We are now in the beautiful small town of Chaiten. The bus ride was amazing. It made me regret not buying a bike in Coyhaique. All the incredible scenery was passing by us too fast. We traveled through majestic valleys, forests, and beautiful mountains that surrounded this beautiful blue lake. Then our bus broke down but another bus (more like a van) came 10 minutes or so after. So it took another very cramped 2 hours until we got here. The town is located right along the Pacific and directly west is the island of Chiloe where we will ferry to this afternoon. This town is very green and mountainous…a beautifully set town. And the hostel we are staying at is for sale for $100,000. Right after hearing that Adam and I were Americans, the man in charge quickly informed us that his hostel was for sale…aaah…you gotta love the American stereotypes. Anyways…getting to the most important reason for this post:
My dad has finally written about his experience in Uganda and it seems there is more to come! It is in the section titled dad´s corner or just click here It really is a must read! Love to all!
Share on Facebook
Sphere: Related Content
Wow, where do I begin? How long has it been since we updated? A month, a week? I have lost all track of time. I believe we last updated in Los Antiguos, Argentina. We are now in Coyhaique, Chile and looking to rest for a few days after bussing, hitching, and going door to door looking for rides after we ran out of money. Apparently only one bank in the space of 800 kilometers or so takes Visa…but I´m getting ahead of myself.
Adam, Fabrice, and I decided to walk into Chile from Los Anitguos since the next town, Chile Chico, was only 10 kilometers or so away. The girls had already left for Chile Chico the previous morning. We walked across the border and into no man´s land. For some reason all country borders down here have two customs. One for leaving and country and a second one for entering the next country. So, there is usually 5 kilometers, give or take, where you are technically nowhere. Anyway, we started walking in nowhere land very slowly since right as we crossed the border, the wind decided to blow us the other direction. A pickup truck stopped for us after a couple kilometers of walking and took us to Chile customs. We then walked into the town of Chile Chico where our first order of business was to find a bank. We were relieved to find that there was one bank in town. However, we quickly found out that the ATM did not accept Visa. We found the girls again and stayed at the same hostel for a reasonable price. We decided to try to hitch to and meet in Tortel. We split up again into groups of guys and girls. The girls got an earlier start the next day because we had to wait until the bank opened so Fabrice could exchange traveler checks and I could exchange dollar bills so we had enough money. Apparently the bank charged Fabrice a percentage of his traveler´s check so he did not take out too much. We tried hitchiking for 2 or 3 hours but with no success…I even tried using my puppy dog face and we tried offering cookies but no takers…although we did get a few laughs. Since we wanted to just get out of this town, we decided to take a bus which left later in the afternoon. However, the bus had just filled up. Apparently the girls took the last tickets available right before us. We were left with two options. Give up and take a ferry that left for Coyhaique the following day or go along with other hitchhikers (some who had been trying for 2 or 3 days to get out of this town) to organize another van that left the same day. With Mounya´s help, we found a guy that was willing to take us for only a thousand pesos more than the other bus ($2 more). We thought that the other people had already told the guy for sure we were going but apparently not. So we waited until 3:00 (the time he told us he COULD leave) until we found out that the Israel people never told him. So we walked over to his house again and finalized the deal (somehow I spoke the best spanish in this group…my spanish is still really bad though). So this guy took us to this town called Puerto Guadal. There was still day left when we got there (and we kind of wanted to beat the girls to Tortel) so we started hitching right away. It was only 26 kilomters to the next town (Puerto Bertrand) so we started and walking and figured if nobody picked us up we could still arrive to that town early the next day. We got maybe 100 meters when the guy that took us to P. Guadal pulled up alongside us and asked if he could buy a thing from us. I did not understand at first but apparently he wanted my carabiner because there were none in this area. I told him that I would give him the carabiner for a ride to P. Bertrand and