We managed to get organised really quickly in Coyhaique. Rented a car which we got at 6pm on the friday evening less then 24 hours since we had arrived in Coyhaique. So much for things taking time on the Carretas Austral. We got lucky and got a free upgrade as well from a small 3 door little thing to a larger 4 door with boot car as the car we were supposed to have hadn´t been returned. This was great really as we managed to explode the contents of our backpacks to fill the car and most of the time the car doubled as transport cum moving laundrette as we tried to keep our gear modestly dry.
Headed off north towards Villa Amengual via the very scenic drive past Rios Simpson Reserve. Both pretty nervous as we have´nt driven on the RHS very much and it was a brand new car. The road was sealed for about 100km and then we hit the gravel. It was awful ... big river rocks and scree greeted us once we left the sealed road. After about 20kms of the bottom of the car getting the crap kicked out of it, we pulled over and camped for the night in a scenic little spot between the hills past Villa Amengual.
Next morning we headed off into the clouds and dull cold weather pretty nervous about whether we should be driving this car on this road at all but checked all the paper work etc and didn´t see anything saying we couldnt (as if we have enough Spanish to figure this out). Anyways about 2kms into the drive the road improved dramatically and the gravel was much smaller less damaging grade so we relaxed a bit. Found a fab camp spot at Lagos Todos Santos where we should have stayed altho it was very exposed as we stopped for a 10 minute picnic on the way back and nearly got blown away. Headed straight thru Quelat NP as the clouds were down on us and we figured we´d do it on the way back. Eventually got to La Junta around 2pm and the weather changed dramatically and out came the sun. Up to this point we only had tantalising glimpses of the beauty behind the clouds but now all the glaciers, snow capped mountains, green and torquise rivers and lakes, beautiful Valdivian forest was apparent. We drove all day (for the 150th time questioning why and how we could have forgotten to bring tunes with us on the entire trip, probably our biggest mistake of the trip) and got to the south end of Park Pumalin. We camped at the Ventisquero camping area just south of Chaiten. Its an absolutely stunning setting with 5 camping areas to choose from in the 5kms plus length of valley. We choose the first camping area as you could see the massive glacier in one direction, and incredible snow capped mountains in the other direction. There was one other couple (cyclists) camped at the farthest camp area and other then that we had it all to ourselves. Unreal.
On the sunday, the morning was lovely and we walked out to a crater walk which climbed steeply to the top of the crater and wound down to the inside of this very extinct crater thru lovely forest. At the bottom there was a little pond with loads of nosy hummingbirds flying up to check us out. Really cool. After that we continued on and walked out to the massive valley with the glacier at the end. The guys from the previous day told us the river was very dangerous to cross but think they crossed in the wrong place as we made it across easily. Unfortunately the weather changed and it started to rain so we didn´t risk getting caught on the wrong side of the glacial river with no proper gear or food with us (sensible us eh). Drove north to Chaiten (a very basic, small, dreary port town) , stocked up on basic provisions and continued north. Stopped briefly at Santa Barbara beach which is all black lava sand, very beautiful, a good spot for wild camping andwe also saw some seals and dolphins again. Decided to head on as it was pretty exposed to the weather from the sea. Camped at El Volcan where we based ourselves for the next 3 nights. Another fab campsite with glacier and snow capped mountains views (which we briefly saw each day between the torrential rain).
We camped at the communal camp site which we shared with one other bloke and had the shelter to ourselves as he seemed to be happy out by hinself in his tiny tent. We also had cold showers every evening and I mean COLD - bloody artic temps but better then stinking our sleeping bags this early in the trip. Its more of a splash and dash for each body part except when I nearly got hypothermia rinsing my hair (long hair sucks for camping).
