French Glacier - What's that all about?

8th Jan. Breakfast is at 8:30, which is a sensible start time  Nice mix of fruit, lovely bread and spreads as well as scrambled eggs, with fresh juices. Much better than what we had been used to. Warms me up nicely considering the pods are just glorified tents and my head did get cold in the night, so had to resort to pulling the quilt over my head. The sun coming through the round windows

Today we are heading away from the Pods for an overnight stay at a refugio (Mountain lodge Grande Paine) . This will allow us to walk up to two different glaciers. It is another beautiful sunny morning with some big fluffy clouds in the sky. Considering the weather forecasts for the nearest city indicated that it would be raining, we are very happy.

So after we make our own packed lunches from a lovely selection, it is a short bus ride down to a jetty on Lake Pehoe. We are due to get the 10am ferry across the lake, but find a long queue. It appears that this hasn’t happened before so we have to wait for the ferry to come back an hour later. Surrounded by a variety of people/groups, some of which are UK based. The view across the lake is pretty spectacular, especially with the beautiful colour of the lake. We are some of the first on the boat so get upstairs to be able to get a good view.

The wind is pretty strong as we travel across the lake. Taking photos is not an easy thing. However, the landscape is too photogenic not to try.

Offload by the refugio, but can’t dump any gear as our room isn’t ready so we head off toward the French Glacier. The walk is a slow upward trek past a couple of lakes with Scandinavian names such as Lake Nordenskjold. As we climb we see lots of trees that are just grey burnt stumps. This is a common place thing in the park due to two things. Firstly, the original ranchers did a lot of tree burning to clear land. However, this far up the damage was caused by a Czech hiker who was illegally camping in the park. I took a month and a combined team of Argentinian and Chilean firefighters to put the resultant blaze out. The rumour goes that the hiker subsequently offered £1000 to help…..

Initially the walk is through trees, across streams running off the mountainsides that we are walking past along the French Valley. We are headed towards the British camp, but due to the catermaran ferry delay, we will not make it. Cross over a great wooden bridge, which only allows a max of 6 people on at any one time. It is one of those bouncy affairs, which if you get your stride wrong can make you feel uncomfortable. However, it is from here that you get your first view of the French Glacier. We stop for lunch and then split into two groups. The more adventurous ones head up to a look out that looks down onto he glacier. I opt for the shorter walk to the base of the glacier as I expect that to be more photogenic, well that’s my excuse.

http://www.cascada.travel/activities/programs.php?IDP=37&ID=51&OP=1 gives details of the treks if you want to know more.



While the other 3 chill out on the rocks looking up to the glacier, I look to take some photos before the sun and clouds obscure the peaks. We top up our water bottles from the stream before heading back to the refugio. I take my time heading back as the sun is in a better position and I am keen to get some good shots. Also going gently downhill is not particularly demanding. Puts a bounce in my step. As I get close to the refugio, the group that went up to the lookout catch me up whilst I am admiring a couple of condors circling high above. Also get to hear the sound of a few avalanches on the other side of the mountain.


Back at the refugio we have a quick shower before dinner. Am feelin pretty hungery even though I had a good packed lunch. Maybe it is the fact that this is the first real exercise I have done for a while, covering 10+ miles in approx 6 hours. Dinner is nowhere near as good as at the ECamp. The veggie option isn’t op to much, so I have soup, a bowl of what appears to be Smash and a bowl of fruit cocktail including the plastic half cherry just like you used to get at school. Treat myself to a beer to wash it down. We then head up to the bar, which has a great view of the Massif, where we watch the sun slowly setting whilst indulging in a nice glass of white.


I am in a bunk above Mandy, sharing the room with Richard, Mima, Colin and Tim. Sleep comes easily……

Pods glorious pods

A Guanacho - related to llama and camel.....

7th Jan. We are awake early and go down for breakfast, which is a simple help yourself affair of bread, jam and juice, no different from most of what we have had so far. Both Mandy and I agree that we don't really want to stay in this place when we are back in P. Arenas in 5 days time. It is just a place with no real atmosphere. We are picked by a minibus at 9:30, then pick up 2 American couples before heading to the airport to pick up a number of other people. It transpires that we will be in a group of 7 on the 5 day trip, but the 4 Americans are doing the 7 day trip. It is a good 2 hour drive to Puerto Natales to the local offices of Casada, the company who is the local agent and manages the ecocamp that we will be staying at. The drive starts out through flat cattle/sheep grazing land which is actually quite flat and lacking on significant detail. However, as we drive along hills and then snow capped peaks start to appear. These are the lower peaks of the Andes, the other end of which I have seen in Peru a few years back. P. Natales is primarily a staging post for people heading into Patagonia, and it looks it. The houses we pass are again of basic construction and most are single or double story. Not many high rises here. There are lots of shops dedicated to trekking as well as basic restaurants aimed at travellers.

