Lakes District

Chile - La Serena and Valporaiso

Snow play

My latest adventures are joined together with a common theme that seems to have surfaced lately, all having been concentrated in somewhat colder circumstances than those in the deserts of the North. Dropping from 15· to 40· south does make something of a difference to the temperature! Difference enough in fact for some snow to fall and provide some great opportunities for fun and adventure!

First up: Skiing (Valle Nervado, Santiago)

I'd pretty much given up on being able to make the ski season while I was in South America this time around, so when I got to Santiago and found posters all around the hostel advertising that the season had been extended due to new snowfalls I jumped at the chance to go: half a day, half the runs open, half the price, all gear and transport included, and still cheaper than a lift ticket alone costs at home!!

So into a car with 2 Americans, a German, a Pom (fiercely denying he was practically Aussie after spending most his life there), a real Aussie from just around the corner from me in Melbourne and 2 Brazilian cricketers from the national team who'd never seen snow (and who new Brazil had a cricket team PS?? Funnier still was that they all had to learn English to play the game and on field they all talk in English rather than their native Portuguese-even to slag the opposition!).

The drive to the mountain was a little scary (as I have come to expect in SA) on a windy road, the quality of which left something to be desired considering it was the only major route to Santiago's premier skiing destination! The cause was not helped by the driver informing us that a woman and her child had died in recent mudslides/rockfalls over the road, and the numerous enormous boulders that still could be seen from these falls along the way. But the drive was very picturesque, and somewhat surreal what with snow capped peaks looming above as cactus continued to dot the mountain right up to the snow line.

Now for the end of the season, I was expecting a bit of snow, patchy cover, and maybe an ok run or two avoiding bare patches and rocks. I could hardly believe it when we arrived and there was nothing but white on all the runs, and the whole place was ghostly free of people. I thought that it was probably more snow at their season's end than I'd seen any of the times I'd been skiing in Australia and couldn't understand where all the people were and why we couldn't use the whole mountain!! My only thought could be that they are so spoilt during the season anything less than several meters isn't worth the trouble! I can't imagine how amazing it must be at peak season, but my first experience skiing in the Andes was enough to make me want to go back and see. Above the tree line, wide open runs and wonderful views to the valleys and mountains around, the fact that the sun was shining made it all the more beautiful.

Second: Climbing Villarica Volcano (Pucon, Chile)

I hadn't intended going into the Chilean South, but word from several people about the beauty of the place easily convinced me to check it out. One of the magnets of the Lakes District is Pucon, where it is possible to do pretty much any adventure activity you want. Top on most people's list is to climb up Villarica Volcano, one of the most active in Chile, about 2800m above sea level,, covered in snow and picture perfect (it also has a ski centre on it but again, closed despite the generous snow cover still present!).

Hiking in snow was much more difficult than I'd expected at first, and my feet felt like they had lead weights on them with the boots we'd been given. But it became clear that the road to the mountain was the hardest bit as it was so churned up and icy. Thankfully the lift to jump you up a few km had reopened for the first time in 2 weeks, so with a little head start we began our criss-crossing march to the top, a 3 hour journey not nearly as difficult as the first half hour had suggested! We had to use an ice pick for balance and stop every half hr or so for breaks, but the sun was out and I can't tell you how beautiful it was to look out over white snow to cloud covered valleys, enormous blue lakes, and several other snow-capped volcanoes and mountains in the distance. At the top you can hear the sound of water trickling over rocks as it melts into the deep crater (sometimes lava is visible), which puffs out consistant clouds of smoke that smells absolutely foul if you happen to get a whiff as the wind changes. It was probably one of the best views I've ever had over lunch!

But the fun wasn't over there. You may think that walking down a snow-covered mountain would be mighty difficult for fear of falling and sliding down...but actually, that's exactly the way to do it! Sit on your butt, use your ice-pick as a rudder and your feet for brakes and away you go!! You can even go in pairs or threes like a bobsled team, the front ones holding the feet of those behind. Three hours up and 20 minutes down, it was probably the funnest thing I've done so far and we were all giggling like kids in a candy store the whole way. Absolutely brilliant.

Three: Bariloche, Argentina

Bariloche is a well-known Argentinian ski destination, with one of South America's biggest ski centres located at nearby Cerro Cathedral. But this time of year, the weather is supposed to be much nicer in the low 20's, allowing some beautiful hikes around the surrounding landscape. Arriving in Bariloche was via a most stunning drive. The road between the Chilean and Argentinan border posts took us through ancient looking forests of Patagonian Cypress covered in wind whipped lichens, crystal clear rivers flowing into dazzlingly blue lakes, and of course the ever-present Andes standing over it all with their elegant dusting of white snow. Following this drive, I had high hopes of seeing the beauty of this region close-up with some walks around the renowned Nahual Huapi National Park.