On monday, the weather was awful - cold, torrential rain, gales. We pitied the cyclists we saw out there. The forecast was awful for the week so we just headed out and did some short day walks that day. Spectacular walk at Cascadas Escondidas which winds up thru amazing forest of beech, alerce (really old trees ie 1000 years plus which have nearly been logged out - ah humans are so forward thinking), lenga etc plus mosses and lichens frowing on every tree, rock and ground surface available. The waterfalls were pretty impressive too. Did the alerce trail too but at that stage we were soaked right thru, bloody freezing so gave up and went for coffee. There´s a cafe at Caleta Gonzalo which is the end of the road and will be for a long time to come as the mountains just rise straight out of the fjord and go straight up so pretty difficult to get around that. For some reason they didn´t like wet (altho we had changed clothes by then), bedraggled walkers orcyclists in the cafe. Even tho we paid and drank the most expensive nescafe (Chileans dont do real coffee) and ate overly sweet chocolate cake (everything here has way too much sugar or dulce de leche (which is a sweet carmelly thing like super condensed milk but sweeter cos they probably add sugar)), we left after 30 minutes. There was 3 other cyclists there (amongst the drier, richer folks who obviously weren´t camping but staying in expensive cabins or lodges) who were doing an epic bike trip around south america and they managed to dry their clothes on the fire by sharing one coffee and cake between them and avoiding all subtle hints by the staff to leave. Very funny to watch.
On Tuesday, we decided to give the Senderos El Volcan (24km out and back to a glacier) a lash even tho the weather was once again awful. It was a stunning walk thru incredible forest covered in moss, ferns, huge trees, hummingbirds, owls, little wrens and other birds we dont know and climbing gently up over 12kms where you suddenly get to the end of the forest and onto glacier moraine. At that point we were drenched from walking thru ferns and wet drippy forest but the clouds rose high enough for 20 mins to allow us to see the glacier. So unreal and close (and it was so cold too) and what a great view for a quick lunch. Took us about 7 hours all up, probably quicker as it was so cold so the recommended 10-12 hours is a bit exagerated we think.
On Wednesday, headed back south in the lashing rain again to Park Quelat where we camped in a lovely little place with views of the famous Ventisquero Colgante (which means hanging glacier) surrounded by steep mountains. That night was very cold and it snowed on the mountain tops (not that far above us). The next day we walked up to the viewing point of the glacier above the valley which is truly spectacular. The glacier just hangs over a massive cliff in the mountains with a couple of waterfalls emptying out of it. Will post photos as words fail me here. Also tried to do another walk but Conaf (the Chilean national parks admin guys) hadn´t bothered to clear the trail for a long time so couldn´t get past the bamboo.
On friday, packed up early to head south and back to Coyhaique. Stopped at another walk (which was closed for maintenance but we jumped the sign as noone around). The walk headed up throu a narrow forested valley and then out on an open area which terminated in a glacial lake surrounded on 3 sides by steep rocky walls which were topped by snow and glaciers (which we briefly glimpsed thru the rain and clouds). Truly spectacular sight. The lake was filled with huge ice chunks from the glacier and also frozen over as temps were probably just above 0C so must have frozen the night before.
From there headed back to Coyhaique, where we (eventually) decided to stay in a really nice place called Hotel Austral (about 35 eur per night) which has continous hot water, ensuite, brekkie, loads of space for drying damp (wet) boots, clothes, sleeping bags and tent. Very welcoming place after a week in the cold and wet. In summary, Park Pumalin, to a lesser degree Quelat NP and the 420km drive each way is amazing despite the normally wet, cold weather and tough road conditions. Its peak tourist season here but yet it felt as if we had the place to ourselves. An incredible week of scenery, beautiful campsites and day walks. Highly recommended.
Sunday, January 13, 2008
Friday, January 4, 2008
Puerto Montt to Coyhaiqhue
Well we are now in the middle of the Carretas Austral (which means Southern Route) in Chile. Its absolutely gorgeous here altho pretty chilly (hahahaha!) temps hovering around 10C with a cutting cold wind but its sunny.
