Nuestras vacaciones en Chile

Summer in the south!

After feeling the earth tremble under my tires as I drove in downtown Concepcion, we figured it was a perfect time to hit the road for our vacation in southern Chile!

We started on Saturday, February 12th relatively early in the morning and headed south with all of our camping stuff and clothes for four people for three weeks.  Needless to say space was at a premium in our wonderful little Toyota Yaris.  As we drove all day through driving rain and approached our tentative camping spot east of Pucon, Mike turned to me and asked "Is the rain fly for the tent packed in with the tent?".  Of course it is a separate item that never made it into our stuffed car. Thus our trip was off to an auspicious start (quake, rain storm, no fly...).

Luckily we found a great hostel close to the border between Chile and Argentina.  We were expecting to have to share the place with lots of other soaked campers but we ended up having the place to ourselves (everyone else must have remembered their rain fly).



Argentina:
The next morning we woke to birds singing and clear skies!  We were headed over the Andes and into Argentina (once again we needed our passports stamped - see previous blog). As we passed out of Chile the customs officer took our notarized letter giving us permission to drive our Chilean car. We knew this might be a problem later but there was nothing we could do. He wasn't going to give it back. Volcan Lanin welcomed us into Argentina by showing itself with grand style.

Flag of Argentina

Volcan Lanin

We enjoyed an amazing day of spectacular views, a nice lunch in San Martin de los Andes (where I purchased some of their famous chocolate) and set up camp along the beautiful Lago Lacar. Our new fly was not the quietest we've ever experienced in a windy area.

The girls shared their own tent, lucky for them!

The next day we drove the beautiful Seven Lakes Drive, took a quick hike straight up a mountain, and ended up in Bariloche, Argentina (in our car, not on the hike).

Lago Lacar

One of the seven beautiful lakes.

Looking at the Andes from Argentina.

A nice chapel along the way.

A view from the trail.

Cooling off afterwards!

If you look closely you can just make out Ella's hat as she walks down ahead of me on the trail.  This trail was really STEEP.

In Bariloche we took a great hike in their local mountains.  We walked for a long time and enjoyed some great views. Afterwards it was time to cool off in another beautiful lake!

Cathedral Mountain next to Bariloche, Argentina.  We made it close to the refugio (cabin in the mountains) but not quite as far as we hoped!

This boardwalk only allowed one person to pass at a time (we didn't obey the sign).  The structure was barely attached to the side of a shear rock wall.  It was a bit nerve wracking to cross to the other side!

Cathedral Mountain

Mabel asleep on a rock (well, almost).

Julio, Desi, and Cecilia saying Hello to folks in Missoula!

In Bariloche we were lucky enough to meet up with Julio, Desi, and Cecilia (their daughter was away at camp) who have lived in Missoula a couple of times in the past.  It was really nice to meet such great people and talk about familiar places and shared friends.


Chile, Frutiller
From here we went back to Chile and down to Puerto Montt, the real "jumping off" spot for southern Chile. The trip was relatively easy except when we crossed the border back into Chile and asked for our notarized letter back. Mike spoke amazing Spanish and after a little work and a ton of help from a really nice customs agent we left with two copies of the document. Our trip was back on course!

On our way to Puerto Montt we passed through the small town of Frutiller. Here there was a great museum about how they lived at the turn of the century. There is a big German influence here.  I had always thought this was due to people leaving Germany after WWII but we found out Germans have been in Chile for much longer than that. They were mostly sheep herders and farmers. Because of this European influence we were also able to find some more diverse selections of cheese in this area. Lunches were great, if not a bit stinky from some of the stronger cheeses.

Looking east from Frutiller, at Volcan Osorno

One of the buildings at the museum

Looking at Frutiller from a building at the museum

Puerto Montt:
In the big city of Puerto Montt the girls got to experience some crazy stuff.

They got to climb around these two giant folks (do you think they are happy or sad?).

