$1 = 470 CLP (Chillean peso)
San Pedro de Atacama welcomed us with a scorching desert sun. Nice small town with low colorful buildings. The big downfall is that it is tailored to the bunch of tourists wandering the small streets. The prices sky rocketed from Bolivia being the cheapest country in S. America. The dollar won't go that far here so I will have to do some clever budget traveling.
There are quite a few tours you can choose from to take in the surrounding, climb few volcanos or just rent a bike and wander around.
Since with Yan we only had the afternoon we took the tour that took us through the Valle de la Luna and Valle de la Muerte (6,000 CLP tour + 2,000 CLP entrance fee). The desert landscapes were pretty amazing. The mud/rock/salt formations were stunning. You can hear their cracking/expanding/contracting. It seems as the whole thing will fall apart in the next second or two. Plants? What plants?!!! Desert as dry as they come.
https://picasaweb.google.com/maurycy.sarosiek/ChileSanPedroDeAtacama#
Wednesday, 22 XII 2010
Since the buses to Santiago were full until the 25th we went to Calama (2,500 CLP - 1.5h). We were told that we won't have any problems getting a ride from there. After asking all the agencies in town only one had few seats left but for tomorrow night D'OH!!! We even explored the option of renting a car with a Swiss girl Sabrina and Chilean named Leo who we met today. Everything would work out fine and it would have been cheaper then a bus but they wanted an extra 250,000 CLP for leaving the car in Santiago instead of returning it in Calama. We had no choice as to stay a night in Calama where there was nothing to do.
Thursday, 23 XII 2010
Since there was not much to do in Calama I decided with Sabrina to go back for a day to San Pedro de Atacama.
We rented bicycles (3,000 CLP per 5h) and rode off into the desert. The roads we took were really bumpy and the bikes were basura (trash). I was surprised they did not fall apart after the first few meters. The sun was pouring down the incredible heat and there was little relief. Good exercise and nice views though.
At 9:30pm we set out on a 21h journey to Santiago (40,000 CLP - holiday double price).
Friday, 24 XII 2010
The night did not go so well. The seats were small and did not recline whole lot. I would wake up several times with a numb arm or a leg. There was nothing we could have done. At least we won't be stuck in Calama for Christmas. We passed some time playing with the salt dice "TABARNAK!!!" hehe
We finally arrived in Santiago at 20:30pm (23h). It was a goodbye for Yan and I. We traveled together for 10 days. It was fun and educative. Thanx buddy. Buen viaje! Que te vaya bien!
Derek was waiting for me and took me in for this Christmas eve. We went to his girlfriend Gina's house. We had a holiday barbecue and they were exchanging handmade/creative gifts. There were mostly sculptures and poems on self decorated cards. The atmosphere was really nice. Chileans have a custom to eat late and go party till bright morning. I was too tired after such a long trip and my night ended around 3am.
Saturday, 25 XII 2010
Today was a happy day. My parents and my brother came to visit and we could spend this holliday time together. It was awesome to see them. Our celebratory dinner consisted of opłatek, kabanosy, piernik, trufle (Agnieszki), kruche ciasteczka, sernik and of course makowiec. It was more of a desert and everything was delicious!
Everybody was tired after traveling for hours so we rested. In the evening we went out to dinner with Derek and Gina.
https://picasaweb.google.com/maurycy.sarosiek/ChileSantiago#
Sunday, 26 XII 2010
Derek offered to take us to the park El Morado east of Santiago. We were able to drive in quite far into the steep canyon. At one point his car's engine wanted to jump out from under the hood so some of us walked. We took a stroll on one of the trails not knowing where will it take us. The walk was very pleasant rewarded by beautiful views of the surrounding mountains. It would have been a nice place to set up camp and climb the surrounding peaks.
https://picasaweb.google.com/maurycy.sarosiek/ChilePNElMorado#
Monday, 27 XII 2010
With limited time on our hands we went south to Temuco (11,500 CLP - 6h). This is where we branched off east to get to PN Conguillio. First, we had to take a bus to Melipeuco (1,500 CLP - 2h). From there the only way was to hire a taxi to take us into the park (20,000 CLP - 1h). Camping is an option but since my parents were traveling light without camping gear we rented a small cabin (50,000 CLP). We were driving in as it was getting dark. The volcan Llaima looked very impressive with ash and debris everywhere. The last eruption happened in 2008. We couldn't find anybody to register for the cabin with. After driving around for a while in the dark and honking few times a man literally came out of the woods and showed us to our cabin.
Tuesday, 28 XII 2010
We could have been climbing the volcano but with Mateusz but we set our mind on a different route. We took a Sierra Nevada trail followed by Traversia Rio Blanco with slight modification towards the top. It was climbing onto the peaks north-east of the volcano. The route was well worth taking. In the beginning it took us through a beautiful beach of laguna Conguillio. Then we climbed through thick, impenetrable forrest coming out onto a ridge. The views were stupendous. After some snow travel and snaking around bushes we got to campo base. From there the hard, or should I say dangerous part began. We were negotiating steep slopes on loose rocks, dirt and snow to get to the peak. It was intense at points but exciting and fun at the same time. This is what Dziks like hehe. We got to one peak but didn't have enough time to continue to a final one a bit higher. With an extra hour or so we could have made it there. Something for the next time around.
