Hola Chicos!
I realise there is quite a lot of action missing from these pages...we've been busy doin' stuff rather than writing about it, which I knew would happen. Today is Sunday again tho' so a little bit more lowkey. Here's a quick run down of the last few days:
- Bus ride through the Andes to Santiago. Absolutely bonkers road. Good surface but twisty in the extreme. And mountains on either side with snow on 'em, including the Aconcagua - I think the highest mountain in the Andes?? The spectrum of temperature in this country is fantastic. (We're now in 'feels like we're in England' zone so I feel very comfortable - more on that later.) Winner of most dramatic setting for a passport checkpoint I've ever been to goes to the one between Santiago and Mendoza.
- Santiago: I really, really like Santiago. It feels much further away from home than Buenos Aires - I mean, it is literally further away from London, but it is also less European in tone. ANd so it lends itself less to comparisons which disorients the weary bus traveller even more. It's also smaller. And it's loud and exuberant. Lots of street entertainment till all hours. We stayed in the Vegas Hotel. NOt a casino in sight, but a national monument/throwback to the 70s with wooden walls, and funky furniture. ANd in an area of S. called Pris-Londres - cobbled streets, very quiet.
- Bar de la Union for dinner. Fantastic bar-restaurant right next to what we think is the stock exchange. Men only apparently - or at least when we were there. But I brazened it out in true Davis style, even if I am a Trickey now. Drank a fantastic bottle of Cabernet-Sauvignon and ate the option we go for when we're too tired to try to translate - yep, steak and potatoes.
- 'Did' Santiago the following day. This involved buying an 'Indiana' hat for Marv. I'm not joking, that was what it's called. Most brilliant hat-buying experience - they measure your cranium with a Heath-Robinson contraption, and then stretch your chosen hat to fit your measurements. It was so cool, I had a go, and how have a measurement of my head. It's a bit big and a bit wonky. Then to the Mercado Central (fish market) which was tops. Had a fantastic bit of sea bass. Then travel stress - which we finally sorted. Our plan (already underway) is to 4WD it to Puerto Montt (1000km) via Valpairoso and Pucon in the Lake District then a ferry to Puerto Chacabucco then bus it to Punto Arenas. Walk in teh Torres del Paine and get a catamaran to the San Rafael Glaciar. Then bus it back to Buenos Aires. Meet up with the lovely Michelle for more sushi action then fly to Auckland in time for Xmas. It tooke 2 hours to figure that lot out. It's somewhat complicated by the fact that we are just outside the season. This is both good and bad, mainly good in my opinion. Bad because it limits some of the by road options - Chilean roads below Puerto Montt are not really happening outside January-February so you have to cross into Argentina which has roads all the way down the country. CHile is just too thin and peters off into islands down south. But good in that we have been turning up in places and there is availability in our first choice of hostel, and trips are easy to get on. And roads are pretty empty. ANYWAY, we then went to Pablo Neruda's house, a great hotchpotch of a place, beautifully preserved. Then up the funicular to the Cerro San Cristobal for a view over the city. Then to a bar-restaurant called Etnico in the Bella Vista area of Santiago. As already mentioned I went completely overboard on the old sushi, but my, it was fine fish.
- Drive to Valpairoso the following day. Very cool town on the coast. Originally capital I think. Divided in two - upper and lower. Lower is a working port. Upper is the most fantastic tumble of houses on a hillside, all beautifully painted with great views over the harbour. Wandered then had a fresh manzana juice in the Brighton cafe. To get beneath the two bits fo the city you take the rickety ascensors - like mini funiculars - for 700 pesos. Oh, and we had lunch in the lower part of the town in a very funky restaurant called J. Cruz which I think is a bit of an institution. Like a museum with a muddle of objects, and much graffiti over ever surface that isn't covered with clocks, china and binoculars. THere was one meal on offer: the most enormous plate of chips piled with meat and eggs and onions. Don't try it at home kids. My arteries clogged just looking at it.
- Then drove a gorgeous little seaside town called Pichilemu through the central valley - wine-growing region as the sun set. Wandered along the (black volcanic sand) beach. Picked up a pizza and ate on our balcony. Weather cooled down considerably from Santiago. Most comfortable bed on the trip so far in the hotel chile espana.
- Mad driving day. Marv was heroic. Went to the Siete Tazas park - 7 cups. A naturally created waterfall made up of 7 pools with the water dropping from one to the other. Unfortunately arrived at teh same time as a bus load of kids but they wandered off and we had a picnic by ourselves next to the waterfall. The drive there and back to the Ruta 6 - the PanAmericana motorway - was a little trying. Gravelled all the way. And, of course, we got a puncture. Marv managed to change it after much sweating (pleasant), jamming the jack in the suspension (y´know, the Trickey bodge style - basically the jack under the proper bit of the suspension didn't get the car high enough so he put it further under, and propped the car up with stones...if you want more on the fiasco, got check out Marv's account.) Also managed to figure out the spanish for 'we have a puncture - can you fix our spare tyre please?' and a very sweet mechanic sorted us out for a quid. Quick Fit could take a few lessons in customer service.
- Arrived in the Lake District and the small town of Pucon at ten pm. Staying at a lovely, lovely hostel called Ħecole! which has a great veggie restaurant - a relief on the old tummy. Hoping to climb Volcan Villaricca tomorrow but the weather may decide otherwise in which case we´ll go walking round the lakes. Then driving to either Chiloe or Puerto Montt in the south of the Lake District in preparation for our ferry ride.
PS Tx for all the nice congrats. I am happy about the dissertation. Mainly that it's over and I can read what I like.
