South America 2004

South America Dec 2003 to May 2004

Well we left Madrid for Santiago on 1 December on Iberia. What a drama at the airport - Leah nearly didn’t make it. For some inexplicable reason Iberia bumped her off the flight because she supposedly cancelled her Santiago-Madrid flight earlier the previous month. The fact was that she merely changed her flight (in an Iberia office in Santiago what’s more) – there WAS no cancellation. I had visions of Leah being put up in a snazzy hotel at Iberias expense whilst I went on ahead but lo and behold they managed to find her a seat. And that was after a lot of toing and froing on our part between various Iberia representatives.

Anyway alls well that ends well. A long flight and a great view over the Andes. We flew right past Aconcagua (on my side) – a magnificent sight. I was sitting next to an Aussie who was living near Lisbon. He represented a British wine wholesaler and was flying to Santiago to arrange some vineyard visits. He was going to Mendoza Argentina as well. So he was able to tell me a bit about the countryside and also the Chilean wine industry. I was amazed to learn that most NZ cask wine has Chilean blended in (and not just a small percentage). Also that NZ wine is well regarded at its price point in the UK.

Chllean customs were no problem and it was out to see Mark waiting in the concourse. A really marvelous sight. We do have a scattered family don’t we. Adrian in Luxembourg and Mark in Santiago and us in … well the jury is still out on that. So first things first – get some pesos (RedBanc) and then onto a local bus and 40 minutes into town. Talking, questions, chat – non stop the whole way. We were dropped off in the Alameda (alias Avenida Bernardo O’Higgins) not far from Plaza Brazil. A 10 minute walk and we were there at Marks apartment. Now Marks apartment bears some description. He is in the north section and on the 8th floor – although 8th floor is a bit of a misnomer. There are only four levels but each apartment has a mezannine. You enter straight into his dining living area. The kitchen is to the right and there is a small side room also to the right. Stairs straight ahead as you enter lead up to the mezannine. The first thing we noticed is that everything is concrete. Concrete floor, walls, concrete slabs for the stairs and concrete for the mezannine. And the quality of the ‘crete was pretty average – unless that represented part of the commercial appeal. The Chilean rustic look perhaps. At the other end of the room was a floor to ceiling window. Afforded a great view but wow did it let the sun in. The room actually was always several degrees hotter than the outside. So we sweltered most days. Also a bit dangerous I thought. What if you slipped? Was the glass armoured – I don’t think so!!

Then upstairs to a mezannine area. Marks bedroom and the toilet, bath and shower. Mark had a big double bed and not much else. A man of simple means!!




I commandeered the space under the stairs and Leah took over the small room (which was small). The apartment block also had a small gym and a swimming pool. It was tenanted mainly by young professionals, many of whom we met over the course of the next couple of months. We had a supermarket a couple of blocks away and there were half a dozen internet cafes and plenty of restaurants within walking distance so we were well set up.

It was great catching up with Mark and learning about all his adventures and how and why he chose Chile to pursue his career. He seems to have made a good choice as with his doctorate he has seniority, an excellent faculty and a boss who is internationally regarded.

What next … well we went for walk around Santiago city. It was still only early in the morning so lots of time and neither Leah or I were particularly tired. Walked right down Compania de Jesus (that was a name we were to get very used to) into the old CBD and the Plaza Des Armas. Past the Moneda Palace (where Allende met his end - the bomb marks are still visible) and across to the fish markets and then down to Cerro Santa Lucia, a small hill in the centre of town. There was a chapel on the hill that we quickly visited and then we braved the “gypsies” at the base. They were as persistent as any in Spain. “Read you fortune, sir; take a piece of basil, madam; give me money, you tourists”; it all ended the same way. Probably not as sophisticated as the EU but not bad. We did not succumb though and ended up having lunch in a small restaurant close by. Our first experience in SA of local cuisine. Mark “it’s not too expensive, Dad” and the bill was CP 17,000 (USD 30) for all of us. Probably wasn’t for him, but for our budget that was higher than we were used to, so home cooking was going to be the order of our stay. Then over the rio Mopocho and to Cerro Cristobal and a tram ride to the top of the local landmark. Cerro Cristobal was a small mountain with a statue of the Virgin on top. There was a chapel dedicated to her close by and a zoo half way up. Quite a good one apparently but we never visited. A fine view over Santiago and Mark was able to point out main features esp the mountains to the east (Andes foothills) one of which (5700m asl) he had climbed. He has gotten bitten by the climbing bug since being in SA much to his mothers chagrin.

Our life settled into a bit of a pattern after that introduction. We spent a lot of time wandering around and absorbing the atmosphere. Santiago did not have too much too offer but I enjoyed the bus rides. They were a story in themselves. All the micros (buses) were painted yellow and they went at 100km/hr at all times. Standard fare (CP 210) and their stop to pick up passengers was no more than 5 seconds. I swear it is true – if you didn’t get on they did not wait; gringo or not. They had to beat their competitors to the next stop, you see. Every bus had a different system of collecting fares – the locals knew (somehow) what it was but we poor foreigners were caught every time. On some you paid the driver and he gave you a ticket, on others you paid the driver and got your own ticket, on others there was a ticket machine, and lastly some had a conductor. So talk about trial by ticket, we soon learned you NEVER got on the bus first if you could avoid it. At least that way you could see what the locals did. I also was fascinated by the semi beggars that jumped on the buses at bus stops and traffic lights. These people tried to sell things to the passengers. Ice creams, socks, peanuts, sweeties, Anything that could be easily carried down the length of the bus was fair game. They jumped on when the bus was moving and then scrambled off b4 then next stop. I will never forget the icecream vendors and their “chile moya” calls which I think is some sort of exotic flavour. What a life though – right on the margins in every sense of the word.

We spent a fair amount of time out in Providencia which is the better end of town. It is where the NZ and Australian Embassies are and we spent a bit of time at the former reading NZ papers.

We had an excellent experience at the Bio Bio markets. They are a huge indoor outdoor complex in the south of Santiago. And I do mean huge. We went there by Metro and were overwhelmed by all the shops. You could buy just about anything. We got Mark a couple of chairs but spent a few hours just wandering around all the different areas. I mean there were people set up just to sell (say) old LP records, others who had nothing other then screwdrivers, others with old motors, others with books, magazines – you name it, it was there. A stifling number of people there and that was during the week!! Unbelievable place – we really only scratched the surface in terms of what it had to offer.

Also enjoyed the fish markets in town, if only because the restaurant owners were so persistent and innovative in terms of their approach. They had nice salmon for sale though which was the attraction for Leah.

Places visited

Plaza Des Armas – main square and a very lively place with painters set up, chess players to one side and many concerts and the like performed there. The original Plaza set up by Pedro De Valdavia in 1540.

Cathedral – grand place with the usual religious paintings down both sides. The cathedral did not have the side chapels typical of the European churches and the altar was a little dowdy and partly made of wood. Lots of people in the place though and mainly there to pray and be a genuine part of it.

Museo del Arte Pre Columbine – fantastic gallery with artefacts from most of central and south America Indian cultures. Some quite amazing works esp in gold. Also ceramics, stone, silver and a little in wood (Mapuche Indians). Some of the fine detail on the gold work was as good as anything we saw in Europe. There was a magnificent butterfly in one hall and I also remember the death masks. Stone mosaics were astonishing and they showed some examples of inca stonework and the precision that they achieved. (More on that later). There was also an exhibition on the Incas quilca knotted ropes. They have now worked out the numbering system used but they also think that the knots also embodied a language but haven’t quite deciphered it yet (a project for someone who wants to be famous). The Spanish destroyed all the knotted ropes that they could find and killed off those who made and decoded them. This was to try and get Spanish and writing accepted as quickly as possible and break the inca culture at the same time. Also an expo of Malaysian batik weaving and painting which was quite good and interesting for me given my time in Malaysia.

Palacio Cousino – in south Santiago. An incredible 2/3 story house built by the widow of one of the main rich families (Cousino) of Santiago. They got wealthy through coal and silver and latterly wine, and their house is magnificent. It is constructed totally of European materials (wood, marble, iron, steel, bricks) and the only thing Chilean is a motorized dumbwaiter system. I find it hard to describe the opulence in all areas. Everything is on a grand scale from the Italian white and black marble staircase, to the fantastic carved wooden furniture, the parquetry flooring, the velvet drapes, the silverware, the paintings, the chandeliers, the armoury, the library (and its original range of books) and all the musical instruments. Talk about no expense spared –the wood was oak, ash, larch, walnut, pine, elder, and some more exotic European types whose names escape me. As good if not better than most stately homes we have visited in Europe. She was an amazing woman – widowed young but able to run the business, bring up her children and oversee the construction. Also good looking to top it all!!

Museo del Belle Artes – up near Banquedano area and alongside Mapocho River. Small museum but with lots of good paintings. El Greco and Rubens were on show.

Museo Municipale – small museum dedicated to the history of Santiago. Lots of photos and small scale models of the cities development.

We also visited a few of Santiago’s parks. Parque O’Higgins was the largest and it had a permanent fun park attached. It was big but quite dry and dusty. They had fairly decent swimming pools there along with tennis courts, football grounds and a big stadium which is no longer used. Parque Quinta Normal was just to the west of Plaza Brazil. Also dry and dusty but it had 5 museums in the ground (we didn’t visit any of them). Cerro Cristobal has already been mentioned.

I liked Plaza Brazil, which Marks apartment block looked out over. It was always lively and there were people promenading to all hours of the night. Also these packs of dogs. A worry – whenever a bitch came on heat it was all on for the dogs. They came from everywhere and there would be fights, barking and growling all the time. I just wished that they would get on with it, ravish the bitch and then all go off again and leave her alone. A stage was set up prior to Xmas and we had entertainment from the local dancing schools. They were all very good and some of the dance themes were spectacular. A lot of modern stuff and I enjoyed one which seemed to deal with the old Indian cultures and their subjugation by the Spanish. Also a couple of tango dancers from Buenos Aires. They were really good – a harbinger of things to come in Argentina. There was also a vacant lot close by on the way to the supermarket. It had all these mangy looking cats living in it but some locals would come along and leave food (mainly pasta!!) and water for them. They were gross though and stunk to high heaven.

The estacion de autobus on the Alameda was also interesting. The bus companies (and there were many) were all at the back of this big building, probably 150m from the main road. In the front were wall to wall small shops and stalls; a sort of market place under a roof. A bit more upmarket than Bio Bio – they sold all sorts of basically rubbishy stuff. Amazing place with huge crowds all the time.

The toilets nearly always cost CP200 to use and you got a small piece of toilet paper as you went in. You had to put the paper in a bucket – not in the toilet itself. Otherwise the sewage system would be blocked up. Same in Marks place and all over Santiago. Local buses (micros) cost CP 210 for a journey of any distance and the good metro cost CP 400 or CP 310 (off peak). We used the latter quite a lot. Saw “Lord of the Rings – Return of the King” at Hoyts just b4 Xmas. Very good – English with Spanish sub titles.

What else did we do between our arrival and Xmas? Mark was pretty busy with art lessons and the like at weekends so we often had time to ourselves. We spent some time buying stuff for the flat Also took a long bus ride out to see the eastern suburbs and find a good shopping mall. We caught up with Diane a Chilean whom we had met in Norway. She had dinner with us at Marks flat and gave him a good workout with his spanish. It was interesting to talk to her about Allende and Pinochet. Not everyone thinks that Allende was a great martyr and Pinochet a brutal dictator. I imagine that her viewpoint ie that Pinochet restored law and order (and the rich peoples place in the scheme of things) is shared by many many higher class Chileans. The fact that Pinochet lives and is protected somewhere in Los Condes gives weight to this. However talk to Veronica, Marks language teacher and someone you might call middle class, and you get the other side of the coin. Pinochet was the worst thing ever and she knew families who were destroyed by his secret police. Allende made the working class better and gave them access to things that they had never seen b4. So who is right ……… I tend towards Allende – he was the elected representative and the coup seemed to be a case of the army and the rich protecting their interests. Also the USA didn’t help as the CIA sort of pushed things along. The Yankee dollar is popular in SA but the people and Bush in particular aren’t. It will be a long time b4 the events of 1972 and the aftermath are forgiven and forgotten.

I managed to get a venesection done at Hospital Salvador. Interesting experience – I volunteered as a blood donor. The hospital was public and the buildings were pretty run down and crappy. The donor clinic was very basic but the nurses were a lot of fun and their procedures OK. No BP or Haemoglobin check though – it was right into it and they took the full quota. No cup of tea and bikkies after – it was straight out into the hot sun.

Leah went to the Easter Islands for a few days. She will have to report on that under separate cover.

We decided just b4 Xmas that we would head on down south to the lake district. Mark would come with us and return just b4 New Year. We would carry on further south and do places like Chiloe, Torres del Paine, Tierra del Fuego and then return via Argentina. So off we went and got on a cheap bus line (Cruz de Sur?) overnight to Temuco and Villarica. We had semi cama so were reasonably comfortable. At Villarica we changed and got a local bus to Pucon.

Pucon – a small atmospheric town at the eastern end of Lake Villarica. We stayed at a hostel a little way from the town centre but the owner was very good and had a great personality so it was an easy decision. A very touristy place but we struck it just b4 Xmas so the crowds were not in evidence (thank god).

Now what did we do?

Hired a car for 3 days CP 18,000 per day no insurance and a bit beat up.
Volcan Villarica 2800m. Drove to ski area and walked around lift area. Had lunch. Primitive facilities but spectacular setting with volcano with almost perfect cone. Also active. Then drove to area where there were caves (cuevas) and lava tubes. Went for a long walk (6 km) to find lava vents. Not too spectacular but a good walk . Ground covered in lava in many areas.
Then to Thermas Pallangin and three waterfalls (saltos) on side of mountain. Saltos really good esp first one in which water disappeared behind rock b4 exiting lower down (photo)
Off to other thermos and another 3 step waterfall. This was really good as we had to climb up to see each stage (photo). Home via Coburgua a small town on a nearby Coburgua lake. Very pretty area in mountains and adjacent to big National Park (Husequehue).

