Pichi Christmas

We spent Christmas in a small surfy town on the coast of Chile called Pichilemu, 3 hours south of Santiago with Rob and Kim who we´d met in Pucon. We stayed in the cutest little cabana at Cabanas Buena Vista - a real find as we rocked up the day before christmas eve without reservations. The owners Sonia and Eugenio were great and supplied us with eveything we needed to cook our christmas lunch in the tiny little oven.

Days were spent on the beach, attempting to surf and bodyboard and we drank and played cards in the evenings. The waves were great, but really strong currents swept you down to the other end of the beach in a matter of minutes. Just outside of town was a beach called Punta de Lobos which has huge waves and is where they hold annual surf competitions.

Our mock christmas lunch of Roast Chicken with the works and icecream for pud made up for what we were missing at home. Christmas isn´t a big thing in Chile, with most celebrations happening on christmas eve. On the big day the locals were out eating empanadas and chips in the town and relaxing on the beach - James and Rob even found a freindly seal to bodyboard with.

Sur de Chile

I love Chile. The people are really friendly, the weather is great, the supermarkets are full of fresh fruit and they eat Guacamole with everything. There is however, one thing we discovered that I don´t like one bit, and they´re called Tabanos, a type of horsefly that are big, mean and hungry.

From Bariloche our first stop back in Chile was a town called Puerto Varas, in the south of the Chilean lake district. It lies next to Lago Llanquihue and there are stunning views over to Volcan Orsono. One day we decided to jump on a local bus to go to Lago Todos Los Santos for a picnic, we´d heard it was a beautiful green lake, surrounded by volcanoes and with unbeatable scenery.

Unfortunately, we´d only been off the bus for 5 minutes before we were absolutley swarmed by Tabanos, we had at least 15 on each of us trying to bite through our clothes. So we both ran back to the bus and jumped straight back on, much to the drivers amusement, and headed back towards town. We learned one important piece of information from an old man on the bus - apparently Tabanos are particularly attracted to black and blue, so J in a bright blue tshirt and me in my black fleece were pretty much asking for it. Lesson learned, we stopped at a place called Las Cascadas on the way back and just about managed to take some nice pics of the waterfalls and Volcan Osorno while beating off the Tabanos.


From Puerto Varas we headed to Pucon further north in the lake district. We were booked in to stay in a brand new hostel, and when we arrived it was quite obvious that we were the first guests, and the guys who ran the place we´re learning along with us! The manager was the loveliest lady called Connie, who despite speaking not a word of English really made us feel welcome. She was also an amazing cook and let us sample what she was cooking. Despite a few teething problems Etnico Eco hostel was an amazing place to stay, the house was an old vicarage, it had been owned by one of the richest families in the town but had been unoccupied for 5 years since they moved out. It had a real feel of faded glory, complete with swimming pool, chapel/games room, and a huge garden full of trees with ripe cherries and lemons. There was also a huge dog called Mattheo - who had apparently been brought to the town from the country after he´d killed two llamas - but he seemed to be the softest, laziest beast alive now.

Pucon is surrounded by amazing countryside and there´s plenty of adventure sports on offer. As we´d had a week or so of being bloody lazy we thought it was time to get involved. Our first trip was to go rafting on the the upper Trancura river. It was amazing, although I think our guide Claudio despaired of our useless group quite a bit - it was something to do with the way he kept diving off the boat just before a rapid and leaving us to make our own way down it.

Our second day of activities was postponed due to storms, but a day later we began the attempt to climb nearby Volcan Villarrica. The owner of the hostel, Gustavo, was also a Mountain guide, and he took me, James and another couple from the hostel, Rob and Kim. I can honestly say it was obne of the scariest things I´ve ever done! Because of the rain the day before it was really icy and we had to wear crampons and use ice axes really early on in the climb. That combined with quite a wind and some bloody steep sections left me feeling terrified. James obviously loved it and was massively disapointed when halfway up we realised we weren´t going to be able to make it to the top because of the conditions. Me and Kim wimped out at a point above the clowds while Gustavo took James and Rob further up to the plateau to see the peak.

The best bit came when we had to climb down, when we got to a part where the ice had softened enough, we sat on our bums and slid down! Definitely my favoured bit of the climb. That evening we went to some hot springs just outside of Pucon called Termas Los Pozones. There were 8 or 9 pools in total, all of different temperatures and surrounded by river rock to retain their natural appearance, there was a small path running between them that followed the freezing cold glacial river that you could jump in at any time to cool off (James and Rob did, I´ve never heard such girly screams), the whole place had a zen like atmosphere. So much so that it was only when we arrived back at the hostel that I realised I´d nicked someone elses flip flops by accident when I got out of a pool - leaving them my well worn Havaianas in return. So if the said flip flop owner is reading this then I´m sorry!

