Antofagasta, San Pedro de Atacama and the desert (Feb.19 to 26, 2011)

Antofagasta is not as ugly as most guides say and we even find the second largest city of the country quite charming. It is lively in the streets.

In short, we stay positive. We are now heading to San Pedro de Atacama directly, our most northern destination in Chile. It's desert, desert and more desert all along the highway. We end up camping in San Pedro in a lousy campgroung, but everything else is booked solid and full. We don't particularly enjoy San Pedro de Atacama : it's dirty, not paved, dusty and although they welcome our money, there is no effort made from this village to help the tourists. Once again, we experience a sleepless night as we get up at 3:30 in the morning to go see the famous El Tatio Geysers. It's dark and a little bit chilly, but the bus is in time to pick us up. It's one of the first guided visit we do, as we need a 4x4 to reach the geysers. Again, it's an awesome sight to see these geysers.

We also see giant cacti (which used to be used for their wood and make doors and houses) couple of pictures. These cacti grow one centimeter a year and when you think that some reach 7 meters high, it gives you an idea of how old some of them are.

We will see some vicunas on the road. We have forgotten our bad night ! In the afternoon, we head out to the Valley of the Moon. Very pretty spectacle ! An absolute must see !

The following night is slightly better, and we drive on our own to Socaire at 3600 meters and the ''lagunas'' of Miscanti and Miniques located 120 kms away of San Pedro de Atacama. The lagunas are located as high as 4300 meters. The whole scenery is magic. On our way we stop at the Salar of Atacama where we are able to see many flamingos.

At the end of the day, we start our way back to Santiago, but stop in Calama for the night, as we want to visit the largest copper mine in the world, the minas of Chiquicamata. See our section : Faces and places.

We don't want to rush back to Santiago. While visiting the mines, we met with a gentleman who is Chilean and who was held prisoner for 6 months in a camp when Pinochet was in power. He advises us that the camp where he stayed is located in the middle of the desert between Calama and Antofagasta at Chucucao, which has been made a National Monument. We decide to stop as we have been surprised not to hear anything about this sinister period of the Chilean history. We are not sure what to think about this deserted camp, or more accurately ghostown that we enter on our own. First of all, after an earthquake in 2007, it is not possible to visit it anymore. However, Alain and I roam the empty streets together. This former nitrate town was used as a work camp between 1973 and 1974 and held up to 1800 prisoners. We are surprised that there is no testimony left of this period, no sign. Is it the lack of resources from the Chilean Government or maybe nobody yet is ready to face this time and what happened then. We leave with our questions unanswered...

We decide to stay a couple of nights again in the beautiful Parque Nacional Pan de Azucar. It is the end of the vacation for Chileans and therefore the campground is almost empty (yeah !) : 3 tents left altogether and we enjoy two quiet nights in a row, on the beach, listening to the waves rolling and crashing. The sunsets are also quite fabulous in this area : as the sun disappears on the horizon, the clouds and sky turn to pink, orange and then red, before in turn turning dark...

 

And this time, we got to see Guanacos, for real !

It is nice to make a short pause during our visit in Chile. On February 22, 2011, this has been six months that we have left Montreal. Both Alain and I are still marvelling to be travelling, are taking the time to visit the way we are doing: combining cultural visits with hiking, just taking the time to relax and meet people. Every day, we feel so lucky and are happy to have stopped our routine and started this trip. We definately think that six months would have been too short.

We will be probably making a couple of other stops on our way back to Santiago one in La Serena, in Tongoy.. In short, we are On the Road Again...

Valley of Elqui and Parque Nacional Pan de Azucar, Chile (Feb13-Feb18, 2011)

Valparaiso to Monte Patria : A highway costing us 2400 pesos every 100 kms or so, the chileans coming back from vacation, heat, a scenery which looks like the South of the United States, a little bit like Arizona, we are in ''Le Nord''. Y que Calor ! The temperature is over 30 degrees celsius now. When leaving Valparaiso, we drove through Vina del Mar, a splendid balnear city on the shore of the splendid blue ocean and without a plastic bag on the streets ! In short, it's very pretty with an air of Nice in France. The coast after Vina del Mar is as interesting and magnificent. We leave afterwards the highway to head to Ovalle first, then Monte Patria. We end up in a small camping where again we are the only campers. It's the cheapest we have ever paid, 2000 pesos in total for both of us. Not expensive, but this is all it is worth ! That day, we finally try the Motte con Huesillo (or mote, not sure of the spelling... the Chileans don't seem to ever write it the same way)

It tastes like a plum juice with a couple of plums in it and some oat ! Some love it. Alain and I won't have it again.