We have to fill in a bit of paperwork at the office, which gives me a chance to print off some model release forms as well as checking a few emails. I don't know if there is any internet access at the camp, so could be out of contact for 5 days (shock horror!). We are then taken off to a basic restaurant for lunch, I skip on the chicken broth soup and have an interesting mix of omelette/Spanish tortilla, which includes green beans and peas. I have to use some jalopeno sauce to add a bit of zest. I can't even remember what the dessert is! We then walk back to the office. There is a couple from Scotland who have to do some emergency clothes buying as their bags haven't turned up. Luckily they do have their boots and some outer clothing, so not a complete disaster. We are then on the bus with our two guides for the trip out to the ecocamp(EC). Miasha and Huwamani will be our guides for the 5 days we are at the EC. During the trip we find out that they are cousins, Maisha being a trainee vet and Huwamani studying Incan history. The trip from P. Natales to EC is approx 3 hours including a stop to see a set of caves where the remains of a Myllodon were found. I remember the cave being mentioned in Bruce Chatwin's book called 'In Patagonia'. So it would be interesting to see a place that is referenced in a book that is deemed a one of the best travel books written, not that I was completely taken by it. It is a lovely sunny day with a few clouds in the sky, but you do notice the cold when you are in the shade. The cave stop is interesting. As the others walk around having a guided tour, I get stuck into playing around with my new camera as I want to be as comfortable as possible when we start trekking. I am praying that it all works out and I do get pictures that can be used in conjunction with the articles that Mandy will be working on as well as the ones promised to Cascada in return for the significant discount they gave us. I wish I could get this kind of gig more often....maybe I will.

During the tour of the caves, I get to chat to a few others in the group. Mima and Richard are the couple from Scotland. Although Richard is a Scot, Mima is from Finland. There are a couple friends travelling together, Tim and Colin, who used to work together and are both London based. They are a few years younger than Mandy and myself, but appear to be a good laugh. Then there is Roshenda, more of her and the Irish couple later. Back on the bus for the continuation of our trip to EC. We have one more stop at a small village on the outskirts of Torres del Paine National Park, where the EC is located. This just looks like a place with a couple of cafes and artisan shops, so a few of us just loiter outside and we are lucky enough to see a Goucho come by hearding a stack of evidently recently sheared sheep with a few dogs. I didn't see them at first, but heard some whistling and then saw the dogs working a few sheep. I rushed back to get my camera from the bus, but by then I was caught on the wrong side of the herd. Did get a few photos, but I won't quickly forget the sound and the dust cloud……

Back onto the minibus for the last leg to the EC. At one stage we do have to get out to let the van travel over a narrow bridge that has a maximum weight limit. The bridge is quaint in a strange sort of way and is actually made by a company in London. We then go past an ugly hotel before arriving at our destination and finally see ‘The Pods’ that we will be staying in. The photos say it all. The do look cool but even I end up banging my head on the entrance, and I am not exactly the biggest guy in the world. The location is amazing. We have behind us great view of the towers, that are the core to Torres del Paine national park.

We meet in one of the two main pods for welcome drinks and appetizers. More Pisco Sours… Dinner is a nice affair with a few bottles of wine thrown in. This is a rather comfortable form of glorified and ecofriendly camping. The pods look cool, but there are no curtains and the sun doesn’t set till 10:30pm and rises just after 5am. Also there is no heating in the sleeping pods, but lovely warm blankets/quilts. There are only 2 power sockets in the whole place and no internet or telephone access…. Bliss.

Rolling rapidly south

6th Jan, A little more leisurely start today, getting up after 7:30 to pack our bags before heading down to breakfast. I decide to splurge out and pay the extra 60p for scrambled eggs. We then check out of our room, dump our bags in the basement for the day and sit outside waiting for the white water rafting bus to come and pick us up. It is a little cold and the sky is filled with mid grey clouds. It has been raining again overnight, but t least it isn't at the mo. Along comes the bus, towing a trailer with 3 rafts. Inside are 3 spaniards, 2 canadians, another 2 brits and the local crew plus a german girl along to learn the ropes. It is an hour long drive to the drop off point so after filling in the necessary paperwork, which has the usual signing your life away statements, I admire the lovely scenery of Lake Llanquilhue.

We get to our launch spot and get into wetsuits and booties before walking along a narrow path along the river to the place where we have our safety briefing. We are split into two groups dependent on mother tongue. So there are 6 of us in the one boat, with Issidro as our guide. He is a friendly and humorous Mexican. I volunteer to go at the front, knowing that this would be the most exciting place to sit, as this is only a grade 3 set of rapids. As Matthew the Canadian is the only other male, he is volunteered to join me. We were doing a 10 km trip, which would take approx 90 mins. Whilst we are getting ready there is a guy going around taking photos, which will be on sale after the trip. I look at his camera with pangs of jealousy even though it isn't anything that modern. We name ourselves The Soggies as we settle into the raft. The ride starts off fairly sedate and in reality we only hit a handful of holes where I get wet. I accept that this isn't going to be an exhilerating ride, more a bit of fun and a chance to appreciate the beautiful landscape. We are riding though some beautiful tree lined hills, with the odd snow capped mountain in the background. The cloud base is low so all the volcanic mountain peaks are hidden. Agree with Mandy that we have been lucky to see the peaks in glorious blue sunshine over the previous few days. The sun occasionally breaks through the clouds to light up the odd tree covered hillside. Around us we see a few strange ducks, that have an amusing way of appearing to run along the surface of the water near rapids. There are also quite a few white bellied birds of the swift family, not that our guide can tell us what they are. We stop every so often to allow the photographer in his canoe to get past us to the next stop. At one point the guide spins us into a rapid to ensure I get wet as I have been chatting. Whatever turns him on!

