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It was Linnīs birthday and I had got her a beanie with a cute penguin on it plus some fingerless gloves so she could take photos without freezing her hands off. Alvaro (the liason officer) got the chef to bake a massive cake for Linn and everyone else on board. The whole crew and passengers sang her happy birthday in spanish. She got very very embarrassed. After that the boat sailed (now sunset).
We had a few various excuses as to why it took so long:
1) The wind is keeping us in port (the wind didnīt seem any different when we left),
2) The anchor had fallen off and they had to replace it (hmm maybe)
3)Chile was playing soccer on tv (BINGO!!).
The boat moored for the night before the first lot of straights so as to navigate them the next morning.
We all got up early to see the first narrow pass and werenīt disappointed, despite the freezing cold wind it was fantastic to watch the boat slide between the islands and mountains of the fjords. The countryside is really bleak, the wind howls through and its constantly wet and there is almost no shelter, the natives must have done it tough. The women apparently used to skin dive in the freezing water for abalone and the such with only a layer of seal oil for protection. I thought about trying it but changed my mind, where was I going to find a seal!
The boat seemed to be constantly surrounded by gulls, terns and albatrosses, the latter which glide effortlessly just above the waves and were great to sit and watch. We were allowed on the bridge whenever we wanted and Stuart (Scottish guy cycling around bits of South America) said heīd like to see dolphins and then the water in front of the boat erupted in movement. Rushing to the side of the boat we could see that they were brown and grey seals, launching themselves out of the water as they swam away. Well that got us all on seal watch and we spent the rest of the day doing that.
That night we got to Puerto Eden. I had wanted to see it in the light but had to be content with seeing what I could with the ship spotlight as it scanned the island. This town has no roads connecting it, only the Navimag brings supplies. The houses are crammed between the water and the steep slope of the island. Definitely an amazing place. Probably a good place to go if you wanted to get away from it all but the internet would be slow!
The next day we steamed through the next series of amazing passes at sunrise and passed a rusty boat which had been grounded in an insurance scam in 1960. It is now hosting several hundred birds. One of the crew members on our ship was apparently one of the people who rescued those grounded on the boat.
Apart from looking out the window, our days consist of eat, sleep, eat, sleep, eat, sleep. The meals are really big and there is no way you could possibly get hungry between meals. We are approaching the open ocean and the Gulf of Pena?, so we all took sea sickness pills which put everyone to sleep.
The next day the captain made up time by sailing around the last of the fjords, we saw a few dolphins doing spiral jumps a long way away from the boat. We sailed past Chiloe, it was weird to such rolling countryside after the ruggedness of Patagonia. Talked a lot to Alvaro who has climbed ītoo manyīmountains, and has ītoo manyīfriends. He is a nice guy and did give us some useful advice. Got into Puerto Montt at about 7pm and said our goodbyes and thanks to the crew. The town is nothing special but since we wanted to use the post office we had to wait till monday so we found a hostel in town.
That night the four of us plus Susan (Aus) and Marie (UK) went out to this great little restaurant with the front of a boat sticking out of the roof. The inside is just crammed with antique odds and bods and some really interesting tables.
Tomorrow we plan to go to Chiloe.
From :
Blair
The bus ride to Castro, a city on the island of Chiloe took 3.5 hrs. we arrived there at lunch and yet another salmon a la plancha (fried salmon). Tom had Curanto. it came on a massive plate with shellfish, hunk of steak, piece of chicken, sausage (chorizo), some other chunks we couldnīt identify, bowl of stewy stuff, and a bucket for the shells. we helped him out. i swapped some of my salmon for some shellfish. Blair had the lomo a la pobre.
we walked around the markets there that had heaps of handicraft stuff. there was a lot of woolen stuff, so guess what the familyīs going to get for xmas....
The one famous picture of Chiloe is of the colourful houses on stilts. So we decided to go in search for it after we were all handicraft-out. We walked along a very dodgy, slimy beach until we finally found it at one end of Castro. They were very pretty and since it was low tide you could see people far out picking Tomīs lunch, the shellfish. We walked up hill back to the center to a pretty little square. It seems no matter how small the village/town, there is an obligatory square (and it is square) with flowers and trees and named after some important date (usually independence of the nation). The church at one corner of the square was small but quite pretty.
We arrived back in Pto Montt late and discovered every shop to be shut so we ended having greasy empanadas from a corner shop.