The ferry trip was incredible. Flat as a pancake all the way, our 4 bed bunk room was lovely, we had a private toilet, 1 other fella sharing with us, loads of room, comfy beds, towels, showers, fresh linen and best of all the rooms are all above deck so happy days (memories of a trip to Estonia from Stockholm are still fresh!). We were so lucky with the weather, no winds so we made it in 4 hours before schedule which allowed us to get to Coyhaique last night. We saw a pod of dolphins (dunno what kind but they were bigger then any dolphins we have seen before), 2 whales (dunno what kind), seals, penguins (wow they literally fly thru the water so fast!), amazing scenery on the way on the ferry so pretty happy with that. The dolphins were incredible and swam under the bow of the ship for awhile.
Got into Puerto Chacubaco at 7pm last night and managed to get the 2 required buses to Coyhaique. The drive (about 80kms) was unbeleivably pretty and scenic. High, snow capped rocky mountains, lush forest to the tree line, lovely grassy valley with tasty looking cows (all that good beef in Argentina has me beef obsessed too).
Arrived into Coyhaique and eventually found the hostel (Hostel Baquranda) we had booked (since we are so organised and its high season). There was no sign so we slightly worried about it being the right place. The guy showed us the room but said there was a problem cause the Chileans like to party over New Year so we thought ok maybe the place is a little thrashed. Turned out he had kept us a room next to a room that was being built but wasn´t completed yet as the builders were too hungover. That was fine - what wasn´t so fine was the ´bed´ situation. He wanted 17 euros for a single bed that looked like it was going to fall apart and single air mattress on the floor for one of us ... hardly bloody matrimonial. SO we told him nicely no way. He got a bit huffed about that - seriously - and said we´d never find another place now. At that stage I would have preferred the park bench then pay the cheeky bugger anything. Anyways its bright here til nearly 10.30pm so we walked around and found another great (Hostal Licrayen 20k pesos) place with the best brekkie and lovely woman running the show.
In the midst of car hiring now so better go and do that (or help Dunk do something more productive then me blogging!).
PS went for sunny afternoon beers in Puerto Varas with Andy and Mary before the ferry trip which was great fun
PPS the ferry is the Navimag one and its 48k pesos per person. They only serve lunch (3k pesos pp) and free brekkie so bring your own food!! Great trip thou.
PPPS some travellers baffle me ... one guy sat in the canteen watching movies and working on his laptop for the entire ferry trip. Be cheaper to stay at home and get the local bus around in circles.
The ferry trip was incredible. Flat as a pancake all the way, our 4 bed bunk room was lovely, we had a private toilet, 1 other fella sharing with us, loads of room, comfy beds, towels, showers, fresh linen and best of all the rooms are all above deck so happy days (memories of a trip to Estonia from Stockholm are still fresh!). We were so lucky with the weather, no winds so we made it in 4 hours before schedule which allowed us to get to Coyhaique last night. We saw a pod of dolphins (dunno what kind but they were bigger then any dolphins we have seen before), 2 whales (dunno what kind), seals, penguins (wow they literally fly thru the water so fast!), amazing scenery on the way on the ferry so pretty happy with that. The dolphins were incredible and swam under the bow of the ship for awhile.
Got into Puerto Chacubaco at 7pm last night and managed to get the 2 required buses to Coyhaique. The drive (about 80kms) was unbeleivably pretty and scenic. High, snow capped rocky mountains, lush forest to the tree line, lovely grassy valley with tasty looking cows (all that good beef in Argentina has me beef obsessed too).
Arrived into Coyhaique and eventually found the hostel (Hostel Baquranda) we had booked (since we are so organised and its high season). There was no sign so we slightly worried about it being the right place. The guy showed us the room but said there was a problem cause the Chileans like to party over New Year so we thought ok maybe the place is a little thrashed. Turned out he had kept us a room next to a room that was being built but wasn´t completed yet as the builders were too hungover. That was fine - what wasn´t so fine was the ´bed´ situation. He wanted 17 euros for a single bed that looked like it was going to fall apart and single air mattress on the floor for one of us ... hardly bloody matrimonial. SO we told him nicely no way. He got a bit huffed about that - seriously - and said we´d never find another place now. At that stage I would have preferred the park bench then pay the cheeky bugger anything. Anyways its bright here til nearly 10.30pm so we walked around and found another great (Hostal Licrayen 20k pesos) place with the best brekkie and lovely woman running the show.