We finish off and haul out the boat, then go and get out of our wet suits etc, before grabbing a bite to eat as well as having a drink of Pisco Sour. Not sure it is the right thing after a cool ride. Spot a couple of birds of prey who are loitering in the vicinity. Maybe they know that if they hang around a little they might get some scraps. Some of the others have definitely suffered slightly from the cold water and the breeze. Back on the bus and head back to our Hostel. I chat briefly to the photographer before having a little snooze, like most of the others. Get back to the hostel around 3pm and go for a much needed hot shower as well as removing 3 days hairy growth from my face. Then head out to the lake to sit and read my book (Notes from an Exhibition) for an hour before joining Mandy for a bite to eat at 6pm. Have a lovely fettucine with seafood, which includes juicy scallops and squid - yummy. This is washed down with another glass of dark beer. Again I find that it is all a bit on the expensive side, even the beer costs over £4 a bottle. Accept that we are sat lake side, but £10 for a snack is a bit overpriced. Back up to the hostel to download a full user guide for the camera and send a last few emails as we are likely to be incommunicado for at least 4 days whilst in the national park. As much as Mandy thinks I am glued to my laptop, I think it might be a little sad not to be able to get away from lots of modern day trappings for a while.

We have booked a transfer to the airport, which only takes 30 mins to get us there, so we snoop in the one shop, that seels the usual mix of stuff, although a couple of the books, showing images of Chile are not too bad. End up with 90 mins before we leave, sat listening to the likes of Procol Harlem's A whiter shade of pale and cat stevens 'It's a wild world' definitely indicates how wild the world is! Just about the last ones to board. I really can't get into this mad rush to get on board, especially when your hand luggage can sit unde your seat. We are near the front and have to convince an old woman, who evidently doesn't fly very often that she has to undo her seat belt and step out to let us get to our seats. After we are settled, she gingerly opens a carrier bag on her lap and has a swig of what looks like Pisco Sour. As you can gather, security re fluids etc on internal flights isn't taken seriously over here. It is a 2 hour flight and I have a bit of a snooze after doing a bit of this blog. Usual snack pack for eats, this time it contains 3 diferent types of buscuit. The old dear sat next to me, has a drink then quietly pops the snack pack into her carrier. This bag, must be the female equivalent of a tardis, when it comes to being a means of transporting stuff.

We are on the ground and in our cab pretty quickly and at our homestay for the night by 1:30pm. The tres hermanos homestay doesn't live up to it's website billing. It reminds me of some of the stack em hi places in Oz and the far east. Also not impressed to be told we will be picked up at 9:30 not 11am for our onward journey. Sleep comes fitfully, thanks to all the shuffling around in the corridor and the paper-thin walls.

Chiloe and its penguins

5th Jan: Our original plan was to go on an organised day trip down to the island of Chiloe and see a penguin colony but the tour was full. So last night we accepted an offer to have a private tour with the owner of the hostel, Mauricio, who came across as a warm approchab le guy with a good command of English. In reality, there hadn't been anyone that we had met so far on the trip that I would say was unfriendly. Admittedly the level of service in a couple of the restaurants wasn't up to much, but overall people were genuinely approachable. Then again, most people we had come across were either working in the service industries or used to dealing with tourists.

We are picked up by Mauricio around 8:30am and have a good hour's drive down to get the ferry over to the island of Chiloe, which is the largest of Chile's islands. The sky is very cloudy with just the odd bit of blue sky, but at least it isn't raining. It is a 30 min ferry ride across the narrow straits between mainland Chile and Chiloe. During the journey we see a few sea lions swimming in the sea nearby, but no signs of any dolphins. It is during the journey that I am chatting to Mauricio about my stolen cameras and the restrictions it has placed on me. He lets on the he has a canon slr, in fact he has it in the car. Surprisingly he lets me use it for the rest of the day, which is a much needed blessing, and does mean that for at least 1 day I am not having to borrow Mandy's camera. Once we land on Chiloe, we admire some black headed swans before driving along the coast a little to a small village where they collect seaweed, which is used by a large processing plant on the mainland. There are also a number of birds in the small estuary where we stop. These include pilpilen, sarapitos and a couple of types of gul as well as more black headed swans. I admit to not being a twitcher, but it is always nice to see birds in their natural habitats. I also get to take a lot of photos and explain to Mauricio some of the functions on his camera that he wasn't even aware of, especially to explain how I am able to get shots of birds taking off/landing. I also get some shots of a couple of guys with a couple of cows and a cart
collecting seaweed.

We then drive on to Ancud, the 2nd largest town on the island. Walk around the small market which is interesting in some of the goods on sale as well as the photo opportunities of the locals, many of whom are of Chiloen Indian descent. The sun has come out so it is nice to walk around watchign people carrying on with their day to day chores. This is not a place aimed at tourists. We then jump back into the car and make the hour long drive to Punihuil, which is where the penguin colony is. The journey is not that far in terms of miles, it is just that much of it is along a gravel track that is currently being worked on by a couple of large vehicles. Have to say that I think the car takes a bit of a battering from the gravel. By the time we get to the beach it is getting overcast again and there is a bit of a breeze, but I am looking forward to the boat trip. They have an interesting means of getting us onto the boat without getting wet. Once we have put on our lifejackets we climb aboard a wooden platform on wheels, which is then pushed out into the sea, allowing to step aboard the boat.

This whole operation used to be run by the Otway foundation, but the locals saw the money earning potential and got rid of the charity, unfortunately it also meant that financial input for research and money from researchers staying dried up. Typical short-sightedness.