Next day off in car back to Coburgua and then drove around lake into national park. Went up to Park entry and then walked about 5 km to north end of lake and up hill. LandM cried off so returned and lazed around entrance. Then drove to hot pools (Thermos de Pangui) at end of very rough road. Pools were a little underdeveloped but cheap. They were right beside a fast flowing river and there were about 8 to choose from. All VERY hot but downstream pool just bearable. They built change sheds over pool which was good as you could change and get straight into pool without going back into sun. It also meant that you could soak in the shade – great on the day as the weather was super hot. We all had a good soak in a very pretty setting. Found a farmer close by who did agro tourism. Pitched tents beside his river – we shared paddock with cows but they were no problem. Farmer and son had long discussions with Mark and got a heap of wood for a fire. Quite a nice setting, no mossies and a good nights sleep.

Back to Pucon next morning. We were staying at a local hostel which we had trouble finding on our return. Returned car and hired bikes ON XMAS DAY.
Presents: Peter Horn (Mark)
Leah Socks (Mark)
Mark Shirt (Dad) Sun Hat (Mum)

Then biked 40km to east of Pucon. First along a bad dirt road following the …. river. Pretty up and down and quite a few cars. Stopped at a German restaurant for a nice lunch and then we pulled into a local attraction – waterfall and springs. The springs reminded me a bit of Pupu in Takaka – they just appeared from nowhere. You followed a path which led you right over a sort of swampy area. The water just poured out of the ground at this point and about 20m away joined the river. This water apparently has no connection with the river – it simply comes straight out of the ground. But the flow is huge and in any other circumstance would qualify as a river in its own right. Waterfall was a bit like the Huka falls ie tumbled over a 10m high cliff. You could walk out right over the falls on a small footbridge. Then we biked back along the main (asphalta) road to Pucon.

Boxing Day – a lazy day with Mark around the lake area. I had a great drinking session with him whilst Leah was doing some shopping. Bought bus tickets to Puerto Montt (Mark returns to Santiago). Early start the next day as it was going to be a long bus ride.

Bid farewell to Mark then on a bus (Cruz del Sur) to Puerto Montt. It was a great few days with him. His Spanish was invaluable.

Puerto Montt

On bus (very comfortable) to PM via Valdavia and Osorno. In both the stop was pretty brief so little time to have a look around. Valdavia a very old Spanish city and the only mainland one to survive after the Mapuche drove out all the Spanish south of the Rio Bio Bio. The old fort is still there but we did not have the chance to view. Bus terminal very busy.

Osorno was in the shadow of a volcano of the same name. I thought that Villarica had a superb shape but Osorno was better yet. Also active but no skiing.

Arrived in PM early in the morning. Met by Emily at estacion who persuaded us to stay at her hospedaje. Leah negotiated a good rate CP4500ea (desayuno included) so off we went. At western end of PM main town ship area and a VERY old house (+100 years). No floors level a really strange feeling esp in the kitchen where the roof was low and the floor leaned towards the back. Our room the floor leaned sideways. Hallway - it leaned towards the front of the house. Sort of made one feel a little queasy at times. But lady very nice – poco English but we managed.
Downtown PM a little wet.. Leah focused on finding a poncho so we went everywhere but no luck (apart from a cheap fluorescent job at Damarsa Dept store). Also did the Tourist office b4 buying food at local supermarket on the way home.

Next day off to Ferry terminal and Navimag/ Transmarchilay to find out options to get from Chiloe to southern mainland. Very expensive and slow. So we left decision until we had sorted out Chiloe Island and got to Castro. Off to Tengla island in a small water taxi. Island very primitive and Leah had trouble finding a toilet. Island in harbour only 100m from mainland but gave quite a cut off appearance. People looked quite poor and houses pretty average, Doubt whether any had running water. Then back to mainland and a walk past the famous market area to Angelham produce markets. Lots of fish and vegetables but again conditions pretty primitive. People all very lively and cheerful. Salmon appealed to Leah. Market area was full of artisans selling mainly clothes in alpaca, llama and vicuna. Some stuff quite cheap (by Chile standards) but expensive as we found out later in Bolivia etc.

Quiet night back with Emily (she was the local hairdresser for the night!!). Then next day wandered around town but not too much as it was a wet day. Went to a free cultural evening at the Town Hall. Patagonian and chiloean traditional music and dancing. I really enjoyed esp two guitarists one of whom sang. He was very good and popular with the audience. Music a little samey ie same beat and structure. Big band was mainly guitarists and a drummer and accordionist. Eight dancers who did traditional Patagonian dances. Men had handkerchieves which they waved around. They danced in pairs, looked like a cross between country dancing and Irish jigs. Music very loud so we left b4 the end.

Chiloe Island

Next day on a bus to Ancud, Chiloe Island. We crossed the channel Chiloe on a small ferry. Great 45 min ride to Chacao but cold. I saw a school of dolphins on the way. Many many small ferries plying their trade.

Same bus continued to Ancud which is Chiloe’s largest town (29,000) and on northern end. Chiloe was last Spanish stronghold as mapuche never attacked there. So lots of old style wooden churches all over the place. Met by proprietor of Hostel Santa Anna at bus estacion. Got a very good room (but banos a long way away and down the stairs). Good cocina though and a very friendly family – proprietor helped Leah with her spanish. Wandered around town and port area. Usual markets and large Plaza De Armas with lots of trees and benches. Many people meet there. Could not get into church so spent time in Tourist office (and practiced our Spanish).

Next day took bus to Otway penguin colony. Great trip over really rough ripio. We were the only tourists and a couple of locals were pitched out of their seats in our favour. We had to walk 5 km from turn off to beach but a friendly local picked us up and took us in his van (me in back, Leah in front seat) We negotiated a trip to the penguin islands with him (CP4000 ea). Small boat with us and a family from Argentina went on 1 hour trip. Saw magellanic penguins, sea otter (++), lots of birds and a few seals. Otters were great; one in the water would dive to the bottom grab a shellfish and then surface and eat it right alongside our boat. He must have been really hungry because he went down and up at least half a dozen times!! They also tried to steal penguins eggs but were driven off. Enjoyable trip. We then met an Englishman (Ross) who was running an adventure tour. Had a big specially fitted out bus and was traveling from Tierra Del Fuego to Ecuador (I think). Mainly English tourists but they were all well looked after. However they had to buy their food each day at the markets so got some feeling for the locals way of life. Also stayed at the local camp sites where they pitched tents. Everything was timetabled though – not much opportunity to stay an extra day or whatever. Ross was interesting – he had married a Peruvian girl, was living in Miraflores (suburb of Lima) and had bought land near Pucon (good choice), Was hoping to develop the latter as a tourist resort. We started to walk back, got about 8 km down the road (out of 40 in total) and then decided to hitch. First lift with a family in a utility – we got the tray in the back. Very rough and dusty. Then walked about another 4 – 5 km along the main road and got a lift with two irish girls who had hired a car. They took us all the way into Ancud (phew - it would have been a long walk otherwise).

Next day off to the local bus station. We wanted to experience agro tourism so decided to go to Quemchi and Huite area where there seemed to be many farms offering the service. Bus station was right next to farmers market. Now that was interesting. A real country market with all the vegetables, animals (sheep, chickens, duck, pigs etc) up for sale. Also the invariable flashy tourist stuff but I am not sure why as there were not too many like us around. We loved the way the sheep were sold then trussed up and thrown either in the place where the bags are stored or on the tray on the top of the bus. Our bus to Quemchi was full, full, full. Mainly because of all the stuff people were taking back. And then the driver would stop along the way and pick more people up!! It was hot and dusty but I really enjoyed the ride. Quemchi was a small town on the east coast of Chiloe. You could take small boats from there to outlying islands. We talked to local postmaster re agro tourism and phoned a local farm. I don’t think that they understood as they claimed to be fully booked. We then got charged CP 200 for the phone call!! So we decided to head for Huite – by shanks pony. Had a bit of a look around the town b4 we left. Foreshore OK – I watched how they bought ferry’s in. Basically they just run the ferry up a bit of a ramp, lower the front and cars are just driven out. The boats motor is running all the time so when they are ready to take off they simply pour on the power and back up. Simple as.

We then walked all the way (8km) along a dusty road to our agro farm. I thought Huite was another small village but it was more of a farming district. We walked right past the place and only found it by Leah enquiring at a neighbours farmhouse. We were hosted by a very old couple (the old lady had no teeth – most disconcerting) on their small farmlet. They hadn’t any visitors for quite a while but the concept is that they provide accommodation in a rural setting. They had a micro museum (mainly farm implements) and a small workshop for wooden artifacts set up. However it was all a bit tired and obviously hadn’t been looked after. Our room was upstairs and Leah negotiated Dinner Bed and Breakfast (CP 17,000). Cold shower but a “modern” toilet. Dinner was soup, Salmon plus potato plus boiled lettuce for Leah, gristly mutton plus veges for me. They gave us both a minute glass of wine as well. They had no English but we managed to learn that they had children (2 girls) – one of whom was living in France. The old guy was an OK sort and they both tried really hard to make us comfortable. I chopped some wood for them with a really blunt axe with a loose head. Actually was more than a little dangerous. They had a couple of milking cows, sheep, chickens, pigs and a few ducks. Water was pumped up to a big header tank then into the house. I think that the only electricity was the lights and an old B/W TV. Was it supplied thru a generator ?– I can’t remember. Oh, and they had a phone. The old lady cooked this fantastic bread for breakfast in an old wood stove. It was hot and wonderful and we pigged out!! Also lots of coffee. The old man killed a sheep first thing – I went out to have a look around and saw the blood, wool and carcase. So maybe I had the last of the previous mutton. Phew, makes me wonder how old it was. We bid them good bye and hitched a ride in a ute back into Quemchi – Leah in the front and me in the tray, again. It WAS rough and dusty. Not a long wait and we were on a bus to Castro, the largest town on the island. As usual the local bus was full but again not a bad ride as we had front seats. Leah’s first question of ALL bus drivers was always “esta possible primiero asiento, por favor”. That was b4 a query on the “precio”

We liked the look of Castro. We arrived there mid day, New Years Eve. Lunched in the park and chatted with an American traveler who was intrigued with all our travels and took the opportunity to ask us for a photo as he thought we were antique “hippies”! Booked into Backpackers Hostel on the southern side of the “CBD”. We met Dougal (English) and Hannax (Turkish) there as well as a couple of Israeli lasses. DandH were English language teachers in Santiago and we were destined to see them again on our travels. Spent NY eve wandering around Castro with them. A very low key night – about 3 fireworks and the fire siren and not too many people on the streets. Next day it was very hot which made a tour of the city hard work. Went down to the houses on stilts (pitifoles), Castros major tourists attraction. These were colourful houses built out over the water. They were all mounted on poles about 6 – 7 feet off the ground. We got there at low tide so could wander underneath. Had to be careful as everything (and I mean everything) was flushed out under the houses. Then back up to old church. It was wooden and distinctive in its yellow and purple hues. Largest of many colourful churches in Chiloe and nice and cool inside. They had lots of wooden statues of Jesus and all sorts of other saints. As with all catholic churches Jesus was shown in the crucifixion mode.

On New Years day we went to Isla Quinchao and a town called Achao. We went by bus to Dalcahue then ferry across to the island and another bus to Achao. It was a really hot day (unusual for Chiloe which is normally very rainy) and Achao small and dusty. We saw a religious procession at the local church. A small group took out a statue of Virgin Mary and walked it around the town with the local band. Quite good and the church (all wood in the old style) was a nice example of spanish 15th century building. We sat thru part of a service after the procession. I was hugged by a local guy – can’t think why I wasn’t wearing an earring and he looked perfectly normal. Other than that we walked along the beach, had lunch at a small park with statues of all the chiloean mythological figures (one was an an old guy who seduces young virgins and another a witch who does the same for good looking guys). The island has nice beaches and is quite picturesque but the day was uncomfortably hot. The bus was overfull going back to Castro – wow we were squashed out.

We went to the big super Mercado in town and stocked up b4 heading on south to Quellon. We bought our ferry tickets for Puerto Chacabuco in Castro. The bus ride to Quellon was the usual ie full, full. It took us more or less right to the wharf where we were to catch the ferry. The ferry was a fast cat and it was fast.

Coiyhaque and beyond

Big crowd getting onto the boat which was an hour late arriving. We had a good spot at the front and had great views. But once the ferry cleared the bay and got into the straits (Golfo de Corcovado) the wind got up and the sea got very high. The ferry was sort of running across the swell so things got really rough Leah went first: big time sea sick. She must have thrown up the last three days food. It was awful to watch, and that was all I could do. I wasn’t much better myself and was barely hanging on to my stomach a few seats back. If I had moved I would never have made it. The lady in front of me then threw up and that set me off. Oh my god, what a relief. One decent chunder and I was a whole heap better. Could actually get up and try and help Leah. But others like the stewards were doing a great job so I just watched proceedings. Once we got out of the straits and close to the mainland things were as smooth as glass. And a beautiful ride. The backdrop of forest covered mountains, fiords, little islands and some volcanoes in the early part of the trip were truly magnificent. Better than the Norwegian fjords as there was more “natural” variety.

