Chilean Lake District

We arrived in one piece, or at least Rawson did, into Puerto Montt, fetched our Peugeot 207 and were off. It was about a 45 minute drive south to the ferry to the island of Chiloe, our destination for our first couple of days in the region. We took the car ferry with just one other car across the bay, along with lots of seals, to the small port of Chacao, the main arrival spot for Chiloe. Chiloe is one of the oldest Spanish strong holds in Chile. The initial Spanish settlers were forced onto the island as a result of constant attacks on the mainland by the Mapuche Indians. The Mapuche were known as some of the fiercest indigenous people in South America and were able to prevent the expansion of the Incas any further south than the Bio-Bio river during the height of the Inca empire. Hence the islanders have developed their own culture a bit unique from the rest of Chile. Being removed from the rest of Chile’s development for quite some time, most of the island and surrounding smaller islands are quite provincial. This has resulted in an extremely quaint area. The homes of Chiloe are all built from and heated with wood. The wood industry is prime here. The down side of this is that, in the evenings, the valleys are all filled with chimney smoke. However, the upside is some unique and beautiful architecture.

So we arrived off the ferry and headed down the island to the capital, Castro. Charlie and Bryan were pretty hurting at this point, as they still have not slept except on the plane (recall they had been out dancing in P. Arenas with Bryan’s cousin the night before we departed). We rolled into town, parked and started looking for the perfect spot to settle for the night. We stumbled upon the Blue Unicorn and it called out to us. It’s similar to a Victorian in San Francisco that might be in the Castro, wooden, pink and deco art. We decided it suited us perfectly. We got rooms in the top floor of the inn and as it’s the off season we were just about the only ones in the place. The rooms were overlooking the bay with individual balconies and the views were just stunning. We immediately took a nap. Upon awaking we headed across the street to grab a bite. It was Rawson and Charlie’s first taste of the locos which are Chilean abalone. Bryan’s dad is known for being “loco for locos”. We were so-so on the locos. We had a nice meal and headed up to the town square for a look and an ATM. Side note on ATMs in Argie (NOT Chile as Bryan insists on pointing out). The Argie ATMs restrict you from taking out the amount of money that you actually want to take out at once. Really they are using it as a way to double charge you. You can take out the maximum amount more than once but they charge you the ATM fee each time, bummer. Anyway, we checked out the town, grabbed some Pisco, cola and wine at the store and headed back to our balconies to check out the sunset. We finally made a good decision on eating and skipped dinner.

We headed to bed early and set the alarm accordingly in order to catch some good sunrise shots off of the rooms. Sadly at 7:00 the light had already come and gone, so we snoozed. We did love the place so much, however, that we decided to stay an extra night. So we took a slow breakie and then headed out for a nice drive in Isla Quinchao. This island is totally undeveloped and only fishing villages and pasture land. It was just what the doctor ordered. We took it slowly and took the opportunity to test our amature photography skills. We took mostly back roads and some of them wouldn’t have been recommended for the Peugeot for sure. Actually, short of the one north-south road, there are only gravel roads. So, taking it slow is really the only option as Bryan and Rawson opted out on letting Charlie practice his rally car driving again. It was a blast. We stopped in the small village of Delicias halfway down the island for lunch before heading to the end of the island. Literally the end of the island as the road (all gravel roads for most part) ended at the beach. On the way back up the island, we did our best to get lost and test the extreme capabilities of the Peugeot. But it was along one of these random road excursions that we met an older gentlemen climbing up the hill from his village (unknown little spot) back up to his house. He looked at us askance as we were driving by so we slowed to say hello. We were as interested to chat with him as he was to take a break from his climb. The charming ol’ timer was almost 90 and had fought in the Chilean-Bolivian war of ’41. Bryan expressed his appreciation for the man’s sacrifice while pondering what war that had been. We’ve encouraged Bry to brush up on the Bolivian-Chilean conflicts which date back to Chile taking Bolivia’s coastal stretch back in the late 1800’s. The Bolivian navy has since practiced maneuvers on Lake Titicaca.

