Wow..... it´s been another week since we blogged. Well we haven´t been extremely active to be honest! As you know, after dropping off our passports at the Indian Embassy, we had a week to hang around Santiago.... it went like this:
After our Saturday at the fish and veg markets of Santiago we cooked ourselves a great little dinner, drank some wine and embraced our home for the next 5/6 days. Sunday allowed us a lie-in and then we took advantage of the free museums in downtown Santiago, so we wandered between them in the sweltering heat and managed to clock up 3 museums in one afternoon!
We decided to head out relatively early on Monday and see one of Santiagos most famous sights, the Virgin of Immaculate Conception, a 36m high statue that looks over the Chilean capital. We arrived only to find our early start thwarted as it didnt open until 1pm ! So after a nice lunch in the nearby Barrio de Bellavista, we headed up the hill..... by the finicular railway of course. Once at the top, the view over Santiago was amazing and a short (but v. hot) hike brought us to the base of the virgin. She´s really big! So now I really can´t wait for Cristo in Rio!
After seeing the Virgin we went to explore the rest of the park via the teleferico - cable cars! They were a little rickity looking and Jen was a little apprehensive to say the least! It was also hot as Hades inside the little glass bubbles! We rode thm around and decided to head back to the mall that we had been to before and see another movie - It was just too hot to do anything else! We hopped on the underground and headed out there.
When we arrived we got our tickets to "Si Señor" - "Yes Man" - with Jim Carey (based in L.A. which was cool to see again and actually pretty funny!) and went into the grocery store to get some snacks, only to find an awesome International section and both Indian and Thai Curry!! So happy! After the movie we went back to the store and stocked up. Curry for dinner tonight! (and the following night, and the one after that! And of course the leftovers for lunch the following day too!!) However, we didn´t end up having curry that night as we got back too late.
We spent Tuesday hanging out and we were even able to move to a private room with a double bed. We did in fact have curry too! It was delicious! On Wednesday we decided to head west to Valparaiso, a town built into the hills in the coast. There are finiculars all over the place to take you up the steep hills. It was a nice place to hang out for a couple days, eat LOTS of curry and enjoy our hostel - we had a nice private room with a TV, a great kitchen and...... A TRAPEZE!! It really had a trapeze! Lots of fun!
Here are the photos from Santiago and Valparaiso:
We returned to Santiago proper on Friday and picked up our Indian visa in the late afternoon so we decided, as we were halfway there, why not head to the mall (I misplaced my sunnies so needed some new cheapy ones) and see another movie.... it´s just too cheap and air-conditioned not to! This time we saw "Valkerie" - very enjoyable! Friday night we hungout and prepared for our Valentine´s day treat.... a hotel.
As we went to leave, we thought we should double check the location of the hotel again. Thank God we did. It turns out that the Radisson has 2 hits on the google map of Santiago, one right by where we were, as we thought, and one way out of town in a business park. Turns out that the later was correct. So after a lengthy subway and taxi ride we made it there. Great room, air conditioning, towels, a bath, TV and real privacy. Happy Valentine´s Day Jen! Unfortunately we were in the middle of nowhere. Thankfully we did find the sushi place across the street and were able to get take out. The sushi and sashimi were great, unfortunately they didn´t give us enough soy sauce to truly appreciate it though! We headed to the bar to have a drink and thought that we would enjoy a pisco sour, the local drink of choice (Thanks Jim, Lori and family!) Despite the few mishaps, we were able to have a great Valentine´s Day. It also should be mentioned that Jen noticed many bites on her arms.. then legs.. then feet... and spent the whole night itching! It must have been bedbugs from the hostel. She was miserable, poor thing, and some of the bites were bigger than grapes!
Yesterday we left Santiago and took a bus to arrive here in Mendoza, Argentina, late last night. Here we met Duncan, my 2nd cousin, who is from New Zealand but lives here with his Uruguayan wife, Rasuara, and their 2 boys. Duncan works in the wine industry here and all over South America and is having us to stay with him, walking distance from town. It is so nice to be in a great home and have the ammenities that one takes for granted but misses dearly when backpacking!