The way down looked even more sketchy. The snow was a bit frozen on the way up so I did not consider going down on it. Good that Mateusz decided otherwise and I immediately followed. This was the best part of this hike. The snow soften up and we were literally skiing down on our boots carving and all hehe. We had soooooooo much fun and didn't want it to end. Some slopes got pretty steep and we gained some uncontrolled speeds with bigger and bigger grins on our faces :))) Good times. It took us a small fraction of the climbing time to get down to campo base.
https://picasaweb.google.com/maurycy.sarosiek/ChilePNConguillio#
Wednesday, 29 XII 2010
It was time to leave this pretty place and continue our exploration. We had to come all the way out to Temuco to move further south. Make sure you ask everybody when the bus comes and then take the majority of the responses as true. The bus zoomed by in front of our eyes as I was taking a bite of a steak in a restaurant. We were told it was coming half an hour later and instead we had to wait two additional ones.
From Temuco we went to Villarrica (1h - 1,000 CLP). It is a small town at the west end of lake Villarrica. It was getting late so we stayed and relaxed.
Thursday, 30 XII 2010
Close by to the south there was even smaller pueblito called Lican Ray (45min - 700 CLP). There was a lake there also called Calafquen. The town had a nice feel to it as we strolled around the streets, beaches and forrest in between. We even had guide dogs that would join us at the slightest whistle LOL (Kuternoga).
We took a boat ride around the lake (2,000 CLP). It has 12 islands from which some are private with grassy lawns and shade giving trees. Unfortunately there was an overcast and we couldn't see the volcanos that scaled the horizon.
https://picasaweb.google.com/maurycy.sarosiek/ChileVillarricaLicanRay#
Friday, 31 XII 2010
It was time to split up in Puerto Montt (4:30h - 7,600 CLP). My parents were taking the boat toPuerto Natales and off to see Torres del Paine. For me the boat was too expansive ($400 cheapest) and I would miss too much in between. It was very nice to travel for a bit all together :)))
Mateusz and I weren't looking for a huge New Year's party. We wanted to do a few day trek together through the mountains. PN Vicente Perez Rosales looked very interesting so without much delay we went to Puerto Varas (45min - 700 CLP). Looking for some cheap, non-touristy joint to eat some late lunch we stumbled into a dive bar hehe. Filled with smoke and local workers getting their afternoon booze on. Huge churrasco and completo did the job.
Petrohue was a 2h bus ride away (2,000 CLP) on the shore of lake Todos Los Santos. We barely squeezed into the overflowing bus. We hoped we can trek the northern side of the lake crossing few peaks along the way. Our plan fell apart as soon as we got there. As it turned out there was no trail around the lake (later we found out that there is "some" trail somewhere for wild boar hunting but nobody wants the tourists go in there). There is no way to just make your own trail as the forrest is impenetrable and it would take weeks or months with a machete. There is a day hike trail to volcano Osorno but we wanted to keep going and find something for few days.
There was nothing we could do today as it was getting late. We set up our tent across the river (5,000/tent). Unfortunately this was the time of the BUGS!!! We couldn't get away from them even for a second. The most annoying were the colihuachos (huge bumblebee looking mothers), followed by tabanos (horse flies), mosquitos and plenty of other flying, biting bestias. It was a constant battle but no matter how many we killed there was always more wanting our sweet blood. GRRRRRRRRRRRR!!! All we could do is hide in the tent. So we spent New Year's Eve watching a movie ("Testostoron") on my iPhone in our house. The walls of the tent were moving as the mob of yet different type of flying nocturnal creatures was trying to get inside.
Saturday, 01 I 2011
Good morning New Year!!! I hope it'll bring only good things to everybody!!!
Well, this place turned out to be a tourist trap. The only way to get across the lake was to take the only catamaran that cost 22,000 CLP round-trip and you couldn't buy a ticket only one way. We didn't want to waste time, go back and take a bus through Osorno to Bariloche. Maybe we should have but at the time we didn't yet know what other surprises lied for us on the other side.
We crossed the lake (1:45h) to Peulla. We decided to hike Paso de las Nubes trail (2 days). The beginning was at the laguna Frias which was about 26km (16mi) away from Peulla. It was not an attractive hike with a steep climb on a dirt road so we wanted to take a bus. Surprise, surprise the bus cost 35,000 CLP!!! for such a short distance. There was no way we're paying these thieves so much. We didn't have any other option as to walk it. It started gradually uphill with lots of flat parts. The worst thing of all was that hundredths of colihuachos decided to join us for this hike. There was no running from them and the heat added to our misery. One truck gave us a short lift but the climb was still ahead of us. The two daily monopoly buses zoomed past us and we weren't anywhere near the end. We barely walked for about two hours or so. Some time behind them came the truck with the luggage of all these loaded tourists. Yes, the luck was on our side. Even though they weren't allowed they still took us all the way to laguna Frias YEAH!!! High five!!!
https://picasaweb.google.com/maurycy.sarosiek/ChilePNVincentePerezRosales#
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