So I checked into what turned out to be one of my favourite hostels so far: "1004". I had wondered about the strange name of the place until I arrived and found it was actually the address. Not the street address though, 100f actually stood for apartment 4, level 10. That's right, the penthouse! It has been turned into one of the friendliest, cosiest, homeliest hostels run by absolutely lovely staff, and has absolutely stunning views across Bariloche and the lake.

However, I actually only saw this view on the day I arrived, because the next morning I woke to a complete white-out to find that a snow storm had arrived, the weather was literally freezing, and a light dusting of powder had settled on the lovely alpine buildings characteristic of the town. It felt like christmas (or how I'd expect white christmas to be anyway!), and I didn't mind too much an excuse to sit indoors in the warm with a book and watch the snow flakes swirl in the wind past the window, and every now and then catch a glimpse of the icy churning lake, so charming and serene looking in the sunshine!

Reports were that the weather was to hang around a while, and I couldn't bring myself to head further south to Glaciar-land where it would no doubt be Antarctic. So vowing to return to the Lakes District to see it properly another time (or maybe even in true winter to hit the slopes!), I left on my last long-distance bus ride back to Buenos Aires.

And that is where I am now, sadly in my last week away but happily in much warmer weather! I've skimmed a few things in the blog which I might have time to backtrack and fill you in on. It's been so much fun writing for you all and your emails and comments have been fabulous to get and I'm stoked that so many of you have been reading- but more importantly enjoying reading- this blog. Thanks so much!! More photos will be coming up so look out for them soon.

Chau for now!

Chile: the cartographers dilemma

Chile can at times be a difficult country to get your orientation in thanks to the fact that all the maps of any useful detail in the guidbooks are split over several disconnetced pages, making locations of and distances between places difficult to asses. As such, when I decided to bee line straight from Arequipa to Santiago a few enquiries at the bus station quickly made it clear that a stopover was going to be needed unless I wanted close to 40 hours straight in the bus (though during one of those stops I did meet a girl who´d made her way from Ecuador to middle Chile, about a 3 day journey!).

So after a brief stop in Arica where I could finally set eyes on the ocean again and wave to my homeland from the other side of the Pacific, the next day I boarded my longest bus ride yet. My journey took me 23 hours south to La Serena, with nothing in between but mile after mile of endless desert-The Atacama desert to be precise-more famous as the driest place on earth. Yep, out here there is literally nothing but dirt, rocks and barren mountains covering about 1000km. Though spectacular in its own way, I gotta say brown does get a little bit dull after a while! By the time I got to La Serena even the modest colourings of the coastal desert (read cacti) took on an exaggerated beauty. However, travelling inland the next day there was nothing exaggerated about the beauty of the flowers to be found blooming in yet another tract of desert. A multitude of vibrant colourings and a wonderful diversity of shapes and sizes glowed as the sun set over orange sands and cacti fell into silhouette against the mountains.

It was a fitting floral end to what had mostly been a fauna oriented day, having taken a trip to the Damas Islands to see some of Chile´s marine life, and in particular the endangered Humboldt Penguins. Unfortunately the crystal clear blue waters and white sand beaches from the pictures didn´t have quite the same idyllic feel in reality as grey storm clouds threatened and winds chilled me to the core. But being joined by a pod of dolphins dipping and diving around the boat (and even jumping into the air to wave goodbye!) made it all worthwhile. Seeing seals, penguins, cormorants, boobies (the avian variety!), and even an otter was fine compensation for the bleak weather.

Unfortunately I was fast becoming aware that my travelling time was running out, and still with much to see in the rest of Chile I turned to yet another map page in my LP to determine my next destination in the thin country and again hit the bus station...next stop? Valparaiso, the shabby chic photographers dream...

Arequipa and Colca Canyon

Travel lessons from a gelateria

I´ve never been great at making choices. Faced with too many possibilities I'm easily overwhelmed into indecision. Like the gelateria in Rome I went to once that prided itself on having 100 flavours of icecream. I was a total wreck- how to choose between so many delicious possibilities?

