Chile, Part II - Mar 10-28

This second time in Chile involved Torres del Paine Park, Puerto Natales, and Punta Arenas.  It was fun hitchhiking from Calafate, Argentina to Torres del Paine -- 4 different drivers/cars.  We barely sat down before someone picked us up on the first two rides.  Right out of El Calafate, our ride was from a man who was going to pick his family up from Rio Gallegos.  They were moving to Calafate.  He had gotten a job at the airport in Calafate.  He didn't talk much but played some pretty hip music.  He said he had a place for hitchhikers in his heart because he had hitchhiked when he was younger.  The second ride was the most entertaining - from Luis, the animal mover.  Neither of us had ever ridden in a semi before.  This guy was hilarious.  He had an much-larger-than-needed propane tank/burner right beside him for heating up water for tea.  The Argentinians are zealous about drinking their mate!  It was also hilarious when he heard Duane`s name.  His face went white.  Most spanish speakers have no idea how to pronounce Duane, but his facial reaction almost said something like - "I feel like I have just insulted you greatly, but I have no idea how to say your name."  He spends 6 months a year in southern Patagonia moving animals - mostly sheep - from one place to another.  He was empty when he picked us up.

In the cab of the semi - Luis with his mate in hand.

The third guy who picked us up is a high school teacher.  It was Saturday and he had gone to visit his daughter and was returning home.  He drove about 150?? miles an hour, but there wasn't traffic so it seemed pretty safe.  He dropped us off at a road that cut over to the border town that leads most directly to Torres del Paine.  Although the most direct way, this is not the way most tourists get to the park.  We waited for over an hour then decided to start walking the 6k to the border town.  About 30 minutes into that Jorge, from Spain, picked us up.  He is a serious fisherman and has traveled all over the world for good fishing.  A very entertaining day, and we actually made it all the way to the park!  The weather didn't cooperate with us that well, but once it was decent we did parts of the "W":

We ate our snack and waited patiently to get this glimpse of the granite namesakes of the park.

The geology of this place is quite fascinating.  Magma formed under the ground and over time was pushed up by movement of the earth's plates.  Along with erosion and glacial action, we humans then get some amazing landscapes and some great hiking.

Los Cuernos del Paine - somewhat hidden by the snow these have a black sedimentary rock on top of the granite.

In this last picture you can also see some of the damage of the fire started by a tourist the last December.  There is extensive damage to the park`s scenic bottom of the "W".  The mountains, however, are no less impressive.

Just a quick two nights in Puerto Natales (at a great hostel with a resident cat and two dogs that visited during the day) and we were on a bus to Punta Arenas where we landed for a while to take care of things back home.  Punta Arenas is right on the Straight of Magellan.  Several things kept us entertained:  penguins, recent flood damage, fellow tourists!, Seinfeld replays (spanish subtitles) and miscellaneous things of the largest city (~130K) we had been in in over two months.

A 3+ hour boat ride out to Isla Magdalena.  These are Magellanic Penguins. 

Lots of the penguins had already started their migration, but there were still plenty waiting around for the right moment to hit the sea.

A serious amount of mud was deposited in the streets due to the flood caused by an unusual 3 days straight of rain - about a week before we got there.  Duane, turned into a soils and river engineer, came up with the cause and solution...

Easily one of our favorite hostals so far -- Eduardo the owner is awesome, we met several interesting characters who had done the panamerican highway on motorcycles or "push" bikes, we enjoyed the larger-than-normal included b'fast and there was really good wi-fi.

It was tough deciding which way to leave Punta Arenas.  We were either going to hitch down to Ushuaia, Argentina or take the ferry to Puerto Williams, Chili.  In large part, another group who had been to Puerto Williams influenced us and we decided on staying in Chili and seeing their claim to the most southern city...

Argentina, Part II - Feb 9-Mar 9

After the touristy center of Bariloche, El Bolsón - just two hours south - was definitely a nice change.  We camped, dealt with details at home and ate some good chocolate!

A bike ride out to a gorgeously blue-green river.

Old ford falcons are everywhere. Apparently they were made in Argentina for 30 years...

To get to southern patagonia, there is a long stretch of road south of El Bolsón.  We split it up by stopping in Perito Moreno/Los Antiguos and did the side trip to the Cave of the Hands - Cueva de las Manos.  Dating from 9,000 BC, these are some impressively well preserved paintings of mostly hands and guanacos.  I ended up being the translator for the spanish speaking guide...

