Subscribe to this blog31 January 2009
January in Review: More Pictures
By clicking on the respective album pictures below, you should be taken to a small selection of exclusive pictures which I have taken during the month of January while traveling through Southern Chile (Patagonia), Southern Argentina (Patagonia and Buenos Aires) and Uruguay.
 |  |  |
| South Chile (Patagonia) | South Argentina (Patagonia) & Buenos Aires | Uruguay |
Older monthly reviews:
December 2008: Easter Island and Central Chile
November 2008: New Zealand
October 2008: Australia, Principality of Hutt
September 2008: Laos
August 2008: Cambodia, Bangkok
July 2008: China's East, Uzbekistan reloaded
June 2008: China's West, Central China
May 2008: Siberia, Gobi desert, Beijing/Pingyao/Xi'an
April 2008: Moscow, Uzbekistan
Labels: Argentina, Chile, Uruguay
posted by Reto at
10:00
0 Comments
Links to this post
28 January 2009
Little Mister Sunshine in Minas, Treinta y Treis and Melo
Minas, a small town of 40'000 inhabitants, sits along the national route number 8. This is an inland road, connecting the coastal capital Montevideo to the Brazilian border in the north. Located 120 km from the capital, Minas is a laid back place, where locals hang out in restaurants around the two main parks, the Plaza Libertad and the Plaza Rivera. Upon arrival by bus from Montevideo, I boarded the shuttle to the campground Arequita (bus runs out there at 10:15h, 14:15h - except on Sat&Sun: 15:15h - and 19:30h).I figured out that I had a lot of new freedom, becaus I own my new Russian tent. Not worried about whether there is accommodation in town, I know in advance that I will have at least a proper rest for the night in my sleeping bag and in a tent. The campground in Minas is located next to the Cerro Arequita, which is a volcanic hill of about 230m height.
It features a large cave, which I visited on the day of the arrival. A bit tired, I did not actually climb the hill, a thing which I did regret later on, because the sunset was spectacular. I guess that the views from the top of Cerro Arequita must have been great.A bit further north lies the Salto del Penitente, which is a waterfall of about 50 meters high. The pool at the bottom of the waterfall provided a welcome refreshment for me and some locals. I had to hitch both ways, but this wasn't really of a problem since this is a popular spot among people from Minas. Another sight is the Santuario de la Virgen del Verdún, which is a shrine sitting on a small hill about 5km from the town center. Every April, about 60'000 pilgrims visit this place, which - I'm being told - is the most important religious place of Uruguay. Back into the city, I went to the Cerro Artigas, which features a giant statue of a horse-rider and a decent view of the town.
Minas is located in the district of Lavalleja. It has a lot of other interesting sights to offer, which I was not able to visit, due to my short stay and lack of own transportation: Solís de Mataojo (small picturesque town), Parque de Vacaciones UTE - ANTEL (park founded in 1947 containing exotic plants and a small beach resort at the river banks) and Parque Salus (mineral water springs and a large forest) are all located south of Minas. On the north would be the Villa Serana (European style villa built in 1945, in a beautiful surrounding next to a dam - Ventorrillo de la Buena Vista - which is a fishing paradise).
Getting a bus north to the town of Trenta y Treis wasn't much of a problem. It is well connected with Minas and there is a choice of daily buses. This allowed me to arrive early in the morning in Trenta y Treis, visit a bit the town and then leave the same day to the next town en route: Melo. This said, I just had time to visit the downtown area of Trenta y Treis. There, a giant monument in the town center commemorates the historical event of 33 men who exiled from Argentina to secretly land in Uruguay and fight for national independence. This happened on April 19, 1825. Obviously, many, many, many streets in Uruguay carry that particular date in their name.Probably, I should have stayed longer in Trenta y Treis, in respect of the many other sights this town has to offer. But I already had bought the onward ticket to Melo upon arrival at the bus terminal, since I was eager to keep going. Therefore, I arrived a couple of hours later in my next destination. Melo was the first town where I could not get hold of a tourist information office. But people in the bus terminal were very helpful. They pointed me to a small hotel, where an old lady was telling me in Spanish that I was the first Swiss to visit her place. Since I know that hotels sometimes dub as brothels in this part of the continent, I wasn't sure whether her remark was referring to me as a tourist or as a customer.