I loved the various stops we made at small ports like Melinka. The boat stops as close to shore as possible and a whole flotilla of canoes and small boats steams out, sort of attaches to the big boat and then on loads provisions, machines and people. The latter jumped from boat to boat and it was a trick waiting for someone to fall in to the sea. The boat made four stops b4 Puerto Chacabuco. Puerto Chacabuco is at the head of a long inlet. It got dark fairly early on up the inlet so we stayed indoors until the boat docked at close to midnight. Puerto Chacabuco is a small new port as the old place Puerto Aisen was silted up. We teamed up with a Brazillian couple (Romeo and Maria) and went thru to Puerto Aisen where we found a hospedaje for the night. We then went thru with them to Coiyhaque 80km inland. A drive that reminded me of Arthurs Pass. We followed a wide fast flowing river Rio Aisen along the Carratera Austral. The road wound around big bluffs, went up and down, alongside waterfalls, thru a couple of tunnels and practically no other traffic. Coiyhaque was a town of about 28,000 people. Nice place and we ended up at Hospedaje Lautara CP 6000 ea incl desayuno (Hernan the chatty proprietor). One of the better places we stayed at with many great backpackers as company. We added an English couple to our entourage at this stage. A nice couple who were trying to get to Argentina and El Chaiten via Chile Chico. So a wander around Coiyhaque was called for and we visited the Tourist Office. A bit funny as we had no Spanish and they no English. Still by a dint of signs, hand signals, pidgin Spanish we managed to find out all the local attractions. Not that there are too many. Most were out of town eg Glacier San Rafeal a two day trip and thousands of pesos away, fishing trips, mountain climbing etc. Then went to the bus station to see options for Tierra del Fuego. One Company does a 23 hour trip to Punta Arenas thru Argentina. Not much in the way of other choices as I wanted to avoid having to change money into Argentinian. The bus went through the Andes and then straight across to Commodore Rividavia and stopped at Caleta Olivia a small town just south of CR. It then traveled non stop to Punta Arenas. Sounded like some sort of trip but we were assured that it had meals on board, films, unlimited coffee and recliner seats. The price was CP 30,000 each but worth it as we got all the way to Punta Arenas. Well, we booked for two days ahead.

So to fill in two days we went with our new found friends south of Coiyhaque to Puerto Ibanez and then Chile Chico a ferry ride across Lago General Carreras a huge lake in southern Chile. The mini van ride was good and the scenery in parts was spectacular esp some high and rugged mountains (Cerro Castille) near the turn off to Puerto Ibanez. The road was part of the Carratera Austral and apart from the turn off to PI was in pretty good condition. The mini van was full of we tourists so no local flavour at all. However the Puerto was different. A huge crowd awaiting the arrival of the ferry – cars, buses, trucks, they were all there. Also large crowds of locals and many backpackers on their way to Argentina. We were worried that we may not get on so we lined up well b4 the boat pulled, or should I say pushed in. Yes it was one of the front end loading jobs. It just drops its front and drives up onto this concrete sort of slipway. The skipper then keeps the screw ticking over to hold it in place whilst all the cars and trucks etc motor on. You look at the boat as it closes in on shore and you think “20 cars, tops”. But it is astonishing just how many they squeeze in. Three lines abreast and all packed up really tight. I counted 40 trucks, cars, buses and one tractor like thingy. Then it was all on for the passengers. You bought and paid for your ticket at the boat. Some guy collected the money, checked ID cards and passports and then issued tickets. So the process was really slow but we all got on. The back of the boat had two large cabins with seating and as it turned out there was plenty of room around the upper deck. The trip across the lake took four hours and it was OK. Lago General Carrera is huge, a beautiful blue colour and crosses the border with Argentina. We must have come pretty close at times. Scenery OK but the lake is so big that it gets boring after a while. On the Argentinian side the lake is called Lago Buenos Aires. Arrival in Chile Chico was mid afternoon and first item on the agenda – find accommodation. Easy – we booked into the first place we looked at. Reasonable room and good shower so we were OK. Our mates booked in elsewhere so we had to catch up with them later. I liked the Chile Amarda in the Harbour. Two little gun boats which patrol the Chilean side of the border. Argentina is much the same. No love lost between the two countries!! CC was a small dusty town and very little was open – only poorly stocked tiendas. Our meal was therefore a masterpiece of improvisation. We caught up with our friends at the local bar cum café and sank a few beers with them – and very welcome they were too. A 20 minute wander around town and we had covered all things. CC apparently is the centre of fruit growing: it has some sort of favourable micro climate but it is a transit point for most tourists. Some stop for local treks and an area with cave paintings but there isn’t much else. So it was on the early morning boat back to PI for us. Same performance; line up for tickets, mad scramble for seats and then a four hour return trudge across the lake. Then another scramble to grab seats in a mini van back to Coiyhaque. Lots of backpackers coming up from the Argentinian southern lake district, including many Israelis.

Now they are a story. Most are young – girls in their late teens and the guys early 20’s. They get out of college and go straight into the Defence Forces (mostly Army). No ifs or buts – they are legally required to serve. Guys spend three years there and the girls two. They are sent to all the hot spots ie put in harms way, and some of the places that they end up in are evening news areas (Ramallah, Jenin etc). All are tough looking and very self confident. And they all stick together. After they get out of the army a high percentage travel overseas for a year b4 returning and going on for higher education. Now we worked it out for a typical guy. He leaves college at 18, spends 3 years on active service and then another year doing his OE. He returns and spends 3 to 4 years getting his degree say. So he is 26 at the earliest b4 he enters the workforce as a qualified person. In NZ the same guy would be out at 21/22. It seems such an incredible waste of years doesn’t it. But all Israelis we spoke to were committed to their country. They intended to return and although many did not like Sharon they would without doubt fight for their country’s right to exist. A real sense of commitment. You do not see many in our part of the world as they are real budget travelers. The South Americans hate them as they always drive the hardest bargains, as we were to find out later on in our travels.

Stayed back at Hernans hostel and then it was on our bus the next day and off to Tierra Del Fuego through Argentina. A 23 hour bus trip which actually wasn’t too bad even if the bus was full and we did not get the asientos primeiro. We saw a few videos, were served dinners and breakfasts, coffee was on tap and the seats reclined. Apart from the first few hours across the border (no troubles) we traveled at night so did not see too much. The landscape was pretty boring anyway on the way to Commodore Rividavia. Flat to rolling countryside, brown and a bit like the Canterbury foothills. The Andes are low at this point so we did not have spectacular mountain scenery to speed us on our way.

We stopped at a town in Argentina called Caleta Olivia, about 40km south of Commodore Rividavia. This was at 1.00 in the morning and was supposed to be a meal stop. Well the place was pretty seedy and run down and the meals were all meat, meat and no veggies. Maybe chips qualify as veggies but on sighting them …. I don’t think so. Also the exchange rate CP to AP was a rip off so I didn’t buy. I left Leah asleep on the bus – big mistake!! Apparently I should have woken her so that she could maybe grab something to eat (no choice) and/or view the town (biggest hole this side of the black stump). Also some shifty looking characters kept on driving by so I stayed close to the restaurant. I was glad to be on the move again. Next stop was the Chile/Argentina border in southern Patagonia. Again a reasonably straightforward process. Then back on the bus and off to Punta Arenas.

We followed the Straits of Magellan around to Punta Arenas. The water looked fairly placid and it was hard to credit that the old explorers had so much trouble. Of the first 20 ships to enter the straits only 3 got through. Punta Arenas was another of my must do’s, mainly because it is the jumping off point for Tierra Del Fuego. We came in from the east in the early morning and bussed own a long long avenue to the CBD area. Passed the port, Zona Franca (Duty Free Zone), a great looking cemetery (this is not my attempt at black humour) and then into the bus station. The usual procedure followed ie find a place. We were propositioned by a lady touting the virtues of the Blue House. So off we went. Well there are two Blue Houses in Punta Arenas. The first is a backpacker hostel and looked pretty noisy. It was also close to being full and after a 23 hour bus ride we felt we needed the sleep. Next stop Blue House II – a nice house with a double room upstairs. No contest – we booked in for a couple of days. As a hospedaje it was pretty typical. The family (husband, wife, daughter and small baby) all lived in a bedroom out the front. They came into the lounge and kitchen only after we guests had finished. They were building an addition out the back: it seems that tourism is the big and coming thing in the town.

What about Punta Arenas? Well it has around 100,000 inhabitants. The place was originally developed by the Spanish (Punta Arenas means Sandy Point) and then went ahead with the big sheep farms. There was an abbatoir just out of town which we passed on the way to the Sena Otway. By Chilean standards it has a reasonable sized port (Navy) and the usual army barracks. I liked the place (sort of) as the people are trying really hard to re invent it. With a focus on adventure tourism. However they miss out a little as a lot of tourists sail into Peurto Natales b4 heading up to the Torres. So somehow they have to make Punta an attractive add on for these people. Difficult.

We had booked a trip to the penguin colony at Sena Otway when we were at Blue House I so we went back and got into the 4WD that was our transport. Sena Otway was a big inlet sort of north of Punta Arenas. It was quite a long drive to get there; about an hour and half if I remember rightly. The colony was a great experience however. Much better than the one we saw up at Ancud on Chiloe. We perambulated on special constructed board walks around this large colony of Magellanic Penguins. The good thing was that you could get up really close to the birds and their chicks without having to leave the path. The penguins were totally unconcerned and you could get a great insight as to how they lived, nested, fed themselves; the whole thing. I particularly liked watching them come out of the water and sort of march soldier like back to their nests. Lots of photo I can tell you. Goods trip and at CP 5000 ea it was well worth it. Oh and we stopped at the big cemetery on the way for a half hour look around. Surreal sort of a place. It had some amazing mausoleums dedicated to all the early European immigrants (mainly Italian and Croats). You know the sort – a huge tomb with a large carved headpiece with statues of angels, Mary, Jesus and the like. However the point of focus in the cemetery is a statue of a young Indian man. He is standing there with his head bowed looking a little sad. I can empathise with him – none of the four tribes that were there when the Europeans arrived are left. They have either all been wiped out or remnants have gone north into the islands and archipeligoes. However his statue has become a sort of a local shrine and lots of people leave flowers and messages (prayers) all around. A symbolic ikon is in the main Plaza. A big statue of Magellan standing over the local Indians who are looking up at him in awe. The Cathedral was interesting as it had a section (grotto) devoted to Saint Benizet and the Lourdes experience. Actually wasn’t too badly done.

Back to Punta Arenas and a good nights sleep. Next day off to the Zona Franca to see if we could buy some stuff for our venture to Puerto Natales and Torres del Paine. We found some ponchos (hooray), Leah got herself a reading light (CP17,000) and we stocked up on provisions. The Zona Franca was a whole lot of shops selling all sorts of stuff that was supposed to be Duty Free. The food seemed cheap enough but it was all dried stuff imported from Argentina. We also visited the local museum which had flora and fauna of the area as well as stuff on the human history. I quite enjoyed it as they had a good exhibition on the Indians and how they lived b4 we Euro’s sort of stuffed them all up. I often wonder just how many indigenous people we have killed around the world with “our” small pox. It came up everywhere. Swords and guns were as nothing compared with the ravages of small pox.

We then got a micro (mini bus) back into town. What a great ride! It went all over the northern suburbs of Punta Arenas b4 depositing us close to Plaza des Armas. The back streets in PA are moderately grim. The houses are all low one story affairs and some were very basic to say the least. By basic I mean “constructed” of corrugated iron probably one room with maybe one tap for running water and I have no idea regarding ablutions. I saw many people filling up water bottles at a street tap so maybe some places have NO running water. So how the other 95% now has some resonance.

Next day it was off to Tierra del Fuego for me and a day in for Leah. I planned to catch a ferry to Provenir, a small town just across the straits from Punta Arenas. The straits were quite wide at this point so the ferry trip was about 1 ½ hours. Usual format – front end loading of cars and trucks, then on with the passengers. It was very full: many people going down to the southern reaches of Td F ie Ushuhia in Argentina. A good trip going over and Provenir was quite interesting. Very small town so I saw all of it in about 1 hour. Was amused to see another Saint Benizet and the Lourdes grotto at the local church. Why here at the end of the earth, I wondered? Spent some time talking to a guy at the Council offices (Municipaldad) who directed me to the local museo, which wasn’t too bad. Provenir was originally set up to service all the sheep farms on TdF and also had a brief (very) spot in the sun as a gold mine town. A lot of Croats came to the area and many descendants still live there. The sheep stations still exist but the town seems to have an air of decay. There is an army base on the outskirts so I guess that provides some employment. It is not really on the gringo tourist route for southern TdF though which doesn’t help. Then back to the wharf and a rougher return journey. That gave me an inkling just how bad the straits could get.

We visited a locals mansion which had been turned into a museum. Quite good but not on the scale of the Palacio Cousino in Santiago. It belonged to one of the early sheep farming magnates.

Then it was off to Puerto Natales by bus. Mid morning start and a 4 hour trip. Puerto Natales is the jumping off point for the Torres and is located at the head of a fjord. We got a great hospedaje (Hostel Anita) mainly because the lady was really nice and helpful. She let us leave our surplus gear at her place and gave us full run of the kitchen. She also made this marvelous bread which we devoured each morning. Then into town for shopping and further provisions for the Torres. We met Dougal and Hannax from Castro in the main street and went back to their hostel in the west of town. The funny old lady owner was not half as nice as ours. She kept on “popping in” to check up on us (making sure we did not run off with the family silver I think).

Not too much for us to see in Puerto Natales – the main thing was to get a bus to Torres del Paine. We did visit the Cueva del Milidon about 45 min north of PN. The cave was where a milidon skin was found by sheep herders many years ago. It was so well preserved that people were convinced they were still extant. By the way a milidon is a giant sloth. The tour of the cave was disappointing: I mean how interesting can you make a cave. It was quite big, they had a plastic model of the milidon at the front end but apart from that, it was just a cave. Leah climbed all over a local rock landmark but all in all the trip was a bit ho hum.

