30 January 2013

Week 18 - Rurrenabaque, Copacabana, Puno, Cusco (Bolivia, Peru)

The week started at the lodge in the Pampas. After breakfast we all donned welly boots and crossed the river to wade into the Pampas, an area by the side of the river, like a wet savannah with few trees and lots of long grasses and mosquitoes. We spent an hour wading in the heat trying to find anacondas with no luck before the guide took the more adventurous into the deeper water to search leaving us to look in the shallow water. I don’t think he expected us to find anything but within 10 minutes there it was, slithering into a clump of grasses. We spent the next 30 minutes dying from the heat waiting for the guided search party to return to the boat so we could get back to the shade of the lodge.

After lunch and a brief siesta in the hammocks around camp we headed back out in the boat to find the pink river dolphins. Once in their favourite spot we put on our socks should they choose to bite us and got into the water. As it’s rainy season the water is quite high at the moment which means happy dolphins. Within minutes they were swimming around us. Because the river water is so muddy from sediment brought down from the Andes you can’t see more than a couple of inches below the surface so you can’t see them coming. The first couple of times they barge into and nudge you from below it’s a bit of a surprise but after you know what to expect you start to enjoy it and chase and splash them (to which they retaliate with tail splashes). After a good 45 minutes treading water we were tired and climbed back in the boat and back to camp to watch the sunset again from the mirador/bar.

Our last day in the Pampas we were all ready to leave, the mosquitoes are incessant and the humidity was oppressive. Still, determined to make the most of it we were up in time to board the boat to watch sunrise before breakfast and to watch a troop of squirrel monkeys run through camp. After breakfast we headed out to try our hand at piranha fishing. We already knew that there weren’t many in the main river because of the high water and were going to try a side stream but a fallen tree blocked the path so we stopped at a couple of points to try but to no avail. Marcel caught a couple of fish but no piranhas. After an early lunch back at the lodge we were back on our boat for the trip downstream to meet the jeeps. About half way there our guide pointed out an anaconda swimming in the river, 2 seconds later and a dolphin surfaced obviously hunting for some lunch just as our boat came level with the snake blocking its path to the river bank and safety. It didn’t’ take the snake long to decide that the safest course of action to flee the dolphin was to hitch a ride on our boat causing Carlie to scream and everyone to get out of their seats. Another boat coming behind us came to our aid and pulled up alongside ours and the guide caught the Anaconda to take it to the river bank. The dolphin was still swimming around wondering where on earth his lunch had disappeared to.

Another hellish jeep journey down the unpaved road later and we were back in Rurrenabaque. We checked into the same hostel as Ben, John, Kathy and Carlie who had been on our trip and then all headed to the Mirador swimming pool again to cool off. That night we had numerous caipirinias in a very hot bar to celebrate surviving the Pampas without catching malaria. 

The next day we had a flight back to La Paz. Although we would have liked to have time in Rurrenabaque to visit the jungle too we were ready to get back out of the humidity. Once landed, we took a taxi to the Cemeterio district and caught a bus to Copacabana on the shore of Lake Titicaca. After abit of a scare when we thought the bus had gone without us when we had to disembark for a ferry crossing and stopped for a Twix, we arrived in Copacabana on time and checked in to a cheap little hostel (a bargain at £4.50 for the room for the night). A three course meal later and we were ready for bed.

Our bus out of Copacabana was booked for 13:30 so we had the morning to explore the town. It’s a religious centre not only because it is the home of the Virgin of Copacabana (a statue) after which Copacabana beach in Rio is named, but because it is the launch point for boat trips out to the Isle of the Sun and the Isle of the Moon, where the Inca’s believed the sun and the moon were created. After admiring the Moorish cathedral we headed up to Cerro Calvario, a viewpoint over Lake Titicaca covered in stone alters where the locals perform ceremonies and light candles.

The bus to Puno was uneventful and the border crossing into Peru was really straightforward. In Puno we checked in to another cheap hostel and headed out to the main street for dinner and to book a tour for the following day.