In route back to the ferry, we hit up a waterside ostras shack in Curaco de Velez. Ostras, or oysters, are farmed here and these were very fresh and shucked right in front of us, one by one as we ordered them. The entire region is renowned for its shell fish (mainly muscles, clams and oysters), but unfortunately they have been completely shut down by Red Tides this season as 2 people died and a third almost died. We rolled the dice with the farmed Oysters which we had been told were still safe. Guess they were! We drove back to the ferry along another road and sailed back to Chiloe for another fab night at the Blue Unicorn watching the Chile-Peru World Cup Qualifier match. Stunning sunset and stunning victory for Chile!!! Chi-chi-chi, le-le-le! The game was great, especially as Chile creamed Peru, but the 5 car victory parade was the highlight. We considering getting out there in our Peugeot, but didn’t want to overwhelm the traffic system in Castro. Chiloe isn’t exactly a metropolis. Off to bed, we’ve got a busy day tomorrow.

Monday’s alarm was set a bit earlier in order to catch the color of the sunrise on the bay we missed the previous day. We got a couple of shots but nothing spectacular. After breakfast and packing up we headed south on Chiloe to check out the other side of the island. There are 150 churches on the island of just 23,000 inhabitants. They were recognized as World Heritage sites (UNESCO) in the 70’s and the Chilean government has done a good job at protecting and keeping them in decent condition. Of course, with that many on a 100km long island, some are in better states than others. We saw a lot of them in 2 days.

In route to the ferry back to mainland, we stopped off at a renowned little oyster shack for a oyster lunch; literally about 20 each. Perfect light lunch and apparently also Red Tide free. After the ferry back to the mainland, we picked up the permission from Budget Car Rental to allow us to take the Peugeot into Argie, and off to Puerto Octay. We almost stopped off in a town closer to us but we’re glad we drove the whole way to the small peninsula, Centinela, off of Puerto Octay, in the extreme north-west of the lake. Our cabana was part of a beautiful estate right on Lake Llanquihue, overlooking the Osorno Volcano (completely unobstructed views). Our original plan was to sleep there and get an early start on Tuesday to drive the region and then head over to Argentina for a few days. We loved it so much we decided to spend Tuesday driving the circumference of the lake and spending a 2^nd night at Centinela. The drive was stunning. This region has a heavy German influence which can be seen in the architecture as well as the food. It’s quite beautiful and the kuchen is delish. There is something similar to English tea time here called “Onces” (pronounced ‘own-say’). “Once” is the Spanish word for eleven. This tradition came about long ago when the miners would take their 6PM break and sneak a Pisco shot. The Pisco they drank had an 11 on the label, so their code for let’s get a quick shot was “onces”. That developed later into a late afternoon tea with German kuchen, or cake. So, “Once” is basically tea time for boozers.

Ok, we made it back to Centinela around 6pm and watched the sun set from the dock on the lake. We had the hostess build us a nice fire in the lodge prior to dinner. We decided that since we were the only ones in the inn we’d like to take our dinner in front of the fire, so they set a table up for us in what would traditionally be the large common room or game room. The hotel had originally been a summer home for 3 families in the early 20^th century. It was stunning and had all the old charm of a German manor house. We were literally the only guest there (SIDE NOTE, come here in the off season to really get the deals and escape the main tourist rush; high season ended like 2 weeks ago, so now has been perfect). The property was great and we were so glad to be there a 2^nd night. Early to bed, Argie border crossing is early tomorrow! Buenas noches.

Torres del Paine

Chi-chi-chi, Le-le-le. After the bus ride across the border between Argentina and Chile we arrived in the small town of Puerto Natales, Chile. There is no bus station there, only lots of trekking guides and adventure tour companies. After meeting up with everyones favorite Chileano, Bryan, we headed toward Torres del Paine National Park to try to get our camp site set up before dark. The drive is spectacular. We drove out of Puerto Natales on the main road only for about 30 min. The rest of the way was on a gravel road through mostly estancia land. We had the Andes on one side and as we got closer to the park the massif of Torres del Paine on the other and wild life all around. Just a refresher for those of you who don’t remember, but Bryan has been a trekking guide in this park for the past 4 years. He is extremely knowledgeable about the history, the flora and fauna and the animals. We were both impressed. We just made it in time to get both tents set up before it got dark. We cooked dinner and headed off to bed to get ready for a huge day of hiking to the Torres del Paine themselves the towers of granite after which the park is named.