We are out in the boat with 3 german women as well as 2 crewmen. We are out for about 45 mins and I take lots of photos, trying to get shots of the penguins entering the water and cormorants taking off or landing. There are two types of penguins that gather here at certain times of the year, Megellan and Humbolt, the latter only having 1 strip across their chest. Do get to see some entering and leaving the water as well as catching a glimpse of a sea beaver running along one of the small islands. Luckily, the camera battery runs out just as we are heading back to shore. Once back on dry land it is time for a bite to eat at one of the 3 seafront restaurants. I have a local speciality, which is Abolone Empanada, which I have to say I am not that impressed with. Also get to have a orange fanta, well it is an island although not quite a new country. Not sure if I have mentioned it earlier in my blog, but whenever I go to a new country, my first drink is invariably an Orange Fanta, ideallly out of a bottle. Yes, I know it is a disgusting sugary drink, but it is one of those quirky things I have done for years and don't see any reason to stop now.

After lunch it is a walk back up the hill to where the car is parked, then a short drive along the coast to a spot where we can go for a walk for an hour. It is basically a walk out to a headland to see if we can spot a colony of sealions. Unfortunately, they must have known we were coming as there isn't any around. At least the walk was a chance to stretch our legs as well as admire the striking coastline, whcih reminds me a bit of that seen whilst on the Ocean Road in Oz. Do get to see some more small brightly coloured lizards. Mauricio also demonstrates a local trick for dealing with horseflies. Whenever he catches one, he gets a piece of the wild grass and shoves it up the fly's arse, so when it takes off it is off balance, assuming it can take off. Now I don't condone cruelty to animals, even insects, but I can't say I was going to stop him due to the highly irritating nature of the damned things.

Back to the car for the drive home. As we cross the straits in the ferry, we do see more sealions sitting on a couple of pillars in the water. There are some young ones that are climbing onto the pillars then jumping off. Too far away to get good shots with Mandy's camera.

I pursuade Mauricio to drive us home via Puerto Montt so that I can check out cameras at the 3 large stores which are all in one shopping centre. This means we get to drive past the port area, which is pretty substantive. See ships that do cruises down along the fiorrds as well as fishing vessels. Once in the shopping centre it is a dash to get around the stores to see what they have. All the SLRs are basic and too expensive, so I have to accept purchasing a compact. I end up with a Fuji that takes AA batteries, which suits me as I have a charger and some batteries with me. Now the fun starts. The assistant tries to go through a long process of demonstrating some of the key functions and I get Mauricio to point out to her that I just want teh camera, I can work out the relevant functions myself. She then gets another boxed camera and hands it to the check out assistant. I am 3rd in the queue, but have to wait whilst the guy is trying to sell extended warranty to someone else. I ask Mauricio to make sure that he doesn't try to do that to me. Once I have paid for my camera, I have to go back to the original sales assistant to actually have it put in a bag for me, she proceeds to open the box and check that all the contents are there. Whilst she is doing this someone else takes the camera to have a look at it. I reckon it takes 20 mins for me to actually have the bag and get out of the store, when it could have taken less than 5. Not sure I will ever complain again about having to wait in the UK!

Back into the car and back to P Varas, a quick bite to eat after being dropped off in town. Then a relatively early night.

The bad news is that I can't edit the photos I took today on this PC, so the ones attached are all Mandy's.

Bloody Horseflies!

4th Jan. Early start, being picked up around 8am to join a coachload of day trippers off to see Lago Todos Los Santos (all saints lake). It was an hour's drive to the lake, but we had quite a few pick ups before we actually hit the road to Petrohue. The route out of P Varas took along Llanquehue lake, where we had walked last night. Then out into some open country side, passing a few Estancias. We have a 30 min stop at some waterfalls (Salitar de Petrohue), but this does seem a bit of a money making exercise as the falls don't really do anything for me. Maybe it is because I feel we are on the wrong side of the river so don't get the best views of the falls, although having the volcano in the background does improve the view. Lots of people are out there with their cameras taking shots individually or in family groups. There does seem to be quite a mix of people, although not so many Chileans.

It is a short drive from the falls along a gravel road to the dock where we are to board the ferry, a trendy large catarmaran, to the other side of the lake. There is one company that has a monopoly on the ferry so you can't really haggle for anything. It is a 2 hour trip across the lake, which is also called the emerald lake, due to the deep colour. I have to admit the colour is striking as is the view of Osorno volcano as we head east. Having read some trip reviews, we do appear to be lucky to be having a lovely blue sky with not too many clouds. However, it is pretty hot. The one annoying thing that we have to suffer is the horseflies. These rather substantive creatures only come out for a few weeks of the year, and they are attracted to dark clothing. So dark backpacks are a serious attraction to these insects that are like flying cockroaches. They don't sting, but do give a little irritating bite. Travelling across the lake reminds me of some of my travels whilst living in Switzerland, with tree covered hillsides rising steeply from the lake side.

We arrive at our destination Puella, hoping to get away from the large crowds. We decide to walk the 1/2 mile up to the place where there are 2 hotels and not much else. It would have been a nice walk had it not been for the constant presence of horseflies and the heat. Up to Puella and we grab a bite to eat in what is a clinical restaurant. By clinical I mean, it is a buffet service, within a large hall and pine wooden tables with no atmosphere at all. What is becoming quite clear, is that this whle trip is a well managed monopolistic exercise, with Puella being nothing more than a tourist only zone. On the boat, the guides from each coach were trying to sell tickets to do a variety of things, from horseriding, 4x4 safari, through to helecopter rides over the volcano. It is almost impossible to do anything yourself. As the boat doesn't leave for 4 1/2 hours you are almost forced to buy tickets. We decide not to and after having a bite to eat, we ask about hiking opportunities, only to be told that there aren't any!