Yes, both girls are inside their own plastic ball and they got to run, tumble, and spin for quite a while in this wading pool on the harbor.




Puerto Natales:
From here we took a plane down to Puerto Natales and visited Parque National Torres del Paine!  It was a once-in-a-lifetime trip for me! 

Puerto Natales

  

The girls in Puerto Natales.  There are lots of references to Charles Darwin in Chile since he spent time exploring many different parts during his famous voyage on the Beagle.

We stayed in a great hostel in Puerto Natales run by a man, Werner, who was born in Switzerland and now lives in Chile. I don't think there is a language that man doesn't speak fluently!!!





Torres Del Paine

The next day we went by bus (with a transmission problem) to Torres Del Paine!


We were treated to a cool clear morning that warmed up to a perfect day to go on a hike!

There's not much I can say.  It was amazing. Just look at the pictures!

The Torres

Walking across the pier out to our hotel in the park, Hosteria Pehoe

 

The Cuernos, looking across from our hotel!

The different colors of rock are due to the dark sedimentary rock on top being baked by the molten granite underneath that never made it to the surface. The heat transformed some of the sedimentary rock into hard metamorphic rock.  A batholith was formed when the magma cooled, hardened and withstood the weathering process. Eventually (millions of year later) it was all exposed and is now called the Cuernos (the horns).   

Yes, it did get warm enough for the girls to take a dip.

Ella making a sand angel.

Looking out the plane window on the way back.

After just over three days we headed back to Puerto Montt and continued our trip south by car.

Isla Chiloe:

One thing that Mabel really wanted to see while she was in Chile was penguins. From the first day we arrived she would ask if we were going to see penguins at any of the many beaches we visited.  Unfortunately, penguins live way down south in Chile, not near Concepcion. 

Luckily, it just so happened we found ourselves on Chiloe during penguin mating season and there was a rookery just off shore where both Humbolt and Magellanic penguins nest. This is one of only two known places in the world where both types of penguins nest in the same place. From what we could gather it is unknown if there is any hybridization. The most obvious difference between the two types is that Humbolt penguins have only one strip on their neck while Magellanic have two.

So after taking a (1/2 hour) ferry to the second largest island in South America we headed out to find penguins.  I'll let you see what we found.

We were even treated to a couple of sea otters eating shellfish.

We dubbed this, MONSTER rock!  Can you see it?

After a day in Ancud, close to the penguins, we headed to the beach. On the way we passed through some great towns, each with its own style. It seemed that on Chiloe there was not as much destruction from past earthquakes and they had more old character.

Houses on stilts because of the tides in Castro.

Parque National Chiloe:
This park is on the west side of the island so it is completely exposed to the fury of the Pacific Ocean.  The beach is wide, miles long, spectacular, and full of life!  We camped here for two nights and explored as much as we could in this relatively isolated area.

It took some time to walk to the water across the dunes.

Fishing for clams.

Carrying the latest catch in to be weighed.

Bags of clams.

As we walked on the beach in the morning we watched some local families collect clams in the surf.  Some people had wet suits and others just a pair of sweats, all of them would lie in the waves and scoop up as many clams as they could after each wave. There was a truck waiting on shore to weigh their daily catch and truck it up to Puerto Montt or fly it to Santiago. There was a ton of work that went into each of those bags of clams.

The type of clams they were collecting, called 'machas'.

This is the national flower of Chile called, Copihue.

After a few glorious days frolicking by the beach we headed to the car ferry to cross back over to the mainland of Chile. We were headed for the ghost town of Chaiten!

Chaiten:

Mike made our ferry reservations on-line in Spanish so we weren't sure what to expect when we arrived at the boat.  Boy were we surprised.
 

As Mike was kept with the car for a really long time (while a fat man tried to squeeze out from behind our car due to the tight parking on the ferry), I spoke with an officer from the boat. He informed me we had a 'camarote'. I thanked him and walked aimlessly up the stairs with the girls wondering what in the world is a 'camarote'.

