Last Stop in Chile

Surf lesson #2

We escaped the depressing exterior of San Antonio at night thanks to three hard working mechanics labouring till about 9:30 pm. Not willing to spend another $50 for a hotel we camped out at a toll station for the night. It was perfect and terrible at the same time--there was lots of light and lots of trucks passing through which means safety, but the constant noise didn't create the most peaceful conditions for sleeping. The following day we blew passed usual tourist stops Valparaiso and Vina del Mare eager to steer clear of cities and find some sand and surf. We found the oasis we were looking for in Playa Ritoque just outside of Quintero. We spent about five days living like beach bums and had some much needed fun. These few days felt like the vacation we'd been waiting for--especially because the beach had car access and we were able to find our own private spot.

Megan observing Jupiter

Cerro Mamlluca

After the surf died down a bit a few days later, we kept moving and ended up in La Serena. It was a good thing we found another mechanic there because we ended up having to go back a few times. Our first problem was the master cylinder which needed to be replaced. Refusing to let another car problem take over the day we sped over to Vicuna for a star gazing experience at Observatorio Cerro Mamalluca with a 30 cm telescope. Chile has several observatories in the Atacama region because the sky is always clear, climate is dry and there are mountains galore. Chile's prime astronomy location is so awesome that Europe is investing heavily into world-class equipment. 

Lemon Pisco

Other highlights of the area were purchasing some pisco sour (grape brandy) and discovering Danone's greek yogurt in coconut flavour at the locas Unimarc. We highly recommend it. We also visited the tomb of Grabriel Mistral, discovered he was a famous poet and unfortunately didn't know more about the famous man that we were visiting. Heading back into La Serena we encountered our second car issue: the torsion bar retaining bolt (3/4" thick and 10.9 gage steel) snapped! None of the local automotive shops had the piece so our nechanic bought one from Finning and had to cut, mill, and re-thread it into the appropriate size. We spent our night in the Copec gas station since they repeatedly outdo the campgrounds and hostels in all criteria.

Shop dogs and our broken bolt

The next day just out of town some strange noised reminiscent of our past exhaust pipe problems began to sound. We drove back to the automotive shop where the mechanics were shaking their heads and laughing at us by this time. They must of liked us, felt sorry for us, or both, because they re-fixed the exhaust pipe for free. 

Sun bathing boat on La Serena's beach

Enjoying our favourite wine at the gas station

Attempting to eat one of Chile's largest corn

Our next stop was Bahia Inglesa. This small summer hot-spot was busy and expensive and our beach that we camped on was garbage ridden. Generally there seems to be little concern for environmental protection of beaches and oceans. In addition, mining in the region doesn't seem to be helping the situation much since they pay a fee to dump waste water into the ocean. One person mentioned that a beach in Chanaral was now green because of mining contaminates. 

Isla Pan de Azucar

I love it when you call me Big Papa

One gem we discovered slightly north was Parque Nacional Pan de Azucar. This beautifully maintained coastal park is a reminder of possibilities of what could be for other areas. Although designated camping is a must in the park it was relatively cheap and the purity worth the pesos. Nearby Isla Pan de Azucar is home to humboldt penguins and sea lions and was just a short boat ride away. However, feeling energetic and adventurous Iain and I decided we would paddle out on the surfboards to check it all out. We paddled for about an hour an a half through flat water which was tiring for me, but more cold for Iain. We did get close enough to see penguins and a huge male sea lion swimming close by, although Iain's waterproof camera died on the journey and the very large jelly fish scared me throughout. The following day we took a boat over and were able to get a better view and some pictures.

Parapente cew

Leaving the pristine park was hard, and our next stop was Iquique. We took in some paragliding yesterday and plan to leave tomorrow. I rode a tandem with an instructor which was fun, and Iain had his first lesson and solo flight. Iain loves it and can't wait to do a course. We arrived in Arica today and are getting ready to head into Peru (maybe tomorrow). Our trusty Lonely Planet got left behind in a mall in Iquique, but luckily we are able to download an e-version and not pay the whopping $70 for a new one. Yikes! 

Megan and Hernan (instructor) flying by Iquique

Preparing for lift-off

Lift-off!