Anyway, the lady made very clear - from the start - that I had to decide whether to stay in my room or to visit the city. She kept the only key to the house gate like a hen and was not be willing to open the gate every half hour or so for me. So I decided to visit the town, which was nice enough to keep me busy for a while.
When I came back after dinner, the old lady was very relieved to learn that I did not need her key services anymore. It was almost as if she pushed me back into my room and made sure that I would not leave it until next morning: She explained to me every possible button on the television remote control in my room and put a strong emphasis on the fact that many shows were broadcast in English.Oh yes, I got a telly in my room! Haven't watched for a long time. Coming at 7 US$, this hotel was about half price of what a dorm bed would set me back in any hostel in tourist places in Uruguay. I didn't mind the grumpy old lady of the house. I actually should have stayed more than one night here - just to catch up with all the soap operas...
So I left again a small town after just one night. But I seriously wanted to cover as much as possible of the Uruguayan Hinterland. I was enjoying this part of the country, a bit raw and unpolished - but honest and authentic. It's a complete contrast to the glitzy tourist cities along the sea shores, which are not really that much different of any beach city in Europe. People in the pampas are as curious about me as I am curious about them. The walls of their houses sometimes crumble, but they try to keep everything as tidy as possible inside and outside their home. Their cars are very old with huge trunks - making me wonder what on earth would be transported inside. Oh, this is really the kind of world I like. You see me smiling in the sunshine a lot.
Coming up...
Well, the city of Rivera, sitting on the border with Brazil would be my next destination. Not knowing the possible transport options from there, I was absolutely open about what to do once I would arrive: Going to (expensive) Brazil and its superb beaches near Florianopolis - or staying in the Uruguayan pampas. Which means a tough decision to take in my next blog report...
Labels: Uruguay
posted by Reto at
15:26
0 Comments
Links to this post
26 January 2009
Under cruise control in Montevideo
Montevideo is definitely a very different capital city from most of the others I have visited so far. Aside from the port and the old town, there seem to be no tourists wandering around the other parts of the city, which also hold a number of old buildings and shady parks.After having covered quite some distance during my strolls through the busy and non-busy sections of town, I enjoyed dinner at the Mercado del Puerto. Although I rather tend to prefer vegetables to meat, this smorgasbord of barbeque food was so impressive that I had to go for it. At this market, a lot of stalls serve any kind of meat you can imagine from huge wood fire grills. Several cooks operate these grills, which are about three to five meters wide and one meter deep. They shift around various pieces of sausage, steak and other tasty stuff. After having finished this overdose of meat, I felt like eating fruit and vegetables only for the next couple of days.
The day I arrived in Montevideo, a huge cruise ship was anchoring and spilled out thousands of American tourists into the old town. Cruise passengers seem to be unaware of the environment they visit. A lot of them were wearing a lot of jewelery, cameras and fancy clothing. No wonder, there was a massive presence of "Tourist Police" agents, strategically positioned every 100 meters or so. I called them "cruise control". Actually, I did perceive Montevideo as being a very safe town. But these cruise bums seemed to be eager to push the limits of testing honesty of the locals.Then, after buying two, three souvenirs, some of them would sit in one of the beautiful park restaurants and having a drink and a chat before returning to the ship three hours later. I wonder what they tell back home about Montevideo.
Nevertheless, watching these visitors was fun. One older lady was asking for "ice" for her beer. Since the Uruguayan waiter was unaware of this English word, she would repeat the same word - by a louder voice: "ice - ICE - ICE!", until some other people would jump in to help and tell the lady the word in Spanish: "Ice is called ´hielo´". "Oh, thanks. Waiter, please bring me ´yellow´". He understood, despite the strong accent. I was almost peeing in my pants watching this and other episodes.
