TravelStream™ news feed for member charaluta on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/charaluta en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Tue, 30 Jan 2007 15:48:39 -0500 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/charaluta/charastravels/1169323620/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/charaluta/charastravels/1169323620/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/charaluta/charastravels/1169323620/tpod.html Tue, 30 Jan 2007 15:48:39 -0500 Footloose and fancy free in South America.

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Buenos Aires, Argentina

¨...and so the end is near...¨ why is it I keep hearing Frank Sinatra?  Only a couple of days to go before we fly back to sunny Britain.  Well, we`re back where we started, in Buenos Aires and it`s very hot and muggy.  Spending time just chilling out and catching up on a few more tourist spots.  Back to the famous Recolleta cemetery, this time to join the throng that surrounds Evita`s grave.  Then a few more markets and up and down the side streets. Watched some of the mothers of the disappeared marching defiantly round the main square - a reminder that the country has not recovered fully from the horrors of the death squads that ruled the land back in the seventies.  It has certainly been an amazing year, hard to say what the highlights were as there have been so many, but my real favourites have to be camping at 5000m and waking up in a blanket of snow, watching monkeys leap and chatter all round our forest home, taking a bus up to the highest heights and watching condors lazing on the drafts below us, feeling the earth shake on the flanks of a volcano and walking in the footsteps of dinosaurs.  And, of course, all the people we have met - many, many kind and helpful folk and a dash of complete nutters.  Very much looking forward to going home and catching up with family and friends.  From now on we`ll be communicating by email only.  Hope you`ve enjoyed the site as much as we`ve enjoyed the adventure.  Big hug, Chara & Al
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/charaluta/charastravels/1168871460/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/charaluta/charastravels/1168871460/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/charaluta/charastravels/1168871460/tpod.html Sat, 20 Jan 2007 09:48:29 -0500 Footloose and fancy free in South America.

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Bariloche, Argentina

Oh my giddy aunt!  Bariloche is a sea of tourists - students on the beer, school kids on bikes and Israelis as loud as ever.  The campsite is overflowing with tents but the owners are doing an amazing job of keeping it clean and cosy - six toilets, over two hundred people - not a bad achievement!In town people continue to potter round admiring the view over the lake and the Swiss-style buildings.  Arms and hands are full of ice-cream cones and bags of fresh chocolate.  Boys rev and race round town, their cars painted with flames - an effect totally ruined by the tinny engines and gaping rusty holes, the rich and content may come here to party but the economy still has a long way to go. By the lake, families continue to scare their young children by plonking them beside the huge St Bernard's for the ultimate tourist photo (ok so I was tempted too, they really are very cute).  We spent a rare night in town and went to see the latest pretty boy film (does Jack Nicholson still count as one?) and thought about home...only two weeks to go.  Next, Buenos Aires...
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/charaluta/charastravels/1168089540/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/charaluta/charastravels/1168089540/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/charaluta/charastravels/1168089540/tpod.html Fri, 19 Jan 2007 08:50:24 -0500 Footloose and fancy free in South America.