We are exploring the town today and, with any luck, tomorrow we will be able to go on a winery tour that Rosaura is organising for some of their clients.... fingers crossed! We leave hear on Wednesday night on a 36hr bus to Iguazu Falls, and then we are a mere hop, skip and a reaaaaaaally big jump away from being in England!
We will try and update again within the week!
Miss you all xx
Showing posts with label Chile. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Chile. Show all posts
Monday, February 16, 2009
Saturday, February 7, 2009
The wheels on the bus go round and round..
So last Sunday we left El Bolsón for Bariloche, but were unable to get the forward ticket into Chile. So we wandered the town, not much to do, why oh why do we continually arrive places on SUNDAY!? Anywho, we ate lunch, hung out at the hostel, blahblah...movies on tv, beers, etc. Monday we left for Orsorno, in Chile. Thankfully no border problems! Arrived, and found out we couldn´t get our onward ticket to Pucón until the next day. We lucked out and found a hotel right around the corner from the station and grabbed a private room. Made pizza, and watched movies all night.
TUESDAY! Off to Pucón. Finally. Upon arrival we find that all the dorms and hostels are crazy expensive, so we scout the streets looking for a deal. We find one, in the shape of a dilapidated old house with creaky floor boards, peeling paint, and constant smoke from the wood powered stove downstairs pumping into our room. Niiiiiice. Hey, it was less than half the price of the other places! We scout the town and sign up for white water rafting class 4/5 for the next day. Woo! Do a little shopping, then its off to our humble abode for a night of dodgy pasta we made in the backyard, and multiple games of Kings in the Corner.
Woke up late, grabbed lunch around the corner- biggest burgers EVER. We took halves home for dins. Then we wandered off to wait for the trip to start!!! The bus was a bit late, and it turned out we were to be in one of 4 boats, each holding 6 rafters and a guide, as well as 2 safety men in kayaks. Awesome! The water was freezing. We had wetsuits, booties, grip shorts, windbreakers, lifejackets and helmets... we were prepared! We hopped in the raft with our guide Carlos, and down the river we went. Some people had never rafter before, including Oli, so there was lots of excitement as we went through some training. We practised balancing (Oli fell out. Blames it on me.. whatever helps him sleep at night :), high sides and low sides, as well at paddling in unison. I found the guiding of the raft quite different than the style back in the States, but it was still safe and effective. We hit awesome rapids, went over 10 foot waterfalls... AHHHH! Can´t wait to do it again while we are in Asia.
Photoooooos:
So after the rafting, we mellowed out at home, so so happy to be warm and dry again as the clouds opened up and it continued to pour after we exited the river. More cards, leftover lunch, vino, and bedtime. Woo!
The next evening we had an overnight bus to Santiago, so we spent the day napping and reading. The bus was long and uneventful... but then.... WE ARRIVED!
It is so nice to be in a big city after being in isolated tourist destinations for the majority of the past month. Immediately upon arrival, we hopped on the metro (!!!!) and dropped our bags off at the hostel and walked over to the Indian embassy. We arrived just before opening, but the people there were SO nice and let us in to talk about the process. We had to do a bank deposit down the street, fill our some applications, and hand over our passports for the weeklong process. It was so smooth and easy, and we are soooo happy we did this now instead of attempting to do it in London!!! Can´t imagine how bad the queues and processing time would have been.
After the visa thing was sorted, we wandered for miles to the outskirts of town to find The North Face for Oli to get new shoes. No luck on the shoes, but we did find outselves in an awesome mall and I came out like a bandit! I can finally donate some of my more... loved... clothing. We went to see The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, which we loved, then wandered back with too many bags and sore feet. Made tacos for dinner (finally a place with tortillas!) with fresh salsa and guacamole... drank some vino and relaxed in the awesome dorm before bedtime! Side note, one of our roomies in the dorm is Sam, the German girl we hung out with in El Bolsón when Oli lost his bag! Small world.
