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11.26.2005 -- CHILE: Santiago, Chillan, Pucon, Bariloche, Calafate, El Chalten --
Chile: Hostelerias, advancing glaciers, hiking, climbing, asados, and the gringo tax...
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November 26, 2005
So we arrived in the airport in Santiago from Peru where we were met with a $100 per person reciprocity fee... what does that mean? It means our ass is chafed by these silly fees. Like Brazil, we had to pay a bunch of money to get into the country. In summary, the US government is charging Brazilians and Chileans a bunch of money to get into the US. So, they in turn are charging US citizens the same. Can't the big boys just play nice? After the shock wore off, we stomped our feet, cursed the respective governments and paid the money. All said and done, were ready to enjoy Chile.
We spent only a couple days in Santiago and headed south to Chillan to visit a family friend and her family. Tity (pronounced Tee-Tee Scott) was unbelievably hospitable and we have no idea how to reciprocate... we will figure it out when they come to Denver I guess. We spent a brief night out at their mountain apartment and another one at their beach house (right on the beach). The weather wasn't particularly great for either... too late to ski and too early for sunning & swimming. We enjoyed regardless ... both were beautiful places.
From there, we went to Pucon. Wow... the town is situated on a lake with an active volcano looming in the background. It is a spectacular setting. Pucon is, for all practicalities, a tourist town. While we did not climb the volcano, which was one of the offerings in town, we managed to get out and do some day trips. One day we did a full day of hiking at one of the nearby national parks. We also rented mountain bikes for a day and did a 50 kilometer round trip up to a lake and back.
After a couple days in Pucon, we bused it down to Puerto Varas which is a Port town with a bit of tourism too. It is used more as a hub to get to other places, but it is cool little town by itself. We stayed at this little hostal called Don Raul's. The hostal itself is nothing to write home about. However, it is clean and the owners are incredibly friendly. For the Spanish speaking novices, they were most forgiving and helpful. We realized that we needed to go if we were going to make it to the Patagonias and spent only one night in Puerto Varas... leaving for Bariloche, Argentina the next day.
There are a couple options to get to Bariloche... one includes an expensive bus/boat combination, another is an expensive flight and the other is a cheap but lengthy bus ride. Which one do you think we took? Right ... the cheap but lengthy bus ride. However, we'd do it again because it was a beautiful ride through the Andes north of the Patagonias.
Situated near a couple ski resorts as well as a couple lakes and a bunch of great hiking and rock climbing ... Bariloche is an adventurer's paradise. The town itself is also a nice destination on its own. We
stayed at Casa De Familia Arko. It is a little "chalet" in the backyard of a house owned by an 83 year old woman from Slovenia.
She greeted us at the door and instructed us to go around back. She showed us the room which is up the "vertical ladder" of a staircase and then left to get the sheets to make the bed. Up and down this vertical staircase she goes. We were a bit nervous watching her, but she assured us that it was fine as she had been a "pretty good mountain climber" in the past.
Bariloche prides itself on the fine quality of their chocolate. Maybe we went to the wrong stores... waxy chocolate was not what we had in mind. The Belgians and Swiss have nothing to worry about.
We found a nice overnight trek (can be done in a long day) up to Refugio Frey (similar to the huts in Colorado). Up there, you can pitch a tent or pay for a bunk. They also serve meals if you want or you can pay a small fee to use their kitchen. The place was situated in a huge bowl next to a lake, which was still frozen over. There was still massive amounts of snow as they received an abnormally high amount of precipitation in the Andes this past winter. Normally you can do a three day trek from "hut to hut" and back to Bariloche.
After hours of postholing and sloshing through the mud, we decided an out and back would be just fine. The place was packed with hikers and rock climbers. We met several other international travelers as well as several locals. We spent the afternoon talking with Pablo who is a transplant from Buenos Aires. His friend and roommate, Caco, is a climber and Pablo was just hanging out. We took a couple liters of "wine in a box" and finished them before dinner. Two Alaskans, Mark and Lisa, joined us and we polished off 4 more bottles of wine... did we mention wine is good and cheap in Argentina? Mark and Lisa are from Talkeetna, AK and were there attempting to escape the start of the Alaskan winter... oops.