This is what it looks like east of the Andes mountains.

About 24 hours south of El Bolsón by bus is El Chaltén - home of Fitz Roy and Cerro Torre - both impressive pieces of rock that have some world class mountain climbing opportunities.  But most people come to do some straightforward hiking/trekking.  We first did the straightforward and beautiful trail up around the Fitz Roy range.

Fitz Roy was a ship captain who explored the Patagonian area back in the 1800's.  Somehow his name was later attached to this 11,000+ ft granite peak.

Then we got adventuresome and the weather conspired against us.  Our planned 4 day circuit was supposed to have 3 days of good weather and 1 day of rain.  Somehow that got flipped.  Thankfully, our gear held up....  This trail was well trodden on day 1, out to Laguna Toro.  Days 2-4 required a lot of route finding and guessing -- up to Paso del Viento and around to Paso Huemel, down to Lago Viedma and finally back to Chaltén

All was gloriously beautiful on day 1.  This is Cerro Torre - world renown rock climbing prize.

Day 2 started off with a brutally cold river crossing - the water coming off of a glacier.  We both were whimpering in pain.

The main reason for this trek was to get over Paso del Viento (Wind Pass) and see the Hielo Sur (South Ice).  This is the a massive ice field - and the largest hunk of ice outside of the poles.  The rain and clouds limited our view...

At times the wind was just simply nuts.

We broke the rules that night and stayed in the refugio.  It rained and howled outside all night!

Day 3 - looking down at a glacial lake with hunks of ice in it.

We camped here just below Paso Huemel on Day 3.  Overnight it was windy but dry, so our clothes dried out.

At the start of day 4 - trying to stay vertical in the wind.

Looking out over Lago Viedma - on our way down through the Lenga trees.

Lago Viedma in the background.  This was a bit before lunch.  Little did we realize that we still had another 8 hours of route finding and rain, slogging through marshes, and a crazy high river to cross.

The good thing about an experience like this is that you have some bragging rights... and you feel closer for having done something that difficult together.

After a couple days of taking it easy we continued south to El Calafate.

Argentina, Part I - Jan 22-Feb 9

In a bit over a month in Argentina we have gone from latitude 39.9 to 50.3 and are planning on making it all the way to the tip which is right about 55.

Our first stop was Junín de los Andes - self proclaimed trout capital of the country.  We didn't fish, but we enjoyed the rivers, more gorgeous mountains and our little friend whom I called "little buddy" who adopted us even though we didn't feed her.  This is the campground where the wi-fi was good enough that we hung out at the campsite or the tent doing email, etc...

A new friend - the lady of an argentinian couple who picked me as I was hitchhiking in the park.

Volcán Lanín from the Argentinian Parque Lanín.

Next stop was Bariloche and Parque Nahuel Huapi.  We got out of town as fast as the rain stopped to avoid the tourists.  Here we did an 8 day trek.  Amazing jagged mountains that keep going and going and going, crazy straight up & down trails, beautiful lakes and waterfalls, Mt. Tronador, and some interesting route finding!

After spending a half day trying to find a trail through the thick brush around the lake we went with Duane´s idea of walking in the lake.  It was a lot warmer than I expected!

Duane and Jennifer - whom we ran into - trying to figure out where the trail goes next.

Day 7 - our campsite on the side of Mt. Tronador.

Huge waterfalls - with a rainbow - coming off the glaciers of Mt. Tronador.

Ah, the beauty!

Chile, Part I - Jan 4-Jan 22

We both will admit that after 4 months in Colombia and Ecuador, it was nice to arrive in Chile and experience a culture more like what we are used to:   less trash, less noise, more organized….  The down side is no more 3 mangos for $1.  Instead there are wonderful nectarines.  And you pay for it.  Suddenly everything costs at least twice as much.  We spent maybe 5 days in Santiago.   We rented bikes one day, walked around the capital buildings, got a nice view of the surrounding area at sunset...  I was really happy to meet up with two Motivational Interviewing folks who I have met at meetings - they treated me to a typical Chilean meal.  Duane and I also shopped for second hand rain pants & fleece in preparation for Patagonia weather, we had to find an electrical adapter and a battery charger with the 110 voltage...  Details…   

Things you think of doing after traveling with your partner for 4 months!