We decide to take a gentle stroll, up to the local waterfall. At least it gets us away from the horseflies, although a few wasps replace them. The waterfall is actually a glorified trickle, maybe it is just the wrong time of year. However, we decide to park our arses on logs in the shade to drift away for a while. After a short while, the noise of people riding on guide-ropes through the canopy fades away and I am left with the sound of cascading water and the odd bird singing. A beautiful irridescent blue/green lizard about 10cm long settles down on a rock nearby to enjoy the sunshine. On this occasion, not having a camera is definitely a good thing. Walk back down to the camp and find that it is still uncomfortably hot when not in shade and the horseflies are back. So decide to head up to another waterfall which is about an hour away. Mandy is struggling with the heat and the steep climb so I head off on my own. It is hot and sticky even in the shade and to be honest the waterfall is a real disappointment, more so than the first one. So we head back to the jetty, surrounded by horseflies. Watch some of the local kids having a swim, does look appealing but no trunks with me and too many others around to just dive in in my boxers. Glad to get on board and into the air-conditioned cabin.

Quiet journey back, with the clouds coming in and covering the top of the volcano. We do stop on the way to pick up a few locals from a small boat. Seems like this is part of the service for the locals. Long journey home and we dump our stuff before going out for a quick bite to eat as we have another long day ahead of us tomorrow.

Are we in the Black Forest?

Casa Perla is a somewhat dated place, with lots of oldy worldy trinkets on the walls. We don't have too much time to appreciate the character as we have a bus to get to get up to Puerto Varas. Have the usual bread/jam/cheese/orange squash combination for breakfast. However, in this case the jam is made from fruit from Perla's back garden. Before we leave we meet up with Perla's daughter who is married to an Austrian Kayaker, and her 1 year old granddaughter, Sarah, who is initially shy but turns into a bubbly little cutie after a few mins. It is cold outside as we head to the minibus stop, 10 mins away. The sky is grey and there is a bit of a breeze but not too much. P. Montt looks like a bit of a run down ramshackled place, with lots of buildings covered in corrugated iron, but unlike Valapraiso, it isn't painted or is painted grey or white, so not very colourful. From what we see it is hard to think this is the fastest growing city in Chile, but that is down to the $1Billion Salmon industry.

The bus ride to P. Varas is less than 30 mins and we make our way from the drop off, up the hill to our hostel for the next 3 nights. I make the mistake of asking a guy who I think is a local for directions, but he is a German, who rabbits on but admits to not knowing where the hostel is. Ironically it is a couple of mins walk down the road. We check in, and book a couple of trips for the forthcoming days before heading back into the centre of town. The sun has now come out and the sky has cleared and we have great views of the two main volcanos. Osorno Volcano is the main one, which looks a bit like Mount Fuji in Japan. We walk along part of Llanquehue lake, which is the 3rd largest lake in S. America, with Titicaca being the largest. There are a few tourists milling around the small jetty and a bearded local hippy type playing some type of Mandolin hooked up to a substantive speaker system. At the end of the jetty were a few people fishing, some with rods and others just throwing out lures on the end of lines. P Varas obviously has a strong German heritage, you just have to look at the majority of the buildings, many of which could easily be found in the Black Forest. It seems a bit strange after the old Spanish colonial buildings of Valparaiso.

We walk around the small town centre, which has a casino as well as a fair mix of adventure travel shops, clothing shops and newsagent type places. We wnd up having lunch at a place recommended by the girl in reception at the hostel. This place doesn't look much, sitting on a busy road opposite a supermarket. We grab a table in the open air to watch the world go by. We decide to share the seafood medley as well as having the local speciality which is razor clams in parmesan cheese. Washing this down with local beer. I do get into the Kuntsman Bock, which is a dark ale, a bit like a stout. Have to say that this is one of the best meals I have had in a while. Mandy gets into her routine of bread and salsa to accompany the meal. Her phrase of the holiday becomes 'mas pan'.

After the thoroughly satisfying lunch we wander around town a bit more before heading back to the hostel. Sort out trip stuff for tomorrow and do a little research before heading back into town again for the evening. We go for a long walk along the lake, watching people swimming, kayaking and a windsurfer. As we head out of the main part of town, we see more locals mainly in family groups, which is nice to see. At the end we see some guy trying to learn to waterski, but he does appear to be spending more time in the water than on it. Brings back memories of the one time I tried it.

We head back into town and stop off at a guide book recommended restaurant called 605, which is at 605 Imperial. Have to say that it is a relatively large stylish looking place but is pretty empty. We decide to have dinner outside as it is still pretty sunny. This turns out to be our best meal in Chile. We start off with a complementary salmon starter with little squares of bread, washed down with the now regular pisco sour. Main is salmon in soy sauce, I then go to form and have two desserts. The 1st is a creme brulee, which doesn't quite live up to expectations as the caramalised topping is pretty much non-existent. Those that know me well will know that this is one of my top desserts, so my anticipation has to be tempered whilst I wait for the second dessert. This is a chocolate souffle in an orange sauce. I think the smile on my face after the first mouthful says it all. Mandy agrees after she tries it. I know it must be good as I start to go into protective mode re sharing. Maybe this is why I am useless at relationships, it's not easy to give away my last rolo.......in fact you have to prize it out of my fingers with a hammer.

There was a lovely view of the volcano as we left the restaurant. What appeared to be particles from another volcano were hanging in the air, causing the rays from the dropping sun to be refracted, giving a lovely red colour to the sky around Orsorno's peak. Oh for my camera and a tripod. We walk back along the quiet back road, where the police are just removing a cordon from what appears to be the scene of a car crash are there are bits of plastic circled by chalk. All looked very thorough, not like the police we had seen elsewhere.