Torres del Paine

Now on to the Torres del Paine, the main point of our visit. The bus left early from PN and we had a really bumpy ride on a super rough road. We got to the Guardeparque and paid heaps to get in. The mountains looked spectacular and rugged even from a distance and we couldn’t even see the Torres. It was then on to a small mini van, across this really narrow bridge (at about 1 km per hour it was that narrow) and up to Campomento Torres. There are two types of campsite in the park. Official CONAF sites where you have toilets (sort of) and running water, and free sites which are just patches of ground. Torres was an official site and we camped among some trees. Sensible choice as it turned out. Because it blew like crazy that night with periodic rain. A lot of branches were blown down and all the high fancy tents were flattened. I remember one crowd that came in late. They waved their arms around and made a big song and dance as all the good sites had been taken. You would think that they owned the place the way they carried on. Anyway the long and short was that they put up this fancy wigwam like tent and made sure everyone knew about it. The whole campsite cheered next morning when they saw that their wigwam had been blown over.

We started on the circuit the next day. The circuit is a loop track right around the perimeter of the park. We hoped to combine it with the W which took in the main sights (Grey Glacier, Valle Frances and Torres walk). The circuit was supposed to take about 5/6 days. The first days walk had its challenges. We were aiming for the free campsite about 18 km away. The track was very up and down but manageable after the Camino. We stopped for lunch at Campomento Seron and then moved on to Campomento Coron Interesting at Seron. I talked to a girl who was running the hosteria there. She had pretensions to be a climber and told me about some South Africans who were climbing the Torres. She said that a group camped half way up the rock face overnight. Totally mad – as the rock face is vertical!! We were passed by horse trains which took provisions to the official sites. A great sight; maybe a reminder a little of the wild west. Certainly the riders looked as if they came straight from a John Wayne movie ie the baddies. Now came the tricky part. We had to climb up this really steep section to a pass between two hills. Well the climb up was quite tough and as we got to the top the wind howled through the gap like we had never struck before. It was the worst we had ever experienced. Makes Wellingtons worst seem like a gentle summers breeze. We huddled up and tried to sit it out. God, it was so strong that stones were being blown around. We couldn’t go back as we would have been blown over and forward was almost out of the question. Leah had visions of being blown into the lake at the bottom of the pass so we stayed put. Then lo and behold a couple of Israeli guys struggled up. They were doing it hard as well but we all decided to work together and go forward. One held Leahs hand and on we went. Well what a struggle. I nearly fell over so many times – the damned wind was not consistent. It would blow like crazy one minute so I would lean forward and press on. The next minute it would slow down so I would then nearly fall flat on my face. Or some times it would change direction and you would nearly fall off the side. And it was a long way down to the bottom. Great fun, but as we went slowly down the slope the wind abated to gale force. Campomento Coron was a really welcome sight I can tell you. It was classic freedom camping – just a sloping site alongside a glacial river. No dunnies, no nothing. Our water was ex the river which was a funny chalky colour. Glacial silt I think but it tasted OK. So a simple meal and an early night.

Next day we were off to Campomento Dickson. Another challenging walk with lots of river crossings (generally no bridges) and hills and dales. I liked the river crossings. The Park had had a lot of rain so all the rivers were up, fast flowing and deep. We either had to wade across or improvise. On one I pushed a tree across the stream and we struggled across that. However we were rewarded with a great view of the glaciers at one end of Lago Dickson. Also fantastic sight of the Rio Paine as it debouched from one lake to the next. On another crossing we had to tip toe across a log. It was really slippery so ultimate care. Then a steep descent to the area of the campomento. On the way down we met a group of Aussies who had turned back from the next stage up to Paseo John Gardner. They said that a bridge had been washed away and that a crossing over the Los Perros River was quite dangerous. So we had things to think about Lunch at the Campomento and then we decided after a lot of soul searching to turn back. Leahs legs was hurting a bit and we were worried about the river crossing. As it turned out it was the right decision as my knee gave me a lot of problems esp on the downhill sections. At the time though I was disappointed as the pass would have been an awesome challenge (height, rugged path, many rivers to cross, very muddy on the downhill side and walk alongside the Grey glacier). Leah will always say that it was my decision but at the time I could take a hint.

So off we went back along the way we came. Back to Campomento Coron, the freedom camp we were at that morning. Walk was easy – no hint of the problems I was going to face the next day. Next day we aimed to get back to Campomento Torres but I nearly didn’t make it. My right knee gave up going down the steep hill. I don’t know what the problem was but it sure hurt. I was limping down the hill really slowly so Leah got well ahead. On the flat or going uphill it was OK – just downhill. So it was really slow getting back to the main camp. I was sure glad to see it I can tell you. We pitched in a new area – very sheltered and close to the ‘loos and water. Always a tactical choice. The galling thing now was though that the weather had turned very kind. Little wind and fine and sunny. So all other things being equal it would have been a good day to cross the main pass. Still that’s life.

We decided to do the W as an alternative. First day the walk up the Rio Ascencio valley to Campomento Chileno and then on up to the base of the Torres. What a trek!! We crossed the river (by bridge) but horses are not so lucky.. A horse train crossed the river just in front of us. One horse fell over in the river and nearly got swept away. They were all strung together so the others could pull it out. Must have been a close thing though. Then it was a long slog uphill to the start of the valley (or more like a ravine). The river thundered down between two mountain ranges and the track wended its way across the side of the hill, but up very high. The track was very narrow and in places there was a sheer drop to the river. Scary stuff!! But spectacular. We had many on the track including the horse train I mentioned b4. Those horses must be really sure footed. We walked down to the campsite and had lunch there. Sofar no problems with my knees but no real downhill to contend with. Then it was on up the valley and to a rock scramble. A very steep slope entirely made up of a rock slide. So we had to clamber up all these rocks. God it was hard work. The rocks were large, unstable in places and the path was not clearly marked. It just went on and on and on and all uphill. The day was nice though (ha, ha). So finally we got to the top, went across a small flat area, over a bit of a crest and there they were. The Torres. Three vertical rock spires – among the most challenging rock climbs in the world. The Torres. Wreathed in a small layer of cloud, we had a view to die for across a small lake. The Torres. So steep that snow does not settle. A fantastic sight and well worth the climb. We were there with a lot of young people so it was photo opportunities for quite a while. Anyone who tries to climb any one of the three has to be completely mad. A little lake in the foreground provided a good frame for us.

Anyway not for us mere mortals. We were looking forward to the trek back. Especially down the rock slide. My knee hadn’t played up at all so I was hopeful. It didn’t down the slide – I suspect that I didn’t walk in a standard way there – it was more a case of crawl, jump, step, leap and slide. Some individuals went down like Edmund Hilary ie really fast. I don’t know how they did it. I nearly came to grief once. Stepped on some rocks which came out from under and I ended up 30 yards down the slope. I was really lucky not to break something. The knee gave it to me down the hill back to camp and I struggled. Much worse than the previous day so I was worried. What was wrong? No lumps, no breaks, no strains but it hurt like crazy. I must have looked like a cripple sort of limping down the steep sections. We met the South African climbers half way down. They had a team of 8 and put seven on the top of Torres Central. One guy was carrying this huge load – must have been at least 30kg. I saw him load up back at Chileno and I will never complain about my meager 17 kg again. They were stoked about their success and told us about camping in 200km/hr winds on the rock face. Back at the campsite and I had to take it easy whilst Leah did all the running around. A great day though – the scenery was spectacular and the Torres lived right up to all their PR.

Next morning it was off to the Campomento Italiano at the start of the walk up Valle Frances. A nice walk alongside Lago ……… and lo and behold my knee did not play up at all. We stopped for lunch at Campomento ……. – a couple of sandwiches; cost CP 8000. Boy those guys know how to charge. Or horse feed is more expensive than I ever thought. On to Italiano which was a small freedom campsite beside the Rio Frances. Highly primitive with a couple of almost public to view loo’s and a small sink and running water right next to the loo’s. I really like the river though. I thought that Rio Ascencio was impressive but Rio Frances was the ultimate. I am rapt in fast running rivers but this one took the cake. More on that later.

Next day we took off in fairly ordinary weather up to the head of the valley. It was drizzly and windy so fairly uncomfortable and wet underfoot. We walked past glaciers and steep snow covered mountains. Lots of rivers and crossings, some a real challenge. Like one over a branch of the Rio Frances. We had to jump from rock to rock over a REALLY fast running river where one slip and we wouldn’t have surfaced until Lago Grey. And it was only a branch of the main event!! In other places we had to walk around steep paths overlooking the river. One slip and same story as before. So it was challenging.

Now for the river. The Rio Frances thundered down the valley over huge rocks and steep drops. There was white water everywhere. Its power was unbelievable. If it had been graded for rafting it would be Grade 10. The noise it made as it powered down the hill was incredible. We couldn’t see too much else because of low lying clouds and mist but the river was worth it in its own right. So we tramped up to Campomento Britannico (well within 5 minutes walk) and across various swampy bits which were pretty uncomfortable. We stopped for lunch and a Chilean tour guide suggested that we all turn back. He said that the weather was not going to get any better and that there would not be any decent views because of it. We agreed and turned back at that point. From what we could see of them the mountains did look great – all rugged with crazy shapes, unscalable peaks, ice fields and snow everywhere. Apparently it gets better after the Campomento but we will never know.

Since we got back to Italiano early in the afternoon we decided to dead straight to Lago Pehoe and the campsite there. It wasn’t a difficult walk and the campsite wasn’t too bad, except that we had to pay for it!! Leah had a shower in almost public view. The showers were a lean to attached to the shop. The door wouldn’t close properly so any local voyeurs could easily come along and have their own peek show. None did though, probably saved all their hot flushes for the younger brigade.

It blew like crazy overnight but was nice next morning so we took off for the head of the lake and the Grey Glacier. A long walk , lots of up and downhill and very nice scenery. Especially when we hit Lago Grey and could see the Glacier. It was at the head of the lake and originated in the great southern icefield, which we could see in the distance. The ice field is huge, as big as many countries and it runs right across the width of Chile at this point. It is the reason that the Carratera Austral stops at Villa O’Higgins rather than go all the way down to Punta Arenas. (I hope that they never never try and blast a road through). The glacier is about a kilometer wide and runs right into the lake. Occasionally pieces will cave off the front face so you get all these mini ice bergs in the lake. We stopped at Campomento Grey and had lunch and then walked up close to the face. It was an amazing sight. We were on the RHS looking across a little bay. The bay was chocker with ice bergs and the water was a bright blue colour. Leah went right out on to the point for the photo shots and I stayed and contemplated the sight at a distance (but not too far away). Well worth the walk. Then it was a fast walk back to Pehoe so that we could catch the fast ferry back to the bus stop. On the way back we met this young guy who had had his pack stolen. He actually hid his pack alongside the track whilst he went down to the campomento at the Glacier. When he came back it had been stolen. So someone obviously watched him stow it and then moved in once he left. Really makes you angry to hear things like that. He left his pack at a T junction so he had no way of knowing which way the crims went after they stole his gear. God, he lost almost everything –pack, clothes, tent, sleeping bag, cooking gear, food, the lot. And it was all top quality stuff as well.

The trip in the ferry was expensive (CP 10,000 ea) but worth it. It saved us two days walking back to Torres campsite and we got to see some great views across the lake. Also unlimited tea and coffee and some biccies. Much appreciated. Then it was straight onto our bus and back to Puerto Natales. A trip made interesting by all the dumb guanacos who seemed to want to throw themselves under the bus. I lost count of the number that insisted on charging across the road just in front. Perhaps it was some rite of passage for young guanacos as they come to adulthood. The bus driver didn’t waste any time either. He went as fast as he could over this really rough ripio. Passed more than passed him, and mostly traveled on the wrong side, so it was an adrenaline rush that was for sure

We stayed two nights back at Casa Anita and then got a bus to El Calafate (Argentina), via Cerro Castille. For all you future travelers there are two ways of getting to El Calafate from Puerto Natales

1) via Rio Turbio, a small coal mining town not far away, or
2) via Cerro Castille, which is nothing more than a border crossing about half way up to the Torres.

Take my word for it, the Cerro crossing is the better and more interesting of the two.

El Calafate and Fitzroy Mountains

It was quite a long trip and we didn’t get into El Calafate until late afternoon. Usual no hassles at the border and we decided to camp in the camping grounds run by the local police. We were to find this quite often in Argentina ie camping grounds owned and operated by the police or army or bomberas (fire brigade). Still the site was OK if a little dusty and was close to town. El Calafate reminded me a bit of places like Ohakune or Turangi. There for sightseers, fishermen and tourists. Almost every shop was some sort of ticketing agent for tours to the glacier or the mountains and national park (Parque Argentina Los Glaciers). It was situated on the shores of Lago Argentina and was one of the prettier places we came across. In other words a little untypical of small town Argentina.

We took the opportunity to book a full days excursion to Glacier Perito Moreno the next day. Lots of investigating and negotiating by Leah eventually got us a reasonable deal. We also decided to head off to El Chaiten and the Fitzroy mountains the day after. Had a nice meal in a cheap place in town (plus a beer!!) and then back to camp. God it was a dusty site. Every time a car came in the dust would get blown all over the place, including our tent site. We were right against a back fence but that did not do us much good.

Next day off to the glacier in the tour bus. We were the only gringos in the party as it turned out. But not a bad bunch and our tour guide was a good sort. The glacier was an amazing experience. It is one of the very few glaciers around the world that is advancing. It is also huge. It starts miles away in the Glacier park and sweeps down this broad mountain valley to Lago Argentina. The lake actually has a long arm at the point that the glacier meets it (see below)

Glacier

El Calafate

Not To Scale

The gap at the peninsular is quite narrow and the glacier
frequently advances right across and blocks the channel. Most
years it unblocks with the summer sun but sometimes it stays and the water
in the arm builds up so that there is a big difference in levels. It can get so big that

a) it floods farmland at the head of the lake, and
b) it causes the glacial dam to collapse and then you can get flooding around the main lake.