I realise there is quite a lot of action missing from these pages...we've been busy doin' stuff rather than writing about it, which I knew would happen. Today is Sunday again tho' so a little bit more lowkey. Here's a quick run down of the last few days:
- Bus ride through the Andes to Santiago. Absolutely bonkers road. Good surface but twisty in the extreme. And mountains on either side with snow on 'em, including the Aconcagua - I think the highest mountain in the Andes?? The spectrum of temperature in this country is fantastic. (We're now in 'feels like we're in England' zone so I feel very comfortable - more on that later.) Winner of most dramatic setting for a passport checkpoint I've ever been to goes to the one between Santiago and Mendoza.
- Santiago: I really, really like Santiago. It feels much further away from home than Buenos Aires - I mean, it is literally further away from London, but it is also less European in tone. ANd so it lends itself less to comparisons which disorients the weary bus traveller even more. It's also smaller. And it's loud and exuberant. Lots of street entertainment till all hours. We stayed in the Vegas Hotel. NOt a casino in sight, but a national monument/throwback to the 70s with wooden walls, and funky furniture. ANd in an area of S. called Pris-Londres - cobbled streets, very quiet.
- Bar de la Union for dinner. Fantastic bar-restaurant right next to what we think is the stock exchange. Men only apparently - or at least when we were there. But I brazened it out in true Davis style, even if I am a Trickey now. Drank a fantastic bottle of Cabernet-Sauvignon and ate the option we go for when we're too tired to try to translate - yep, steak and potatoes.
- 'Did' Santiago the following day. This involved buying an 'Indiana' hat for Marv. I'm not joking, that was what it's called. Most brilliant hat-buying experience - they measure your cranium with a Heath-Robinson contraption, and then stretch your chosen hat to fit your measurements. It was so cool, I had a go, and how have a measurement of my head. It's a bit big and a bit wonky. Then to the Mercado Central (fish market) which was tops. Had a fantastic bit of sea bass. Then travel stress - which we finally sorted. Our plan (already underway) is to 4WD it to Puerto Montt (1000km) via Valpairoso and Pucon in the Lake District then a ferry to Puerto Chacabucco then bus it to Punto Arenas. Walk in teh Torres del Paine and get a catamaran to the San Rafael Glaciar. Then bus it back to Buenos Aires. Meet up with the lovely Michelle for more sushi action then fly to Auckland in time for Xmas. It tooke 2 hours to figure that lot out. It's somewhat complicated by the fact that we are just outside the season. This is both good and bad, mainly good in my opinion. Bad because it limits some of the by road options - Chilean roads below Puerto Montt are not really happening outside January-February so you have to cross into Argentina which has roads all the way down the country. CHile is just too thin and peters off into islands down south. But good in that we have been turning up in places and there is availability in our first choice of hostel, and trips are easy to get on. And roads are pretty empty. ANYWAY, we then went to Pablo Neruda's house, a great hotchpotch of a place, beautifully preserved. Then up the funicular to the Cerro San Cristobal for a view over the city. Then to a bar-restaurant called Etnico in the Bella Vista area of Santiago. As already mentioned I went completely overboard on the old sushi, but my, it was fine fish.
- Drive to Valpairoso the following day. Very cool town on the coast. Originally capital I think. Divided in two - upper and lower. Lower is a working port. Upper is the most fantastic tumble of houses on a hillside, all beautifully painted with great views over the harbour. Wandered then had a fresh manzana juice in the Brighton cafe. To get beneath the two bits fo the city you take the rickety ascensors - like mini funiculars - for 700 pesos. Oh, and we had lunch in the lower part of the town in a very funky restaurant called J. Cruz which I think is a bit of an institution. Like a museum with a muddle of objects, and much graffiti over ever surface that isn't covered with clocks, china and binoculars. THere was one meal on offer: the most enormous plate of chips piled with meat and eggs and onions. Don't try it at home kids. My arteries clogged just looking at it.
- Then drove a gorgeous little seaside town called Pichilemu through the central valley - wine-growing region as the sun set. Wandered along the (black volcanic sand) beach. Picked up a pizza and ate on our balcony. Weather cooled down considerably from Santiago. Most comfortable bed on the trip so far in the hotel chile espana.
- Mad driving day. Marv was heroic. Went to the Siete Tazas park - 7 cups. A naturally created waterfall made up of 7 pools with the water dropping from one to the other. Unfortunately arrived at teh same time as a bus load of kids but they wandered off and we had a picnic by ourselves next to the waterfall. The drive there and back to the Ruta 6 - the PanAmericana motorway - was a little trying. Gravelled all the way. And, of course, we got a puncture. Marv managed to change it after much sweating (pleasant), jamming the jack in the suspension (y´know, the Trickey bodge style - basically the jack under the proper bit of the suspension didn't get the car high enough so he put it further under, and propped the car up with stones...if you want more on the fiasco, got check out Marv's account.) Also managed to figure out the spanish for 'we have a puncture - can you fix our spare tyre please?' and a very sweet mechanic sorted us out for a quid. Quick Fit could take a few lessons in customer service.
- Arrived in the Lake District and the small town of Pucon at ten pm. Staying at a lovely, lovely hostel called Ħecole! which has a great veggie restaurant - a relief on the old tummy. Hoping to climb Volcan Villaricca tomorrow but the weather may decide otherwise in which case we´ll go walking round the lakes. Then driving to either Chiloe or Puerto Montt in the south of the Lake District in preparation for our ferry ride.
PS Tx for all the nice congrats. I am happy about the dissertation. Mainly that it's over and I can read what I like.
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