The bus picked us up at our hostel early and after a 5 minute drive we arrived at the port and boarded our VIP boat (we splashed out the extra £2.50 each to upgrade for a comfy boat). The first stop was at the Uros floating reed islands. The islands were built by indigenous people fleeing from the incas by tying together reed roots and then piling cut reeds on top. They have to re-lay reeds once or twice a month and every 20 years they have to build a whole new island. After spending some time talking to the 4 families on the island we visited and learning about their way of life we took a short trip on a local reed row boat before getting back on our motor boat. The trip continued out to Taquile island, where much of the indigenous traditions are still in place and where UNESCO have recognised it for the intricate knitting that the men do. The men there have to knit the women’s wedding dresses and the women make their new husbands a belt out of their hair. After the most amazing trout lunch and a few hours walking across the island we were back on the boat for the 3 hour journey back to Puno.

The next morning we were picked up from our hostel again for a tourist bus to Cusco. For only a little more than a direct bus we got a tour guide, drinks on board and 5 stops along the Road of the Sun. Before we’d even left Puno we pulled over to try a local typical dish at a street vendor, roast lamb with baked potatoes – delicious. The first scheduled stop was at Pukara, although the ruins themselves were shut for restoration we visited the museum to admire the monoliths and pottery and to learn more about the Late Formative Period (500 BC- AD 200). Our next stop was a photo stop at the Raya Pass, the highest point on the Road of the Sun at 4,335m from where you can see Andean peaks and glaciers. The third stop was our lunch stop in Sicuani, as we’d stuffed ourselves with lamb earlier we couldn’t eat much but the food was amazing. Our fourth stop was at Raqchi, the "Temple of Wiracocha", a whole Inca town that is more intact the Machu Pichu, you can still see the walls of the temple, the columns and even the granaries. Our final stop was at a Jesuit church in Andahuaylillas nicknamed the "Sistine Chapel of America" – definitely not as impressive as the Sistene Chapel but pretty bling and worth a look. We arrived in Cusco at 5pm and jumped into a taxi to our hostel.

We’ve treated ourselves to a decent hostel set in a colonial mansion with beautiful courtyards, super comfy beds and a decent bar with views over the city. We’re back in a dorm since we couldn’t afford a private but it has been nice to meet people again. Two of the lads we met in Puerto Madryn about 3 months ago checked in to the same hostel with another of their mates since they have booked onto the Inca Trail on the same day and with the same company as us. We spent the first night in the bar before moving to another hostel for drinks.

Our second day in Cusco we felt pretty rough. We headed in to town briefly for a full English/Irish breakfast at an Irish bar but spent the rest of the day relaxing at the hostel. That night we stayed at the hostel bar again, playing beer pong.
Caiman, The Pampas, Rurrenabaque.
Pink river dolphins, The Pampas, Rurrenabaque.
Cerro Calvario, Copacabana.
The president of the Uros floating reed island we visted from Puno.
Uros floating island.
Taquile island.

22 January 2013

Week 17 - La Paz, Rurrenabaque (Bolivia)

We left Samaipata and took a three hour taxi ride into the nearest town, Santa Cruz, where we had to waste a couple of hours before our night bus to La Paz. Santa Cruz is a big hot modern city, not the kind of place you’d choose to visit. The bus trip was actually one of our best as we had a cama (lazy boy seats with leg rests) although unlike on Argentine and Chilean buses you don’t get served food and you have to wait until the scheduled loo stops to use the bathroom. 

After 17 hours we arrived into La Paz, 2 hours behind schedule and checked into a hostel in a colonial house near the bus station. We walked into the centre of town and explored the markets, had a beer in the English bar “Olivers”, sought out the only Burger King in Bolivia for lunch (Rhys’s choice) and had llama tikka masala at the British Indian restaurant for dinner – oh how I’ve missed curry. We headed back to the hostel and sat in the bar with a Kiwi couple playing Uno and foosball. 

Having read a sign in reception to warn us that the bar downstairs stayed open until 4am on Friday and Saturday and played loud music and after hearing the sound check on the Thursday night and feel our bed shake with the bass we decided we were too old to stay at a party hostel and to move somewhere quieter the next day. 