This morning we headed into the city center to explore the fish market. It is quite famous, and you can smell it from a few blocks away. As we wandered around the lifeless mariscos, lounging on a bed of ice, we were astounded at the variety and quality of the place. You could seriously buy any of little Nemos friends or enemies and cook them up fresh for dinner. Amazing!!
We crossed the road and over to the local fruit and veg market, where we witnessed our first petty crime of the trip! A sneaky teen grabbed the gold necklace off the guy in front of us and took off, tearing through the crowd. He was persued by the victim, but the nimble feet of the young are hard to compete with. We quickly grabbed tight holds on our bags and entered, only to emerge with what must be 15 kilos or more of veggies in our brand new Puma duffel. Gotta love knockoffs! We then spent the next few hours wandering, getting lost, enjoying the gorgeous city, walking through parks and little classy neighborhoods, and here we are. We felt like we have been neglectful of our blog readers, and we should be much more diligent in the future. LOVE TO ALL! xx
ps- just bought our tix to India. flying london-chennai on March 20, then heading north. any advice? we wont recieve our india guidebook for another month, and would love some tips!
TUESDAY! Off to Pucón. Finally. Upon arrival we find that all the dorms and hostels are crazy expensive, so we scout the streets looking for a deal. We find one, in the shape of a dilapidated old house with creaky floor boards, peeling paint, and constant smoke from the wood powered stove downstairs pumping into our room. Niiiiiice. Hey, it was less than half the price of the other places! We scout the town and sign up for white water rafting class 4/5 for the next day. Woo! Do a little shopping, then its off to our humble abode for a night of dodgy pasta we made in the backyard, and multiple games of Kings in the Corner.
Woke up late, grabbed lunch around the corner- biggest burgers EVER. We took halves home for dins. Then we wandered off to wait for the trip to start!!! The bus was a bit late, and it turned out we were to be in one of 4 boats, each holding 6 rafters and a guide, as well as 2 safety men in kayaks. Awesome! The water was freezing. We had wetsuits, booties, grip shorts, windbreakers, lifejackets and helmets... we were prepared! We hopped in the raft with our guide Carlos, and down the river we went. Some people had never rafter before, including Oli, so there was lots of excitement as we went through some training. We practised balancing (Oli fell out. Blames it on me.. whatever helps him sleep at night :), high sides and low sides, as well at paddling in unison. I found the guiding of the raft quite different than the style back in the States, but it was still safe and effective. We hit awesome rapids, went over 10 foot waterfalls... AHHHH! Can´t wait to do it again while we are in Asia.
Photoooooos:
So after the rafting, we mellowed out at home, so so happy to be warm and dry again as the clouds opened up and it continued to pour after we exited the river. More cards, leftover lunch, vino, and bedtime. Woo!
The next evening we had an overnight bus to Santiago, so we spent the day napping and reading. The bus was long and uneventful... but then.... WE ARRIVED!
It is so nice to be in a big city after being in isolated tourist destinations for the majority of the past month. Immediately upon arrival, we hopped on the metro (!!!!) and dropped our bags off at the hostel and walked over to the Indian embassy. We arrived just before opening, but the people there were SO nice and let us in to talk about the process. We had to do a bank deposit down the street, fill our some applications, and hand over our passports for the weeklong process. It was so smooth and easy, and we are soooo happy we did this now instead of attempting to do it in London!!! Can´t imagine how bad the queues and processing time would have been.
After the visa thing was sorted, we wandered for miles to the outskirts of town to find The North Face for Oli to get new shoes. No luck on the shoes, but we did find outselves in an awesome mall and I came out like a bandit! I can finally donate some of my more... loved... clothing. We went to see The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, which we loved, then wandered back with too many bags and sore feet. Made tacos for dinner (finally a place with tortillas!) with fresh salsa and guacamole... drank some vino and relaxed in the awesome dorm before bedtime! Side note, one of our roomies in the dorm is Sam, the German girl we hung out with in El Bolsón when Oli lost his bag! Small world.