From Perito Moreno Glacier to Bariloche

The day after Torres Del Paine we were back on the road and trying to head north. There are only a couple of ways to do this as southern Chile/Argentina is rugged, mountainous and the roads are simply gravel ways. The Navimag Ferry up the Chilean coast is one way but a costly one, flying from Punto Arenas is another, but our chosen option was to head back into Argentina and cut across country to the east coast - as we love busses a lot!

Adventure Patagonia in Puerto Natalas was our extremely helpful hostel and sorted us out with a mini bus across the Chilean border and north to the Perito Moreno Glacier; situated outside the tourist hell hole of El Calafate. The sheer size, colour and noise of the glacier is awe inspiring and as you watch chunks occasionally fall off crashing into the lake as it advances toward the land. Once you go up onto the viewing platforms the scale of this ice field is realised and stretches for miles.

After visiting the glacier we were dropped off in the nearest town, El Calafate. In my opinion this place is touristy, garish and in comparison to the rest of Argentina it is extremely expensive. It´s sole existence is to feed off tourists who want to see the glacier so my advice to anyone wanting to go/needing a stop over is to get through it fast! We stayed one night at an equally souless and over priced H.I. hostel aptly called Calafate Hostel.

From El Calafate we had to head south and across country (east) to changes bus in Rio Gallegos and head northwest back across country to Bariloche, in the heart of the Argentine Lake District.

At last we had finished the roller coaster journey of 33 hours and slept, sunbathed and slept some more for a few days in Bariloche. We did little more than eat steak, drink excellent red wine and stay at an incredible hostel called 1004, so named as it is on the 10th floor of an apartment block over looking the lake and mountains. From the balcony we had this view of the full moon every night. It was quite incredible and the nicest hostel we´ve stayed in so far on the trip.

Torres Del Paine / Towers of Pain!

After checking out of our over priced hostel, HI Patagonia, we caught the bus south, via Rio Gallegos (Or as I say - Gallallagaygos) and across the Chilean border to Puerto Natales. This journey takes about 22hrs, give or take a couple of hours for the big, fat Chilean Policeman to route around in your bag for fruit; which is a no no.

Puerto Natales has the feel of a frontier town and is one of the furthest south so doesn't get dark until about 11pm; its blustery and surrounded by stunning scenery. Most who come here come for one reason - Torres Del Paine, or as we now refer to them - The Towers of Pain, which is one of Chile's incredible National Parks.

Obviously being seasoned hikers and pro mountain goats we thought we'd have a crack at this and amble through the park. However, the infamous Torres Del Paine is home to some difficult weather conditions! The 'W' route is one of the more popular hikes and takes about 5 days. It takes you to three different valleys and there are various places to camp on route so you end up walking a route that resembles a W. The day before we went to a hostel in Puerto Natalas called Erratic Rock where they give free talks about the park, the different routes and what to expect, consequently we decided to do the W from left to right.

In retrospect, Day 1 was easy, a short 3.5 hour walk to Glacier Grey. Although we each had 15 kilos of tent, food, clothes and general stuff we arrived in good time and pitched camp by 4.30pm. Our campsite was incredible, a small beach next to Glacier Grey and its lake. Whilst we sat on our camp bench and made Nigela Lawson proud with a volumptuous bowl of pasta con tomate, icebergs would float past and the sun shone high.

Valle de Francais and Camp Italiano was our destination for day 2. This involved 6 hour back track from the glacier and across the first 'dip' of the W. After the hike to Italiano the cool sheltered woodland camp was a sight for for sore eyes, and feet! We set up camp and brewed a hot chocolate as some friends, Pete and Jo who we'd met in Puerto Natales appeared from the bush (they had been out walking the Valle de Francais). That night we ate another mountain of pasta and knocked back some of our emergency rations of vino tinto, without a care in the world; little did we know what the towers of pain had in store for us on day 3!!!

Ah yes day 3 = HELL! There is always a point during hiking when fun disappears and is replaced by anger, pain and 70mph winds! Luckily the winds tended to be behind us (one reason for going left to right) but even so with our packs on our backs we were knocked over, pelted with stones and burnt by the sun for a mere 11 hours! Not to mention the three large river crossings. These were actually great fun yet slightly risky. The biggest had water around our shins and was about 30 metres wide with rapids! Crossing the river (with those 70 mph winds) involved holding a rusty bit of wire whilst hopping from bolder to bolder, with water crashing over and filling your boots (well, H's). By the end of day 3 our feet were blistered, our bags were still bloody heavy and our minds were nearly distroyed - thank god we had more pasta for dinner!