In the midst of car hiring now so better go and do that (or help Dunk do something more productive then me blogging!).
PS went for sunny afternoon beers in Puerto Varas with Andy and Mary before the ferry trip which was great fun
PPS the ferry is the Navimag one and its 48k pesos per person. They only serve lunch (3k pesos pp) and free brekkie so bring your own food!! Great trip thou.
PPPS some travellers baffle me ... one guy sat in the canteen watching movies and working on his laptop for the entire ferry trip. Be cheaper to stay at home and get the local bus around in circles.
Wednesday, January 2, 2008
Buenos Aires to Puerto Varas, Chile
First of all Happy New Year to you all and that ye all had a good Xmas break.
We spent Xmas day in Buenos Aires in my Aunty Helen´s beautiful colonial apartment (photos will appear at some stage) with Helen and her friends from Vancouver Mary and Andy where we dined on the traditional Argentian parilla (a kind of meat fest bbq). Dunk had the honour of standing on the roof deck backing in the heat of the sun and hot tiled floor to bbq us a perfect feast. Andy was his able assistance who made sure everything was cooked perfectly (and that Dunk was well watered and beered). We did have loads of gorgeous salads which probably is a mortal sin in Argentina (to waste belly space with silly vegtables), lots of fab vino, chocolate and a dessert (cant remember the name) which is quince tart and just divine. So thanks Helen for putting on such a splash and feeding us up so well during our stay in BA!! I think we both gained at least a stone of weight!!
Spent another couple of days in BA which was mostly sorting out our packs and trying to reduce our weight and create some more space for food which we will now have to carry as we will be camping down the Carretas Austral. Went to a fab french restaurant on our last night called Bouchon. I had the best dessert ever - a chocolate thing with really blackcurrant sauce and on the inside a beautiful berry sauce. Divine!!
On the 28th we headed to Bariloche via 17 hours on a bus in cama ejectivo which basically means large plush seats and loads of leg room plus blankets and pillow and agreable enough food. The best thing was thou that they didn´t play hours of bad movies at top volume so we could sleep!! Arrived in Bariloche on a cold blustery morning. Stayed at La Barraca hostel which was very welcoming, had great facilities and good views too. รง
Bariloche was surprisngly ok considering we had heard it was a nightmare of tourists and school groups at this time of the year. Ok there is lots of them but its a big town and seems to handle all the tourists reasonably well. The weather was pretty cold 15C with a gale force wind off the mountains over the lake but its a very pretty setting. Wasn´t too impressed by the chocolate thou - maybe cos Andy and Mary had given us a bar of swiss for Xmas and that was just as good as it gets (have I mentioned chocolate a lot - seems like I have, well you would too after 3 months choc deprivation and then suddenly its everywhere!!).
On the 30th we had an early 7.30 bus to Puerto Montt in Chile. At 6am was woken up by a taxi beeping incessantly outside our hostel. Had a mini panic and went oh crap we have slept in, but checked our watches and it was only 6 for definite so relaxed but the beeping continued. Eventually the guy came to the door of the hostel and Dunk went down to be told the clocks had changed and it was in fact 7am .. well now about 7.05am - AGGGGHH panic pack in 3 minutes, no time for toilet stop even, jump into the taxi and off we went to the bus station in a very bedraggled state. Arrived in time jumped on the bus and off we went. Phew. 2 things about this story are the taxi guy was lovely and didn´t overcharge us for having to wait AND WHAT THE F(/& are the clocks doing changing on Dec 30th????????? Bizarre. Whats even more bizarre is that Chile is now an hour behind Argentina even tho its further west.