This morning we headed into the city center to explore the fish market. It is quite famous, and you can smell it from a few blocks away. As we wandered around the lifeless mariscos, lounging on a bed of ice, we were astounded at the variety and quality of the place. You could seriously buy any of little Nemos friends or enemies and cook them up fresh for dinner. Amazing!!
We crossed the road and over to the local fruit and veg market, where we witnessed our first petty crime of the trip! A sneaky teen grabbed the gold necklace off the guy in front of us and took off, tearing through the crowd. He was persued by the victim, but the nimble feet of the young are hard to compete with. We quickly grabbed tight holds on our bags and entered, only to emerge with what must be 15 kilos or more of veggies in our brand new Puma duffel. Gotta love knockoffs! We then spent the next few hours wandering, getting lost, enjoying the gorgeous city, walking through parks and little classy neighborhoods, and here we are. We felt like we have been neglectful of our blog readers, and we should be much more diligent in the future. LOVE TO ALL! xx
ps- just bought our tix to India. flying london-chennai on March 20, then heading north. any advice? we wont recieve our india guidebook for another month, and would love some tips!
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
No One Eats Beaver in Argentina....
Firstly, here are our photos from Puerto Madryn, Trelew and Gaiman:
Also, from our wonderful bus trip and arriving in Ushuaia and The Prison:
From where we left off last time we spent Friday in the National Park of Tierra del Fuego. We embarked on 7 hours worth of hiking in the light rain that came at us horizontally due to the howling wind! However, we were nicely prepared and were not concerned with the weather but with the amazing landscape that surrrounded us.
The hike took us through forests, wooded glades, bogs and marshes, over, around and near enough under the volumous mountains of the area region. As we hiked we came across wild horses and foals, numerous odd looking birds and some truely wonderful scenery, even an amazing example of a beaver dam. We stopped to enjoy our lunch on a shale beach in a tiny bay on the Beagle Channel, looking out over some amazing mountains. We were making good time but still were in a little of a hurry to meet our lift back to civilization. After getting to our bus stop with a little time to spare we settled in to wait.... nothing appeared. So we decided to walk along the road to the last stop, we would surely be passed by our ride on the way and we could see more of the park. Well, we were passed by lots of mini-buses, none of which belonged to our company. We started to believe that we would have to wait or the last bus at 7pm, still 90 mins away. We continued to hike and arrived at the very end point of Route 3, the end of the last road in the Southern Hemisphere, the last bus stop. By now it was 6pm, and still no 5pm bus, as more time passed we were concocting ideas of foraging in the forest and using the disabled toilet as shelter for the night!!
As luck would have it, at 7pm on the dot, to the minute, our bus arrived, so cold, tired and weary, we headed back to the hostel for some hot food and a little vino. We got chatting to some folks at the hostel (One girl, Jo, is cycling from Tierra del Fuego, North, up through South America!) and went to bed a little later than expected, particularly as we had to be up at 730am the following day for our penguin tour. We finally forced ourselves to retire, only to find our dorm door jammed shut... the locking mechanism had frozen! Our early bed turned into a very late night as we tried to fix the door, cliumbed in and out of the window, and eventually solved the problem in the early hours with brute force, lots of sparks and an angle grinder! None of this, coupled with the wine, lead to a pleasant wake up just a few hours later.
As expected, we awoke a little groggy and a little late. After quick showers we hurried down to the marina where we hopped on another mini bus and started our tour. After a little doze the tour started and it turned out that our guide, a young local guy, was really very informative. We stopped along the way, getting out briefly to look at wind swept trees, bays and more. We even stopped to check out a beaver dam - here we learnt that, 40 odd years ago, the Government introduced 25 pairs of beavers in the area to populate and create a booming fur business. However it failed miserably due to thin coats and now the beavers are in the 100,000´s. In fact, for every beaver killed, a hunter receices roughly $25, however, in the words of our guide, "in Argentina, no one eats the beaver"!