The day started out spectacularly. Crisp air, sun and blue sky. The park is in amazing condition and the hike couldn’t have been more stunning. We hiked up about 3 ½ hours to the base of the rock scramble to the view point of the torres which was steep, windy, cold and totally worth it. See the photos from our lunch spot at the lago below the torres. It was truly breath taking. Bryan ran into a friend from one of the resorts, Explora, in the park at the top of the hike who invited us to a party back at the resort to send off one of the managers and we gladly accepted. So, somehow Rawson was able to stand after lunch and slowly make it back down the mountain, just in time for the rain. It chucked it down for the last 2 hours of the hike (total hike ended up taking 8 hours of hard work). We were completely soaked to the bone and freezing once we got back to camp to break down our tents and head on to the 2^nd camp site. The rain was relentless so we decided to stay in the bunks at Campo Serrano instead of in a wet tent. We had a decent, warm meal accompanied by the Piscola (pisco and coke) standard beverage here in Chile. We’re debating the pisco or a questionable cream sauce with her fish, but Rawson went, in 5 brief minutes after dinner, from sitting on her bed talking to emptying her stomach on Charlie’s sandaled feet. As Rawson ran for the bathroom and Bryan vacated the room like it was on fire, Charlie proceeded to do clean-up. Now, clean up of that nature is never a pleasant experience, but Charlie handled it…almost. In the last minutes of cleanup, he made a dash outside, almost knocking Bryan over in the outside door way as he heaved around the corner to clear his meal as well! Luckily, Bryan’s chose were spared! After showering up and rallying, we headed to Explora to check out the party. It was true Chilean style with Piscolas and dancing. Rawson took a few spins on the dance floor with the locals, but only after they asked permission from Charlie. The music was a mix of 80’s hits and traditional Chilean gaucho music. Rawson impressed them all with her ability to agilely flip between the styles!

Wednesday morning we packed up our now dry camping gear, had breakfast and headed to the 12:00 ferry across Lago Pehoe toward Paine Grande. We set up camp right away and the rain wasn’t far behind. After the showers the boys decided to do a short 3 hour hike. Rawson was still recovering from the previous day’s beating. They didn’t get far… Patagonia is known for its quick changes in the weather. About 15 minutes in, it began sleeting in their faces and the hike was aborted in favor of a dry meal. We hit the bar and munched on some canned tuna and saltines and crashed early. The rain pounded the tents all night, but we awoke with only small puddles in the tents. Patagonia camping!

Thursday morning it was still raining, but we couldn’t sit out another day. We got the day started with some Nescafe and oatmeal, packed up and headed off. The sun broke through right away and the entire day was stunning. We hiked the French Valley around Lago Skottsberg on a completely isolated horse trail that Bryan knows about. Bryan gave us several lessons about trees and flowers. We had to traverse a couple of streams and make our way through a bog of glacier water. The water here is so clean and fresh you can drink it straight from the stream; one of the last remaining places on Earth were you can do so without any thought. The glaciers in Patagonia are around 70 million years old but the water that feeds the streams is only about 300 years old. It’s very fresh and VERY cold. We make it to Camp Italiano and had about 20 more minutes of hiking along the river and across the rocks before making it to the edge of the French Glacier to cook our lunch, mac n’ cheese and Mate. Cultural side note: Mate, pronounced Mah-tay, is very popular in South America. It’s a drink made from steeping Yerba mate in hot water. Mate is prepared by the Cebador in a hollowed out gord and sipped through the bombilla, or straw, which is usually metal. Bryan gave us all of the history and a lesson how to prepare mate during our time here. We’re all now quite adept at being Cebador in any conditions, even mobile. Roads make it a little tricky here, but…