Excellent way to check surf

Breakdown, Repair, Play and Repeat

Trooper TLC

The car misadventures continued as we got back to Coyhaqiue after the Glaciar. Check it out: while Iain was parking the car near a mechanic to fix the exhaust pipe that disconnected during the bumpy drive on the way back from Tranquilo, he backed into a tree with gusto.  After not having found a new door Iain managed to fix it using a left-over 2”x4” we happened to have kicking around, a two tone ratchet strap, and some physics. The door was so dented the it wouldn’t even close as first—esthetics were the least of our worries.

Parque Nacional Quelat

Finished with southern Chile and ready to get a move on, our next stop was Parque Nacional Queulat. We stumbled upon this magnificent place while driving through and the weather was cooperative enough for us to hike around for a bit. We climbed into Rio de las Cascades where about six waterfalls surround the valley.  It is always nice to get out and move to break up the driving so we were both happy to get some fresh air that afternoon.  

I spy a Megan

Hot springs to ourselves..

The weather started out grey and turned into pouring rain the next day and this was our first real hard day of rain. The real bummer to the rain was mainly the fact that our cooking setup requires the back door of the trooper to be left open which is definitely not conducive to all weather cooking conditions. The other regret in the rain was not purchasing the single tarp we’d seen on the trip in Coyhaique. A lesson that has taught us if you see something you might need, buy it immediately—you may never see it again. The positive aspect of all the rain was it was an awesome day to go to some natural hot springs.

Nesting

As we attempted to get out of the rain we drove into Argentina again back to El Bolson. We continued on Argentina’s northward bound highways until crossing back into Chile again near Pucon. My main aim here was to 1) eat a fish taco 2) get more eco-friendly conditioner from Siempreverde.The return back to Pucon was better than expected since it was refreshing that we knew area, and could find a good campground to wash laundry and go out for an afternoon of rafting with Politur.

Rafting in Pucon

Every piece of clothing we own

Waiting for this to be repaired

When we were finished in Pucon we drove to Pichilemu in hopes to find me a surf board. We only spent two nights back in the old stomping ground probably because it was insanely busy and very expensive (if anyone tells you Chile is a cheap place to travel don’t believe them).  During our last visit we had a water front Cabana for about $40, while this time around we stayed at a hostel for $60. The summer season is only about two months of the year, so prices are sky-high. Despite the hoards of people, we did get me a used surf board from Manzana 54. I think Iain was more excited than me to make the purchase, but I’m already feeling attached to the ol’ Bic and want to bring the beast home. Iain is a very good teacher and we got out a couple of times before deciding there would probably be better surf with fewer people further north. However, that is easier said than done in the Trooper.

We left Pichilemu hoping to get to Vina del Mar or Valpariso, but instead are currently in San Antonio because we stopped to get a radiator cap and once again Iain noticed the vehicle was smoking. Turns out we need a new head gasket. Hopefully it will be done tomorrow morning and we’ll be surfing by night. Keep your fingers crossed for us!

Poland to the rescue! Broke down on Route 40.

Local traffic on Route 40

After getting our fair share of fresh air and drinkable river water in El Chalten we decided to move on upwards to start to long trip back up Argentina and Chile. We were sitting on the fence about what route to take back, but read about El Puesto www.elpuesto.cl and a trip they do up on Glaciar Explorades. This seemed like the next best destination so we took the notorious route 40 in Argentina back up from southern Patagonia. Route 40 is known for its barren and bleak dirt road and lack of service stations in addition to the cavos de los manos—caves with prehistoric handprints lining the walls. This road proved to be both barren and bleak, two things we had seen a little too much of driving west to east and back again to get a glimpse of those penguins. At one point we had to drive 70 km out of the way to get gas and Iain noticed the engine temperature slowly rising. As it turned out, the radiator cap was lost somewhere along the bumpy dirt road and we needed some creativity and metal to make it the rest of the way to our fuel up location. We have been so lucky to have had assistance at pretty much every potentially disastrous situation so far, and this event turned out to be no different. This time our help turned out to be a camper full of Polish travelers who happened to be mechanically savvy. With everybody brainstorming, a new radiator cap was created using: a tin can lid, a loonie which was hammered to increase its size, some wire, and of course duct tape. We arrived to the gas station with no problems 30 km later and found a new radiator cap too! After an hour or two back into our drive the new radiator cap stop working properly and we had to modify it accordingly.