After breakfast we headed back into the centre to search for a new hostel and to book Rhys a trip out to cycle death road (I did it last time I was here in 2007). We checked into a lovely place in the centre of the artisanal market area with a little courtyard where Rhys stayed to chill while I went to the coca museum a few buildings down and learnt lots of interesting coca facts. For instance, did you know that Coca-Cola still imports coca leaves from Bolivia and uses then for flavouring even though in 1914 they stopped putting cocaine in Coca-Cola? Or that the UK government can legally produce 365kg of cocaine but Bolivia isn’t allowed to produce any? Or that it was made obligatory for slaves in the mines to chew coca leaves because it meant they could work longer hours without getting tired?

That day there was the most incredible storm, you’ve never seen rain or hail stones like it, the streets turned to rivers. We perched in a shop doorway waiting for the worst of it to pass than ran to a little café called the Moroccan Nook for Moroccan mint tea and hummus. 

Rhys was collected at 7:45 the following day for his trip out to death road – it used to be the most dangerous road in the world before they built the bypass and is often on the TV in shows like Top Gear. After 1.5 hour drive in a mini bus he spent the next 4 hours coasting down the 30km unpaved road with sheer drops. It was snowing at the top and hot enough in the Yungas at the bottom to make use of the swimming pool. A 3.5 hour mini bus drive later and he was back at the hostel, snazzy new T-shirt in hand.

While Rhys was out I took a tour to Tiwanaku, one of the most important pre-Colombian sites in South America and the heart of an empire that existed hundreds of years before the Incas. After walking around the temples and admiring the 7 metre monoliths and learning about how they shaped their kids heads into cones and cut holes in their skulls to put in bits of gold I headed back into La Paz to wait for Rhys. 

Our last day in La Paz we slept in, took Rhys’s drenched clothes to a launderette then Rhys went back to the hostel to relax while I went to visit the main plaza to see the presidential palace and the cathedral. I spent a good 15 minutes sitting on the floor in the plaza having bought some grain from the street sellers for the pigeons – memories of Trafalgar Square as a kid! Next I walked to Calle Juan, one of the only truly pretty areas of La Paz where the houses of the revolutionaries have been renovated and turned into boutique shops, cafes and museums. Back in the market district I stopped for a haircut (very interesting with my limited Spanish but she did a good job). At noon I met Rhys back in the English bar for a full English breakfast and to watch the Spurs v. Man U game. We ended up talking to an English guy and his friends and stayed there for the rest of the day. I only left briefly to pop to the market to buy the obligatory llama jumper and leg warmers and silver earrings – it seems I’m much better at bargaining once I’ve had a beer.

The next morning we had a flight from the military airport at 11am, north to Rurrenabaque in the amazon basin. We climbed out of the plane at the end of the runway, no terminal in sight, collected our bags and bundled onto a shuttle into town. As soon as we got off the plane the heat and humidity hit us, so different to the cool altitude of La Paz. By the time we settled into a hostel and booked a trip into the Pampas for the following day it was late afternoon. To make the most of the sun we hailed moto-taxis for a lift up to a swimming pool at a mirador overlooking the town, the Beni River and the lush mountains of the Madidi National Park. Suffering from reverse altitude sickness from descending too quickly (well that’s what we think it was) we turned in for an early night.

On Tuesday we grabbed breakfast from a French bakery (real pain au chocolates, lovely!) before squashing into a jeep with 6 other people and our guide for the next 3 days, Marcel. Then we started the hellish 3 hour drive along the unpaved road to Santa Rosa – the highlight of the drive being seeing a sloth. Feeling jiggled to within an inch of our lives and with a headache from the fumes the lunch stop was well needed. 20 minutes later and we were boarding our wooden boat and we started navigating the Yacuma river. 

We spent the next 3 hours motoring upstream, stopping to watch the birds, caiman, capybara, monkeys and pink river dolphins (one dolphin was throwing a snake around trying to stop in wriggling long enough to eat it). It was oh so hot and again Rhys proved to be irresistible to the mosquitoes who were ganging up on him and biting through his T-Shirt (60 bites before we even made camp) – who knew that mosquitoes are attracted to black?! When we arrived at our basic, rustic lodge we settled into our dorm before heading to the mirador watchtower/bar to watch the sunset. To get to the mirador you had to walk along a wooden pathway over the water, a massive crash and we looked over the railing to see a group of boys from another boat in the river after the walkway had collapsed, as it was dark and there are caiman hanging around by the bridge they climbed out pretty sharpish.