Anyways the bus journey was crap, rained all the way, 2 one hour stops at Chilean and Argentian borders standing in the cold and then we arrived in Puerto Montt (starving by this stage cos we couldn´t eat the sugar infused lunch pack we got on the bus which consisted of either sweet or very sweet things). We had heard bad things about Puerto Montt being a dour port town and if ever a town lived up to its reputation this one did. We briefly considered heading to Puerto Varas but weren´t too sure how far it was and being tired, hungry and very sick of buses we made the bad decision to stay in Puerto Montt in the rain and cold. We stayed in a hospedaje that a little lady touted us at the station. Now it was nice enough place, clean but very small and probably would have been fine except Dunk was allergic to the blankets, it was on a hill with the main bus-truck road directly out front (even tho it was a narrow street and didn´t look like it would be bsuy at all), and we had Chilean guests from hell next door who shrieked for ages at 3am in the morning. I wish I had packed my hurley sometimes. Anyways since the Swedish couple next room thought it was us (speaking rapid loud Spanish???) and started banging on our walls, we started banging on their walls and eventually the noisy culprits calmed a bit.
We ate lunch a local kind of bar where all the locals were tucking into MASSIVE mounds of what seems to be the local equivalent of laksa in Sydney - gourmet dining at its best NOT. This mound of stuff which is called picada is basically french fries, olives, lumps of cheese, lump, s of hot dog, some sausage and in the real fancy version maybe some strips of meat and a couple of fried eggs thrown on top. What a bizarre combination. We settled for the steak sambos instead which were good. That night we visited the local recommended seafood restaurants down at the end at fishing port of Angelmo. Look its kind of cute with rows of little restaurants sitting up above the water and all well set up and clean but jaysus the food was basic for the price. Like I could do better on the camp stove with my eyes closed. I had a seafood soup and it was more like sand stew as none of the mussels were washed out. Dunk had salmon and it was basically slapped onto a plate - I´d present better to the dogs at home like.
Ok enough Puerto Montt rant - my advice NEVER stay there EVER.
We booked tickets on the ferry to Coyhaique for wednesday and then legged it on the bus to Puerto Varas (which is a mere 20 minutes) but world´s apart. Its a small cute touristy place on a beautiful lake overlooking a couple of volcanos (altho we still haven´t seen the top of them with the clouds!) and just so different we couldn´t beleive it. Stayed in a nice, friendly hospedaje (like a B&B without the breakfast) near the town centre and just wandered around revelling in the cleanliness and lack of falling down, unkempt buildings and miserably sad looking people.
On New Years Eve we got wine and nibblies and sat on the lake shore watching the sun set (between the rain drops and showers ;) ), then found the only bar in town for horrendously expensive beer (3 euros each for 330ml) and then joined the locals on the lake front to see the fireworks which was hilarious. All the town families and people were out with champers and drenched everyone and even the fireworks weren´t so bad.
On New Years day we got the local bus to Petrohue (after a slow sore heads start to the day) which is an hour from Puerto Varas and set on the Lago Todos Los Santos. Its very beautiful, heaps of places to stay and camp on the way out there, and very Germanic looking with lots of wooden gernam style houses serving lunch and afternoon tea. The only downside was the horseflies which are massive, lots of them and very persistent and impossible to kill altho they dont really sting so thats not so bad. Did a lovely walk along the lake shore which is lava sand and with stunning views of some volcanoes (once again the tops in the clouds) and mountains nearby. The west side of the Andes is much greener and more lush then east side but also rains more. We really are impressed tho. Could probably have spent more time here if we had known it was that easy to get out to the campsites etc.
Last night we met Mary and Andy by arrangement but mostly unexpectedly cos they didn`t expect us to stay in Puerto Montt and we didn´t know if they would either as they only got in that evening. Their first impressions on Puerto Montt were equal to ours! We found one of the only restaurants open (everything was shut yesterday) and had a surprisingly good meal overlooking the waters - even Puerto Montt began to look ok (hmm maybe that was the wine goggles).