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Volcan Puyehue, Chile

Stocked up on a ton of pasta, porridge and soup and set off for a final trek in the beautiful Andes.  The bus kindly dropped us off at the administration office at the start of the trek, which left us a little confused as it appeared to be only a restaurant.  But is was indeed the office also and here we met a very happy, portly man whose land overlaps with the national park so he is free to charge a tidy sum for walking on it...and indeed he does! I thought this was fair enough at first as it is his land and he has built a free Refugio and marks all the paths but it became clear later that he is doing little to maintain the paths, signs or pristine beauty of the park so I now feel more than a little annoyed with him.However it is hard to be vexed when you are trekking in such an incredible spot.  The trail starts in the cow and calf filled pastures at the edge of a lake.  An area you walk through very quickly as it is also filled with ´tabanos´ - a huge and fearsome horsefly which withstands almost any strength of wind or swatting and will suck your blood through anything less than three layers of clothing.  Next you head up a steep and  heavily eroded path through beautiful forest and Fresia bushes to arrive at a basic but warm Refugio.  We were lucky with the weather and were able to head up to the top of the volcano the next day.  From below it looks like any other mountain but the top is an huge, snow-filled crater surrounded by beautiful layers of red rock.  The view of all the surrounding mountains and volcanoes was also breathtaking.  The next two days were heavy with fog and, after hearing about the three trekkers who got lost for about ten days last month, we decided to stay put and wait it out.  The Refugio gradually filled with people - an interesting mix of 16 Israelis, five Germans and a handful of others.  Led to some very interesting and passionate discussions! We finally left and headed off into the snow and wild, pumice covered landscape that can be so disorientating.  Clear skies made life very easy as most of the bamboo marker canes had blown over.  The days trek ended at some hot pools which everyone jumped into straight away...and came out looking like boiled lobsters.  The sun is fierce and the water really is very hot.  Al and I headed up towards the imposing black river of lava behind the pools and were rewarded with more stunning views so we stayed another night.  There is a lot to be said for bringing a ton of food!  It really is the strangest feeling to be camped on the flanks of a volcano, surrounded by lava and pumice stone, watching steam issuing from numerous vents and, when you lie down long enough, you can feel the earth tremble beneath you.  It´s the first time I´ve felt that the earth is living and breathing deep down in the depths not just up on the surface.  Makes you feel very small and vulnerable indeed.Took another couple of days to head back down - through the dreaded tabanos.  We camped at the bottom and packed at the crack of dawn to avoid the pests.  Waited for a bus only to be given a lift by a park guard to the border where he reckoned we could catch a bus. We passed through all the stamping sections only to discover that the Argentinian border was another 25km away and, no,the buses were not allowed to stop in between for you!  Arghh! And there are more tabanos here!  We hit lucky though and I pounced on an empty bus that was to be dropped off in Bariloche and the driver agreed to give us a lift.  Strike! We gave him something for his trouble and counted our lucky stars - a cheap and very quick drive back to the land of ice-cream.  Off now to enjoy some...
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/charaluta/charastravels/1167916140/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/charaluta/charastravels/1167916140/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/charaluta/charastravels/1167916140/tpod.html Tue, 16 Jan 2007 08:18:51 -0500 Footloose and fancy free in South America.

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Ensenada, Chile

Time to say farewell to Chiloe and head north again, the slow route back to Buenos Aires.  Caught a bus up to Puerto Varas but there was only camping to be had in a very small, cramped back garden between the bins and an old wardrobe.  Expensive but ¨very safe¨ we were told, well it would be when it took them ten minutes to find the key to let me in!  Caught another bus out to Ensenada where we found a lovely little camp site right beside the lake.  The volcano Osorno towered above us, turning pink in the evening sun.  Horses thundered past and children played in the sand - very peaceful...well it was until the second night, a weekend group of Chileans came and blasted music, shouted and screamed till the very early hours.  With almost every site empty they chose to camp right beside us!  No more!  We packed up the next morning and headed off round the other side of the volcano. 
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/charaluta/charastravels/1167755580/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/charaluta/charastravels/1167755580/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/charaluta/charastravels/1167755580/tpod.html Wed, 03 Jan 2007 12:38:58 -0500 Footloose and fancy free in South America.

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Isla Quinchao, off Chiloe, Chile