he agreed! So we piled in his car and we were off. Apparently, had hadn´t realized how low his gas was, so he dropped us off at this intersection instead (a great place for hitching…you can get all the cars coming from Coyhaique AND Chile Chico). He bought the carabiner from me for an additional 2000 pesos. We waited there for a half hour and were about to start walking before a tour van stopped and took us to P. Bertrand. We could not believe our luck. Not only were we going to P. Betrand that night, but we were going there 2000 pesos richer! P. Bertrand was a beautiful small town right along side a river with mountains shooting up from it. It was amazing…a place where I could have easily spent a couple days. However, we were on high from all our luck and we still had day light left so we decided to try to hitch for 10 minutes or so. We were about to give up and enjoy the town (Fabrice had literally just put his pack on) when a pickup pulled up and was heading to Cochrane (the next town 50 kilometers away). We were astonished at our luck! There was no way we expected to get to all the way to Cochrane that night, not hitchhiking with 3 guys! We found camping in Cochrane, went out to eat, and decided on taking the bus to Tortel the next morning. We talked with other people and found out how expensive Tortel was to stay there so we decided to go there and back the same day since we were really low on money and it didn´t help that this town also did not take Visa! The bus left at 9:30 in the morning so we went to the bank at 9 when it opened and Fabrice tried to exchange his traveler´s checks but the bank did not exchange traveler´s checks! I exchanged the last of my dollars and we headed to Tortel.
Tortel was a gorgeous, beautiful city. However, we only had 3 hours and it was cold and raining while we were there. There are no streets in Tortel because the city is all built around water and the slopes are steep. So all the houses are connected with wooden pathways. It is like a town out of a dream. Apparently there are also glaciers and good trekking surrounding this town but did not have enough time or money to spend there. The bus ride into and out of Tortel was also very cool. There are 130 kilometers or so seperating Cochrane and Tortel. Most of these kilometers seemed to be mountains alongside water…just amazing scenery. We counted only 3 cars for the entire travel into Tortel. The van we took was not only a tourist van, but also delivered and picked up mail and groceries from farmers living alongside the river. There was one house that was on the other side of the river and after the driver annoucned his presence with a loud honking of the horn…the van waited as the family took their boat across the river to retrieve their goods. There were so many people that depended on this one van…it was incredible.
After getting back from Tortel, we started going around town trying to figure out if there was anybody going to Coyahaique the next day. At this point we had only 7000 pesos among the three of us (about $14). We had some groceries that we were able to purchase in Chile Chico with my visa but that was it. We went to everybody that might know something to explain our situation…we asked the police chief a few times, the minister of agriculture, city officials, everybody. We finally found one lady that actively tried to help us. There was a truck leaving the next day that was supposed to be carrying 3 other people. If those people did not show up, we could have a ride. If this did not work, the lady arranged a bus ride for the day after and we would not have to pay until we got to Coyhaique. Later that night we met some nice people from Santiago, a few who spoke English, and they translated everything that was going on for us. Later, one of them gave us her address, 2 telephone numbers, email, everything. So we have a place to stay in Santiago. It is amazing how inviting people are here. Well, we got up at 7:30 to find out that those 3 people had shown up and then we tried hitchhiking for 2 or 3 hours at the gas station. This did not really work since there was absolutely nobody going to Coyhaique. So we returned and booked the bus. We ran into the girls later that day and found out they were taking the same bus out because they too had Visa problems. The next morning we took the long bus ride to Coyhaique. We got into town, took a lot of money out of the bank, had a big dinner, and I got to sleep in for the first time in I don´t know how long. We also talked with two guys from Santiago at our hostel who also gave us addresses and telephone numbers. So, that is two places to stay in Santiago! We will probably be here for a couple days until we feel normal again and then we go north. Love ya´ll!