On route to the Lake District

2nd Jan: 10am start, heading down into Valparaiso city centre to check out the central market. Lots of colour and activity, evidently people are stocking up after New Year's celebrations. See some interesting stuff, especially very large bright yellow pumpkins. A guy shouts at me, telling me to move my small rucksack onto my front. I follow his advice, even though there isn't anything of real value in it. I am trying to tell myself that I don't want the mugging to make me feel on edge and over-weary, but it isn't easy to be relaxed. I can now appreciate a little how some people feel uncomfortable around strangers after being mugged/attacked. We go upstairs in the central market and find that it is all cheap little eateries, very much aimed at the locals. If we were hungry we would have tried some of the food.

We then move across the road to a small fish market and watch a couple of the stallholders in action, skillfully dealing with fish and shellfish. It is a great smell and there are some strange looking fish. Sometimes it is so easy to forget what a fish looks like in its entirety as we are so used to being served fillets. Mind you, in this case, there are some I don't even recognise from my scuba diving guide books. We walk back along Aveninda Brazil, which turns out to be one of the smarter thoroughfares in Valparaiso, with some govt buildings as well as large car showrooms.

Get back to the port area and get the ascensor up to Conception. Try to find a cafe to grab a bite but most are closed and the few that are open are heaving, so we grab some bits from a minimarket and head back to the B&B. Chill out on the balcony for a little while before getting our stuff together to head to the airport. Lucia and Juan-Pablo are kind enough to offer us a lift to the bus station as they are going into town. Only have to wait 15 mins for a bus, amazing that there is one leaving every 15 mins, and that is just one of 2 bus companies that do the journey. These are pretty comfortable coaches and we have front row seats. We travel along at a fair speed, without it being uncomfortable. As well as people getting on the bus at a couple of stops, a couple of vendors get on. One is on and off at the stop, the other stays on until we get to the toll booths, a few miles down the road. I wonder if she heads back in the other direction or continues jumping on and off all the way into Santiago. As she gets off, she hands the conductor a sample of her cakes, seems like a good deal.

We get to Parajito, where we change buses for the short ride to the airport. It is quiet at the airport a we are a few hours early. Having checked in on line, the process is pretty painless. Into the departure lounge, where I have a few hours to finish reading my book. No point in trying to find a camera as there is only one shop, which is selling mainly food and wine as well as a few tacky gifts, think stuffed alpacas etc.... We have a 2 1/2 hour flight form Santiago to Puerto Montt in the lake district. The flight is pretty uneventful, well apart form the beautiful sunset shortly before we land at 10pm. We then grab a cab to Casa Perla in the middle of town. Where we meet Perla, the landlady who explains the times for breakfast etc before letting us crawl to bed.

A gentle start to 2009

It goes without saying that it is a late start. Everyone in the B&B is down for breakfast around 11, so some have to sit in the other room as there isn't enough space on the table. It is going to be a easy day, so on go the board shorts before Mandy & I jump on a bus to go to the beach at Vina. Another bright sunny day, so it is a case of hiring a brolly and just sitting and reading. The beach is busy but not heaving, but it does get busier as the afternoon drifts by. It is so easy to drift away into a light slumber . As I move my legs to keep them out of the uncomfortably hot sunlight I accidently kick a dog who has quietly sneaked in to use our brolly. Apart from one short stretch of his legs, the dog spends then next couple of hours keeping us company, which is fine until he passes wind!

It is interesting watching the locals on the beach. There is the usual mix of diferent types, families out playing, with the kids building sand castles. One kid is buried up to his head in sand then the others pour cold water on him, which is a bit cruel. This is something I have seen in the odd comedy but never in real life. Then there are the teenage girls out to sunbath, and the small group of lads out with their boogie boards. Maybe I am just getting old, but I don't see much use of sun tan lotion. We then get the bus back to our B&B and freshen up before walking down the hill into Conception again.

I use Mandy's camera to take some of the shots that I had taken a couple of days ago. We then are lucky enough to get a table with a view of the port area at The Brighton Hotel. It is easy to look down on the main square of the port area, where people are still clearing up from the celebrations. A friendly old waiter servers us trying to converse in very broken English. I try and respond in Spanish, but probably sound even worse to him than he does to me. At least we communicate and I get to have Hake, which is the local fish. Shame the wine isn't up to much. It is a slow and gentle walk back up the hill as the sun is slowly going down.

Back to the B&B where I settle down and watch the film Control, about Ian Curtis/Joy Division. Am well impressed by the performance of the new guy playing Curtis. Also good to see the story of JD's emergence, of which I only know snippets. It puts a fresh and broader complexion on my views of their songs.

Heading towards 2009

New Years Eve:


Up early and down to The British Consulate to register the fact that a pair of Ba**ards nicked my cameras. I am not sure which was the worse experience, the mugging or the visit to the consulate, which was a pokey little office on the 5th floor of a concrete block with very dark brown tinted windows. We got into the office to be faced by a 'charming' local lady who put on this sad/empathetic face when I told her what had happened. She then proceeded to get both Mandy & myself to fill out registration forms and suggested we do the same at the consulate office in Punto Arenas when we get there. I couldn't work out why we would want to do that nor could she actually give me a rational explanation, but Mandy and I both agreed afterwards that we felt we were just part of a British citizens visiting Chile head count exercise. At least the raft of photos of the Royal family made us smile as did the Union Jack mouse mat. Best of all was a mobile phone going off, with a ring tone of God Save the Queen!