After dinner that evening Marcel took us out to look for caiman eyes glowing along the river. We had very little sleep that night, it was ridiculously hot and the mosquito nets made the beds feel like saunas.
Temple, Tiwanaku
La Paz, Calle Juan.
Rhys on Death Road.
Death Road.
Capybara, The Pampa, Rurrenabaque. 
John teasing a caiman at camp, The Pampas, Rurrenabaque. 
Squirrel monkeys, The Pampas, Rurrenabaque.

16 January 2013

Week 16 - Sucre, Samaipata (Bolivia)

Our second day in Sucre we took a taxi out to the Mercado Campesinos with Hanne and Wim, street after street of market stalls selling fruit, veg, meat, clothes and anything else you could possibly need. The rest of the day was pretty relaxed, lunch in the central market and dinner with Wim and Hanne at a pub on the main plaza.

The next morning we were up early to pack our bags and head over to the tour office where we’d booked a two day hike into the Maragua crater (thanks Ceri and Billy for the Christmas present!). We set out with our guide Nelson and our driver Willy (haha, Willy Nelson) for a 1.5 hour drive on unpaved tracks winding up into the mountains. Willy dropped us at a church, built on the site of a miraculous discovery of a stone carved virgin Mary that only opens for one day a year. We headed off for a 6km walk downhill along an inca trail with Nelson stopping us every now and then to point out medicinal plants and other flora and fauna and patches of quartz crystal. After the trail ended we joined a dirt track and followed it along a river to a suspension bridge, after wading across a river we spent the next hour or so trekking up a mountain where the soil is a mix of bright greens and reds before dropping in to the crater. In the crater you can see where the meteorite impact forced all the earth around it up and the locals believe that when god created the earth he got bored, sat in the middle of the crater and squidged the earth up with his thumb leaving a circle of fingerprints – kind of hard to picture unless you’ve seen it granted.

When we got to Maragua village in the centre of the crater, having hiked 21km, we settled into our stone cottage and headed out to see the devils cave on the outskirts of the village. The cottages are community cottages owned by the village and the rent gets split between the families and spent on things for the community like building new schools. Later Nelson set the log fire in our cottage before dishing up a two course meal. Rhys spent the next hour stoking the fire and putting in every piece of wood he could find.

Day two of the hike began with breakfast served outside overlooking the mountains. The start of the days 18km hike was all up hill until we got to the ridge of the crater. Even more so than the first day lots of local kids came up to us to ask for sweets, we handed out colour pencils and shared our lunch boxes and Rhys bought a fossil from one of the kids. After a couple of hours we followed the valley to the Niño Mayo dinosaur footprints where you can walk among and touch prints that were uncovered by the rains one wet season. Although not many footprints are on show because the community doesn’t have the money to excavate, you can clearly see the marks from a T-Rex, Triceratops and some other dinosaur with 3 toes and a couple of smaller dinosaurs who were clearly running away from the T-Rex. It took a couple more hours to hike to the meeting point where Willy and the car were. On the drive back to Sucre we stopped at a canyon complete with swooping parakeets and at a mirador where you could see the route we’d taken over the past two days. Back in Sucre we checked into a hostel and slept.

Our last day in Sucre was a catch up day, we slept in, went to the market for lunch and tried unsuccessfully to find an internet café with Skype. We had a bus booked for 4:30pm to Samaipata in the West of Bolivia, supposedly 10 hours away. 

After about 2 hours on the bus, with my chair broken and the woman behind Rhys touching his head every few minutes the paved road ran out. We spent the next 11 hours being jiggled within an inch of our lives, sleeping wasn’t an option and to make it more interesting Bolivian buses, unlike those we’ve been on in every other country, don’t have loos on board. When we finally pulled into Samaipata at 5:30am the following morning we were pretty tired and ready for bed. We hadn’t booked a hostel and figured we’d just find somewhere when we arrived but it didn’t prove to be an easy task. Two hours late we were at the end of our tether, the hostels were either fully booked or didn’t open their doors at night. By 7:30am we decided to check into a place which we’d heard so many bad reviews about just so we could sleep. 