Since there was train travel available and we were a bit tired of bus travel, we took the train 5 hours south to the end of the line and stayed in Chillán, a pleasant smallish city (180K), for a few days.  The highlight of my birthday was happening upon an incredibly awesome vegetarian buffet.  I haven't eaten that well the entire time we have been here in south america!

Then we headed for Pucón (17k) - a very tourist center with great access to mountains and hotsprings.  We planned for 3 days out in Parque Nacional Huerquehue, but had enough food so stayed for 5.  It was really beautiful landscape with the auracania trees everywhere (monkey puzzle trees), lakes and we got to a hotsprings that felt luxurious!

Chile and Argentina share the andean mountains and most travel in the the area involves some time in both countries, so from Pucón, we then crossed the border into Argentina.

At the border crossing - El Volcán Lanín - partly in Argentina & partly in Chile.

Ecuador, Nov 29-Jan 4

The Ecuador post was ready about 4 weeks ago when some sort of cyberspace demon attacked and it went ¨poof¨.  I was not happy and several not so nice words came out of my mouth.  What is ironic is that I had said in that post that it had become obvious to me that I could not sustain the time I had been putting into the blog and that I was moving to a reader´s digest version.  So, there it was, all our time in Ecuador in just one post.  It has taken me 4 weeks to consider redoing the Ecuador post.  Sorry, but it will be even shorter than the first version...

An interesting thing about Ecuador is that since 2001 they have used the US dollar:
Bus travel:  $1/hour of travel (intercity buses - 25 cents or so)
Meals out:  $3-$10 (unless you are spluging)
Lodging:  ~$9-11/night per person

Otavalo

We crossed from Ipiales, Colombia to Tulcan, Ecuador with no issues.  It was just about 2 hours to our first destination - Otavalo.  This is a very well-to-do town by Ecuadorian standars, apparently tourism has treated it well.  There is quite the mix of modern and idigenous culture!  Travelers come to see the the indigenous garb & textiles and to hike in the surrounding area.

That is a baby wrapped in a white cloth on this lady`s back.  No need for a fancy baby backpack!

This the typical dress of the women in this region.

We were poised to start Spanish language school and do homestays in this pleasant town when we learned that the rabies vaccine was only available in Quito, the capital.  (If you didn´t read one of the last posts on Colombia - Duane had been bit by a dog...)  So, we ended up leaving earlier than we would have liked.

Quito

The cathedral in the main plaza.

Because the shots for rabies was a series, we needed to hang out in Quito for a while.  So we both studied Spanish for 2 weeks and stayed in separate homes to really try to get into the language more.   It is harder when traveling as a couple to speak the language.  And, it is harder for Duane to really have to talk Spanish since I can speak it.  It was certainly interesting to get to know the families we stayed with.  If anyone is going to visit Quito and wants a reference for a family to stay with, let us know!

The city certainly has it`s share of really nice colonial architecture and a myriad of interesting things to observe that come along with a city.  This was christmas time and one thing that caught my attention was that the buses had a horn that played christmas songs - a nice change from the obnoxious noise that horns can be!

Narrow colorful streets...

Puerto Lopez

For a big city, Quito was certainly interesting, but after 2 weeks of big city and quite a bit of rain, we were ready for small and tranquil.  The bus ride from Quito to Puerto Lopez might go down as the worst of our trip - a possible 8 hours turned into 12 hours.  This bus literally stopped anywhere and everywhere to pick up or drop of any and every body.  The roads themselves were great - better than Colombia by far.  There was no scary passing or fast driving.  It was just SO painful to be stopping every little bit...  But we did get there - a smallish beach town.  There was plenty of sun, birds, waves, crabs, cool looking rocks...  A very relaxing spot!  This is where we were for christmas and new year´s.

One of the coolest things for me about Ecuador was meeting up with my friend Gabrielle and her boyfriend.  We worked together on the Oregon Coast more than 10 years ago.  They had planned to spend their xmas vacation there.  We overlapped both in Quito and in Puerto Lopez!

Puerto Lopez is all about fishing - for humans and birds!

The 2nd floor terrace where we ate our meals and relaxed.

We certainly could have spent a LOT more time discovering Ecuador, but rainy season was definitely starting and the summer in the south of the continent was calling.  We left Ecuador vìa Guayaquil which is in the south of the country.  We cleverly did not even stay the night, but sneaked into town, went to the clinic for the last of the rabies shots and took a red eye flight to Chile.