South America has sometimes felt like that gelateria. Often I find myself faced with so many enticing options that deciding on where to go next can be quite the dilemma. Cuzco was one of the most difficult crossroads as I was forced to finally decide: North vs South, Equatorial sun vs the wilds of Patagonia. In the end, the lure of the southernmost point in the world won out, and I found myself en route to Arequipa, my last stop in Peru where another of South America's '-est' attractions awaited.

Whether it be the biggest, longest, highest, driest, most dangerous (est) etc, everything in South America seems to have an ´-est´ attached to it. In Arequipa, it´s the deepest. The deepest Canyon in the World: Colca Canyon. Such is the size of Colca that looking into it from the top, the whole view (top to bottom) didn't even fit on the screen of my digi camera! After soothing our tired feet in the cooling river at the bottom of the canyon, we arrived in what seemed like a little slice of paradise after a long trek. The little town we came to was surrounded by fertile fields sown with all number of crops and groves of fruit trees. In quaint stone walled paddocks donkeys were mulling over juicy grass as we walked along Inkan canals to the little straw rooved huts in which we would spend the night. Sitting on the grass watching the sun set over the canyon could only have been better with a fresh gin and tonic in hand!

Though idillic in setting, life in the canyon is by no means easy. Alcoholism is high and consequently male machismo often turns to violence, of which wives are usually the primary victims. A stop to the local medical centre brought the problem to life. The centre serves a dozen towns within the canyon, but as access to all of these can only be by foot or donkey, there is nothing speedy about medical treatment. The most distant town takes 1 and a half days to reach by foot, a round trip of 3 days for anyone requiring medical attention.

Prior to the centre having an oven for sterilization, the story was recounted of a woman waiting patiently for sterilized equipment to be returned from hours away, while her severed finger hung from her hand. Risks in childbirth too become a problem when women fail to make the journey to attend regular check ups throughout their pregnancies given the distance and the time out of their duties required to make the appointments, resulting in many preventable deaths of mothers, babies or both. These are some of the poorest people in Peru, but also some of the loveliest. And though medical provisions are vastly lacking, the saving grace is the fertile lands mean that no one here goes hungry and tradition medicines can often be employed to treat some ailments.

So after an educational trek and a lazy afternoon lounging in swimming pools at the canyon's oasis, it was time to walk back up that horribly steep hillside with its four hours of torcherously steep switchbacks-well, if you're a sucker for punishment that is... The smart ones? The smart ones ride a mule! So we saddled up our noble steeds and let them do the work, as their master trotted along behind on foot with unbelievable fitness for his age encouraging his charges along with shouts of mules, mules, vamos! (let's go!) the entire way. I think Juan was more concerned for the welfare of his mules after carrying the guys with their heavier weights and packs, because for him the climb was "no problemo", and even after the 2 hr steady climb he'd barely raised a sweat!

And with that came the end of my time in Peru, where I felt like I got back to Pachamama (mother earth) with some fantastic outdoor experiences and incredibly beautiful natural wonders. But even though I'd decided to leave Peru from Arequipa, I found myself again with that 100-flavours feeling of indecision and as I boarded my bus into Chile, I still hadn't decided where exactly I was going to stop. San Pedro? Arica? La Serena? Valparaiso? Chocolate? Hazlenut? Berry? Lemon? When it comes down to it, you can't really go wrong no matter what you choose. In South American terms, sacrificing one amazing site is only going to be rewarded with another spectacular experience so typical of almost every option available to you on this crazy/beautiful continent, and so you can never lose by deciding on a last minute whim the location of your next journey. All it depends on is time, money, and how many hours at a time you can stand sitting in a bus...

So until next time chicos, keep well and stay tuned for Chile!

Cuzco and Machu Picchu (photos)

Machu Picchu

The traditional Inka trail trek is so popular that you have to book a place several months in advance if you plan to do it. I didn't, so an alternative was always on the cards. I wasn't much up for gasping my way through thin air and days of leg burning hikes, so signed up instead for a different tour called 'Inka Jungle' which offered a bit more variation and a bit less exertion {well, supposedly}.

Though terribly disorganised the activities we did actually do were all fantastic, starting with a bike ride where we desended about 1500m from freezing altitude to warm jungle, the air temperature noticibly increasing with every turn on the 2 hour down hill ride to the town of Santa Maria. Although La Paz has the "world's most dangerous road", I think this could have come in a close second. The bends were sharp, the passing trucks were large, the road was narrow, and the drop off the side unthinkable. More scary than the bike ride though was the taxi journey between Santa Maria and Santa Theresa afterwards, where we were destined to spend the afternoon soaking in some hot springs. Well I'm glad we made it as our driver zoomed along a windy dirt road twisting and turning with no apparent need to use the brakes. I think he was entirely reliant on others hearing his tooting at every bend and giving way, because he certainly favoured the horn!!