We returned to Bariloche a day earlier than we expected. As a result, we were met with a little tension from the owner of "La Casa de Familia Arko". She wasn't expecting us and was in no mood to make the bed. We assured her that we could handle that, but she would have no part of it. She was bent because she starches and irons the sheets. We actually thought she was not going to let us stay there that night. She finally caved with a little sweet talking. Don't mess with an 83 year old woman set in her ways. Right Grandma?
The night we returned to Bariloche, we hooked up with Pablo and Caco for an asado (BBQ) at their house. This is the second time we have been invited to dine with locals at their homes and we have enjoyed these
moments as much as any on this trip. Hopefully, the guys will make it to CO some day.
We left for Calafate the next day as Patagonia was our goal. It took more than a full day on the bus to get there... buses in Argentina arenīt bad by the way... we probably already mentioned that. We arrived in Calafate at 1:00 am and wandered around the streets for better than an hour and a half looking for a place to stay. Crazy enough, most places were closed or nobody would answer the door... go figure. The only place that did answer the door, was full. Even the municipal campground was not open.
Maybe this sounds strange, but we fully expected places to be open given the hours people keep in Argentina overall. The restaurants were full when we arrived. Todd had the idea of asking the fire station if we could camp in their back yard. Turns out, there is a campground 100 yards behind the fire station that was sorta open. We set up camp and in the morning the owner showed up. The campground doesnīt actually open until the middle of December. Now isnīt that crazy ... it is spring and the town was packed with tourists. Regardless, she let us stay for a couple nights.
Calafate is where you can see some of the world's only advancing glaciers. We hooked up with a couple of Italians and a crazy Belgian and rented a car to go out to Perito Moreno Glacier. Renting a car with others was the best bet as organized tours were a bit expensive. The Glacier was pretty active, cracking and popping the entire time we were there. We saw a couple good sized chunks of ice fall into the water. It was absolutely massive... several hundred meters across and 60 meters above the water. There really is no way to convey how awesome it was... the magnitude, sounds and colors.
We went to El Chalten next... where you can view, climb and hike around Mount Fitz Roy. They call El Chalten the treking capital of Argentina. Fitz Roy is one of the famous peaks in the Patagonias. When we arrived, spring conditions were in full force... "mud season" applies. We hiked up to Lago Toro to camp for the night. The climate wasnīt so great... cloudy, cold, windy and poor visibility. The second day was no better. In fact, it snowed quite a bit on the second day. We had every intention of returning to town and hiking back out to another camping area. BUT... we stopped at the hostal for a bite to eat and to warm up a bit and that is all she wrote. They had bunks available. The Aussies we met while eating lunch didn't help the cause. "Stay here, you donīt want to go out in that nasty weather. It is supposed to be nice tomorrow... get up early and go." So, we did.
We awoke to blue skies and beautiful views of Fitz Roy and the surrounding ranges. We hiked up to our camp site, Lago Capri and set up shop... then we went off to explore the area and snap some photos of Fitz Roy... wow... it is rumored to be one of the most difficult climbs in the world. The next morning we hiked up to a small glacier, Piedra Blanco. The boulder field leading up to the lake and glacier was nearly as impressive as the glacier itself.
We could have stayed for a couple weeks. There is so much hiking to do in the area. Unfortunately, we had to go. Ironically, the morning we left, the weather moved back in... it was pouring and miserably cold. Good timing. Since it would have meant a 33 hour bus ride costing nearly as much as a flight, we opted to fly to Buenos Aires. We are happy about that as it offered us another day in the city which we have enjoyed thoroughly. We havenīt even seen any of the tourist attractions - except the shopping. Oh, we did take a Tango lesson and saw a Tango show. We will have to save the Evita museum for the next trip as we are leaving in a couple hours for Costa Rica.
That said ... choi choi for now
-- Todd & Maggie
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