One year it got so bad that the Argentinian Air Force tried bombing the dam but with no success. The Glacier had blocked the channel when we were there but the prevailing thought was that a hot summer would take care of it. It was an impressive sight though. And in fact the glaciers stats are even more so. It is over 5 km wide and can get up to 160m high. Big chunks of ice were caving off all the time – they made a huge cracking sound as they carved away from the face and then a great splash as they hit the water. Ice and debris went everywhere in a sort of mini tidal wave effect. Fantastic to watch – the trick was trying to pick where the next bit would come down from. We walked all over the footpaths around the peninsular area (you could get to within about 50m from the face) and then took a boat ride out across the northern face to the right of the peninsular. The boat got up to about 250 – 300m of the face: any closer would have been very dangerous with all the ice falling and wave action. Still it was well worth it – the colour of the ice (brilliant light blue), the noise and its sheer size made it a wonderful experience. I can see why the locals say it is the best most accessible glacier on earth. Leah was vastly impressed.

Then our trip to El Chaiten. We had read that the Fitzroy Peaks were not to be missed so off we went. Well the bloody bus trip was probably the roughest ever. It was 4 ½ hours of agony, bouncing around on hard seats on the roughest roads on this mans earth. And the driver didn’t even slow down. I think some one said that the buses last just one season on this route – they either then have to be scrapped or totally rebuilt. What about the drivers, I wondered. And we probably had to come back the same way. We didn’t see too much of the scenery as we were too busy hanging on. I think we drove up beside Lago Viedma which had one or two glaciers but …oh them pot holes. Arrived in El Chaiten midday and staggered to a campsite. El Chaiten was originally set up as an army town to guard against Chilean aggression over border disputes. It is a bleak place but is rapidly becoming a place for eco tourists (tramping, climbing, fishing and the like). By bleak I mean everything had a grey look, houses were cold, no trees, dust everywhere (no tar seal) and it was windy. Probably the second worst day we struck. We camped at the western end of town in a basic campsite. I hated the toilets – the floor was always wet and slippery and you were never sure exactly what the wetness was. It was pretty grim and all the buckets for your toilet paper were full. We pitched close to a cooking area which in hindsight was a mistake. We cooked early and were in bed at a reasonable time (say 9.30pm). The local campers cooked late and stayed up all night eating and drinking and talking (very loudly). It was too cold and windy to join them so we had to suffer. I was tempted to get out and shout “silencio” but we were vastly outnumbered, they probably would not have understood and would probably have carried on even more loudly.

So after a not so good nights sleep we were ready to attack the track to the Fitzroy mountains. Well after advice and a look at the weather we opted for a walk up to Lago …… and a back side view of the peaks. Still a 16km walk and mostly uphill. We both enjoyed it – the day wasn’t too bad after all and the walk was moderately challenging. We made it up to the lake and had a fine view of the glacier at its head. Nothing like Perito Mareno but not bad. The glacier came down the lakes edge but was spoilt a bit by all the black stuff (dirt?) caught up in the face. We only got a glimpse of the Peaks – blasted cloud covered most everything. We hung around for a while as the cloud occasionally threatened to blow away but it never did. Spent an interesting few minutes watching some climbers get themselves across the river that flowed out of the lake. It was really fast flowing and all they had was a couple of wire ropes spanning the crossing point. Now how did they do it? The ropes were on a primitive pulley system. Each guy basically tied himself to a cradle attached to the top rope and then pulled himself across using the pulley. Once he got across the next guy pulled the cradle back and repeated the process. It was quite tricky – the cradle wasn’t exactly the safest thing I had ever seen and it was quite a long pull. Still they all got across OK but I wouldn’t have liked to have done it myself. We also met the chileano guide from Torres del Paine and his Spanish party. We talked to one of the group for a while – a girl from Madrid. They were on a tight schedule; walking out and then a bus straight back to El Calafate and a plane to Buenos Aires, two days there and then back to Spain.

No great dramas with the walk out but it started to blow like crazy again so El Chaiten was dusty as. I was keen to find out all the ways of getting on our way to Buenos Aires so we headed into town to sort out options. Well there were three

1) return to El Calafate and get a bus to Rio Gallegos (southern Argentina) and another bus from there up the Atlantic coast. Pluses – a good quality bus from El Calafate and asphalta all the way. Minus – a long way around
2) bus to Perito Moreno and then another bus to Commodore Rivadavia, which is on the Atlantic coast. Pluses – not many and it was ripio all the way to Perito Moreno. Also the quality of bus was not that good.
3) mini bus to Puerta Buena, Atlantic Coast about 100km north of Rio Gallegos, then another bus to Commodore Rivadavia. Pluses – cheapest option. Minuses – only went once per week (about 3 days away) and a long way on ripio in a small van.

I would have liked Option 3 but we could not afford to hang around in El Chaiten for 3 more days whereas all the other options were achievable daily. I couldn’t face a long 20hr trip over ripio (Opt 2) so we decided on the Rio Gallegos circuit. God but it was back over the road to El Calafate. A nightmare awaited.

We had another windy night at the campsite and then I went for a walk up to a waterfall the next morning. It was till blowing hard and apparently does so most days of the year in this part of the world. One is extremely lucky to see the peaks at any time of the year but they still are a major climbing attraction.

Then it was on our bus and off back to El Calafate. Another bone shaking trip to arrive and find our campsite full. Disaster – we had to trudge a few kilometers to finds another which wasn’t that good. Poor toilets and a most primitive shower. I just managed to work up my courage to have one (shower that is) next morning. It was cold so I wasn’t in for too long.

Peninsular Valdez and Rio Chubut

Anyway we were off. Long bus trip south east to Rio Gallegos, a three hour wait then another bus up north. We were aiming for Puerto Madryn, the jumping off point for Peninsular Valdez and the bay of killer whales – the ones that charge up onto this stony beach and grab the seals. I was just hoping that we weren’t too late (or early) for the season. It was a long long bus trip and as it was mostly at night we didn’t get to see too much. Got to Commodore Rivadavia early on the morning. Then it was a pretty straight run through to Puerto Madryn (via Trelew and ………. ).

Puerto Madryn was an OK place. It was where a group of Welsh settlers landed about 150 years ago. 1865 in fact. They wanted to escape cultural and religious persecution back in their own country so what better place than central Argentina. There was hardly anyone else here at the time so they were initially welcomed as a way of Argentina consolidating its claims to the area. They were amazing people: really resourceful and hardy. They lived in these caves at the southern end of Puerto Madryn for quite some before striking out inland. They built towns, roads, railways, tunnels, set up irrigation canals; all within 30 years of their arrival. Trelew is their original main centre but a place called Gaiman (which we visited) is the best preserved. They tried to hold on to their language (and did so for many years) but the Argies soon came down and insisted that they integrate. Easiest way: by using Spanish teachers at all the schools. Quite a fascinating story.

We found our way to a campsite near the early settlers caves. Quite a good site if a little dusty. We had an area to ourselves and the place was fully equipped with a tienda, good showers and toilets and plenty of other campers around. Also a BBQ (paradilla) area which is a story in itself. So we were reasonably comfortable. First thing to do – wander back into town and check out the trips out onto the peninsular. Lots of options but all quite expensive; by Argentinian standards anyway. We finally chose an all day package that took us out to the Peninsular, visit the sea lion colony then the sea elephant area and a penguin nesting site. The trip was over 400km worth on ripio which astonished me as on the map Valdez looked really small. We took the option to spend a night in the campsite at Puerto Pyramides, a tiny village out on the peninsular and then come back to Puerto Madryn the next day. So all under control.

Valdez was a little disappointing. Really hot day and the roads were extremely dusty. The killer whales are the real attraction and we had just missed the season. You could easily see how the whales could come up on the beach though. It was stony and fell away pretty quickly so the whales could easily get themselves back in. I would love to have seen them at work. The sea elephants were OK (lots of fights and bellowing), I guess but we couldn’t get really close to the sea lions. The penguins were miles away in some sort of estuary so that was a bit of a non event. I went on a snorkeling cum sea lions spotting boat trip from Pyramides. The snorkeling was a waste of time as the bottom was devoid of life and the water was cold. However we were able to get up very close to the sea lions and watch how they interacted. They are big animals aren’t they. The bulls are huge and they watch over their harem like you wouldn’t believe. Lots of bellowing and pushing and chasing and sometimes some really good fights. They tend to get upright and then bang away at each other with their heads and necks. They also try and bite each other but I think the idea is that the strongest pusher and shover is the one that wins. I did not see any bull get displaced. Lots of pups around and how they never got crushed when the bulls were charging around I will never know. So that part of the tour was very good.

Puerto Pyramides was really small. It only had a couple of poorly stocked super mercado’s and the campsite was right on the beach and was very sandy and dusty. Leah did a good job by pitching the tent whilst I was away on my boat trip. It can’t have been easy as the place was just so sandy and gave no purchase for the tent pegs. Anyway it worked and we ended up having dinner on the beach watching the sunset. Rather nice.

Anyway I mentioned the BBQ’s at the camp. Well here we saw the Argentinians love affair with meat in its ultimate expression. Let me explain. Firstly the BBQ’s are all the brick type affairs with steel grills- a bit like the units you see in camping grounds in NZ or Australia. They spend an awfully long time burning piles of kindling and wood so that they have a red hot pile of embers. Then they take all this meat: And I do mean all. I have never seen so much meat in all my life. A real butchers shop. They have steaks (all varieties), chops, sausages, patties, diced beef, bits of chicken; simply everything you could think off. But no vegetables!! Oh no – I guess that they thought things like spuds, carrots, maybe cabbage etc would be unmanly. They would then progressively pile the meat onto the griller until they had this huge mound set up. I was fascinated and kept looking around for the football team. I mean there was so much food that it would have fed the NZ Army (all 50 of them). But no just mum, dad, and three smallish kids. Maybe they were going to invite us but no chance, and Leah is a vegetarian anyway. They let the meat cook for a long long time (45 min – 1 hour) and turned the pile over so it was even all the way through. Meat served rare – no way. Rare to them is probably meat that isn’t burnt. The aforesaid group then proceeded to attack this huge offering. And seemed to get thru it all. The amazing thing was that they were not particularly overweight. I tell you what: a kiwi BBQ will never be the same again!!

We decided to follow up on our Welsh ancestory by going to Gaiman which is a couple of hours inland from Puerto Madryn. So off to Trelew and then another local bus to Gaiman. Gaiman is a small town right on the banks of the Rio Chubut. We managed to find a really cheap campsite run by the Bomberos. It was right beside the river and had reasonable showers and toilets. We were the only ones there. Then it was back into town and a wander around. The main Welsh attraction was the museum and a host of cafes selling tea and Devonshire scones. I enjoyed the museum – it had a lot of old photographs and gave you a good feel as to how they adapted coming from a wet and hilly environment to a hot dusty pretty infertile place. They kept their chapels until fairly recently and you can still see red headed, blue eyed children in the town. Also lots of streets still carry welsh names. The locals called them Gales (which I suspect is some corruption of Gaelic). We also met a Brazillian couple who had camped beside us back at El Chaiten. I remembered them particularly as the guy had sprained his ankle on a walk up to the Peaks.

Back to Trelew and we checked onward buses to Mar del Plata and Necochea further up the coast. Horror of horrors – the buses were all booked out and we couldn’t get anything until the Monday (today was Saturday). So we booked for Monday to leave from Puerto Madryn and then wandered around Trelew. I liked the place. It had a nice central plaza – lots of good quality shops and generally seemed to have a better more upmarket atmosphere than a lot of towns we visited in Argentina. We visited the towns dinosaur museum which was very good. This part of northern Patagonia has a lot of fossils apparently and many were displayed at the museum. The dinosaurs were not your classic T Rexes or diplododons or whatever but they were impressive for all that. Sort of local variations on a theme. All the exhibits had Spanish but the theme was easy to follow. They had a fine reconstruct of an Allosaurus and an even better Apatasaurus which were highlights.

So full circle – we were back at our ACA campsite at Puerto Madryn for a couple of nights. Next day a wander around the town and across the beach. Not a lot to see so we grabbed our bus and headed back to Puerto Madryn. Back to the same campsite as b4. We spent some time on the beach watching a foot race and then the presentation ceremony. They had so many awards it seemed that every runner got a trophy. A lot of fun with lots of noise and frivolity. Including an aerobics session which Leah joined in!! I was impressed with the beach and just how many young people were out there playing beach soccer. No wonder Argentina finds so many Maradonnas, Crespos and the like. They are all ages and all good, good, good. On the last night it rained like crazy and we got very wet. We camped on what must have been some sort of watercourse on our site and it was bad. Sand covered the tent and our packs, mattresses and bags got soaked. And what’s more we had a bus to catch. So it was a frantic couple of hours trying to get as much dry as possible.

Atlantic Coast

Then off into town and the bus station. Necochea was a long way away so another all night trip was ahead of us. We went thru Bahia Blanca, Argentina’s big naval base and then into Necochea bus station early in the morning in the middle of a downpour. We were stuck at the station waiting for the rain to clear and trying to sort out where we could stay. Also whether camping was worthwhile given the weather. In the end we got a bus to town and then checked out the campsites. All were wet and the weather still looked bad so we elected to bed down at a local hospedaje. Not too bad as it was self contained ie small bathroom with an electric shower. Yes, you had this water heater built into the head of the shower. Actually we first came across it in El Calafate but this one was quite dangerous. You have to switch it on at the shower head and these electric heater circuits come on and heat the water as it passes thru. A bit like an Infinity gas water heater. But to me water and electricity don’t mix and this unit sparked and flashed every time you turned it on. I was waiting for the inevitable shock which would send me to an early and undeserved grave but it never quite happened. So Adrian will have to wait a little longer for his inheritance. It actually never got the water that hot. You had to turn the flow down to a trickle and then something would happen

Necochea was described by the Lonely Planet as a quiet small town sea side resort. Peace and tranquility would reign supreme!! Probably it would have when compared with Mar del Plata but the town in reality was extremely busy, had lots of hotels and apartments and a very active beachfront area. We walked along the beach with its miles of deckchairs, the inevitable games of soccer and a few people swimming. The beach wasn’t too bad, lots of sand and plenty of room. There wasn’t much else to see in Necochea – it was just a big sea side resort Argentinian style. All the streets were numbered – even numbers ran east west and odd ran north south. It was a bit strange at first but once you got used to it finding your way around was dead easy. So after a couple of days we decided to change our plans and head to Buenos Aires. Our feeling was that Mar del Plata would just be a bigger version of Necochea so what was the point. The only downside was that we missed the chance of catching up with Hernan and Maria the Argentinian couple whom we met at Castrojeriz on the Camino.