Tonight we´re off on the 24 hour ferry to Coyhaique which is on the Carretas Austral, the road that winds south of here. The plan is to hire a car (or hook up with some other backpackers who have a car) and spend a week camping an exploring the area north of Coyhaique, including Park Pumalin (3 days), PN Quelat, and anything else we can find of interest. Will be camping all the way so hoping the weather clears up a little bit for us but the climate here is like west coast Ireland and New Zealand so chances are we´re going to get wet. Heaps of great looking day walks too so looking forward to that. After that going to use Coyhaique as base for some longer treks but more on that before it happens.
We spent Xmas day in Buenos Aires in my Aunty Helen´s beautiful colonial apartment (photos will appear at some stage) with Helen and her friends from Vancouver Mary and Andy where we dined on the traditional Argentian parilla (a kind of meat fest bbq). Dunk had the honour of standing on the roof deck backing in the heat of the sun and hot tiled floor to bbq us a perfect feast. Andy was his able assistance who made sure everything was cooked perfectly (and that Dunk was well watered and beered). We did have loads of gorgeous salads which probably is a mortal sin in Argentina (to waste belly space with silly vegtables), lots of fab vino, chocolate and a dessert (cant remember the name) which is quince tart and just divine. So thanks Helen for putting on such a splash and feeding us up so well during our stay in BA!! I think we both gained at least a stone of weight!!
Spent another couple of days in BA which was mostly sorting out our packs and trying to reduce our weight and create some more space for food which we will now have to carry as we will be camping down the Carretas Austral. Went to a fab french restaurant on our last night called Bouchon. I had the best dessert ever - a chocolate thing with really blackcurrant sauce and on the inside a beautiful berry sauce. Divine!!
On the 28th we headed to Bariloche via 17 hours on a bus in cama ejectivo which basically means large plush seats and loads of leg room plus blankets and pillow and agreable enough food. The best thing was thou that they didn´t play hours of bad movies at top volume so we could sleep!! Arrived in Bariloche on a cold blustery morning. Stayed at La Barraca hostel which was very welcoming, had great facilities and good views too. รง
Bariloche was surprisngly ok considering we had heard it was a nightmare of tourists and school groups at this time of the year. Ok there is lots of them but its a big town and seems to handle all the tourists reasonably well. The weather was pretty cold 15C with a gale force wind off the mountains over the lake but its a very pretty setting. Wasn´t too impressed by the chocolate thou - maybe cos Andy and Mary had given us a bar of swiss for Xmas and that was just as good as it gets (have I mentioned chocolate a lot - seems like I have, well you would too after 3 months choc deprivation and then suddenly its everywhere!!).
On the 30th we had an early 7.30 bus to Puerto Montt in Chile. At 6am was woken up by a taxi beeping incessantly outside our hostel. Had a mini panic and went oh crap we have slept in, but checked our watches and it was only 6 for definite so relaxed but the beeping continued. Eventually the guy came to the door of the hostel and Dunk went down to be told the clocks had changed and it was in fact 7am .. well now about 7.05am - AGGGGHH panic pack in 3 minutes, no time for toilet stop even, jump into the taxi and off we went to the bus station in a very bedraggled state. Arrived in time jumped on the bus and off we went. Phew. 2 things about this story are the taxi guy was lovely and didn´t overcharge us for having to wait AND WHAT THE F(/& are the clocks doing changing on Dec 30th????????? Bizarre. Whats even more bizarre is that Chile is now an hour behind Argentina even tho its further west.
Anyways the bus journey was crap, rained all the way, 2 one hour stops at Chilean and Argentian borders standing in the cold and then we arrived in Puerto Montt (starving by this stage cos we couldn´t eat the sugar infused lunch pack we got on the bus which consisted of either sweet or very sweet things). We had heard bad things about Puerto Montt being a dour port town and if ever a town lived up to its reputation this one did. We briefly considered heading to Puerto Varas but weren´t too sure how far it was and being tired, hungry and very sick of buses we made the bad decision to stay in Puerto Montt in the rain and cold. We stayed in a hospedaje that a little lady touted us at the station. Now it was nice enough place, clean but very small and probably would have been fine except Dunk was allergic to the blankets, it was on a hill with the main bus-truck road directly out front (even tho it was a narrow street and didn´t look like it would be bsuy at all), and we had Chilean guests from hell next door who shrieked for ages at 3am in the morning. I wish I had packed my hurley sometimes. Anyways since the Swedish couple next room thought it was us (speaking rapid loud Spanish???) and started banging on our walls, we started banging on their walls and eventually the noisy culprits calmed a bit.