We then spent a couple of hours trying to find a decent camera shop. Only one place had an SLR, and that was the most basic of ones. In the end our feet were complaining so we gave up the hunt and headed back to the B&B to freshen up before heading down the lift again to do a little tour of a few highlights of the city. Started off at the Fish Market, which was as interesting as many I have seen for the raft of strange looking creatures laid out on the tables on the side of the street. Not so many people buzzing around as it was a bit late in the day. Then we headed up a dark old staircase to a family run restaurant where we had the set meal, which consisted of salad, followed by salad accompanying omelette, and finished off with deep red strawberries and condensed milk. This was washed down with my obligatory bottle of orange chemical mire, commonly known as Fanta. For those of you that don't know, I always have at least 1 bottle of this disgusting stuff wherever I travel, it has got to a stage that it is a ritual, and proves that the corporate conglomerates do indeed get everywhere. OK, I know the whole meal doesn't sound particularly exciting, but it was needed and went down well enough as we sat at a little table overlooking a very busy street, with mariachi music playing in the background. We then headed up to see approx 20 murals painted on walls up on one of the hills, which entailed riding a different lift. The local council have evidently got their pricing sorted, only charging 10p for this lift and 30p for the one where we were staying! Have to admit that I really wasn't taken by the murals that made up this open space modern art collection. So it was back to the B&B for a siesta before the evening's festivities kicked off.

Crashed out for about 3 hours before getting ready just after 8pm. We went and joined the rest of the group that were there for dinner. There were a couple of British sisters and a Chilean boyfriend traveling together, 2 German rock climbers, another German couple all of whom were staying at the B&B. There were also a large group of Americans from Montana, made up of students and a couple of lecturers who were on a economic development trip..... Within a few mins of sitting down we had glasses of Pisco Sour in our hands (yummy) and were pinned down by one of the Americans, Merrica, who was an Anglophile. As the evening went on it became apparent she was madly in love with a British guy, she had met whilst working in Japan, and she wanted to marry him and have his babies. The 1st step in doing this was to come and study economic development at one of the Universities in the UK. Neither Mandy or myself actually asked for any of this information, it just came at us, and all the more rapidly as alcohol was consumed.

We had a meal that was prepared on a BBQ. I had a nice piece of fish, washed down with wine mixed with strawberries. Have to say the local strawberries have a lovely deep colour and taste really sweet, so much was consumed in the run up to midnight. In the preceding few hours I did get a number of texts from the UK, telling me how cold it was but friends were having a good time. There I was wearing a loose shirt, looking out over the port/bay when the fireworks started. A synchronised display covering approx 5 miles of coast line and lasting over 20 mins. Maybe not as complex as say the one on the South Bank of the Thames, but just as breathtaking in its own way. Lots of hugs, congratulations, no singing of Auld Lang Syne (thank god!) and more drinking of alcohol :)

Finally crawled to bed around 3am after the American contingent headed for their minibus/taxi back to their hotel up the coast. This is evidently an annual affair for the Montana lecturers. They were kind enough to invite us to join them on the beach later in the day, followed by a BBQ at another local resident's place.

Interacting with the locals

Our B&B in Valpariso is a relatively old house from the 1940s, built for a Latvian family, The Kreyenbergs. Currently run by a lovely unmarried couple, Lucia and Juan Pablo. Check out http://www.casakreyenberg.cl/english/home.html. Breakfast on day one was a mix of hot bread, fruit and juice. It was civilised to not have to rush down for breakfast as it was served until 11am. Mandy & I took full advantage of the opportunity to lay in even though I had a bit of a soft bed. It was cloudy and a bit misty outdoors, but the view over the port was clear, so we got ourselves together and decided to head up the coast to the main beach resort of Vina Del Mar. Now I am not really a lounge on the beach person, but having been working my socks off for the last few months I felt I could do with an afternoon of relaxation. So off we went, jumping on another rickety old orange & cream bus. Now I am not exaggerating when I say that the bus driver was obviously on some sort of mission as he drove down the hill, tackling the sharp bends at a pace that was pretty manic. I knew this wasn't normal, as even the locals were hanging on for grim life. You could see looks of relief as the people got off the bus.

It was a good 45 min drive up to Vina, which is approx 10km north. The journey on the No. 607 takes you through Valparaiso city centre, passing the bustling market, which overflows out of the main building onto the street. We then hit the coast road passing the naval college and Val's one and only beach, which isn't much bigger than a postage stamp. Vina, is a much smarter place than Val, stylish shops, clean boulevards, even horse drawn carriages, which are definitely aimed at tourists. Have to say that I didn't see any manure on the roads. We stayed on the bus and carried on up the coast a little to at least give ourselves the opportunity of doing a bit of walking. We eventually jumped off the bus at Ranaca, and walked down to the small beach. There weren't many people there, which was great, but then again it wasn't a particularly nice beach. The waves are pretty aggressive and there is a strong ripcurl so no swimming allowed. Instead we just walked along the beach. I ended up chatting to a local about a little creature that was upturned with its legs going like mad. Mandy was stood there taking photos, and saw what was about to happen but didn't warn me or the other guy that a large wave was heading our way. The photo says it all.