Buenos Aires

So back to the bus station and two tickets to Buenos Aires. We traveled overnight (again) which among other things meant that we saved ourselves a nights accommodation. Arrived very early in the morning at BA’s main bus station (after stopping for a flat tyre). Now that was a place. A huge affair with any number of bus companies operating. Any number ……. like 100 +. And the number of buses lined up on the main concourse. After little old Sydney and NZ it was an amazing sight. We floundered around for a while trying to organize accommodation and finally ended up in a Hostel International place in the eastern area of the CBD. We shared a six bunk room – really small, honestly there was just enough room to put three lots of bunks in and that was it. I don’t know where we were supposed to put our packs but somehow we managed. The shower/toilet area was right outside our door and the area was always wet (worse than El Chaiten). Pretty average but it was a bed. And we got breakfast as part of the deal. Actually the taxi ride to the hostel was a challenge. Part of the deal was that the hostel would pay the taxi fare. Well when we got there the driver tried to demand (I think) 5AP. But the hostel would only pay him 4AP. Apparently that is the accepted rate from the Station. The driver was really pissed off I can tell you. He tried to get us to make up the difference but the hostel staff more or less chucked him out.

Now Leah had decided that she didn’t want to stay at the place any longer than necessary. So we made enquiries at the Tourist Office and consulted the Lonely Planet. We ended up at a place called the Hotel del Rei in one of the main pedestrian streets (Avenida LaValle) in BA. Great place and Leah negotiated this excellent deal. 8 days/7 nights for AP200 for a room overlooking the street with a toilet and shower. You see that is teamwork. I could easily find the place (give me a map and I can get anywhere) and Leah could then negotiate with the best of them.

Probably best to look at the highlights of our visit to BA. I thought that it was a great city. Really atmospheric with a good feel about it. It was very much like a typical Spanish city. Sort of Madrid without the high rise. We were in the CBD and it was easy to get to all the important parts of town from there. We only really scratched the surface of the city but I think that we saw all the important things. We never went more than 6 – 7 km’s in any direction from the city but most of the good stuff is within that area anyway. The centre of BA does not have a lot of high rise buildings which I think helps a lot. You don’t get any wind tunneling effects like you do in big USA cities and the like. The streets were very wide esp the main drag (Avenida Liberatodore) through the centre of town (running east – west). That was so wide you couldn’t as a pedestrian get all the way across without the lights changing; unless you were named Carl Lewis and at the height of your powers. There were lots of high quality shops with merchandise as good as anywhere. Also lots of beggars esp kids who were very persistent. Leah gave a pen to one (to improve his scholastic prospects) who then proceeded to chase her down the street as he really wanted money. She ended up going into a high quality woman’s shop to escape!! Some escape. Others would be lying in the street checking the drains and gutters for anything that may have fallen out of peoples pockets. I was fascinated also by the crowds of beggars that would gather around all the piles of stinking rubbish. I think that they were family affairs as there seemed to be mum, dad and a host of kids. Well they would go thru all this rubbish trying to sort out what I do not know. Once they had finished they would take away all that they had collected on a horse and cart. A sad sight which reflected the economic problems that Argentina had at the time. I would have to say that we found Argentine to be remarkably cheap. Much more so than Chile. Astonishing really. Argentina was at one stage one of the richest countries in the world. Not any more. I later met a guy who worked for Moody’s and his responsibility was South America. He said that Argentina’s problems were so deep seated that they would take years and years and years to get over them. We met others who said the same.

The other thing that was disconcerting was the traffic. Drivers were of the take no prisoner variety. It was just dangerous to try to cross roads. You would think, “well, the pedestrian sign is ON, so it is safe to go”. On side streets that was a bad assumption. We were nearly flattened so many times I lost count. Forget about pedestrian crossings – they produced white line fever in the drivers. We quickly learnt that it was every man for himself.

So after all that, highlights

Puerto Madera – sort of BA’s answer to Darling Harbour. It was the old wharf area of BA with lots of upmarket restaurants and apartment blocks built out of old grain sheds. I liked the fact that they preserved all these old cranes. They tower over everything and give the place a nice authentic harbour feel. We had lunch there – as cheap as possible, but it’s hard to avoid a 15% service charge and a tip!!
Boat Harbour - But better was my tour of the Argentinian naval training vessel, the “General Sarmiento”. Cost me 2AP and it was one of the best ship tours I have ever been on. It was an old naval cadet ship that went on all these fantastic world wide training cruises from 1895 to 1960. It had these really ancient guns (120mm I think) poking out the sides. They looked like the sort of guns that would have been around at the start of the 20th century. I loved all the wood paneling and there were very few restrictions as to where you could go. So the engine room (coal fired) was in bounds as was the captains cabin, the bridge and the wardrooms etc. Ordinary seamen slept in hammocks. You wouldn’t want to be a snorer: the hammocks were very cosy to say the least. They had maps which showed all of their trips. Wellington featured a couple of times, early on. The ship had a couple of masts for rigging climbing and training purposes I guess.

Art Museum – in the Puerta Madera area; it was run by the Catholic University of BA. It exhibited a lot of modern paintings and sculptures.

Parque Lezama – to the east of the CBD. We had a free tour (in English) of the park. It was one of the first in BA and (I think) was where the first spanish settlement proper was started. They always marked the centre of the main plaza with a big wooden stake. All measurements for streets, sections, cathedrals and shops were taken from this stake. The positioning of the stake was quite a religious ceremony in those days. Anyway the park is full of famous statues and the guide was able to explain the background to all of them. Impressive was Pedro de Mendoza (founder of BA) and a large sculpture cum water feature donated to Argentina by Uruguay. Lots of trees so it was a pleasant place indeed.

Lord of the Rings – watched LOTR in the local cinema. The venue wasn’t quite as good as that in Santiago.

Ice Cream shop – we treated ourselves to a marvelous ice cream at this ice cream parlour. ¼ kg (AP2.50) of excellence. How decadent is that.

Museo Evita – in Recoleta suburb, one of better suburbs in BA. A museum dedicated to the life of Eva Peron. It was a bit one sided ie she was presented as an angel, all virtues and no vices. Still quite good as it had a lot of newspaper cuttings and gave a good view of how she rose to power (thanks to Juan Peron her husband and dictator). She appealed to the so called proletariat but was hated by the military, the Catholic church and the rich set. I thought that she was a prostitute but the museum presented her as an actress (mainly radio) but who also did a couple of films. She died painfully of cancer much to the glee of the above. “Hooray for cancer”, a common theme of newspaper articles at the time. A very striking woman, not pretty by any means but I could imagine that she would be really determined in what she did.

Japanese Gardens – near the above museo. Very restful and enjoyable. We caught a session of Japanese drums and a puppet show. Also some traditional Japanese art in a pavilion.

Botanic Gardens – I mainly remember a great variety of trees.

Plaza Italia – we had a rest here and ate some empanadas (sort of a local Cornish Pasty). The Plaza was full of statues.

Subte – (or Metro). A very old system and really cheap (AP0.70 per ticket). But the trains ran frequently and the system seemed well patronized. Not as good as Santiago though.

Buses – as with Santiago they all went fast fast everywhere. The difference was that you didn’t have people jumping on and off trying to sell things.

Palermo shopping centre – we diverted one day to the Uruguay Consuls office to see if we needed visas to visit Uruguay. Well we didn’t so that was good. We called into this shopping mall afterwards. It was very upmarket with lots of arty crafty places and a few high quality furniture stores. The park surrounding the mall was set up as a market. People were selling all sorts of stuff but mostly arts and crafts. Leah wanted to buy a mate set but prices were pretty high so she managed to stop herself spending. Mate is the local tea and you see Argentinians drinking it all over. We first came across it in Spain where Hernan and Maria made its brewing to be an art form. Actually it was a most relaxing drink – best enjoyed after a few good red wines.

Plaza Dorrega– supposedly BA’s best antique market but I though it was overrated. It was held in a small Plaza on a Saturday and there were people everywhere. Most of the stalls were selling old household stuff and a lot of it was junk. There were a few shops close by where the quality was better. We explored this old merchants building. Built on the Spanish style with an enclosed central courtyard. It was on two levels and had lots of little shops selling mainly antiques. Trees were growing in the courtyard so in its heyday (100 years ago) it would have been a great place in which to relax. Not now though – people everywhere. We had lunch at a small restaurant which advertised a cheap menu del dia. But by the time you counted the add ons (taxes, service charges) it wasn’t as cheap as it first seemed. Overall an interesting experience and we mainly enjoyed the tango dancers and the human “still lifes”. Some were VERY good.

La Boca – a great Italian suburb in the east of BA. La Boca is characterized by all these colourful houses. The walls are painted in all sorts of bright colours (reds, blues, greens, yellows), some with murals, some with religious themes. La Boca was the old port area of BA and it has this quite incredible transporter bridge.

It was amazingly simple and they had only recently closed it down. What a shame. La Boca had a nice little park: the Caminita. There was a young couple there doing the tango. They were very good – a treat to watch. It really is a very sexy dance when done well. The two of them were very together but maybe were not as sensual as others that we saw. Like another couple who were strutting their stuff down near the harbour. She was a tall blonde woman and really wrapped herself around her man. They seem to have rubber limbs as all the action is with their legs; particularly the woman. High kicks, legs interlocked, twirls, stretches – they have it all. But the most spectacular was in a big Mall which I will come to shortly.

Boca Juniors – on the way to La Boca we passed the Boca Juniors stadium. It was the first game of the new season and there were people everywhere. Boca Juniors is to Argentina what Man U is to England. I was sorely tempted to buy a ticket and watch. The game started at 7.00pm and it was getting full at 3.00pm. Singing, chanting, it seemed like a great atmosphere. The stadium had an unusual shape. It was oval shaped on 3 sides but the fourth was dead straight. Looked really odd. I read later that Boca only drew 1 – 1 against a lowly ranked team so it may have been a good idea to give it a miss. They can be pretty tribal in South America.

Cathedral – we called into the cathedral in Plaza Del Mayo (must keep up our religious habits). Actually it wasn’t too bad. Very similar to those in Spain (unsurprisingly) but a lot lighter and airier. There was a mausoleum to San Martin the liberator of Argentina (and Chile and Peru and Paraguay and … ). Also a number of paintings of Christ and his life and of course the Passion. Actually Plaza Del Mayo is interesting. There are a group of women who meet there supposedly every day to protest against the old regime and all the missing people who died in the dirty war. They call themselves The Mothers of The Plaza del Mayo. I watched out for them but didn’t see them anywhere.

Narrow house – 2 5m wide house on the way to the antique fair. It went back off the road a long way but how people could live in it I do not know. They must all be troglodytes!!

Attempted scam – a good story here. We were returning from Recoleta and were just passing a church when these two women accosted us. They claimed I had bird crap all over my back. I thought that it wasn’t quite kosher but they produced these bottles of water and offered to clean me up. I was still a bit reluctant; I mean how could a bird poop on the bottom of my jacket but Leah started to pitch in and there was some dirty stuff there. They tried to get me to take my day pack off and that is when the alarm bells really started to ring. Also an american tourist passed by at that time and yelled out “don’t believe them and don’t let them touch you”, or something like that. Advice I was happy to follow. So we told the two of them to (politely of course) sod off and we went on our way. That is a common scam apparently. They spray you with this coloured water and then “volunteer” to clean you up. They make sure that you take off something from which another in the group then steals as much as they can. Filthy trick!! My back was covered in all these dirty spots and I really felt unclean. So it was straight back to the hotel and a clean up. The only such experience we had in all our travels. Others we met were not so lucky. More on that later.

There is more to tell about BA but let’s keep things in a bit of sequence. On advice from the Hotel we went down to the harbour and checked out the cost of a day trip to Uruguay. Well one thing led to another and we ended up booking a 4 day/3 night excursion, slow boat (Busquebus “Eladia Isobel”) across the Rio del Plata to Colonia then bus to Montevideo, 3 nights in the Ibis Hotel and then return the same way. I had always liked the sound of Uruguay and the Battle of The River Plate (HMNZS Achilles) so it was an easy decision. And the package was very cheap so that was an added bonus.




Uruguay

So we booked out of our friendly Hotel del Rei for a few days, left our packs there and hopped on the boat to Uruguay. I have to blame Leah for this excursion – I was happy to stay in BA but the side trip to Uruguay was a great idea and we ended up having a good time there.

As usual no problems with Customs and the like so it was on to the slow Ferry. Well it wasn’t that slow. It was huge and took cars as well as passengers. It beetled across the Rio Del Plata in double quick time. I thought “ well lets compare with the Arahura” but there wasn’t any such comparison. The boat was much bigger and much better appointed. And much faster. Mind you the Rio del Plata was not quite like the Cook Strait. It was a river (I think) and as dirty as anything I have ever seen. Hugely wide and I wondered how much of an estuary it was. But we were later assured that it was mostly fresh water which I must say I found hard to believe.