Snug as two bugs.

As you figured out we actually had a small cabin with four beds (bunk beds). It was great!

Fun on the Ferry

At seven in the morning we arrived at Chaiten. This city became a ghost town when Volcan Chaiten erupted in 2008. There was a huge ash and mud flow that completely covered the town. To this day there are only a few signs of life in Chaiten. The government offices were moved to the town of Palena (where we were headed). 

A river bed that was filled with ash

This house was 1/2 covered by ash.

Since it was still early in the morning we headed for a good place to pull over and make breakfast.  What better place than Termas el Amarillo? 

After a nice soak in the crystal clear pool with only a few other people we ate breakfast and headed on to Palena. The road to Palena was all dirt (and not like in Montana where it seems like someone grades the roads every once in a while). We had to drive slowly.  As it turns out that was ok because the scenery was incredible and Mike did all the driving.

The cows in the middle of the road were a bit of a surprise.

 























Valle California:
We headed to this part of Chile so we could rendezvous with Mike's sister Catherine and Gary in a place called Valle California.  Gary has been here before and was generous enough to invite us all to spend some time together in this beautiful spot.  Patagoinia Sur (http://patagoniasur.com/patagonia-sur-properties-about.php?l=e check out Valle California) is the name of the organization that runs the property. I have to say this was another once-in-a-lifetime experience.  There was only one other guest staying here so the six of us pretty much had the run of the place.

The four of us, me, Mike, Ella, and Mabel got to share a luxury yurt where our beds were turned down every night and clean laundry was delivered the next day (which we took full advantage of after camping for a week).

We shared gourmet meals in the beautiful dining room and social area complete with toasty warm fireplaces roaring every morning and evening.

Common area, kitchen, and dinning room.

Sitting down to dinner

Each evening we were asked what we would like to do the next day.  So, three days were spent on horseback with the girls.

Ready to ride!

Ella riding Colorada (all three days).

Mabel the little 'gaucha'.

Kate, Catherine, Ella, and Mabel.

Now that we all felt like we knew what we were doing on a horse we went to a small local rodeo to see how real gauchos ride unbroken horses.

The girls hanging out with the gauchos.

In addition, Mike finally had the opportunity to go floating and fishing for a day.

The Palena River

Mike fishing on the Palena River

We also were able to kayak, picnic, and spend really precious time together. 

Gary and Catherine

How long do you think Mabel stayed dry?

These are some of the folks that made sure we had the time of our lives. 

 

Carola, Huamani, Lucy, and Jan.

Kate, Mabel, Mike, Gary, Catherine, and Ella

Everyone wearing our "house crocks".

After four days of this it was time to wake up, say good-bye and head back to the real world and our home in Concepcion. It was hard to say good-bye to Catherine and Gary but we are happy to smile at all the wonderful memories this trip has given us. Truly a once-in-a-lifetime!

Back Home:
On our way home we drove for two days straight (back into Argentina and then up north).  We arrived home late on Thursday, March 3rd almost three weeks after we left. The girls had missed their first week of school and the University would be starting up on the following Monday. We were ready to be back and transition into our school year routine.

Now the girls have completed one week of school and although the weather is sunny and warm there is definitely a crispness to the air that reminds me of autumn.

Time marches on and we miss are friends and family but check out what else is missing...

One down, lots more to go.

Yes, Mabel lost her first tooth! and yes, there is a tooth fairy down here but it pretends to be a mouse and typically leaves 1,000 pesos for the lucky loser.

I hope that spring is coming for all of you in the northern hemisphere. The next time we're required to leave the country will be on our trip back up your way.  We miss you all and look forward to hearing more from you. Thank you so much for sharing some of your winter time adventures with us through email.  We love reading them!

Map of the trip in red (dashed line indicates air flight).