We ate lunch a local kind of bar where all the locals were tucking into MASSIVE mounds of what seems to be the local equivalent of laksa in Sydney - gourmet dining at its best NOT. This mound of stuff which is called picada is basically french fries, olives, lumps of cheese, lump, s of hot dog, some sausage and in the real fancy version maybe some strips of meat and a couple of fried eggs thrown on top. What a bizarre combination. We settled for the steak sambos instead which were good. That night we visited the local recommended seafood restaurants down at the end at fishing port of Angelmo. Look its kind of cute with rows of little restaurants sitting up above the water and all well set up and clean but jaysus the food was basic for the price. Like I could do better on the camp stove with my eyes closed. I had a seafood soup and it was more like sand stew as none of the mussels were washed out. Dunk had salmon and it was basically slapped onto a plate - I´d present better to the dogs at home like.
Ok enough Puerto Montt rant - my advice NEVER stay there EVER.
We booked tickets on the ferry to Coyhaique for wednesday and then legged it on the bus to Puerto Varas (which is a mere 20 minutes) but world´s apart. Its a small cute touristy place on a beautiful lake overlooking a couple of volcanos (altho we still haven´t seen the top of them with the clouds!) and just so different we couldn´t beleive it. Stayed in a nice, friendly hospedaje (like a B&B without the breakfast) near the town centre and just wandered around revelling in the cleanliness and lack of falling down, unkempt buildings and miserably sad looking people.
On New Years Eve we got wine and nibblies and sat on the lake shore watching the sun set (between the rain drops and showers ;) ), then found the only bar in town for horrendously expensive beer (3 euros each for 330ml) and then joined the locals on the lake front to see the fireworks which was hilarious. All the town families and people were out with champers and drenched everyone and even the fireworks weren´t so bad.
On New Years day we got the local bus to Petrohue (after a slow sore heads start to the day) which is an hour from Puerto Varas and set on the Lago Todos Los Santos. Its very beautiful, heaps of places to stay and camp on the way out there, and very Germanic looking with lots of wooden gernam style houses serving lunch and afternoon tea. The only downside was the horseflies which are massive, lots of them and very persistent and impossible to kill altho they dont really sting so thats not so bad. Did a lovely walk along the lake shore which is lava sand and with stunning views of some volcanoes (once again the tops in the clouds) and mountains nearby. The west side of the Andes is much greener and more lush then east side but also rains more. We really are impressed tho. Could probably have spent more time here if we had known it was that easy to get out to the campsites etc.
Last night we met Mary and Andy by arrangement but mostly unexpectedly cos they didn`t expect us to stay in Puerto Montt and we didn´t know if they would either as they only got in that evening. Their first impressions on Puerto Montt were equal to ours! We found one of the only restaurants open (everything was shut yesterday) and had a surprisingly good meal overlooking the waters - even Puerto Montt began to look ok (hmm maybe that was the wine goggles).
Tonight we´re off on the 24 hour ferry to Coyhaique which is on the Carretas Austral, the road that winds south of here. The plan is to hire a car (or hook up with some other backpackers who have a car) and spend a week camping an exploring the area north of Coyhaique, including Park Pumalin (3 days), PN Quelat, and anything else we can find of interest. Will be camping all the way so hoping the weather clears up a little bit for us but the climate here is like west coast Ireland and New Zealand so chances are we´re going to get wet. Heaps of great looking day walks too so looking forward to that. After that going to use Coyhaique as base for some longer treks but more on that before it happens.
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