The trip across was over 3 hours and we had already cleared Uruguayan customs on the Argentinian side so getting off in Colonia was a breeze. We got in early so we had time to wander around the old section. Colonia was quite an historical place. It was established half way between BA and Montevideo in the days when Uruguay did not exist. I think it became a battle ground between the Portuguese (Brazil) and Spanish (Argentina) for a while and then the English some how became involved. So old Colonia was very much about self defense and the town walls and old gates etc were very much reflective of that ethos. The old walls were still there and plenty of old cannons as well. We got some money from the ATM after braving all these security guys who had more guns on them than a small army. Something that characterized our stay in Uruguay was the number of police/security persons who were very heavily armed. They were ubiquitous. Even in Supermarkets.

We met an Ozzie couple on the foreshore – they were off north to Salvador de Bahia in Brazil to catch the festival there. They were not interested in the Rio carnival; in their minds Rio was too touristy. Their route thru South America was much the same as ours but sort of the other way around. They started from the top and worked down whereas we started from the bottom and worked up. The Rio del Plata is very dirty up here but local kids were swimming in it so it can’t be too bad I guess.

We went for a meal at a local restaurant, one that specialized in paradillas. There are different varieties and the cost depended on the type and quality of the meat. Needless to say I chose the cheapest which comprised some offal, a gristly piece of steak and a blood sausage. It came with an egg and a small amount of vegetable and chips. I wasn’t that impressed but it WAS the cheapest. It was in the old part of town so we didn’t have to go too far to see the rest of the sights. We followed the recommended tourist trail which included a fair chunk of the old wall and the gates. There were a number of cobblestone streets and nice old buildings which were quite photogenic. All the buildings were low and made of bricks with tile roofs. What else? Not too much – the old section was pretty good and authentic. So it was off to the bus station to catch a bus to Montevideo. We had a good trip, about 4 hours around the countryside to Montevideo. The land is very fertile looking with lots of cows and the like of which reminded me a little of NZ.

Montevideo bus station was the usual chaotic barn-like place with people and buses in all directions. Lots of security people everywhere; a common theme of our stay in Montevideo. It is claimed to be the safest place in South America – given the number of uniformed types with large guns I can see why!! We got a city map from a helpful Tourist guy and then walked down the main drag and to the hotel. The Ibis could have been anywhere in the world. It was a box like place but had a good view out over the Rio towards the east. Rooms were OK especially after hostels and campsites. They even had a room safe which somehow we managed to stuff up and locked Leah’s passport and our money inside. The hotel management then made the situation worse so we were able to “pin” it on them. Actually they were very good and loaned us some money so that we could travel to Punte del Este.

Anyway a nice bed was heaven. We then went out and wandered around the lower part of town which was all pretty modern. Not too many tall buildings but I quite liked the layout. There was an old section to the town but it wasn’t as good as other places. It was pretty run down and the only decent area was a sort of Fisherman’s wharf. A bit like a mini Darling Harbour – an old building which used to be part of the warehouses and converted to a boat load of restaurants. We were “marketed” and ended up having a quite reasonable meal (but with the service charge and tip it wasn’t cheap). I really couldn’t see a lot of merit in the rest of the old section. There were a few nice old churches, a mausoleum and a few plazas. But off the beaten track the Montevideo houses looked like any other part of the city. In fact probably they were more tatty than other areas.

Now the mausoleum was quite interesting. It was dedicated to a guy called Antigas who was an early liberator of Uruguay (after Bolivar). You went underground and there were a few paintings and small statues around this large coffin. There was a large statue of Antigas on top and an honour guard on each side. Those guys were all dressed up and armed with the usual large rifle. Well would you believe but Leah thought that they were statues. So up she goes and has a poke at one of them. God, I thought that the guy was going to shoot her. Luckily he must have moved because she stopped just in time. I could otherwise imagine the headlines “Terrorist Tourist Massacred in Mausoleum After Hitting Honour Hombre”. Actually the guy had a twinkle in his eye so maybe it has happened before. So that sort of made our day.



Lake Titicaca

We had two bites of Lake Titicaca. The lake itself is huge and shallow and is shared by Peru and Bolivia. It is by far and away the largest lake in Latin America and at +3,500m asl it is the highest. It was a focal point for all the aboriginal tribes who colonized its shores, islands and reed beds. It was also a focal point for the pre inca religions where it was worshipped as the source of life and the birth place of the sun and the moon. It is a marvelous blue colour and its backdrop if high mountain peaks and volcanoes is something else.

Our first trip from La Paz was to a place called Copocabana where we could get a ferry to Isla del Sol (island of the sun). We had a long bus trip to ………. From where we got a ferry to ……… and thence another bus to Copocabana. I just love the South American ferries. They all are built the same way. The boat makes a beeline for the ramp, charges up until it grinds to a halt, it lowers its ramp and everything and everybody gets on through the front end up the ramp. The motor is going all the time holding the boat in position whilst people and cars board and then it is a matter of reverse screw , the boat backs up and off you go. Really simple – but that’s what it’s all about I guess.

This was on an arm of Lago Titacaca – we crossed to another small town (…. ) where we got another bus which took us to Copocabana. Copocabana was a small town on the shores of the lake not too far from the Bolivian border. The usual thing – we trudged around town to find the cheapest accommodation. It was then off to the nearest tour agent to organize a trip on the lake. We opted for a trip to Isla del Sol. The boat to drop us at the northern end and then pick us up again at the southern end. We had to traverse the island and visit various inca sites on the way. So that seemed OK.

A walk around town and a visit to the plaza and a couple of churches sort of completed the day. Copocabana was a nice historic town. I enjoyed it. It had a great position on the lake and a small harbour with a number of fishing boats tied up. Lots of canoes (but no balsa craft as per Thor Heyerdahl!!). As I remember the square was very large with a lot of large green trees. I comment on the trees as there were otherwise not too many in this part of Bolivia. All in all there was a nice ambience to that part of the town. Lots of side streets though were very tourist orientated. Shops selling all sorts of el cheapo poncho’s, hats, scarves etc. Not too nice.
Next day it was on a boat and off to Isla del Sol. The boat was shaped liked a large canoe but got us to the northern end in double quick time. To a small village where we were dropped. We were not on an escorted tour so we had to find our own way. The villagers weren’t much help – they wanted us to stay and spend up large in the town or they offered their services as tour guides (at vast cost). So we found our own way around the cliffs to the first preinca site. It was a series ob buildings perched on the side of a cliff up in the north east corner. Quite impressive at the time (but we hadn’t then seen Macchu Picchu) and some guides told us a little about the ruins. I think that it was a priestly site dedicated to worship of the sun. There were lots of well formed rooms and an area of stone walls that may have been for religious ceremonies. The site wa s developed in the early stages of the evolution of the inca’s so much of what we were told is speculation and hypotheses. I think that they found some skeletons (7) here and have tried to draw conclusions (sacrifices, natural deaths, battle deaths etc) from these discoveries. Still the site had a wonderful outlook, it was pretty well preserved and I felt, “wow, we are at the heart of pre incadom”.
Not true!!

From this high point one could see the island of the moon close by. Both islands are very much part of pre inca folklore. They represent the places where the sun and moon were supposed to have been born. The story is quite complex as many of these creation mythologies are but it is similar to those told in other parts of the world.

There was a well formed trail; heading south across the top of the island which we then followed. I think the high point was well over 4,000m asl. The walk was very scenic but we were continually pestered by local Indians trying to sell us all their stuff. They were really persistent. These kids with llamas would follow us for ages trying to get us to take a photo of them. For a cost of course. The close we got to the southern end the more demanding and impatient they became. We passed through one or two small villages before having to walk down this very steep slope to the landing. Half way down I was accosted by this small lass with a large llama. She blocked the path with her llama and was not going to let me past without some sort of contribution. The llama was a big ugly looking individual and I wasn’t going to argue with him, so I had to indulge in a bit of a tug of war with the girl and her lead to get past. She was a pretty tough customer and I had my hands full I can tell you. I think she had the llama trained as it kept the tension on the rope at all times. After a struggle I finally got past and then the language!! I know not Quechuan but I got her drift very clearly. Cheapskate gringo was probably the mildest translation.

No more blockades and we got down to the landing where we met our boat. I thought we had missed it but no – all was well in the end. A mostly uneventful trip back to Copocabana followed.

Reed Islands and Isla Amantani

After Copocabana we bussed thru to a town (Puno) in Peru from where we organised a combined trip to the reed islands and to islands out in the lake. It was quite a trip.

Macchu Picchu

Macchu Picchu conjures up the classic image of these Incan ruins set on top of high peaks in the middle of the Peruvian jungle. Well the reality is not too far removed from that. Except that the site is reasonably close to civilization (Aguas Caliente – the town which services MP and has a railway station for all the tourists who don’t walk the trail). The Trail though is a three and half day walk through high mountains and great scenery. I was surprised that in fact there are a number of ruins along the trail and they are still finding other old sites in the area. Cusco is the nearest major town but that is far distant and would have been quite a trek in the days b4 trains and planes and the like. So I can well understand why it was never discovered by the Spaniards. The trail proper does not start anywhere close to the Urubamba River and the Sacred Valley and it is thought that the locals then were also not generally aware of where the trail was located.

Macchu Picchu was regarded by its “discoverer” Harold Bingham as the site of the Inca’s last Andean stronghold. He believed that the site was in fact Vilcobamba which is where Manco Inca fled after losing (just) the battle for Cusco. In fact Vilcobamba was deeper in the Andes and was also never discovered by the Spaniards. It is interesting that Bingham also subsequently discovered Vilcobamba. Binghma also technically did not discover the site. He was led there by some peasants who regularly visited the area from their small holding near Aguas Calientes. But he was the first to properly recognize its importance and start excavations.

We finally got away early from Cusco by mini bus. An interesting group with one other Kiwi (Craig from Wellington). He was with his girlfriend Karen from the UK. Also Jacinto from Montevideo whom we got on with very well. We were transported to Kilometre 82 from where we were due to start our trek. Km 82 is a small village cum railway station and guard post. So we all loaded up there, collected our porters (14 including the cook and 2 guides), got ourselves through the guardeparque post (registration, passport check etc), then over a swing bridge and we were on our way. The first day is not the old inca trail. It is a route in which takes you on the head of the trail. However we went past our first inca ruin (Wilikaraskay). It was across the valley from us but the buildings were clearly visible. It was strategically located as it controlled the entrance to the valley but the experts think it was a farming type community as there were lots of terraces and the like. Also only a small temple which suggested that there was not a priestly caste there.

The trail was pretty easy for most of the way and took us right away from the Urumbamba river. We passed lots of Itndian peasants and schoolchildren on the track. They all looked super fit. I guess that if you have to walk everywhere then you will get fit esp at high (3200m asl) altitude. The final hour up to our campsite was a bit of a stretch uphill but we coped OK. The campsite was close to a very small village (Wayllabamba) and there were lots of groups camped out. We were one of the last in and camped up the top. Which was good as we were close to the start point for next mornings walk. Porters pitched the tents, we had dinner and it was early to bed, given an early start and no lights.

Now the following day was a solid climb on the inca trail proper up to Dead Womans Pass (at 4200m asl). There were no downhill sections so we climbed for 1000m upwards. Really unremitting. Lots of people started b4 us and we passed many who were really struggling. I will not forget one woman who had her own personal porter. She was a BIG lady and boy was she slow. It took me 4.25 hours to get to the top of the pass and Leah was about 5 hours. She took over 9 hours!! But give her marks – she made it and her group gave her a huge cheer when she finally got to the campsite, just b4 dark. The campsite was on a semi flat terraced area (Paqaymayu). The view from the top of the pass was spectacular but it was also cold, which was not good with sweaty horrible clothes. You could see clearly the next inca ruin (Runkurakay) – a small guard post on another hill on the way to the top of the next pass. Yes, we had to climb again the next morning. That wasn’t so bad as we stopped at the inca guard house. It was a circular masonary building with a few rooms. It commanded the trail and had a fantastic view down the valley and back to Dead Womans Pass. They think that it was a toll/tax collection point as well as a guard house. I think the toll and tax was probably its main function. The building was too small to house a lot of soldiers. Fairly roughly made – not the classic building styles of Saschuaman, Ollytytambo or Cusco.

Over the second pass (at 3800m asl) and then down to another well preserved ruin. This one (Sayaqmarka) was perched on a ridge on the side of a hill and we had to climb up a steep staircase to get to it. Much bigger than the guardhouse and you could clearly make out the religious aspect to the site and the rooms. Apparently the dressing of the stones reveals the nature of the site. Many sections in this building were well dressed which means that they were made for the priestly class. So discrimination abounded in the incan empire; probably as much as anywhere else.

There was a small circular guard post (Concha Marca) in the valley below, a well preserved set of buildings and bath houses at Phuyupatamarka and then it was on to our penultimate campsite at Winay Wayna. We arrived very late after passing through tunnels and scaling down stairways etc. This part of the trail was best preserved and showed the inca’s road building skills at their best. They used these large stones fitted together like jigsaws to lay out the track. The tunnel was formed by pouring water into cracks and allowing it to freeze. The crack was in this was widened and they then slowly hammered it out. The tunnel was not Euro sized ie we had to bend pretty low. For us it was a bit of a scramble but the inca messengers used to run along the trail. Good luck to them I say!!

Winay Wayna was a large campsite with a lodge complex. And things like bars and the like. So our stay here was pretty comfortable. As we got in late we missed two small inca sites, Intipata and Winay Wanya. We paid off the porters here and the tipping ceremony was a bit over the top. Like speeches, votes of thanks, porters all lined up looking suitably modest and then the handover of the money. We subsequently learned that there is a dewfinite pecking order in the way the tribute is divvied up. The guides get the most, followed by the cook and the porters really do not get too much after it is all said and done. They are I guess in the weakest position in a negotiating sense.