Share on Facebook
Sphere: Related Content
Imagine you´ve just gotten finished hiking for three days in the Parque Nacional Los Glaciers. You´re tired, you´re sweaty, you´re famished and parched. You´ve just spent several days of non-stop walking through one of the most breathtaking sites in Argentina including the monumental Cerro de Fitz Roy mountain range with it´s granite towers reaching up to the heavens themselves, splitting the clouds as they roll by. After spending your time basking in this natural glory you tromp down a steep hill sore and stiff. And there is El Chalten, a town so small it can´t have more than 500 people living in it. Nestled between two gigantic mountain ranges this little village appears out of nowhere after the bus ride from El Calafate. It´s quiet and peaceful and right at the fringe of the park. In fact you´re required to stop at the ranger station on your way in and can walk straight from your house to one of several trail heads, all of which interconnect at some point in the park. This made for lots of walking and after making it back to town we only had to walk two blocks to get to our hostel. The three of us (me, Jordan, and our French friend Fabrice) took our turns in the shower and then made our way to the traditional post backpacking trip meal: one large pizza per person and whatever we desired to drink which this time was a strawberry smoothie for Jordan and I followed by a glass of the local beer (wasn´t that great by the way). On a side note neither of us really liked beer before starting this trip but now seem to be developing a taste for it. Weird. Granted we have maybe one a week it seems like.
After this feast we lounge around for a while and then prepare for bed, for in the morning we have to be up for an 8:15 bus to Los Antigous, a small town on the Chile/Argentina border. We load up and prepare for the long 14+ hour drive. I settled in and put on my iPod and get set to watch the world go by. And oh what a world. I have never seen a road like this in my life. Going up the famous route 40, this way is a pure gravel and dirt road that at one stretch is literally six hours inbetween towns. In between is a vast expanse of desolate Patagonian desert that is just mesmerizing. The rolling dusty hills lead to flat lands with nary a tree in sight for hundreds of miles. This barren desolate land is almost too real to believe. At one point our bus came to a screeching halt and one of the attendants jumped out to grab hold of a live armadillo for us to look at! We got some good pictures (haven´t posted them yet) and I had no idea how furry these things were underneath. The poor creature squirmed and shook trying to get away, but the attendent had him held tight, sometimes by the tail. Then he let it go and the bus continued on its way.
The bus is cramped and hot as there is no air conditioning and no bathroom either. So you just sit and watch the desert roll by. As the sun began to set in the late afternoon we took a pit-stop in this middle of nowhere town that was comprised of just a few small blocks. Then we got back on the bus and continued on our way down the long winding dirt road. The air cools as the sun goes down, and as it disappears it lights up the clouds in the sky in way I´ve never seen before. The brilliant colors rain down as if the gates of Heaven were opening up. Luckily we got to stop and take some pictures. I felt like I could have stayed there just staring at the sky forever.
The bus rolls away and we look out on the vast desert expanse, and random herds of horses are grazing and running alongside. People scramble to take pictures of the horses who just look at us without a care in the world. Not hard to see why. They are so far away from anything human out here with just the occassional farm, they must run as free as they please across the land. As night falls and the last of the sun´s light fades we look the other way to say a very full and very orange moon rise over the horizon. It soon provides the only light visible from the bus as the rest of the sky becomes black and cold. Sitting there listening to Nickel Creek I felt very much far away from everything that I know and consider normal. This was a wild untamed land, and it´s hard not to appreciate it´s beauty as we pass through.
We will most likely pass into Chile again now. Jordan and I need to take a couple days to rest and let our bodies recover as we´ve spent more days than not backpacking in the outdoors these last two weeks. It´s totally worth it, but it can wear you out. Jordan´s knee has been bugging him and my hip has been a little sore, so we´ll likely just chill with our friend Fabrice while we figure out where we´re going next. Also we´ve added a new page to the website. Click on the “moments” link at the top and you can read some more in depth perspectives on things we´ve seen and done down here instead of the usual “Hiked this trail, posted this picture” posts. Also check out the Argentina and Chile pages under countries. Hope everything is good stateside!
Share on Facebook
Sphere: Related Content