We continued on our tour to the small settlement where the launch to the penguin island leaves from. We huddled in the tea room here for warmth until it was time to leave. The boat ride was short and we disembarked onto a beach that was filled with penguins, as were the surrounding waters. It was quite the sight and we were able to observe their funny waddle first hand! We were very fortunate as the babies had hatched only a month prior and despite their size, were really cute and fluffy! It was also suprising just how noisy a penguin can be! We were able to walk around the island with our guide for an hour, we had a wonderful time despite the freezing temperatures and a wind that will tear you limb from limb if you are not careful! We left the island satisfied, cold but smiling, and happy that we were able to march with the penguinos of Tierra del Fuego.
Upon arrival back to Ushuaia it was apparant that Jen wasn´t doing so well, we had forgotten the travel sickness pills and she was suffering. We went back to the hostel to pick up our bags. We had to move due to it being super full. Because Jen was in no state to be sharing a room with 4 strangers, we decided to bite the bullet and get a private room for the night. I left Jen to sleep and went to run some errands before returning to find her a little better, but not fit for anymore than hanging out with the TV on, something that we rarely get to do and is suprisingly nice! We got a pizza-to-go and settled in for the evening.
The following day, we had to move once again, back to a dorm and regular life! We had nothing planned for the day, it being a Sunday, so we caught up in our journals, read and prepared for our 5am bus journey the following day. We even managed to ship out the postcards we´ve been accumulating since Machu Picchu! We cooked, made lunch for the journey and went to bed as early as possible considering the Sun doesn´t go down until 11pm!
When we awoke at 430am the Sun was already rising! We went down to the bus station, boarded and settled in for 16hrs on a bus. Well, it was a little longer than that, we were delayed a couple times at the borders..... once because of me! I had forgotten about 2 apples in my bag and when they found them I was repremanded! I waited and waited until everyone else was on the bus and then they pulled me into an office, fortunatly no latex gloves appeared! After a little lecture, some paperwork and having to watch them incinerate my 2 apples (!!) I was free to go, pending an email to tell me my fate!
Anyway, a few more hours, a missed connection, another bus and a few more hours, we arrived here in Puerto Natales, tired, hungry, smelly and worse, ready for bed, at 10pm. We found a cheap hostel (no dorms in Chile - yay), got some good dinner and finally made it to bed. Today we are sorting out the situation here with the national park and planning our next few weeks, all based around the amazing hiking and trekking here in the Lake District!
With only a few more weeks till our rest stop in the UK, it feels like we´ve come so far. We miss everyone and can´t wait to see you all as soon as possible!
We will be posting more of the pix from our adventures as soon as possible, the computers here have stopped uploading... again!
Adios till next time.
Also, from our wonderful bus trip and arriving in Ushuaia and The Prison:
From where we left off last time we spent Friday in the National Park of Tierra del Fuego. We embarked on 7 hours worth of hiking in the light rain that came at us horizontally due to the howling wind! However, we were nicely prepared and were not concerned with the weather but with the amazing landscape that surrrounded us.
The hike took us through forests, wooded glades, bogs and marshes, over, around and near enough under the volumous mountains of the area region. As we hiked we came across wild horses and foals, numerous odd looking birds and some truely wonderful scenery, even an amazing example of a beaver dam. We stopped to enjoy our lunch on a shale beach in a tiny bay on the Beagle Channel, looking out over some amazing mountains. We were making good time but still were in a little of a hurry to meet our lift back to civilization. After getting to our bus stop with a little time to spare we settled in to wait.... nothing appeared. So we decided to walk along the road to the last stop, we would surely be passed by our ride on the way and we could see more of the park. Well, we were passed by lots of mini-buses, none of which belonged to our company. We started to believe that we would have to wait or the last bus at 7pm, still 90 mins away. We continued to hike and arrived at the very end point of Route 3, the end of the last road in the Southern Hemisphere, the last bus stop. By now it was 6pm, and still no 5pm bus, as more time passed we were concocting ideas of foraging in the forest and using the disabled toilet as shelter for the night!!