Dy tripping...and this time to another, smaller, island.  Keep doing this and we´ll eventually end up on a rock in the middle of nowhere!  Quinchao is said to be more Chioloe than Chiloe itself and I guess I can see what they mean.  It´s even more laid back and gorgeous. We found the most elegant church yet, up north.  Lots of wonderful wood carving and less horrific portrayals of the dying Christ figure. Further south we found an amazing little village called Curaco de Velez, very very quiet as everyone snored off the hangovers.  The bay was full of Black Necked Swans - stunning birds.  The beach was alive with enterprising children making rafts and toy shops.  But what everyone comes here for is not the birds or beach, it´s for the oysters!  Families descend on long wooden tables to slurp down huge oysters with lemon and a few bottles of wine.  And they are so cheap!  Only 30pence/60cents each!  Had my first, decadent experience, and it was very nice indeed but can´t see it becoming a habit.  Will write more next week when I have more time...
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/charaluta/charastravels/1167322440/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/charaluta/charastravels/1167322440/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/charaluta/charastravels/1167322440/tpod.html Wed, 03 Jan 2007 12:30:53 -0500 Footloose and fancy free in South America.

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Castro, Chiloe, Chile

Braved the rain and set out on the speedy little local bus to Castro...more rain, more drunks in doorways, more beautiful boats bobbing in the bay and, something new!  Palafitos are little houses built on stilts at the edge of the sea.  So you can pull your car up at the front door and your boat up at the back!  Very very pretty, and all painted different colours with different patterns of shingles.  Love the originality.  Castro has a cracking church - huge!  And. up until recently, the most lurid paint job on the island (salmon with a Violet trim) although it is very much faded now. The churches are all different but in the same wooden style with high towers but no bells.  You can never be in any doubt when it´s midday though - all those air-raid warning alarms from the 1940´s appear to have been put to good use here and you get a heck of a shock each day at 12!  Took another bus out from Castro to the little town of Chonchi.  More boats, shingles, drunks and a wee church.  Pottered a bit, filled up more memory card in the camera and caught the next bus back to Castro.  Love this place! 
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/charaluta/charastravels/1166633700/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/charaluta/charastravels/1166633700/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/charaluta/charastravels/1166633700/tpod.html Wed, 03 Jan 2007 12:23:44 -0500 Footloose and fancy free in South America.

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Ancud, Chiloe, Chile

Across the sea to Chiloe, an island wrapped in mystery and serious amounts of mist!  Found a little camp site with a cracking view of the sea and settled down for a couple of days...didn´t realise how expensive (relative to Argentina) the places to stay were, so here we are a fortnight later still camped in the same spot!  Worked out cheaper to do day trips round the island but be based in the same place.  Started with a day out to the east, to the tiny village of Quemchi.  Not much to do but watch the boats bobbing on the sea and the birds looking for dinner - but it is so nice to do nowt but watch life float by sometimes...The island is gorgeous, rugged coastlines but soft rolling hills covered in little patches of green where they farm the land.  Ancud is a hive of activity most days although, being as this is the festive season, I guess that is the same story all over.  There is an abundance of wellies and plums and the pier is full of drunks as well as many doorways and park benches.  Guess you fish hard then drink away the profits round here.  Christmas was pleasant but quiet.  Looks like New Year is the time to really party although this must be the only place I´ve ever been where you are not invited to join in!  Looking forward to seeing the friendly Argentinians again later in the month.Spending most nights being awoken by the local gang of dogs who sleep all day then run round like crazy at night, barking and playing chase and crashing into our tent.  We keep finding ways of blocking the holes in the fence and they keep making new ones, hmm.  They are very cute and friendly the rest of the time so I guess we´ll forgive them. 
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/charaluta/charastravels/1166546460/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/charaluta/charastravels/1166546460/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/charaluta/charastravels/1166546460/tpod.html Wed, 03 Jan 2007 10:35:45 -0500 Footloose and fancy free in South America.

