Climbing the Volcan

The last time I climbed a volcano was nearly 2 years ago with my cousins Shezza and Bons in the Philippines and I thought that was quite spectacular and a piece of cake. Admittedly the malnutritioned horses did all the climbing but the weather was scorching and it was hard work applying sunscreen.

Volcan Villarica didn´t allow the luxury of a horse but the guides we hired provided us with an ice pick, crampons and some sexy waterproofs (note to self: must buy myself an icepick). Apart from that, it wasn´t as difficult as I had imagined - thanks mainly to the amount of trekking we´ve been doing lately.

Luckily, we had clear weather, great guides and a great group, apart from the terrified Brazilian girl who cried all the way up the volcano and all the way down. I shouldn´t laugh...but I did.

Anyway, after a short ski lift up the mountain (to cut out a bit of time), and then crunching up volcanic ash and heaving ourselves through the ice with our trusted ice picks, we finally reached the summit gasping for air where we were welcomed by huge plumes of stinking sulfur. The guys with the funny masks I was laughing at earlier in the climb were not so stupid looking after all. However, putting up with suffocating from the noxious fumes did nothing to distract me from the spectacular vista from the top and even more exciting, watching the amazing show of churning lava bursts!! It was awesome. I´d never seen anything so full of life before. I felt like I was looking into the centre of the earth.

We finished this spectacular day by glissading down the mountain, ie: sliding down the mountain on our rears using only the ice pick to navigate or apply the brakes. Great fun!

Later that evening, Dave and I caught the sunset by the lake in Pucon and observed the top of the Volcan Villaricca glowing an eerie orange. Spooky but hey, what an excellent day!!!

What the...?

To add to Chiloe´s quaint, yet quirky, nature, we stayed at a charming hostel in Ancud owned by an elderly chain smoking couple who got pissed every night with guests on pisco sours and liqor de oro (fermented cow´s milk) while sitting around the roaring fireplace with friends singing folk tunes and playing the accordian. Great fun and a great place to stay but very odd....particularly with the ladies toilet (a great contender for Rove´s ``What the?´´ segment). Click here. Luckily we had a bano privado.

During the times we weren´t being entertained (forced to drink or being fed in the kitchen) by the elderly couple Hector and Nalida, we drove around the little villages, shopped at the feira artesenals and feasted on fresh empanadas y marisco (seafood empanadas) and it´s local dish cauranto (seafood stew piled with loads of shellfish, carne, chorizo, pollo and potato dumplings). A nice (and welcome) change to the usual cuisine found in the south.

Could stay longer but our time around this area is limited and we have already pushed our flights back so we hit the road for Pucon......

The Chilote tow truck

I convinced big Dave that it was unnecessary for us to hire another 4x4 now that we´re spending some time around the Lakes district where most of the roads around are paved. So, we now have a sexy volkswagen at half the cost and we have arrived comfortably in Chiloe without too much fuss. Although......our first experience shortly after disembarking the vehicle ferry onto Chiloe island from Puerto Montt was hilarious.

We drove into Caulin in search of a restaurant called Ostras Caulin to eat bucket loads of oysters but instead found a very distraught newly married spanish couple and a local farmer on the playa(beach)trying to heave their deeply embedded 4x2 out of the sand. Being ´´aussies´´ and well experienced in the whole 4x4 thing (ahem) we tried all sorts of things from letting air out of their tyres to laying out pieces of wood and rocks all the while looking very ´´experienced´´ (but in fact adding more to the problem). It was then decided that we needed a spade so us 2 girls got into our car and drove up a rickety old road in search of a farmhouse. Luckily we found a woman milking a cow who lent us her huge spade and who told us to go and see her neighbour about his 2 boys. Well, I thought she said 2 boys from her rapid castellano and I kept thinking that they were perhaps 2 very strong sturdy boys who could help push. Funnily enough, her neighbour brought out 2 of his biggest and strongest bulls which of course set us 2 girls off into a fit of hysterics. We tried very hard to contain our laughter whilst the farmer prepared his ´´boys´´ by tying a piece of wood onto their horns and then set off down the hill for the beach. Big dave found it very amusing to see a farmer and his 2 bulls followed by a volkswagen emerge from the hill half an hour later! It didn´t take long for the burly farmer and his bulls to tow the car out of the sand, and after a few photos and lots of muchos gracias, he rounded up his bulls and disappeared back up the hill.