We got up at lunch time and headed into the plaza for food. It’s a really sleepy little village surrounded by lush green mountains, it feels quite Mediterranean, all the roofs have terracotta tiles, the sun blazes every day and everything shuts at lunch time for a siesta. Give it 10 more years and it will be just like San Pedro in Chile, just with cloud forest instead of desert. After lunch we moved hostels and booked three nights in a lovely place right on the main plaza, we even treated ourselves to a room with a private bathroom and a terrace with views of the mountains where I’m sitting to write this (bear in mind when I say treat, it still only cost £5.50 each a night, just a bit more than the £2 each at the cheapest most basic hostel in town). That night we headed up to a hotel restaurant we’d been recommended a few blocks out of the village. We sat outside in the candlelit courtyard and the food was immense, Rhys even had gourmet BBQ Texan baked beans (in fact we liked it so much and it was so cheap compared to the other places in the village that we ended up going again the next night and are off there again tonight!!).

Our second day here we booked a trip out into the surrounding mountains and valleys with an American couple Rebecca and Skylar and a German girl, also Rebecca (thanks for the Christmas present Rhys’s Bampa, Nanny Lal and Ted!!). We were picked up at our hostel and drove for an hour or so out of the village and along a dirt track winding up around a mountain. When we got out we started to hike and headed uphill for another hour or so before walking along the peak of the mountain chain and then dropping into the valley to the river where we sat and ate lunch. We then spent the next couple of hours wading down river through butterflies and orchids, it was so much fun. When you weren’t sinking thigh deep in the soft sands underfoot you were climbing over boulders and down waterfalls or swimming across deep bits holding your bag over your head. Nearing the end of the trip we got out of the river, put our shoes back on, weaved in and out of a herd of cows and walked through the Cuevas waterfalls where hundreds of locals were cooling down and splashing about with their families. After a well needed shower, that night we ate with the other 3 from our tour.

Today we caught a taxi out to El Fuerte, some ruins about 10km from the village on top of a mountain where there’s a 2km track with viewing platforms to walk around. The ruins weren’t so impressive but the site itself was incredibly peaceful and you can see why it became such an important and magical spiritual and ritual site for so many cultures. They still don’t know much about it but it’s apparently one of the most important pre-Colombian sites in the world. After lunch back in the plaza we’ve spent the afternoon chilling in our hostel.
Me on the Inca Trail near Sucre.
Our stone cottage in the Maragua Crater.
The Devil's Cave, Maragua Village.
God's thumbprints, Margua Crater.
Hiking out of the Maragua Crater.
Dinosaur footprints at Niño Mayo.
Rhys in the valley outside of Samaipata.
Me wading through the river outside of Samaipata.
Keeping the bags dry, canyoning outside of Samaipata.

9 January 2013

Week 15 - Uyuni, Potosi, Sucre (Bolivia)

The first 3 days of the week were spent on a 3 day trip into Bolivia (thanks for the Christmas present mum!). We left the hostel in San Pedro at 6am for a 5 hour drive in a minibus to the Bolivian border, a different border crossing to that the tours usually use since the usual one had been blockaded. After having our passports stamped by a drunken Bolivian guy we were allocated to a jeep with a French couple and a Swiss couple. Our driver wasn’t overly impressed as he considered 6 bags for 6 people to be excessive luggage and moaned about it non-stop. When he’d finally tied all the bags to the top of the jeep we climbed in and set off in convey with the other 3 jeeps in our group. 

After a couple of hours of driving through the mountains at altitude and off road we came to the first stop, a beautiful lake with flamingos dotted around in the Eduardo Avaroa national park. The next couple of stops were for more flamingo filled lakes, each lake getting progressively more beautiful. That night we stopped at a refugio next to Laguna Colorado at 5000 metres, the most stunning lake you could ever imagine with pastel pinks and lilacs alternating with bright blue where it reflected the sky and the mountains. We were expecting a dive of a hostel from hearing about other peoples experiences but were pleasantly surprised, it was warm and cosy and the food was decent.