The last major hike, day 4, and we were at the end of our tethers. Han's boots had got soaked in the river crossing and only partially dried out, there was a 2 hour climb ahead of us to take us back up to 1000 metres but we decided there was no way we could drop out now. After that climb everything improved, we had spreadable cheese and crackers for lunch - oh soooo good - and by 3.30pm we had made it to our final nights camp, 'las Torres'. This campsite is just below las Torres and in woodland, as the towers looked clear we decided to assending the bolder field which led to the towers. After an hour of scrambling we'd made it and completed the bloody 'W'. The following day we descended the same way in half the time and headed straight for the Hostario (the posh hotel in Torres del Paine) and had our first beer - moy perfecto, and a Lomo al Pobre, the tastiest steak sandwich in the world.

Whale watching and some really tasty Pizza!

From El Bolson we headed towards the East coast of Argentina to the Peninsular Valdes (stunning national park) and Puerto Madryn (not so stunning city). We had 2 main aims, to go whale watching and to eat some good mariscos (seafood)!

The Peninsular Valdes was incredible, we had a guide for the day to drive us around the park and help us spot the wildlife, we saw Guanacos (weird llama type things), Maras (overgrown rabbits with dogs heads), and Rheas (similar to emus). We also saw Magellan Penguins and Elephant Seals.

We ended the day in a small town on the peninsular called Puerto Pyramides, where we joined a group of other tourists for the whale watching trip. The locals there seem to have devised a joke around the visitors, by insisting that we dress up in completely unnecessary huge oil skin coats and old school life jackets, they then paraded us through the town to the boat by which time we were all sweltering!

The whale watching was fantastic however, we saw a mother and her young calf who came so close to the boat, and seemed to be checking us all out, and probably laughing at our stupid outfits. We both took hundreds of mostly undistinguishable photos, its so hard to capture their size and how close they were.

Back in the city we discovered that there is something worth staying in Puerto Madryn for, a San Francisco Pizza from the Lizard Bar. It was the tastiest pizza I think I´ve ever eaten. Thin crusty base with the usual tomato sauce and mozzarella, but then topped with Spinach, Onions, Olives and a fried mixed topping of crushed walnuts, breadcrumbs and sage. It was incredible. We also ate our own body weight each in Rabas Fritas (Calamari) due to a little bit of a translation problem where I ordered the same thing for starter and main course. We then decided it was time to jump on another coach, this time headed for Chile.

Onwards and Southwards to El Bolson

Now it´s my turn to write on this blog thing so excuse the sp mistakes and general rambling!

We are now back on the road good and proper, having left Mendoza on Sunday. Coach journeys over here are becoming more random each time and after a ropey nights sleep onboard we woke up to a crackin game of bus bingo! There was still another 6 hours to go so we thought it would pass the time. The excitment from the rest of the passengers was overwhelming as the coach porter handed out the bingo cards and got out his petite bag of bingo balls. "Eyes down for a full house" he shouted in spanish and then picked up his trusty microphone. Numbers aren´t my strong point in english let alone spanish, however, there was a prize at stake so this bit of fun suddenly became serious! It was the longest 10 minutes of my life and the tension was nail biting; after 13 hours on a bus anything is. Before I knew where I was with my seisenta and setentas Han had one number left, suddenly ¨doce¨ was called out and she shouted BINGO! From a random game of bingo she/we had a lovely cheap bottle of plonk/paint stripper as the prize.

El Bolson is a beautiful little town and surround by mountains. Our hostel, ´Refugio Patigonico´, was great, loads of space, incredible views and surrounded by countryside; a nice change from city hostels. The hostel told us about Lago Puelo, a lake about 30mins south by bus and is gorgeous. Set against snowcapped mountains it has a couple of small beaches which we headed for on Tuesday. An afternoon of sunbathing and having a swim in the lake (with the mountains in the background) was just what we need after that 18 hour bus journey the day before.

Obviously lazing around is great but as we are surrounded by mountains it would be silly not to climb a couple. Well, now that I´m back from doing that I´m not so sure. We caught yet another bus, north this time, to the begining of a trail which would take us to Cajun del Azul. The canyon is one of the area´s great sights and after a 30 min walk we were at the beginning of the trail head, next to the Rio del Azul. The river at this point is very wide and there´s a lot of rapids so to cross it you have to use the Índiana Jones´style rope bridges, avoiding the missing wooden slats. We then hiked for about 3 1/2 hours through the alpine forest and reached the canyon at about 4pm. Whilst you are hiking you meet the river a few times and it looks so inviting and refreshing, however, its a glacial river and freezing at this time of the year. The final stage of the hike goes over bolders and up wooden ladders to another bridge which crosses the Cajun del Azul which is an incredible sight below you.