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Valdivia, Chile

Another bus over the border, and yet again our bag is the only one to be singled out for a double check after the x-ray.  Turns out the sugar in the side pocket was the culprit!  They seemed quite happy that it is simply to sweeten our porridge not disguised as an illegal substance so off we went very relieved we didn´t have to unpack everything.  When you are carrying this much stuff in only two rucksacks you need to be super organised or it just doesn´t all fit in or something gets broken, so repacking in a rush with a bus-load of bored onlookers can be a real pain...but not this time :) Made it to Valdidvia quite early so had plenty of time to look for somewhere to stay.  Turns out the campsite is miles away and costs the same as room with cable TV and breakfast included, hmm, easy choice then.  Well so we thought till we realised how poor the food is in the local restaurants, well, if you´re veggie anyway.  As in Valparaiso, the cook seemed to think that only a little bit of meat in my food didn´t count as real meat, arghhhhh! Couldn´t find anything else except overpriced sandwiches so we bought a bus ticket for the following day and repacked the bags.Did have one amazing experience.  The local sea lions have sussed out that locals will feed them if they hang around near the fish market, so there we found them and a crowd of onlookers.  The men growled and snarled and thumped each other while the women simply lay there and enjoyed the sunshine.  Could have watched them for hours.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/charaluta/charastravels/1164129660/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/charaluta/charastravels/1164129660/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/charaluta/charastravels/1164129660/tpod.html Fri, 22 Dec 2006 10:26:23 -0500 Footloose and fancy free in South America.

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Bariloche, Argentina

Twenty fours hours in a bus and this time without breakfast or lunch and then we find that the only campsite open is 17km away from the bus station. Not a good day so far. But the site, Camping Petunia, is in a beautiful location, right beside the lake. so we sat around for a couple of hours, made some food, watched the wildlife then pottered off to the nearest shop for a bottle of wine. Returned twenty minutes later to find the tent wide open and both our rucksacks gone. Thought I might throw up. Got the owners to call the police then scrambled through the bushes in the vain hope we catch the rats. No luck. About an hour later, Allan followed another rough trail and, oh my giddy aunt if he didn´t find our bags!! Looks like the thieves took them into the undergrowth and went through them with a fine tooth comb. They didn`t find much as we had all our valuables with us and our sleeping bags were already laid out in the tent so clearly too much hassle to take. They did make off with our rain gear, all Al´s clothes, our cooking stuff and a few toiletries but not much. We were very lucky this time - could have been a lot worse. Amazingly, the police were great, even came and helped us search for stuff. We`d always been told that the police don`t do much in these situations so it was a pleasant surprise. Anyway, anyone reading this site who plans to camp in Bariloche - don`t go to Camping Petunia!!! Or if you do, then take a padlock and get them to lock your stuff up in their hostel.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/charaluta/charastravels/1164547860/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/charaluta/charastravels/1164547860/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/charaluta/charastravels/1164547860/tpod.html Fri, 22 Dec 2006 10:25:50 -0500 Footloose and fancy free in South America.

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Bariloche, Argentina

Well, we moved our tent to a safer spot, surrounded by other tourists and the campsite owner agreed to let us stay for free for a couple of days till we replaced our stolen stuff.  All went well till a group of very rowdy Argentinians turned up at midnight, plonked themselves in the middle of all the tents and turned their stereo up full blast.  Lovely!  Don´t think they counted on Al returning the favour early next morning as he put our little radio right up beside their tent first thing in the morning!  Very naughty but it made the point I think and they laughed too when they sobered up.  So we moved again, this time to the wonderful Selva Negra campsite and some real peace at last.  Only 3km from town so it´s easy to walk in and out.  The road may be very busy and very noisy but the views are just stunning - don´t think you could ever get bored of looking at these mountains. Bariloche is the chocolate capital of Argentina and I have been so looking forward to stuffing myself.  Every second shop is full to bursting with fresh chocolate and people are pouring out the doorways with huge bags full of the stuff.  But...I have to say I´ve been a little disappointed, it really hasn´t lived up to it´s reputation so far - maybe I´m going to the wrong shops?  The ice-cream, on the other hand, is the best I have ever tasted, especially the chocolate flavour!  So maybe I´ll stick to the ice-cream from here on?   Haven´t managed any trekking in Bariloche.  Think the stuffing has been a little knocked out of us.  Also, it´s been a long winter and many of the passes are still closed because of the snow so not many of the longer walks are actually possible yet.  Will head a little further up north and see what it´s like there. 
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