We were then treated to lunch by the spanish couple at Ostras Caulin where we feasted on loads of oysters (natural, fried and oyster soup) and one too many pisco sours before we went our separate ways.

The Navimag experience

As a compromise to not being able to book the 4 day trip on the Navimag cargo ship from Puerto Natales to Puerto Montt (nb: due to its popularity), we settled on boarding the cargo ship from Puerto Chacabuco, west of Coyhaique, to take us to Puerto Montt. After a couple of local buses, one of which the lights didn´t work and the driver was breaking world records to try to reach the town before dark, we hit the docks and watched trucks and livestock being loaded into the ship all the while thinking how surreal the whole operation looked.

After the initial excitement of boarding and sorting out our dorms, it quickly dawned on us that there was not much to bloody do on the ship and boredom quickly settled in. After all, the ship is primarily a cargo ship and only decided to take on passengers when one too many backpackers kept pestering them for a ride. Also, the weather was not too great and it rained the whole time so viewing what we could of the Chilean coastline and fjords was a very cold and wet experience. Luckily, the trip involved 2 nights and 1 day so we kept ourselves mildly amused (ie: slept a lot!).

**Dorms: Can be good and can also be very bad. We unfortunately got stuck with 2 yee-har americans, one who was very imposing, and the other who stank like there was no tomorrow. Unfortunately, our tiny curtains covering the beds did nothing to keep out the stench.

Uno pisco sour, por favor

Back in Chile and currently working our way up the Carretera Austral highway in our beast of a 4x4 (a Mitsubishi Dad!). The Carretera Austral is not really a highway but more a rocky gravel pot holed network which is terrifying and stunningly beautiful at the same time. Terrifying because at times the road is only just wide enough to fit one car....and more often than not the other side is a cliff! We were undecided about the route we wanted to take to reach Puerto Montt as there are a number of options and all are stunning. One option was to continue following the Andes up through the Argentinian side from El Chalten and then up to Bariloche, crossing into Chile from there. Athough, we didn´t really fancy taking a small minivan up the RN40 after just coming off the RN40 on our way up to Los Antiguos. The other option was flying back down to Puerto Natales and catching the Navimag cargo ship up through the chilean fjords to Puerto Montt. We decided on the Carretera though as the path is less trodden and more difficult to access. Voila. Perfect. It was a concern though as driving up this way is tough on the old car and the road is very primitive. Still, the scenery is amazing.

Currently we are resting our heads at Puerto Rio Tranquielo in a comfy little hostel built by the owner (who also owns a farm with a glacier which we visited today!!) where my pisco sour waits.

Ciao for now!

And onto the other side

Arggentina. Update El Calafate (Moreno Glacier) and El Chalten (Monte Fitz Roy) to be completed......

Nb: bus to Los Antiguos

Patagonia: Parque Nacional Torres del Paine

Just back from an 8 day trek in Parque Nacional Torres del Paine in the southern Patagonian Andes, Chile! It was wild, amazing and beautiful!!

When we arrived in Punta Arenas after our flight from Buenos Aires we heard that there was a fire in the park which meant that most tracks and refugios (mountain huts)were closed. The fire was started by an irresponsible Czech tourist who chose to camp outside designated campsites. He got off with paying a fine (only 200 USD) and was allowed to leave Chile. Ppl are pretty pissed off with this as the damage is immense and a lot of visitors have had to change their plans, including us.

Our initial plan was to do the Paine Circuit however as some of the park was closed we decided to do the ´´W´´ circuit.

We started from Puerto Natales where we caught a boat up to PN Bernardo o´Higgins to check out the Glacier Serrano. It was so gusty and cold that I was swept off my feet a couple of times. Oh, I lost my favourite hat in the process. From there we jumped on a zodiac and sped up the Rio Serrano to the park administration in PN Torres del Paine, stopping for a break at a nearby estancia. That was a lot of fun and really enjoyed the lady next to me screaming her head off while the zodiac jumped through the waves.

Our trek totalled approx 90kms over 7 days and ranged from what I thought was moderate and at times difficult terrain. Definitely a mental and physical challenge especially carrying packs but it was all worth it.

Our trek details:

Day 1: Reached the park in the afternoon and stayed at Posado Rio Serrano for an early rest.