We are always surprised by the abundance of fruits, melons and watermelons :

No neighbours, therefore a quiet night, for a change ! We head up to Vicuna, in the Elqui Valley and in the hospidaje where we end up camping we meet Michel and Lisette, a couple from Quebec who are touring Chile, Peru and Bolivia for four months.

Vicuna is a quiet little town and we book our visit for the following day to Observatario Comunal Cerro Mamalluca. Before heading to our celestian visit at night, we decide to visit Pisco Elqui, a nice small village where we will visit the Disteleria Mistral, in Spanish... We end up tasting the famous Pisco (40%). Some Chileans don't hesitate to compare it to Cognac... they are optimists . We drink a Pisco Sour, Pisco with lemon and sugar ! Really refreshing !

And it's time for our visit at the observatory ! This region of Chile has about 350 days of blue sky and no light pollution. The largest telescope in the world called VLT (Very Large Telescope, how original) is located 120 kilometers south to Antofagasta and is composed of 4 large mirors over 4 meters each. There is another one being built close to La Serena which will be operational in seven years whose mirror will be 42 meters wide, mind buggling !

Two hours of a crash course in Astronomy and although the size of the telescope was not what we expected, being able to see Jupiter and its stripes, its rings as well as other stars was a fantastic experience. And the cherry on the Sundae is the following picture of the moon taken with our own little camera !

and by the way, for the ones who are wondering about December 21, 2012, according to the astronomers, there is nothing special happening in the sky  that day!

Time is flying by and we still have to head North ! therefore, we head out again and end up in Caldera that day. The pension, Residencial Millaray, we find has been recommended by both the Guide du Routard and Lonely Planet. They both need a serious update on the comment on this pension and you can be sure I will be the one to send these guides my opinion on it. It's filthy and not worth stopping by!

On our way north, we meet Michel and Lisette again and have a coffee together, before splitting up as our roads are different from now on.

The Parque Nacional Pan de Azucar is on the Pacific Coast in the middle of a desert. We walk on the beach in the afternoon to discover our environment, walk to the next village of fishermen and we end up the day by walking up the Sendero del Mirador, with a magnific view on the cliffs and the sea.

 The camping is quiet !

Time to pack already and we start the trip towards Antofagasta. The 2 way road of 400 kilometers is incredible and even if the road is too straight, it is worth driving it to feel the desert and its contrasts. Sometimes, it is sand and cacti, then just sand, afterwards just some rocks and the hills with their different colors. 70 kilometers before Antofagasta, a hand seems to be waving at us, the one that we saw with envy on the blogs of our motorcycles friends, namely Victor, who rode down to Ushuaia. It's called the Mano del Desierto, a towering granite hand and it fits perfectly in the desert. It was built in 1992 by sculptor Mario Irarrazaval.

 

Linares again, Isla Negra and Valparaiso, Chile (Feb9-Feb13, 2011)

Oscar and Alicia are thrilled that we have come back to see them. At their place, their friends, Monica and Carlo as well as their son, Carlos called Caco are staying with them for their vacation. Caco, 24 years old, had an accident two years ago, when diving in a rio and has stayed paralysed since then. Caco is now playing tennis at a national level in Chile. When he is not training, he spends some of his time using his creative mind to paint on acrylic and this is how he is trying to make a living. See below. His art is truly special and original. This is his email address if you would like to contact him to see more and buy something from him : cacles_24@hotmail.com.

Yesterday, more of Oscar's family visited and we ended up cooking a cabri. The day was fun (and as Oscar would say : C'est la Classe !)

 loud and entertaining. Above short video shows Alain alias Aldo Macchione and Oscar, The Argentino !