Ok, back to the hike. We made our way back through French Valley along a different trail allowing us a nice circle trail instead of an out-n-back. On the way down, we ran into another of the guides from Explora with whom Bryan was friends. She was guiding a couple on a hike and they were cranking! As they plunged ahead we were trailing them for over an hour. As we rounded a steap bending climb, we notice the girl in the group doing a steep hike up an incline off to our left. As we reached the point she seemed to have turned, we all looked at each other questioningly as the trail clearly continued straight and down the saddle we had just climbed. After a brief discussion, we agreed she had messed up and was heading back into the park. Bryan to the rescue! Bryan took of after her and Rawson and Charlie went to try and catch up with her guide and her boyfriend. We caught them shortly and they were wondering where she was. 30 minutes later Bryan returned with a happy if somewhat flustered hiker. Hats off to Bryan for being the perpetual hero of damsels in distress! The rest of the hike down was beautiful, but issue-free. Down to Campo Paine Grande for one last beer before heading back to Campo Serrano. We had voted for one more night in the bunks so we wrapped the evening up with a little backgammon and Piscolas next to the fire. The Campo Serrano isn’t anything super special, but the common room, has nice a lounging area and a big fireplace. We all stuck with the File del Pobre (poor man’s steak) for dinner instead of trying the fish again which Rawson so enjoyed on our previous stay in this establishment!

We set the alarm for 6:00am Friday morning with plans to do a sunrise hike. Did we mention it rains here a lot? Well, we slept in instead. After breakfast we took a leisurely drive back to Puerto Natales and got some fabulous wildlife shots on our way out of the park, Guenacos, Condors and foxes. We had two spots along the way were the Andean Condors seems to be showing off just for us. One in flight in a valley just to the side of the road where we felt like we were watching him from above at points. One spot where a male and female were enjoying a kill. The photos of these birds don’t quite do their size and impressiveness justice. The wing span is 12 FEET across. We said Adios to Torres del Paine for now and a big thank you to Bryan for his expert guiding skills and amazing company.

After returning our camping gear in Puerto Natales we drove down to Punta Arenas to meet Bryan’s Aunt Carol and Uncle John (his lordship). John is the British honorary counsel in Punta Arenas and has recently been awarded the MBE, member of the British Empire, award by Prince Charles himself. We spent the night there before our 6:30 AM flight Saturday morning. Well, actually only Rawson spent the night. Charlie and Bryan pulled an all nighter at the disco. Ahhh, dancing away the night to 80’s tunes! We made the flight with no complications and off to Puerto Montt we go and up to Chiloe, a beautiful island off the mainland where it is known for rain and beauty comparable to Ireland! Hasta pronto!

Estancia Cristina and Big Ice Hike

Ah Estancia Christina! First and foremost we want to say a big thank you to everybody’s favorite Chilano, Bryan, not only for recommending Christina to us and convincing us to go, but for the total hook up with the staff and most importantly for the amazing champagne welcome! Muchas Gracias!

We were picked up at the hostel at 7:15 Wednesday morning and headed to the port right outside El Calafate. The boat ride took us across Lake Argentina, up through the Boca del Diablo straights, past Eco Upsala, right up to the edge of the longest glacier in South America, Upsala Glacier (named after a Swedish University which was the first to sponsor research there). Upsala Glacier has the biggest surface among the Patagonian continental ice, in spite of its big retreat over the last years, and is the 3^rd largest glacial plate in the world after Antarctica and Greenland . This glacier is retreating, you can see it clearly in photographs taken as late as 1986. The length of the glacier is 60km and its surface is 595 km. The depth of the lake in front of the glacier is about 1000 meters (yes, that is no typo), and the glacier reaches about 900 meters below the surface. Navigating the waters close to the glacier really made us feel like we were Leo DeCaprio and Kate Winslet (OK, maybe Rawson felt like Kate; Leo’s a punk). The Eco Upsala is a large ice berg that has a hole right through the middle, see pictures. Again, the colors of these bergs are truly amazing.