Day 2: Got a lift to the catamaran early in the morning (note Chilean time similar to Filipino time) in a rickety old VW combi to cross the river to Refugio Pehoe. Walked up the Valle el Frances up to Campo Britanico. Trail past Campo Italiano was challenging involving scrambling up boulders and rocks whilst weather condition was gusty (80km/hr winds) with lots of rain, and eventually snow. Watched my balaclava fly down the mountain as I lay on the ground clutching rocks after a sudden violent gust of wind threw me off balance. Gorgeous dave tried to search for it on our descent but to no avail. Beautiful views though and watching avalanches a definite highlight. Reached the refugio by 8pm after 9 hrs thoroughly exhausted and in pain (and silently cursing girl at Big Foot expeditions who claimed that the walk could be done in 6 hrs). Luckily had a good dorm with 4 others from the US who we had been sitting behind us at a restaurant in Punta Arenas a few days before. We remembered eavesdropping into their conversation as was interested in all the places they had travelled to. Had a great night sleep.

Day 3: Short walk (5hrs) to Refugio Grey on the western arm of the circuit. Beautiful sunny clear day and breathtaking views of lakes and mountain ranges. Refugio Grey was perfectly located by a lake by the base of Glacier Grey framed by the mountains. Met a lovely dutch couple also on a year long sabbatical. She works for IBM (trust my luck - they´re everywhere!).
Terrible night sleep due to noisy german group and walls that didn´t reach the ceiling.

Day 4: Plan was to proceed up the John Garner pass up to the next Camp but didn´t fancy the 14 hr walk up a very steep ascent and didn´t think it wise particularly as weather changes so quickly. (It apparently is very gusty, can get 100-120 km/hr winds, and very difficult). Instead we walked along the side of the glacier to a fantastic view overlooking the entire glacier through to the lake. Spent a number of hrs up there and could have stayed for longer. It was breathtaking. Stayed at Refugio Grey again but this time in a tent as advised by aussie ocker Vanessa from Katoomba (´´Go the tent and you´ll never look back´´)and had a ´´graaate noight sleep´´.

Day 5: Back down to Refugio Grey. Gorgeous weather again and warm enough to lay on the grass by the lake in shorts drinking beer. Met a very excitable cute couple from Belgium on an 8 mth holiday who gave details of a great website to check out.

Day 6: 5hr walk to Refugio Los Cuerros. Best refugio so far. Freshly baked bread and comfortable dorms. Part of the track was the one to Campo Italiano so this was the 3rd time we had crossed it. Tricky stoney river crossing involving one piece of wire.

Day 7: Los Cuerros to Refugio Chileno. A bloody steep climb up to this site that I thought would never end. Met great ppl: Tal and Samuel from Israel who have been driving around Chile and gave us some great advice re treks north of here; Sonia and Nicolas from France who have been travelling for 6 months and had just come from Australia and NZ; and Matties and Kirstin a couple from Austria who had extensive knowledge of the area and between them spoke about 15 languages (slight exaggeration).

Day 8: 4am start to try and catch sunrise up at the Torres del Paine lookout - the highlight. Dave, Nicolas, Matties, Kirstin and I got braved the clouds and rain with the hope that it would clear by the time we reached the top. No success. By the time we reached halfway the rain got heavier. The trail to that point was difficult in the dark and the rain (very muddy with steep climbs and ropes). We waited inside a makeshift shelter at the campsite for an hour hoping the rain would subside. It was freezing. There was no point continuing up the very steep ascent over boulders to the viewpoint (another hour) as we wouldn´t see anything and it was also dangerous, so we turned back. Was disappointed but glad to be back at the refugio and out of the rain. After an hour´s kip while waiting for our clothes to dry (poor dave burned his fancy new pants on the wooden stove), we packed up and hit the path for our final 2 hr descent downhill to end our trek. The rain and clouds subsided a little enough for us to see part of the Torres when we reached the bottom!

Overall, everything was a highlight and we have fallen in love with Patagonia.

Observations:
1. Totally addicted and excited to see more.
2. Never thought I´d be sad to lose a balaclava.
3. The 78 yr old american botanist who shared our dorm in refugio pehoe who walked to Glacier Grey and back with a full pack in gusty conditions. His tip: Walk everywhere.
4. The website is fantastic and was similar to what I had envisioned prior to our trip.
5. The porters carrying 35-40 kgs of packs travelling at record times, stopping only at streams to grab a drink.
6. It costs more for a horse to carry your pack than a human.