Picture above of Alicia, Oscar, Carlos, ''Caco'' and Monica

It was time to leave Oscar, Alicia and their friends. This was a bit emotional for everyone, but this is part of travelling. You share wonderful times with people and you move on... We are on the road again to Isla Negra, Pablo Neruda's favourite house. In this house, Neruda has left an incredible collection of shells, ships in bottles, nautical instruments and colored glass, but the visit was spoilt by the guide, Marcela, who was busier checking her nails while talking rather than showing any interest in the poet. We leave the city of Isla Negra not in a very good mood, as this is very touristic and the guide really annoyed us. Once again, in search of a camping, we stop at a residence and try to speak the best of our ''Castillano''. The lady immediately picks up on my accent and says : do you speak English ? After chatting for a little while, we end up camping in her backyard and are being offered the tea, the breakfast, and a hot shower in the morning. We even get a warm blanket for the night. Thank you, Olga !

It's February 12, 2011 and we have a special thought for our oldest son, Thomas, who is turning 23 years old today. We arrive in Valparaiso at around noon that day where we quickly locate on Hospitaje, la maison de la mer. We decide to explore the city by foot. The city is all colours, hills, slopes and stairs. At first, we don't find it extraordinary, but then a visit in one of the city lift and on the boat will inspire us.

 A special thought to my former colleagues of TheMIGroup as we all  have shipped containers to Valparaiso ! Here they are on the docks, where they have just been offloaded:

We also try the Churillana in the Restaurant Casino Social, where the ambiance is friendly, sharing the table with strangers.

                                                                          Before!

                                                                     After !
We quickly walk to the last house of Pablo Neruda, La Sebastiana dans le Cerro Bellavista , but this time we decide not to visit it. Tomorrow, we are On the Road Again to... "Le Nord'' (for the French speaking people, with the accent of Michel Galabru in les Ch'tis)

Isla de Chiloe, Chile (Feb 4 - Feb7, 2011)

As scheduled, we hit the road for the Isla de Chiloe and we decide at the same time that our visit in the south of Chile will end at the extreme south of Chile, as it is also the end of the Carretera Austral (highway - Routa 5). It is the road that starts in Anchorage, Alaska, 21000 kilometers long.

The Isla of Chiloe belongs to an archipelago of some small 40 islands with 130,500 inhabitants. Its culinary speciality is the ''curanto``, a dish including seafood (mussels and large clams), sausages, chicken, potatoes. Needless to say that we have tried it !

Chiloe belongs to the region of the Lakes (los Lagos) and this is also the door to Patagonia, that we have decided to visit once we will visit Argentina. Another specificity for this island is the fact that 16 churches have been declared ''Unesco World Heritage Sites''. Most of them date back from the 18 and the 19th centuries. The oldest one is on a small island called Achao. You will see many pictures of churches on our website, not that we have become religious all of a sudden, but the architecture is truly unique and part of the island history. After taking the ferry for 30 minutes and paying 9500 pesos for the car, we are ready to discover this new region. We don't find Ancud much interesting and head directly for the ''Monumento Natural Punihil'' to see pinguins on their reproduction site, the only one in Chile. The mini cruise of 30-40 minutes will enable us to see the Magelland and the Humboldt Pinguins,

 and a few other marine birds (Chilean cormorans). We want to visit the the little house in the park and we are welcomed by a lady. This lady advises us that she stays there all year round, every day. We ask her where we may camp and she shows us a nice camp site for free. Again unbelievable ! We mention to her that in the last couple of nights, it was very chilly and before we know it, Lily tells us that she will let us stay with her in her house. We meet her nephew, Ramon who is visiting from Argentina.

Ramon introduces us to how to drink the famous `` maté``.

It is a ritual where sharing is the whole point of the experience. Prepariing mate is a ritual in intself. One person, the cebador, fills the mate gourd or calabash almost to the top with yerba, heating but not boiling the water in a pava (kettle) and pouring it into. Drinkers then sip the likid through a bombilla, a silver straw with a bulbous filter at its lower end that prevents the yerba leaving from entering the tube. The cebador pours water slowly as he or she fills the gourd. The gourd then passes to whoever the cebador decides to give it to, you drink it and then pass it back to the cebador. Argentines consumean averae of 5kg per person per year, more than four times their average intake of coffee. It is also very popular in Uruguay.