The next morning we were up at 5am for sunrise. We jumped into the jeeps and drove for 20 minutes to a field of geysers hugging the side of the mountain. Early morning the steam is at its most impressive since the temperature of the air outside is at its coolest. We spent a good hour watching the bubbling pools and walking between the geysers, no way would you be allowed to get that close in Europe. After we’d taken 100 photos it was back to the refugio for breakfast pancakes and to load the jeep. 

The rest of the day was spent at more lakes and exploring rock formations that looked like something from another planet. Our driver continued to complain about the weight and refused to let us open the windows as it caused more drag. It got to the stage at the end of the day where we were all melting from the heat in the van and he started telling us that it was our fault because we had too much luggage and the jeep should only hold 4 people – the agency puts 6 people in a jeep and every other jeep had 6 people in, by the end we were fighting with him about opening windows and he locked us in to stop us getting out for air. It’s fair to say we were all pretty happy to be able to get out of the jeep at the end of that day when we arrived at the salt hotel – a hotel made entirely of salt, the walls, the beds, the tables and chairs. 

The last day we headed out in the jeeps on to the salt flats which cover an area 60% the size of Wales. It’s white as far as the eye can see with mountains in the far far distance. We’d reconciled with our driver by this point. Our first stop was to the island in the middle of the salt flats, a little oasis covered by giant cactus – fact for you, cacti (these ones anyhow) grow at 1 cm each year, the oldest one on the island still standing was over 900 years old and stood at, you guessed it, 9 metres. Our next stop was just a random spot in the middle of the flats for a photo stop, as everything is white you lose all sense of perspective so you can take crazy photos – we had some of the best ones in the world ever but we managed to delete all the photos from that day so i’m afraid I can’t show you them to prove it. After the salt flats we headed to Uyuni to a train graveyard where all the rusty old trains are abandoned with some turned in to seesaws and swings. 

The tour finished in Uyuni. We checked into a hostel and went up to our room to chill, the noise from the bars below was so loud before we’d even had a chance to shower we checked back out and moved to another hotel in a quieter area. 5 mins later a Belgian couple we met in BA and two Germans we met in San Pedro checked into the same hotel. That night we headed out together for llama steaks and on to the ‘Extreme Fun Bar’ which actually turned out to be extremely fun (cocktails, llama sperm shots, flags and rude glasses).

The next day we booked a bus to Potosi, the highest city in the world at 4,200m. By this point we’d been at altitude for a few days and had started to acclimatise. We checked into a hostel close to the main square and spent the afternoon exploring the city and chilling. Our room was so cold we had 6 blankets on the bed. 

On Sunday we headed to Casa de la Moneda, a museum in the old national mint of Bolivia. When we got there we were told it was by guided tour only and tours were only in French or Spanish so we just tagged along with a Spanish group and looked at the minting machines, the mummies and the rocks without really knowing what we were looking at. 

On Monday we’d booked a trip into the silver mines. Potosi used to be a really rich town thanks to the Cerro Rico mountain with looms over it and in which a llama farmer discovered silver in the 1500’s. The Spanish brought over African slaves to work the mines and since opening an estimated 9,000,000 people have died because of the terrible conditions and silicosis. Nowadays most of the silver has gone but a cooperative mine continues to bring out the remaining silver and tin. Our guide was an ex-miner who had been injured and had to stop working in the mines. First stop was the miners market to buy nitro-glycerine (like dynamite) and coca leaves and 96% alcohol to give to the miners as presents. Then we stopped at one of the plants to see how they process the rocks – it was like a shed in someones garden with all kinds of chemicals sloshing about in various vats (including cyanide). Then we headed into the mines. The tunnels are so small in places and the zinc oxide makes it hard to breath on the 1st level. To get down to the 3rd level you have to negotiate a rickety old ladder and crawl through holes then the heat hits you. After spending an hour and a half in the tunnels, meeting miners and handing out our gifts (the alcohol was a huge hit) we were glad to get back to the surface.