As luck would have it, at 7pm on the dot, to the minute, our bus arrived, so cold, tired and weary, we headed back to the hostel for some hot food and a little vino. We got chatting to some folks at the hostel (One girl, Jo, is cycling from Tierra del Fuego, North, up through South America!) and went to bed a little later than expected, particularly as we had to be up at 730am the following day for our penguin tour. We finally forced ourselves to retire, only to find our dorm door jammed shut... the locking mechanism had frozen! Our early bed turned into a very late night as we tried to fix the door, cliumbed in and out of the window, and eventually solved the problem in the early hours with brute force, lots of sparks and an angle grinder! None of this, coupled with the wine, lead to a pleasant wake up just a few hours later.
As expected, we awoke a little groggy and a little late. After quick showers we hurried down to the marina where we hopped on another mini bus and started our tour. After a little doze the tour started and it turned out that our guide, a young local guy, was really very informative. We stopped along the way, getting out briefly to look at wind swept trees, bays and more. We even stopped to check out a beaver dam - here we learnt that, 40 odd years ago, the Government introduced 25 pairs of beavers in the area to populate and create a booming fur business. However it failed miserably due to thin coats and now the beavers are in the 100,000´s. In fact, for every beaver killed, a hunter receices roughly $25, however, in the words of our guide, "in Argentina, no one eats the beaver"!
We continued on our tour to the small settlement where the launch to the penguin island leaves from. We huddled in the tea room here for warmth until it was time to leave. The boat ride was short and we disembarked onto a beach that was filled with penguins, as were the surrounding waters. It was quite the sight and we were able to observe their funny waddle first hand! We were very fortunate as the babies had hatched only a month prior and despite their size, were really cute and fluffy! It was also suprising just how noisy a penguin can be! We were able to walk around the island with our guide for an hour, we had a wonderful time despite the freezing temperatures and a wind that will tear you limb from limb if you are not careful! We left the island satisfied, cold but smiling, and happy that we were able to march with the penguinos of Tierra del Fuego.
Upon arrival back to Ushuaia it was apparant that Jen wasn´t doing so well, we had forgotten the travel sickness pills and she was suffering. We went back to the hostel to pick up our bags. We had to move due to it being super full. Because Jen was in no state to be sharing a room with 4 strangers, we decided to bite the bullet and get a private room for the night. I left Jen to sleep and went to run some errands before returning to find her a little better, but not fit for anymore than hanging out with the TV on, something that we rarely get to do and is suprisingly nice! We got a pizza-to-go and settled in for the evening.
The following day, we had to move once again, back to a dorm and regular life! We had nothing planned for the day, it being a Sunday, so we caught up in our journals, read and prepared for our 5am bus journey the following day. We even managed to ship out the postcards we´ve been accumulating since Machu Picchu! We cooked, made lunch for the journey and went to bed as early as possible considering the Sun doesn´t go down until 11pm!
When we awoke at 430am the Sun was already rising! We went down to the bus station, boarded and settled in for 16hrs on a bus. Well, it was a little longer than that, we were delayed a couple times at the borders..... once because of me! I had forgotten about 2 apples in my bag and when they found them I was repremanded! I waited and waited until everyone else was on the bus and then they pulled me into an office, fortunatly no latex gloves appeared! After a little lecture, some paperwork and having to watch them incinerate my 2 apples (!!) I was free to go, pending an email to tell me my fate!
Anyway, a few more hours, a missed connection, another bus and a few more hours, we arrived here in Puerto Natales, tired, hungry, smelly and worse, ready for bed, at 10pm. We found a cheap hostel (no dorms in Chile - yay), got some good dinner and finally made it to bed. Today we are sorting out the situation here with the national park and planning our next few weeks, all based around the amazing hiking and trekking here in the Lake District!
With only a few more weeks till our rest stop in the UK, it feels like we´ve come so far. We miss everyone and can´t wait to see you all as soon as possible!
We will be posting more of the pix from our adventures as soon as possible, the computers here have stopped uploading... again!
Adios till next time.
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