Ramon travels from Argentina by hitch-hiking for 6 months. We will bring Ramon to Quemchi. Ramon is a student who would like to become a Chef. Despite knowing Lili and Ramon for only one day, we are truly sad and emotional to leave them both. They have once again shown us how Chilean are generous, nice and be able to be simple at the same time. Gracias, Lili y Ramon!Picture of Lili below :

We have also met a guy riding a motorcycle from the United States who is travelling for 8 months in Peru and Chili with his wife and his Peruvian wife. We are eager to talk with them for a little while, and although we envy them in a way, we now are happy to be able to take really the time to meet with the local people from Chile.

De Quemchi, we will leave for Castro, Neron, Viluplli, Chonchi and we camp close to Cucao for 5000 pesos for the night. The place is magic, close to a lake, we obtain one more time an extra blanket to prevent us from being cold. We leave to discover the ``Parque Nacional de Chiloe, but this is a big mistake as when we come back, we are surrounded by another 7 tents and again until 2am, we will be patient and not sleep.

The following day, we reach Quellon, our final destination in the South of Chile, take a few pictures and we start our trip back to the North.

We end up camping in Castro, get another blanket for the night, go to eat a ``Curanto`` on a restaurant on ``palafitos``(pilotis). The houses on pilotis are typical of Castro. They typically belong to fishermen.

The following day, we leave the island of Chiloe and stop one more time in Frutillar and Puerto Varas to get better pictures of the volcanoes. For one last time, we eat a Kuchen too.

At the end of the day, we end up in a small village inhabited by fishermen on the Pacific coast, Mehuin. This village has been fighting a multinational pulp and paper company for about 5 years who has been polluting the ocean for about 15 years. The fishermen are obviously concerned as this is their means of living, but this is again a fight of David against Goliath, the company having much more money and who cares about some fishermen and their kids ! We camp in this village across the beach and again, our Chilean friends keep us awake until 4 am this time. Alain and I are now saying that if this keeps on going every night, we will need more vacation to rest, once we come back in Montreal !

As promised, the following day we stop at Oscar and Alicia`s residence and it is hard to say how long we will end up staying.

Frutillar, Puerto Varas and Puerto Montt, Chile (Feb2 & 3, 2011)

The road to Frutillar is nice, the scenery really pretty and the region of Puerto Octay looks a little bit like Austria. By chance, we found a hostal on the shore of the lake Llanquihue, with an incredible view on the snow-capped Osorno Volcano. As this is one of the city where Germans settled in Chile in the 1850's, we don't hesitate and eat some Kuchen !

The following day, we leave for Puerto Varas, then Ensanada and to close our visit, Petrohue. These villages must be fantastic when the sun is shining, which is not the case. We visit quickly the Parque Nacional Vicente Perez Rosales, the first Chilean Park (1926), with Laguna Verde and the Saltos Rio Petrohue

On February 3rd, it's raining cats and dogs. Our hostal in Puerto Varas this time is a little bit chilly and we decide to postpone our departure for the island of Chiloe to tomorrow. Instead, we take the time to visit Puerto Montt, 15 kms away from here. In the end, at around noon, the sun appears and we timidly get out of the car to visit the city on foot. We visit Angelmo, with its odors of fishes, seafood, with its noises and cars, located on the shore. Angelmo's specialities are seafood, fishes and local products such as cheese, honey...

We have also visited the cathedral and the Museum of Juan Pablo II. Jean-Paul II was the first pope to visit South America in 1987.

The following day, we are on the road again to the Isla de Chiloe...