Finished product

Rejected from Chile--preparing to varnish

After jumping through that hoop of fire, we made it to Los Antiguos, the last town before crossing into Chile. Feeling really awesome about getting back into Chile and ready to get on that glacier, we stopped at the boarder ready to keep moving. After a tedious wait in line and claiming our fruits and vegetables we went out to get inspected (Chile has relatively strict regulations in this regard and they are much more thorough in their searches compared to Argentina). Turns out, they inspected a little bit more rigorously than we expected, telling us our beloved bed frame needed to bite the dust if we wanted to enter. Apparently our wood was no good because it wasn’t varnished and there was no way they were going to let us through. So back we went to Los Antiguos to spend the afternoon varnishing….

Iain trying a new look

The twisty road to Coyhaique

The following day, they did let us in and we passed through Chile Chico and we went onwards to Coyhaique were we spent a very uneventful New Year’s Eve. Yesterday we backtracked to Tranquilo to and did a 6.5 hour stint up and around the Glaciar Explorades. We thought the experience might be similar to climbing on the moon—rolling mounds of white snow and ice everywhere. Well worth the effort and a little extra driving. 

Glacier Explorades

Tallest peak south of 40 degrees, Monte San Valentin (4080m)

Iain climbing around

Burning tires in protest 

Our drive back into the west of Argentina became a little more exciting when getting gas became a problem. Apparently Argentina has a fairly constant issue with its gasoline; companies want to increase prices but the government will not provide subsides, so to make sure they have as much control over the market, companies limit the amount of gas available by producing the minimum allowable amount. We both thought the remote region just had less gas, but that was definitely not the case. When we got to Trelew on our way out of town it was decided that desperate times called for desperate measures: we would camp at the gas station and wait until the fuel truck showed up. Luckily, the truck came about an hour later but we decided to camp the night there anyway. It was actually a fantastic idea because a) they had hot showers that cost $1.50, b) there was wireless internet c) they had real coffee and practically a restaurant in there. The following night we stayed at another YPF and had another great experience camping alongside the truckers.

Camping at the gas station

Glaciar Perito Moreno

Next, we made our way to El Calafate to see Glaciar Perito Moreno in Parque Nacional Los Glaciares. This glacier was by far one of the most magnificent things I have ever seen, and well worth the admission fees. The park had a great walkway and many places to sit and listen to the glacier calving huge icebergs into the lake (a sound similar to thunder). It was also declared the eighth wonder of the world by Patrimony of Humanity by UNESCO. We liked it so much, we decided to stay the night, unfortunately this isn’t allowed and we got kicked out in the morning. L We considered walking on the glacier (one well recommended company by Lonely Planet is Hielo & Aventura: www.hieloyaventura.com) but decided in the end it was too expensive.

 

Illegal camping

After the glacier we made our way to El Chalten, a town a few hours north of El Calafate. El Chalten has gotten a lot of hype. I heard about it several times, and decided it would be worth exploring while in Patagonia. To be honest, I think Christmas was not the best time to go. There were tourists everywhere which I found irritating even though I am one. This is mainly to do with the trekking scene: El Chalten is home to Fitz Roy and some world class mountaineering which draws hardcore, skilled, and bad-ass climbers to the area who are attempting to do some pretty insane ascents. However, it also draws everyone else that kind of wants to be hardcore (and who look it), but aren’t really doing anything all that special. For example, it must be trendy to wear bandanas around your neck (even though Iain and I were both baffled at what purpose they served) and to use trekking poles. Don’t get me wrong, I can appreciate if you are older and have a balance issue they might be a great tool to keep you moving with a little extra stability. But generally, they were totally unnecessary and actually caused more damage to the trail than anything else.  I will make a comparison to explain:  using the trekking poles on this trail is similar to using trekking poles on the millennium trail. I think I mentioned the horseflies in an earlier post, and let me tell you, they were out in full force during our time 

Laguna Torre

there. I felt like a bee keeper with bees swarming everywhere around me, the downside being they were actually horseflies trying to bite and there was no honey at the end of it all.  Regardless of all of this, we checked out Laguna Torre and spent the night then went to and Laguna de los Tres the next day and they were both beautiful. The mountain scenery was spectacular and I hiked up a bottle of champagne for Christmas Eve. When we got back into town Christmas day we had one of the best meals we’ve had so far at El Bodegon Cerveceri, the highlight being the best vegetarian pizza ever.

 

Fitz Roy 

Merry Christmas