From : linn
Today we experienced the absolute nightmare of travelling in a coutry where you donīt speak the native language. The POST OFFICE NIGHTMARE!! We had thought that after carrying a stupid rug and a vase (yes a VASE!) since Pto Mardryn, it was time to send it all home. We had planned to do it via seamail, and well where would be a better place than the port town of Pto Montt...well what were we thinking?! after walking for ages to the central correos (post office) we find they donīt do seamail, but then they said that australia was in the asia region which was the second cheapest region for mail. well blair itīs not cheap but itīs not as expensive as i thought?!...ok after spending 1 1/2 hours packing the stupid parcel, having the guy find us a tiny roll of tape which we couldnīt use very much of we weigh the 6kg parcel. And then (punchline) ... No australia is not in the asia but in the Oceanic region, which happens to the most expensive......OK!!!! breathe...
well it only cost about twice as much....but but but but but but....after many buts we gave in completely frustrated. well fine here just charge it to the credit card. No cash Only, "no acceptar tarjetas"...
we got some cash off fran and tom who had been waiting patiently outside through this ordeal. anyhow we got it all done and had a receipt for the package so if anything happened the guy was going to get hell and a half out of me.
That afternoon we took a bus north to Pto Varas. Instantly as we got off the bus we were relieved, just because it was a much nicer place than Pto Montt. We found a nice place to stay, Los Colores del Mar. And a really big supermarket that had all the DDL (dulce de Leche) that tom and i could eat. We cooked lasagne for dinner. and another dicovery was made for these ignorant travellers. the pasta wasnīt instant! you need to cook it first in boiling water for 10 minutes. oh well, it the lasagne had texture!
It was drizzling all afternoon so we didnīt get to see much. Pto Varas is a little holiday town for holiday goers in the lake district. there is a pretty lake nearby and many up market souvenir shops, not really for the ordinary travellers.
From : Linn
Yet another bad Post Office experience, but this time it had to do with stamps. enough with these chilean post offices!
We walked around town and found not much to do so decided to move on to Pto Octay. There we found a wonderful place to stay, the Zapato Amarrillo (yellow boot). Pto Octay is a tiny town but quite quaint, not touristic at all. The area is full of dairy farms, so itīs lush green with huge lakes and 2 volcanoes in the distance.
The house we were staying in was very nice. Itīs quite new and had grass growing on the roof. Itīs run by Nadia (chilean), Armin (Swiss) and their 5 yr old son Dominic. The beds were comfy, the showers were hot and the breakfasts were wonderful with home baked bread. we stayed for 4 days.
From : Linn
We caught the Osorno bus from the street infront of the house to an intersection. Waited at the bus stop for about 1.5 hrs for another bus to another town, Las Cascadas. While waiting at the bus shelter we met a Chilean carpenter, Memo. Our conversation with him covered soccer, September 11th, war in Afganistan, where the real chileans live (Temuco), soccer, comparing the weather in our respective countries, dislike of Argentinians, how busy Santiago was and of course soccer. Tom suddenly became fluent in spanish on the topic of soccer and the state of the St Auburns soccer team was going.
We finally made it to the town of Las Cascadas. Armin had drawn us a map of the path to the waterfall there. it involved crossing 2 logs over the river and just before we get to the waterfall there was a part where we needed to walk across some rocks. We followed the map quite well until we got to the rocky part. We couldnīt find any rocks big anough for us to cross so we waded across with our shoes off. Mind you because it had been raining ligthly all day we had our rain coats on. Fran went first and I followed holding my boots delicately above the water in my right hand. Being the clumsy git that i am, i slipped and my right arm went in first to stop myself completely falling in. Blair found it very amusing. My boots were completely soaked. Meanwhile my toes were getting frozen in the water. It was all too much really, a complete palava as the brits would say. Everyone else managed to stay dry.
The waterfall wasnīt Iguazu of course but very nice none the less. I think all the trouble we went to to get there made us appreciate it more. On our way back i fell into the river again. But enough of that. We had our sandwiches standing under some dripping trees. 10 minutes later the sun came out. Sat in the sun for a bit attempting to dry off. But then it started raining again but harder and got soaked again. We were very happy when we finally got back to the Hostal.
From : Linn
As you have most likely noticed our schedule is hectic, our bodies pushed to the limits of physical endurance and yet somehow we go on!! So one can be forgiven for taking a rest day. Iīm sure you all understand.
Linn sat on the patio and read Lord of the Rings as I braved two awkwardly placed barb wire fences to get the perfect shot of Vulcan Osorno, only to get the fright of my life when their dog came running up behind me. Anyway composed myself took the photo, renegotiated the fence, did Tai Chi for an hour, a very nice day.
Nadia recieved some brochures today and on them she has that sheīll teach her guests how to make empanadas chilean style, so Linn and I took her up on it and she wrote out a recipe list and we walked into town, did the shopping and came back to make them. (You too can try them, just follow the link) They were delicious!
Recipe: Chilean Empanadas
We were planning to get them done before Fran, Tom and Clare came back from there horse riding trip, but well we didnīt, so hey what can you do! Everyone seemed to have a great day, part of it must be due to the Zapato Amarrillo Hostel.