IX Region de la Araucania with 3 of the many volcanoes (Jan26 to Feb2,2011)

We have now left Oscar and Alicia at 10:30 am. It is sad to leave them, but our trip has to continue. We went to Chillan and the Chillan terms but the weather not being great, we decided to move on. We ended up camping in a small village. We are the only campers and paid $ 4,000 pesos for the night. Cold showers, hens, chickens, cows, horses and dogs, we have it all in this campground. It's like being in a farm !We did not sleep much either again, as the dogs barked almost all night. These small inconveniences are greatly compensated by the kindness of the owners of the campground, who invited us last night for an Asado (chilean BBQ)

Today, we decided that our next destination would be the Volcanoe Lonquimay. By 3 pm, we have already found our campsite, much more expensive, but much cleaner, with hot showers. Yeah ! The scenery from the campground already is spectacular and we have enough time to hike up a trail, The Navidad Crater in the Reserva Nacional Malalcahuello-Nalcas. Malalcahuello means ''Horse Corral" in Mapundungun and Nalcas refers to a native plant found in the reserve that has an edible stalk. Crater Navidad takes its name from its last eruption on December 25, 1988. The views from the top of the crater are absolutely spectacular and this time, we feel like we have seen and walked on the moon !

The following day, despite a grey sky (we woke up literally in the clouds), we decide to stay a second night and to have our first real outing in the mountains of Chile. Therefore, for once, wearing jeans and dressed a little bit warmer than usual, we go on a 7 hour hike (about 20-25 kms), Sendero Pierra Santa. The hike was worth it, wonderful scenery all the way. A little cold, a little long, very tiring, but how lucky we feel to discover Chile from the top. Below the Lonquimay Volcano.

Our second day camping close to the Reserva Malalcahuello-Nalcas, we wake up under a bright blue sky and we take the road to Melipeuco to meet our third volcano. The road is magnificent, even if we are getting some sweats because of the Chilean drivers. On the road, we can see from far another volcano, which is a little bit like a cigarette, and let some smoke out. We arrive at the Pension Negrita, which was recommended to us by Arturo, a guide we met in Santiago. This pension is by far the most economical so far, 10,000 pesos for two for one night, including breakfast. The place is clean and we have our own bathroom with a view directly on the Llaima volcano. We have internet too, although not in the bedroom. The shower is cold in the morning, but nonetheless, this wakes us up and after a hearty breakfast, we head to the Conguillio park in order to view the Llaima Volcano at 3125 m. Its last eruption took place January 1st, 1988. In fact, the road leading to our trail was carved in lava. Our trail, Sierra Nevada, (about 7 hour total again) took us to about 2000 meters. The trail was relatively easy, except at the end, where it was more climbing than hiking. We had a wonderful view from the top.

Back at the Pension Negrita, we do enjoy a warm shower this time and after a good bottle of beer, (we have seen somewhere it was good to drink beer after an effort !), we also decide to have supper there for 4000 pesos for both of us. A deal and it is good!

The following day, we leave for Pucon and find another camping ! We are at the foot of the smoking volcano, the Villerica Volcano and we pay 7,500 pesos for a night, after ensuring that we would be given an extra blanket... We are starting to get smart and the locals understand that coming from Canada, we may not have absolutely everything we need. The city of Pucon lacks any originality : it almost looks like Whistler or St-Sauveur, the perfect spot for someone who has 8 days of vacation and a ton of money to spend. Not our case ! No real local taste. Anyway, our first night of camping close to Pucon is great thanks to the blanket... except that once again, our neighbours live at night and until 2pm, there are talking, singing, listening to music. Anyway, we head up in a good mood in the morning to the volcan Villericay and for us the ''smoking volcano''. At the entrance of the park, we are being told that it is the perfect day and after paying 6000 pesos for the park fee, we happily drive the car to the trail start ! The view is splendid. We are first surprised by the temperature, but we tell ourselves that we will get warmer as we walk. One hour later, the sky gets darker, the wind is freezing and of course, the view on the summit stays out of sight. In short, after a 3 hour walk, we head back. We are happy anyway, as this was our training of the day.

Back to our campground, Alain is lucky enough to get a hot shower, but somehow I don't get any hot water anymore ! Nevertheless, I shower in freezing water and after this, we head up to a local restaurant, La Yunta, where we eat for the first time, the ''Humitas'', a kind of corn puree cooked in the carn leaves with a bottle of ''Gato San Pedro''. The owner of the restaurant even comes to greet us and explain that one of his friend has left Chile to live in Canada. The meal is excellent, the wine is decent and thanks to our extra blanket, we are almost eager to go back to our tent and get warm !

Our night was not as good as anticipate, as despite the extra comforter, we have been cold during the night. As decided the evening before, we leave for Frutillar !