After being totally awe struck we headed up the Canal Christina to the Estancia. As we disembarked the boat we looked around for the ramp or dock or something, but alas there wasn’t one. We walked across the water hoping from rock to board etc until we reached the shore. The Estancia is in the middle of the Parque National Los Glaciers and covers a small portion of the northern end of the park. By small, we mean some 5000 acres. There are 3 lodges with 4 rooms each and a shared living room, total 12 guest rooms for the entire estancia. Oh, and there are about 25 on staff at all times, not a bad guest to staff ratio. Our room was VERY nice and the bath tub was a warm welcome for Rawson, yippee! She actually did come out of the bathroom a couple of times to enjoy the estancia. Juan Pablo (aka Juan-“pi”), our host, met us right when we arrived and guided us to the Octagonal Building where we checked in and discussed the next 3 days. His first words were “Chicos de Bryan”, so we knew we were in good hands. Juanpi explained the entire property to us and what the estancia has to offer. He then made some recommendations based on Bryan’s favorite activities and we eagerly agreed to his schedule. Once we got settled into our room it was time for lunch. We headed to the lodge, where lunch and dinner are served, for lamb parrilla served with grilled sweet potato and grilled pumpkin! Oh did we mention that this is an all inclusive estancia, so we were pre-advised to drink up (thanks Bry!). Juanpi introduced us to our guide for the next 3 days, Francisco (very appropriate). Francisco said we’d be heading out at 4:00 for a ride, on horseback of course. So after a hearty lunch we changed clothes and saddled up to explore the grounds. Rawson hadn’t been on a horse since Camp Chattooga (age 14), but did pretty well anyway. Francisco and Terry (the 6 month-old shepherd mix) lead us across the meadow and 2 rivers, up to an amazing peak to view that side of the estancia. It was splendid. We stopped at one of the rivers to view the spawning schnook salmon. At this time of year they are at the end of their life, only fighting for the right to mate and then die. They are HUGE and very aggressive, but not for catching or eating. After a 3 hour ride we all galloped back to the stables and were thoroughly exhausted, again. Oh, sidebar, Charlie lost his jacket along the way and Francisco had to ride back to find it. We actually caught a great picture of him getting it. Sadly for Francisco, it was SO far away that you need a “loop” to see him in the photo! Did we mention that Charlie (being the “expert rider from his Sanborne-days) bruised a rib re-mounting ever-eager-to-run horse after a bio-break? No, well, he toughed it out regardless and cantered along only to curl into a ball in the estancia and use copious amounts of Aspir-cream and libations. Ah, to be advancing in years!

Tea time is from 5-8 at the estancia, so we were just in time for the last leg. Tea here isn’t cucumber sandwiches and scones. We had a welcome cup of hot tea and a cheese board filled with jamon and queso and all of the compliments, nuts and dried fruit (not that we actually needed to eat again but whatever). Afterward we headed back to the room, Charlie for a snooze and Rawson for a hot bath, of course. The view from the bay window in the room is across the meadow to an expansive view of snow covered mountains, we’re just waiting for Robert Redford to show up somewhere. Dinner was at 9:00 (amateurs we are), so we walked up to the lodge for dinner and sat at our table, completely exhausted and not hungry at all. We were able to down a full meal in spite of ourselves. We skipped the postres and had a coffee instead and filled our wine glasses and headed back to our lodge to look at the stars, wow! When we finally got back to the room the staff had prepared an amazing atmosphere for us with champagne from Bryan and chocolate covered walnuts etc. Sadly we were so full, tired and full of wine that we had no more room, not to mention that the lights at the estancia are shut off at 11PM, it was 10:30. We decided to save it for the next day, after our hike. As advised the power went out promptly at 11:00, and it’s pitch black out there.