Back in town we headed straight for the bus station and bought a ticket to Sucre, 3.5 hours north. The bus pulled in to Sucre in the middle of a lightening storm, we grabbed our bags and a taxi and headed to the central market area to find a hostel. As we were checking in we bumped into the Belgian couple and the Germans again – within 10 minutes we’d dropped our bags in our room and headed out for dinner at the German Cultural Centre then on to a bar in the main plaza.

On Tuesday, after our first lie in in a while we headed out to explore the city. We ate amazing spicy mondongo (a bit like spicy goulash) in the central market and wondered around the streets admiring the white washed colonial buildings. That afternoon we met up with the others from our hostel for coffee before the Germans left to catch a bus. That night we’d arranged to meet Joel (who we’d met in Paraty in Brazil a couple of months ago) and who had been living in Sucre for a couple of months. We all went out for dinner and sat in the bar playing dice – a nice change to cards.
The jeeps, San Pedro - Uyuni trip.
Lake, Parque Nacional Eduardo Avoara, San Pedro - Uyuni trip
Parque Nacional Eduardo Avoara, San Pedro - Uyuni trip
Rhys and a rock, Parque Nacional Eduardo Avoara, San Pedro - Uyuni trip.
Geysers, Parque Nacional Eduardo Avoara, San Pedro - Uyuni trip
Us at Laguna Colorado, Parque Nacional Eduardo Avoara, San Pedro - Uyuni trip.
Laguna Colorado, Parque Nacional Eduardo Avoara, San Pedro - Uyuni trip
Llamas, San Pedro - Uyuni trip.
Rhys and another rock, San Pedro - Uyuni trip.
Cacti on island overlooking the Salar de Uyuni

2 January 2013

Week 14 - Navimag, Puerto Montt, San Pedro (Chile)

I lost track of days and so this weeks entry covers 9 days and is abit longer than usual…

Christmas morning we were woken at 7am by the tannoy as the captain called us to deck to enjoy the scenery as the ferry passed through the narrowest part of our journey. It was a great way to start the day, the channel was only 60m wide at the thinnest point and the craggy snow-capped mountains loomed over the boat. After an hour or so the dining room opened for breakfast, the standard cheese, ham, rolls, yoghurts and cornflake buffet. We had a briefing on the journey ahead before me and Rhys headed back to our bunks to open our presents, we’d spent £5 each in Puerto Natales. I have some super sparkly earrings to show for it and Rhys has a bottle of Rhubarb liquor, a bag of chocolate Santas and an IOU for some dice.

The rest of the morning was spent out on deck enjoying the sun and the scenery. Our next tannoy announcement was to call us on deck while the ferry passed down a channel through icebergs to a glacier, after a quick visit to the Captain in the bridge we decided we’d seen enough glaciers and retired to the bar with Brad, Ty and Sarah and a pack of cards. Lunch was soup followed by a chicken and beef corn cake (no turkey or sprouts in sight and ever sadder, no crackers), to make it a bit festive we took our speakers and played our Christmas album and of course Rhys had his santa hat on. On Christmas afternoon Rhys watched a film in his bunk while I went to a lecture on ice, flora and fauna in Patagonia. That night they played Marching with Penguins in the restaurant.

On Boxing Day we saw our first whale, well, our first blow hole a couple of hundred metres from the boat. By lunch time the ferry had reached the Golfo de Penas (translates as the Golf of Pain) and the open sea. We were so lucky, the sea was calm and no sea sickness tablets were needed, even one of the waiters commented that it was the smoothest sea crossing they’d had. The weather turned and it was grey and drizzley but without anything to see other than the giant petrils swooping at the boat it didn’t matter and we stayed in the bar. That afternoon I went to a lecture on Chiloe and Puerto Montt while Rhys watched a film and after a couple of games of draughts we retired early with our books with the waves rocking us to sleep.