By the time we got to the hot springs we definitely needed to wind down, and so spent an hour or so lying in what felt like a large warm bath under the stars watching the bats zoom by overhead. Bliss! After celebrating a birthday on the tour with some Peruvian pisco sours {pisco, lime juice, ice, sugar and egg whites. mmm.}, the next day we walked along the train line to the town of Aguas Callientes, the jumping off point to Machu Picchu. A tough climb up steep steps and long wooden ladders gave us a fantastic overview of the entire Machu Picchu site in the afternoon that not many seem to take in, and built the anticipation some more for getting there the next day (and the dread at the hundreds of steps you could see cut into the hill to get there).

At 4 in the morning as we began the first of what felt like a million of those steps leading up to Machu Picchu, I was well and truly looking forward to meeting the place in person. It really does feel a bit mystical as you get there {despite the hoards of tourists you're competing with}. As the mist finally rose and the city came into view, surrounded by towering peaks you've gotta wonder what possessed them to build a massive stone city in such a place. We joked that the architects and builders must've been begging the king to reconsider "seriously your highness, building up mountains is so BC". But royalty always gets its way, and I feel for the messengers who used to have to run, repeat run, between Machu Picchu and Cuzco daily {about a 3hr-ish drive} getting energy only from Coca leaves! But the exhaustion of the climb for us mere mortals is worth it because the city the Inka's left behind I found to be truly worthy of the hype that surrounds it, and was one of the most amazing things so far!

Though sad to leave Cuzco, of course more fun awaited in the South. The worst thing is always having to say goodbye to the great people you meet along the way. But on to Arequipa, the deepest canyon in the world, and a little touch of paradise...

Chau chau amigos xox

Proxima para; Peru

From one side of Lake Titicaca to the other, from Copacabana I crossed into Peru to the nothing-to-write-home-about town of Puno. Of more interest here than the town itself are the unique and unbelievable floating islands, still inhabitated by what looks to be the final generation of the Quecha speaking fisherman culture, now entirely reliant on tourism to survive. A trip to the islands is worth the feeling of exploitation however, just to see with your own eyes that the impossible sounding engineering actually works-everything in the village, even the 'land' upon which it's built is artfully constructed using the reeds at Lake Titicaca. But you wouldn't want to be in a hurry for the toilet, which is on a separate island a 10 minute boat trip away!!

The feeling of exploitation continued a little when a guy at the bus station messed me around with my bus to Cuzco, resulting in me paying money for services I didn't actually get (we were meant to stop at some interesting places along the way but my new ticket didn't include the entry costs because he switched my voucher for a ticket on his company instead of the one I booked!!). But it's funny how things work out, and I ended up meeting an Aussie girl who I spent the next week or so with in Cuzco where we had such a blast!! There are some places that attract hoards of backpackers and Cuzco +Loki hostel is definitely one of them! On a hill overlooking the beautiful city of Cuzco with it's Inka walls and terracotta rooves, the puffing climb up the hill to Loki was well worth it, and after about a week there I found myself seriously tempted to take up their offer requesting workers. I don't know if it was the people, the place or a maybe a bit of both but it was a really fun week-- not to mention the activities around Cuzco outside bar-hours!

From Cuzco stretches the Sacred Valley, right up to the pinnacle of Inka ruins-Machu Picchu of course. But before seeing the main event, it's nice to take in some of the lesser known places such as Sachsaywaman {'sexy woman' to the tourists!} and the churches around Cuzco which were built by the Spanish on sacred Inkan sites, but still contain elements of the Inkan constructions and beliefs cleverly incorporated by the slaves the Spanish used for their construction. But wandering around looking at ruins can get a bit dull after a while, so for a different view I decided to take to the air and signed up for paragliding with Linda. Let me tell you, I don't think there is a better way to see the Sacred Valley than sitting up there taking in the view of snow capped peaks rooted in a lush green valley dotted with towns and surrounded by ruins of ancient times past. It was totally chevre {cool}!!

So the anticipation was building to see Machu Picchu, and the talk at the hostel is all about "have you been? When are you going? What trek are you taking?". So it was time to get going, and the next day we were picked up at 7 to start the journey to the most impressive Inkan ruins around....