Thursday (3 weeks from SF departure), we were awakened at 7:30 when the power came back on and all of the lights came back on as well. We opened the blinds to watch it get light over the mountains from our bed. We went for a fabulous breakfast at 8:30 and Francisco met us at 9:00 with back packs filled with lunch for our hike. We had Augostin drive us in the snorkel-rigged “dually” to our starting point. We crossed 3 rivers in the truck, one was up to the windows. He dropped us at our starting point and the three of us headed out, in the rain. We started at about 400 meters above sea level and it was sleeting, hard, in the face. We took shelter in a building constructed years ago for the researchers and climbers by the parks department. We tried to wait out the weather, but it wasn’t letting up. So we tightened down our rain gear and headed back out, destination Upsala Glacier’s edge. In case you were curious, it’s cold next to the glacier. From there we hiked to Fossil Canyon, which Francisco explained is not actually a canyon at all but that it just sounds better in the brochure that way. Francisco is extremely knowledgeable in geology, and this is a special place with lots to know. The ground is covered with slate shingle and the mountains are an array of colors and textures. We made it to the fishing lagoon, but it was too windy for fishing, so we just had lunch under a tree before walking back to the snorkel truck to head back to the lodge. A hot bath and a nap were sounding pretty good after the horseback riding the previous day, ugh. Of course, another huge dinner and wine was still requisite before retiring before the 11pm lights out campers!

The next morning we had arranged to go on the “long ride” with Augostin. There are several Gauchos on the ranch, but enquiry informed us that Augostin is the real-deal. Brought up in a region west of BA, close the mountains, there is little else there but horses and ranches. His family has been in the horse business for generations. Although Spanish was the required language for conversation, Charlie muddled through as interpreter for the day. Augostin was amazingly knowledgeable per horses and the history of the region, always delivered with a wry smile that made you think he had a funny secret he wasn’t sharing. The ride was about 3 hours out to an overlook at the top of the valley to the north of the estancia. At a shelter built from logs and stone, Augostin whipped up an amazing parilla of steak and grilled veggies while Rawson and Charlie lazed about, drank some wine and ate an inadvisable number of Calafate berries. The legend is that if you eat the Calafate berry, you will be fated to return to Patagonia some day. Eager to ensure this is fulfilled, Charlie got a little over eager in his picking skills. Needless to say our horses were happy to oblige in eating the extras (well, actually only Rawson’s horse, the others turned up their noses). The view from the refuge was incredible. The weather had gracefully cleared for us that day and we could see several glaciers in the distance over the ranges out in front of us to the west and south. This is truly a place of stark mountains and sheer beauty. After 2 ½ hour ride back down, we had to hustle to board our boat back to El Calafate. We had an incredible time and owe a huge thanks to Bryan for the recommendation and the hook ups and of course, to all of the amazing staff at Estancia Cristina. Thanks folks!

Perito Morreno Glacier Big Ice hike:

In the interested of consolidation, we including our last activity in El Calafate with this same post. The BIG ICE hike on the Perito Morreno Glacier. This one day excursion run by the Heilo y Adventura travel company was surpassed in beauty only by the absurd price and lack of including anything but transport and guide for an all day affair. We won’t go into the details, but let just say it is a monopoly on the glacial hike and MUST be owned by one of the many relatives on the Kirchner political family who seem to have stuck their beak into every business in this beautiful country. Think Italian mafia without the overtly violent side.

This hike is the only one that actually allows novices to throw on some cramp-ons (metal spiky platforms that attach to your boots) and hike around on the glacier itself. Hard to describe how alien and surreal this environment feels. It’s not like hiking in the snow as the glacier surface is jagged and even flat surfaces are rough and almost sharp. Our guide, Luis, insisted everyone where gloves (not sure who wouldn’t want to on a flippin ice flow, but..) in the event you fall as the surface cut literally cut your hands like rough glass. That said, this is a perfectly safe activity and the guides know what they’re doing. Although not attached by life-lines, everyone is outfitted with a harness in the event you fall someplace less than ideal. On our hike at least, no one fell, but better safe than sorry. If the views of the Glacier showed off the amazing colors from our previous views, this blew it away. We must have blown though an entire memory card taking pictures. Don’t worry, you’ll just be seeing the final cut.

After stopping in a relatively sheltered spot to eat our lunch (not provided by the tour), we wondered deeper in to the glacier before circling around to hike out and catch our boat, then bus ride back to El Calafate. In all (including side trips) we’ve spent 10 days in this amazingly little town in the heart of Patagonia. But, it’s time to move on. Our last night was very chill as we head off in the morning to meet up with everyone’s favorite Chilean and we know well enough that such a reunion usually includes a beverage or two. Off to Puerto Natales and down to the Chilean park of Torres del Paine! Cheers!