The third day on the boat we were back in the channels, the scenery had completely changed to the first day with rounded green mountains as far as the eye could see. The sun was blazing so we spent most of the day on deck chatting and on wildlife watch, we had a pod of dolphins another whale and a lone seal. That night a game of bingo had been organised in the bar – Ty’s dancing was epic, I will say no more. Just before midnight the boat pulled in to Puerto Montt and they started unloading the cargo. At 7am the tannoy woke us for our last breakfast before we disembarked and said our goodbyes to Ty and Brad. Sarah had booked into the same hostel as us.

We had 2 nights booked in Puerto Montt. The first day was a chill day and at around 5pm we headed out to Angelo with Sarah to browse the artisanal markets, the fish markets and to eat at a cheap fish restaurant in a wooden shed overlooking the waterfront. 

Our second day in Puerto Montt we decided to try to get to the Alerce Andino Nacional Parque where the Alerce trees, the second largest tree in the world, cover 50% of the park and grow to 45m tall. After killing some time at the markets around the bus station we managed to get on a public bus to a little village where we’d read we could access the northern sector of the park. When we got there an hour later we found out from the ranger that the trees were in the southern sector of the park, a 2 day hike away, we only had 5 hours until the return bus. The ranger recommended a 1 hour loop through the forest on a trail that had been closed for maintenance. The forest was very peaceful and very much like forest walks at home. Afterwards we walked along a track to find the stump of a 1 million year old Alerce so atleast we came away from the park having some idea of the size they grow too. With no more trails from the northern gate we headed into the village and sat in a café playing dice until the bus came. Back at the hostel we packed for our flight, set the alarm and went to sleep.

Our alarm didn’t go off. We were awoken by the arrival of the taxi to take us to the airport, luckily we’d given ourselves plenty of time so the 10 minute delay while we threw on some clothes didn’t really matter. Our plane left Puerto Montt at 9am. We had a flight to Santiago where we changed for a second flight to Calama. The first flight made 2 stops so we took off and landed three times, the second flight made another stop over, we were hardly in the air before we started our descent each time. Best bit about Santiago airport, the massage chairs are only 60p for 5 mins, turns out Rhys doesn’t find them very relaxing and squealed every time it squeezed his legs, highly amusing for me. On arrival at Calama we caught a transfer bus to our hostel in San Pedro del Atacama in the desert, quite a change from the landscape of the south, mile after mile of sand dunes punctuated by the odd mountain or volcano. 

We stayed at a lovely little mud brick hostel with the rooms spread around a shady courtyard. After we dropped off our bags we headed into the town to explore. The town has one main mud brick street and a sweet white washed plaza, every other building is a tour office, a restaurant or a souvenir shop. It is incredibly charming and laid back with a real hippy vibe. We stopped for dinner sitting by a fire pit before heading back to the hostel. 

The next day we had a relaxed day. I walked in to town to book a trip, had the best ice then headed back to the hostel to find Rhys reading in the courtyard with a glass of wine. Matilda and Jose, the hostel owners had invited all the hostel guests to join their New Years Eve celebrations that night so we all put in some money for a big asado (BBQ) thinking we’d eat then head into town to party in the streets and maybe even head out into the desert to see sun rise. It didn’t happen. We stayed in the hostel drinking red wine and playing cards with the other guests. Matilda gave us masks and hats and we celebrated the new year with a glass of bubbles just as the asado was served.

On our last day in San Pedro and the first of 2013 we spent the morning at the meteorite museum, a small little tent in a field with a really good exhibition with lots of space facts, meteorites you could touch and bits of Vaca Muerta, a meteorite from the third largest asteroid currently orbiting somewhere between Mars and Jupiter. When I’m 50 Rhys is going to buy me a necklace with a bit of it in, no mere earthling diamonds for me. That afternoon we boarded a tour bus to Valle de la Muerte and Valle de la Luna. We drove out into the desert into the valleys, explored salt caves and climbed a sand dune to watch the sun set.
Christmas lunch onboard the Navimag.
View from the Navimag.
The Navimag crew, Sarah, Brad and Ty on deck.
Alerce Andino National Park.
The remains of an old tree - Alerce Andino National Park.
San Pedro de Atacama high street.
Rhys partying New Years Eve, Hostal Tuyasto.
Valle de la Muerte, San Pedro.
Valle de la Luna, San Pedro.
Valle de la Luna.