From : Blair
Nadia and Armin organised a minibus (read: School Bus) to take us to the starting point of a walk which goes around the back of Vulcan Osorno and then to a very small town called Petrohue. The walk itself was quite easy and views stunning. When the clouds cleared, which wasnīt very often, we got some really good views of the volcano. The countryside is beautiful around here, defintely worth thinking about for those of you interested in trekking.
We also were very fortunate to get another Tom George piece of wisdom today, not to be taken lightly at all!
Tom: Suppose the volcano erupted and you knew you were going to die, do think the best thing to do would be to photograph the volcano erupting and then hurl your camera as far as you could out of the way of the volcanoes path? Would it make it out?
Rest of Us in between hysterical laughter: Yes, Tom that would definitely be what we would all be concerned about if the volcano erupted.
This is potentially very unfunny for everyone but us, however a) if you have seen Tom take a photo with their camera (manual, very very slow) and b) considered the distance one would need to throw said camera, assuming said camera didnīt break on impact, one might imagine the previous scenario to be vaguely humorous.
This piece of wisdom outdid my stupid thought for the day which was:
Picture two cows talking, one looking down at underside of his own hoof.
Cow1: Goddammit Frank, I stood in cow shit again, was that you?
Sorry folks, I apologise for that.
From : Blair
Went White Water Rafting today with AguaAventura. Got kitted out, wetsuit check, helmet check, paddle umm check, raft check, ok lets go. Got the instructions in Spanish with one guy volunteer translator, um so there are six rules, umm what was rule five again?
The rafting went for about an hour and a half and we did I think level 5 rapids, which might mean something to someone. Definitely good fun and not quite as scary as I thought it was going to be. The big large guy behind did fall out right at the end and it took three of us including the guide to haul him back into the boat. Got some photos from the place of us looking really cool and in control, hmm did anyone believe that?
Climbing the volcano tomorrow.
From : Blair
Are you ready for 5 1/2 hours of all uphill climbing? Umm well we werenīt! We got up at 5:30am and headed over to the tourist office, got our stuff which we organized the day before. A little backpack with crampons (if it gets icy), jacket, waterproof pants, gloves, our beanie, plus whatever food and water we brought, plus ice pick strapped to side.
Now there is a chairlift which can take you the first 400m up the mountain but since we were there so early we had to walk. We had two guides and a medium size group, the climb starts at 1400m and finishes at the lip of the volcano at 2847m.
The weather was really good when got to the National Park, we had some sensational views over the area, several other volcanoes were visible poking out above the clouds in the distance.
Using our icepicks as walking sticks we zigzagged our way up the mountain stopping every now and then for water or chocolate, or to blow our noses. The air became bitterly cold and the wind kicked up such that from half way up the volcano we were completely clouded in.
Linn and I and this other girl were the three slowest with the guide following behind. They seemed to run anywhere when the time called for it, however for us it was just one step at a time. It was grueling. I think Linn was cursing my very existence the whole way up, but there was no turning back and you just had to plod on.
Our group must have been going slow because we were beginning to be overtaken by other groups, some with skis and snowboards strapped to their backs. A little over halfway we stopped and put our waterproof pants on, not so easy on a 45 degree slope on ice in the wind. We continued up and before the last push to the summit we had lunch, huddling together trying to get out of the wind, still seeing nothing but cloud.
The walk to the summit was only another 15 minutes and when we got there the only thing that told us the volcano was there was the occasional gust of sulphur which just over powered you and forced you away from the edge. We couldnīt see more than 10 metres, but we made it to the top!
Getting down was simple, walk to said spot, sit on bums and slide down to designated stopping point, hmm easy you think. Well Linn was a īlittleī apprehensive so we decided to tandem with me in front. My job is to look at the scary scenery and stop us when we need to stop.
OK, so we get in the little chute and start sliding, hmm , weīre gaining speed, Linn starts to giggle, hmm my feet donīt seem to be slowing us down, Linn is laughing, the phrase īthis is fun!ī comes to mind, umm, my ice pick isnīt working either, umm I think we just jumped the chute at that last corner, hey thereīs Fran standing up in the middle of nowhere, umm still canīt stop, collecting vast amounts of snow between legs, Linn is really really enjoying this, Blair is panicking!!! Ahhh Linn I canīt stop us!!!
We managed to refind the group, but that scenario repeated about five times down the mountain, the last section involved walking through the snow to the bus, by the end I just ran, we were all completely soaked from the waist down and exhausted. Really glad to have finished.
From : Blair
Rather unexciting day drifted from café to café, did emailing, went to the bar from hell, Bar Bazul, the bar is situated next to the church and the owners insisted on playing death metal really loud throughout the day. We were the only customers, Tom almost picked up a prostitute except he thought she was offering to buy him a drink not the other way round, so he said īNo, graciasī.
From : Blair