It was up and off b4 the crack of dawn the next day. The idea was to reach Inti Punku (Gate of the Sun) just b4 sunrise. We just made it but a hair raising walk in the dark. Our torches were not really up to it so we struggled for a while. Inti Punku was worth it though. We just missed the sunrise but got a good impression of what it would have been like. The Sun gate is a big archway with small guard towers on top of a bit of col. You look out over Macchu Picchu. The sun rises over the mountains behind MP straight into the sun gate. You look down on MP from the sun gate and it is an amazing sight. The city is built across a ridge which joins two mountains. It is better than all the tourist photos. You can see the layout very clearly, the terraces, the courtyards, temples and the walls. The track up the big mountain behind MP is also clearly visible. So lots of photos and then we were off to the city itself.

You have to pay extra to get in to the site It is a national park so this was one of the “hidden” extras. The guide gave us a tour of the site and explained many of its features (see below) and then we were left to ourselves.

Features

1) MP was thought to be a sacred city as it had a large number of temples (temple of the sun, temple of the moon, etc)
2) The city was split clearly into two sectors. On one side the priestly class, the other the artisans, servants and cooks etc
3) There were a number of sacred stones which lined up with the sunrise or which had some seasonal significance. These stones were obvious as they either had slots or holes cut in them to line up with sunrise or whatever.
4) The stonework in the priests side was immaculate – less so on the plebs side.
5) There was a large courtyard which divided the two sections.
6) Terraced sections at the entrance to the city proper were for crops (potatoes, coca and the like)
7) Water was channeled down to the city thru a series of aqueducts, most of which are still in evidence.
8) No evidence of human sacrifices but they have found a number of skeletons.
9) The thinking is that MP was abandoned shortly after the Spanish conquered Cusco. Maybe the priests were afraid that they would be discovered and fled with Manco Inca deeper into the jungle.

The city was impressive. Very well preserved and it wasn’t hard to imagine the ancients wandering around. The seamless nature of things like calendars in Latin America were also explained here. The inca’s used a 365 day calendar (18 months at 20 days per month plus a spare 5 days) much the same as the aztecs and mayans. They communicated thru the use of quilpes (knotted string) which were records of transactions, harvests and the like.

I was a little surprised to learn that the inca empire had only been in existence for a couple of hundred years prior to the Spanish arriving. It was an empire built on conquest and the inca himself was vested with god like powers. There was a priestly class, standing armies and a well developed administrative caste. However the bulk of the people were peasants whose lives were geared to serving the ruling class. The incas conquered as far north as Quito and down to south of Santiago Chile. They set up strong local government tightly linked back to Cusco, the capital. I guess that the nature of the inca rule (small ruling class with tight control) made it easy in some ways for the spanish. From the peasants viewpoint all that happened was that they exchanged dictators. However ultimately the Spanish were exploiters rather than colonisers so the peasants soon had a rude awakening!!

Amazonia

The Amazon river had long been a dream of mine to explore. I remember being fascinated by all the old stories of the river. Its size, length, volume of water, jungles all around, the Indians, the animals, giant snakes, flesh eating piranhas – all combined to leave a huge impression on my then young fertile mind. The stats for the river beggar the mind, without all the animals. It is over 4,500km long, rises near lake Titicaca (the Urubamba in the sacred Valley is a tributary and it is a big river way back there), has huge tributaries (like the Rio Negro, Napo, Madiera etc), it is tidal for hundreds of km’s upstream of the mouth, its flow is so great there is fresh water more than 160km away from its mouth and its volume is bigger than the next 10 largest rivers in the world combined. Ocean going ships come upstream as far as Iquitos and other large boats can go much further upstream.

Well, we decided to go to Iquitos. With the intention of getting our Brazillian visa’s at the Embassy there. So we flew in from Lima. The airport is a little out of town and as soon as we got off the plane we were immediately accosted by a swarm of tour operators. They were so persistent. As soon as we mentioned “jungle trip” they did not let go. After trying desperately to escape we finally succumbed. One guy had a really good pitch – free ride into town, best hostel, best restaurant and 5/4 trip up river the very next day. It all sounded too good to be true but we gave it a go and it actually turned out not too badly.

We organized the trip and lo and behold they could get us away the same day. So no hostel. We went down by the river and I had my first glimpse of the Amazon (or so I thought). I saw this really wide river like stretch of water. “Wow”, I said, “The Amazon – how huge”, or words to that effect. “Non, non, senor” , was the reply. In fact it was some small tributary lagoon. You had to go down river quite a way to get to the Amazon. Well if that wasn’t the Amazon then just how monstrous was the real thing going to be.

We took off up river in this fast canoe with a large outboard motor. It could really move. Carlos was our guide and we left most of our stuff back in the office. Travel light was the order of the day. One pack between the two of us. We had paid for a 5 day 4 night trip up the Amazon to a place near the confluence of the Maranon and the Ucayali rivers. We arrived at our first stop about 4 hours later. A small open encampment in the jungle about 15min walk from the river. We slept on a sort of wide open hut made from bamboo. The beds were merely mattresses laid on the floor, with mosquito nets over the top. Toilets – well head into the nearest friendly bit of jungle. And watch out for the creepy crawlies. All pretty primitive and the nets were holey. Leah got it all ways. Bitten by bed bugs (we think) and mosquitoes (we know). There were thousands of the latter. They were as big as small planes!! Dinner was back at a small building near the river and then we had to walk back to our camp in the dark. That was also quite an adventure. It gets awfully dark very quickly in the jungle and you have all these strange noises all around you as you walk (or stumble). So the old imagination works overtime and b4 you know it there were anacondas, tarantulas, crocodiles behind every bush. We got back safely though.

Next day – a huge argument with Carlos. Well not with him. He was the meat in the sandwich. His boss back in Iquitos wanted to change the programme. No trip up river: we were going to hang out in this camp and do a few measly jungle trips using this as a base. Leah used her most compelling arguments and won her point. We were on the way up river in the fast boat to the main camp. Prior to leaving though we went on a quick jungle trip to one of the local villages. It was quite well set up with the inevitable soccer field, school and church. There did not seem to be any shops. I really felt for the children. There was a school in town but they rely on teachers coming out from Iquitos on a weekly basis. Apparently teachers often stay home and one can sympathise with them. The town is 4 hours upriver from Iquitos so they have to leave there on a Sunday and then they are “stuck” for a week at a time. No facilities, no nothing. So a real problem for the Peruvian Government. But the classrooms were neat and tidy, paintings and classwork on the walls so the kids do want to learn.

A great trip up one side of the Amazon. What an amazing river!! It is huge beyond belief. And its current is quite swift. The water is very brown and you get all these logs and clumps of trees floating down. In fact they are very dangerous and we had to have a guy on the bow at all times looking out for submerged trunks and weeds. We banged the propeller quite a few times – it is a real hazard on the Amazon. We passed plenty of canoes and other bigger boats on the way. A lot of people were paddling and if they had far to go that would have taken forever. You paddle as close to the bank as possible as the current is weakest there. I loved it and we took lots of photographs. We were there sort of during mid season. The river level was dropping at the time but still pretty high. At its highest the Amazon floods everywhere. There is very little high ground in the region so it is water all over. We were shown the height that the water gets up to by reference to water marks on the taller trees. Just incredible. The mark is 10 – 15ft up the trunk. You look around and wonder how people can survive. There are small villages all along the banks of the Amazon. They seem to occur every few kilometers. And there would be tracks linking them all along the bank. But the river itself is the main artery for all movement. The tracks are no good in the wet season so canoes, small boats etc are absolutely necessary. Most canoes seemed to have a small outboard motor with a long propeller shaft. I guess that made it easy to swing out of the way of logs and weeds etc. Canoes were not fancy; they were invariably made from a hollowed out log. I was impressed with the number of larger boats going up and down. Most were passenger ferries and always seemed to be full.

Half way up we had to wait at a small town to get some more petrol. We explored around the village and saw how the river folk lived. Pretty primitive. There were one or two shops and a small wharf where they brought in fish and the like. They live off the river and rely on it for everything. Food, transport, water, laundry, toilets – the old Amazon does everything.

Anyway we were off mid afternoon and did not arrive at the lodge until after dusk. We had to turn down a “small” side river (big as the Waikato!!) – how our boatman found it I do not know. Our lodge (Emerald Forest Camp) wasn’t too bad. A fairly large house on stilts (necessary for the flooding) with guest rooms, and a toilet. You may ask why is a toilet so important. Well in many places we went to a toilet was no more than a hole in the ground so the real thing was to be savoured and remembered.

We met our other guide here. Alejhandro was the chief/shaman of the local village about 400m away and a really great fellow. His mum and dad ran the lodge, did the cooking and housework and generally looked after us. Even did our laundry. In the Amazon. The river is so brown I wondered how she got things clean. Our shower was great. A simple bladder of water (ex the river) which we hung up and then let the water run down over us. I had one shower and did not feel clean after it. So no more. We had two treks in the jungle which were good. Saw a few monkeys and sloths, lots of leafcutter ants and some fire ants. Carlos demonstrated the water vine. He cut off a length of vine. Held it up and water came out one end. Leah slurped it up at a great rate of knots. I remember all these sharp, prickly plants. Some of the thorns were huge and woe betide you if you fell over against them. They were lethal. My good travel pants were ripped and we were frequently pricked and stabbed. Also saw a few birds but on the whole there was not a lot of wildlife. The jungle is second growth (not a lot of primary jungle left) so most of the fauna has departed.

I love the fishing trips. We paddled in a canoe downriver to a small lagoon. We had to manhandle the canoe across a muddy sort of isthmus to get from the river to the lagoon. We went right past a large Indian house. All the kids used to come and watch the gringos pushing and shoving this canoe. They must have thought that the whole thing was really funny. Probably was in truth.

But we were fishing for the dreaded piranha. There are a number of varieties apparently and the red piranha which we were after is the stuff of legends. We went fishing three times and our count was Peter 7 piranhas 1 sardines, Leah 4 piranhas 2 sardines. The piranhas teeth are incredibly sharp and the fish is also very quick to bite. We were never allowed to retrieve the hook. That was the guides job and after a piranha sliced Carloses finger to the bone on one occasion I was happy to concur. Carlos actually caught a freshwater sting ray on our first day out!! Amazing – it looked as if it had come straight out of the ocean. We also saw freshwater dolphins; they are a grey-pink colour and are quite large. We had the ray plus piranha for dinner most nights. I wonder why?

As I said we did not see too much in the way of wildlife. C and A insisted on climbing trees to give us a good view of a couple of sloths. One was hanging in a tree close to the water. So our guide caught it and held it up for us. We weren’t too happy with that but it was hard to communicate our feelings. We canoed through some of those super large water lilies one day. That was fun and we had a viewing of some hoatzin at the end of the trip. Hoatzin are very primitive birds. The young have sort of claws protruding from their wings. They use these to scramble around in the branches. As they grow the claws disappear. People liken them to the feathered dinosaurs (archaeopteryx). Also saw eagles, a couple of vulture like things and birds that reminded me of pukekoes. And always accompanied by the inevitable ubiquitous mossies!!

We spent one afternoon in Alejhandros village. Now that was an experience and enjoyable. He has the best and largest house. All houses were built on stilts and were mostly one roomed affairs. They had wooden floors, wooden walls and a thatched roof. Cooking was per a small wood burning stove or over an open fire. Alejhandros was different insofar that he had two rooms and a small out building. Now in the village he was everything. I have mentioned medicine man – well he was also the storekeeper, the guy with the booze and he ran the local soccer team. We saw his range of medicines and got to sample them as well. He told us what they were but I cannot remember any of them. Probably just as well!! So we are either bound to die young or live to a ripe old age. His wife was quite young (mid 20’s?) but she had two steel front teeth. She was quite pretty but her teeth were very disconcerting. I wondered who did the dentistry – I don’t think that Alejhandro’s skills extended that far. Also I wondered why lose two teeth so early? Poor diet, no care, no dental hygiene – what a life. I can’t remember if the village had a school but if they did I can’t see how they would get teachers in to the place. It’s a long way from Iquitos. So what chance do the kids have.

I also got involved in a soccer game at the village. A few of Alejhandro’s mates came along and they had a pick up type game. It was a real study in contrasts. Old Alejhandro came out in all the gear – soccer shirt, shorts, socks, shin pads, boots, he had the lot. One of his mates played in a pair of shorts – and nothing else. He charged around this ground in bare feet. God knows what was on the ground – at the least pig and dog crap but probably bits of wood, maybe large creepy crawlies, possibly glass etc. He didn’t seem to come to any harm. As always the skill level was very good. There was a young kid who got involved and he was excellent. But how would he ever get recognized and have a chance to go further. I ended up doing a bit of refereeing, all from one spot of course. No way I could have kept up with those guys; they were very fast runners.

All in all we had a great time. The only downside was that Leah lost her sun glasses in the jungle. They must have got torn off by those super sharp thorn bushes. We offered a $ 20 reward if anyone could find them but no luck.

We left early one morning on our operators fast boat. It had a 200Hp Johnson outboard and could really move. Even with that it was still an 8 hour trip back into Iquitos with one stop half way along for fuel. We overnighted at a local hosteria and then spent the next day visiting Iquitos zoo and wandering around the city. The zoo wasn’t all that bad. It had a reasonable selection of fauna and was run (I think) by an Aussie from Perth. The zoo was right beside the river and they had developed a small beach scene complete with beach umbrellas and sand. I think that Leah had a swim!!

Back in Iquitos we had a conducted tour of Belem, a suburb built out over the lagoon. As I said the river level was a bit low so all the grunge and filth under the houses was on show. Very primitive way of life with markets in all directions, no power, little running water and I wondered about the ablutions. We visited our guides house, and met his mother and smaller siblings. They lived in a very small wooden house; two rooms, hammocks in all directions, small wooden cooker and little else. You moved around the suburb for the most part on wooden sidewalks built about 6 – 8 ft above the river. No way one could have walked at river level. Mud everwhere. Also rubbish and all sorts of other unmentionable stuff.