ski hill on the volcano. We hadn’t been expecting that! There were a few late season skiers, but mostly it was a few folks goofing around on the lower snows.
We stopped at the chalet for a late lunch, nice soup and a hot chocolate.
While having lunch I noticed a trail heading up the mountain and we decided that a hike was in order. So unsuitably equipped with nothing but good hiking shoes and some clothing layers we set of climbing. It was really nice hiking at the comparatively low elevation of 1,400 m after our experiences at over 4500 m. We felt pretty light on our feet, and it felt wonderful to stretch our legs and just climb. Really nice.
Well, we though the day couldn’t get much better, but it did. We returned back down the mountain and headed further east into the Andes. I’d previously read about another lake further in and wanted to explore further. The highway soon reduced to a gravel road, but beside the road was a large river in high flow draining from the upper lake to the main lake. Many folks had come to see the waterfalls from a side channel, but as that looked busy we pressed on
and found a charged set of rapids. We pulled over and walked down to get a better look.
I climbed lower and noticed a three river kayakers preparing to run the chute. I couldn’t believe my good luck! One fellow decided to portage around the chute, but not this fellow. I was in a great location to watch!
Hey Rob, any idea of the classification of this water?
We made it to the lake and it was pretty nice up there.
Another wind vane to add to my growing collection!
We then headed back down to the main lake,
back to Puenta Varas where we found a cheap dinner and home to bed. Tomorrow we will say goodbye to our hosts and head north to the upper reaches of the Chilean Lake District (Villarrico), exploring as we travel. We just booked accommodation for the next two nights in a small town and will decide on a third night if necessary. Today being Saturday, we have wheels until late next Friday. Adequate time to experience this beautiful area. Hopefully the weather holds. This can be wet, cold country, but so far we are off to a great beginning! Time to head for bed as it’s just about 23:40. Funny how little sleep we both require when travelling. Wish I could figure out that one?
2 comments:
Hey guys, back again. Wow, what a day you had. The photos are stunning. Amazing. Best, Neil
Yes, amazing photos. And birds, a cat, and what the heck was that doggish thing? A fox? Great to see the sights and climb the climbs in a geologist's paradise.
Ken
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