It was late afternoon and we decided to stay the night at a Refugio which was a couple of minutes from the river. Refugio Cajun del Azul, as it´s known, is an amazing place and really in the middle of nowhere so pretty much self sufficient with a large kitchen garden small holding and homemade beer! By night this large wooden cabin is lit by candels and a couple of tiny bulds running off a car battery. The refugio cooked us a amazing meal of spicy lamb patties, potatoes, salads and chutney, oh my god it was lush!!! After another couple of bottles of homemade beer we headed up stairs for our sleeping bags and what had become the biggest bed in the world. Not because of the beer but because we were on mattresses on the floor with nine middle aged argentinian men, every square inch of floor was taken up with either backpacks or bodies. Needless to say we slept well and were back on the trail by 9am and after an hour of walking the aches and pains were subsiding.
From El Bolson we are heading to Puerto Madryn, whale watching country so catch you later for more longwinded explanations!!!!!

Mendoza

We arrived in Mendoza on Thursday morning about a 15 hour coach journey from BA. The coaches are ace here, 160 degree reclining seats, films, blankets and pillows, but the funniest food arrangements!

We were due to start at Intercultural Language School on Monday so had a few days to look around, before we moved into our host family house. We joined up with a couple called Zoe and Paul to do a wine and bike tour around the bodegas in Maipu, just outside Mendoza. It wasn´t quite the idyllic and relaxing trip we had imagined. The bodegas are quite far apart and you had to share the roads in between with buses and lorries, constantly overtaking us but judging it pretty thinly! We survived and visited 4 bodegas, covering about 30km, and drinking our own body weight in wine!

On Sunday we moved over to Godoy Cruz and to our home for the week, casa de Malena! Other students stay at Malena´s house and while we were there there was also Denise (from Canada) and Merrian (from Brazil), as well as the house pets - Cato the gato, possibly the ugliest and most scared cat ever, and Flash the 20 year old tortoise! Malena is the most amazing cook and it was amazing to get home made meals every night, Tortás, Pasta fresci, roasted mini pùmpkins, mmmm! Although it´s taken a few days to get used to eating so late over here, 10pm at the earliest. Spanish school was hard, speaking English is banned inside so communicating is tricky when you only know a few words, I think we picked up a few things but definitely still need some serious practice.

We´re both suffering from some serious hangovers today after 2 nights of drinking. Last night we went to a great little club but we didn´t get there till 2am and only got to bed at 5.30am! It´s definitely necessary to have a siesta here if you want to live like the Argentinos do! We leave Mendoza tomorrow night, heading down to Patagonia, starting with a few days in El Bolson by the lake district before heading down to El Calafate, the perito Moreno glaciar and then down to Torres del Paine in Chile.

Buenos Aires

We arrived in Buenos Aires on the 4th November after a nightmare 24 hours of flying. Our hostel for the week was called Carlos Gardel, after the tango legend. The place was fantastic and became our little haven for the week while we got used to the heat (32 degrees most days). We were based in San Telmo, a barrio south of the city centre, home to the Feria de Antigüedades every sunday, where a central square called Plaza Dorrego becomes full of stalls selling antiques, bric a brac and treasures. I think we hit this on the best weekend at the end of our stay as it seemed to be an anniversary of the feria and everyone was dressed up in costume.

We spent most of our days exploring the different barrios of BA, sunbathing in the smart parks of Palermo next to lakes, we visited the cemetery in Recoletta - a weird tourist attraction but a really peaceful and interesting place to spend a few hours, some of the mausoleums are huge and really gothic.

We walked to La Boca one day, the barrio just south of San Telmo, know for it´s colourful painted corrugated houses, the area was heaving with tango dancers, street asados and stalls.

One of our favourite spots in BA was Bar Federal, in San Telmo. It was right by our hostel and served the most amazing selection of food. Picada´s, wooden boards filled with hams, salames, cheeses, etc. And Pancho Completos, huge hotdogs with cheese and bacon - not healthy or particularly argentinian but yum! Another bonus was the huge glasses of Malbec, 2 for about 2 pounds! After a week we decided it was time to think about moving on and decided that the city of Mendoza was our next destination.