We then headed down the coast and popped into a classy looking spa to check out massage options. We were going to treat ourselves and were just about to book an appointment when we found that they didn't take credit cards. This is a problem we were to encounter quite a bit over the next few days. So we headed off disappointed and planted ourselves onto a beach next to the spa. It was a small beach that had no more than 20 people on it so was nice and peaceful. Went for a paddle, but decided against a swim as the water was pretty cold. After about an hour of being there a couple of people came along and set up a marquee advertising 2 massages for the price of one. It would have been rude not to accept. So an hour later, even more relaxed and my wallet the extortionate sum of £9 lighter, we left the beach and walked back into Vina. Spent some time trying to get cash out of a few ATMs, but neither of our cards would work, which was worrying! A more pleasant bus ride back and then a quick unpack before nipping out to get some shots of the colourful buildings before dinner as well as whilst the sun was still out.

We wondered down the main streets of the local area which had quite a few people walking around admiring the views. I popped down into a side street to listen to some locals playing some music. As we walked back, I held back a little to get a shot I was after whilst Mandy walked around the corner. I heard a shout, two guys came up behind me and within seconds I was lighter of camera bag. Gave chase to the one with the digital camera, but didn't know where I was and whether he was carrying a weapon or not, so thought better of it. Suffice to say, the rest of the evening was taken up with getting to the police station and registering the event for insurance purposes. I suppose the good thing was that I had emptied my bag of everything bar the digital camera (not my best one) an old film camera and a spare lens. Just that I was now without a camera. Was very grateful to Lucia at the B&B for coming down to the police stn with me and helping to translate etc. Got back to the B&B, had a quick wash then out to dinner. No point in worrying about it.

Chile here I come

Lets go back to the start of the trip. I left Luton at 6 on a cold morning. Madrid had been warm so I was looking forward to a day of warmth before heading on to Chile. Had an entertaining chief steward on the flight who kept on passing witty comments in a broad Scots accent. The look of confusion on some of the non-native English speakers was interesting to behold. Especially of interest to us all was the aborted 1st attempt at landing. I was deep into reading my newspaper and started to wonder why the plane was rocking then looked out of the window to see that we were just a few feet from the ground. The engines then reved up and we pulled away. Our man up front explained that due to the turbulence caused by the preceding plane landing the Capt decided it wasn't safe to land. Not a problem second time around.

So there I was in overcast and cold Madrid with the best part of a day to explore. I executed step one of my plan and dumped my bag in left luggage before getting the Metro into the centre. I headed down to The Prado gallery to check out the renowned collection of art. Spent 30+ mins in the queue feeling a tad cold before I actually got my ticket. Then had to queue again to actually get in. Now The Prado is a deceptively large building, I ended up spending almost 4 hours checking out the exhibits, and that was without taking in the special Rembrant exhibition. By the end of it I had to admit, I had seen my fill of Jesus being crucified, Venus in various poses and a few other religious images. Stomach was rumbling so I braved the cool weather and headed off to the main square to hunt out some food. Had a tradition snack of fried squid in a bread roll, washed down with a beer. Wondered around the square, admiring the quality of the human statues although the Spiderman and Poo Bear walking round trying to sell tinsel hair wigs and swords made of balloons was somewhat amusing. What really caught my eye was that all the market stalls in the square were selling Father Christmas toys as well as angels etc. Remember this was the 28th Dec so Christmas was technically over, well in the UK it was.

After another walk around part of the old centre I headed back to the airport to kill some time before meeting up with my travel companion, Mandy, who was due to arrive around 10:30pm before we got the midnight flight on to Chile. Ended up watching a movie on my laptop before having a glass of what turned out to be pretty naff wine at the bar in the departure lounge. Shame our attempt at trying to get an upgrade hadn't worked. We had a 12 hour flight ahead and as I hadn't had much sleep, it was easy for me to have a bite, another glass of wine, only a bit better than the last and then sleep for most of the journey. The mother and child singing combo sat directly behind weren't too much of a distraction once I plugged myself into my iPod.

We arrived in Santiago late morning, got our bags, handed over the bag of walnuts that Mandy had, got the clearance that I could take in my bars of chocolate and headed out into the Chilean warmth. Once we had found out that we couldn't get a direct bus to the coast, we worked our way past the mass of taxi drivers and got onto the bus we needed, heading for a local bus station. It was sunny and relatively hot, which had a relaxing effect on my still weary body. Have to admit I wasn't too observant on the 100km journey, but we did drop down through the hills and along the plain heading for the coast. Passed lots of vineyards before we dropped down into Valparaiso. This is Chile's 2nd city and is made up of 47 hills of various sizes. Didn't take us too long to jump on a local bus to get to our B&B. Interesting journey though a compressed city centre with the usual hussle and bussle in our packed small orange and cream bus. We then headed up one of the hills to be dropped off at Plazalita San Luis, where our somewhat subdued looking B&B was located. Have to admit initial impressions were that we were in a very residential area well away from the centre, but after dumping our bags and heading out, we found that we were actually just a few mins uphill from the main arty/bohemian area with lots of funky and smart restaurants.

Lots of the houses have corrugated cladding which had been taken from shipping containers many years ago. Many of the houses are painted in bright pastel colours, reminding me a bit of the Asian quarter in Cape Town. What does catch the eye, apart from the steepness of the streets, is the number of murals and colourful graffiti.

Dinner was had in a cute little cafe. Tapas washed down with a nice glass of Sav Blanc. The patatas bravas came with a nice tangy sauce and the Camerones was actually shrimp not squid as I expected, but really tasty anyway. We then tackled the steep climb back to the B&B and headed for bed.