This capital is a juxtaposition of signs wealth and poverty. There are beautifully restored buildings located next to crumbling structures everywhere in town. The main showpiece of Montevideo, the Independence Square, features on one side beautiful colonial style buildings. Next to them, on the other side of the square, there is an ugly multi-story residential building, which you'd expect to see in a ghetto such as Clichy-sous-Bois, near Paris. This probably explains why I struggle to give a thumbs up or down to this destination. Actually, at the same time as I was put off by some of the views, their context actually made it interesting for me. It's hard to explain...And then there are the people. As pointed out in an earlier post, I love the Uruguayan way of life - which is largely visible - not only in the countryside, but in this capital city as well. Everyone is so friendly and helpful to each other and to tourists - definitely not typical for megacities. One million people, which is a third of the country's population, do live here. Founded around 1730, the city boomed very quickly, partly because the Spanish allowed slave trade for the region to go only through the port of Montevideo, instead of neighbouring Buenos Aires (Argentina). Another reason for the growth, was that the Spanish did choose this city to become the main naval base for the South Atlantic.
The city's street grid would be quite easy to understand. But, as in many other Latin American cities, a lot of streets are named after commemorative dates, which I am unaware of. If the hostel is located in the "213, street of the 2nd May", the bus station in the "37, avenue of the 18th July" and the tourist information desk on the 2nd floor of the "building of 12th June", I do start to have a dyslexia attack. Mixing up months, days and house numbers, I tend to get lost a lot along these streets. Who on Earth is able to remember and navigate such a street grid? And why don't they have a street named after my birth date?Although I spent time in a party hostel (which I generally dislike), the stay in this one was absolutely great. All the people in the dorm managed somehow to get around each others wierd sleeping patterns. Staff did a tremendous job of trying to keep everyone happy. Two terraces, one of them on the roof, certainly did help to contribute to a chilled atmosphere. Everyone I talked to, was coming from a beach city further north of Montevideo - or from Buenos Aires. After Colonia del Sacramento and Montevideo, I definitely wasn't in the mood for yet another beach city (and party hostel). Therefore, I bought a bus ticket going to the back country: Minas is the last town that gets a mention of a very few lines in guide books. After that, I'll be left to my own handwritten notes about Uruguayan places.
A bit reluctant to test my very crude and very basic Spanish skills, I might however opt for the easy way and continue along the tourist trail (beach cities).
Will I be man enough to wander off the beaten track, not knowing where the bus line ends, not knowing whether I will have a place to sleep at night? Will I regret having thrown away my guide book? Read for yourself the surprising outcome in my next posts...
Labels: Uruguay
posted by Reto at
12:30
0 Comments
Links to this post
23 January 2009
Throwing guide books away in Colonia del Sacramento
Why do I like countries carrying names starting with the letter "U"? I don't really know, but it looks as if Uruguay is going to be Uzbekistan all over again. It's a surprisingly interesting country.Starting my visit in the little town of "Colonia del Sacramento" (or: simply "Colonia"), I quickly was intrigued how engaging the tree lined alleys and avenues looked. Walking the in the shadowy streets, enjoying the fresh air and savouring irresistible local specialties, such as sweet pizza (comes with mozzarella, coconut and chocolate toppings!), made me stay longer than planned.
The small town of Colonia was founded in 1680. Its historical quarter ("Barrio Histórico") is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Wandering around the cobble streets, there is a sight which I found quite unique so far on my travel. A few cars here an there, seemingly abandoned for years, provide a photogenic touch throughout this barrio.
Uruguay is not really the focus of gringo tourists, probably due to the bad publicity in guidebooks, which claim that this country is on the pricey side. By comparing prices with Argentina, where I just stayed, shows a different picture: The hostel prices - for example - in Patagonia and Buenos Aires (Argentina) range between 45 and 60 Argentinean Pesos (US $13 to 18) per night in a dormitory room. Here in Uruguay, the prices for the same service range between 300 to 450 Uruguayan Pesos - also US $13 to 18. As for food and transport, their prices are the same as well. Either Argentina has had a terrible inflation recently or the guide books about Uruguay are wrong on that topic.Having this false reputation, certain nationalities do seem to avoid traveling to this country. A lot of backpackers - me included - noticed the absence of the Dutch and Israeli tourists. On the other hand, there are a too many Swiss tourists here - more than usual. No wonder, Uruguay has a significant Swiss heritage.
Heck, there is even a town called "Nueva Helvecia" (sometimes referred to as "Nueva Suiza"). Finding a cheese fondue is no problem in any city here. Sometimes, this country is called "South American's Switzerland" - not for landscape, but for political freedom and government stability. It is scoring in the 23rd position among the 30 countries considered to be "Full Democracies".The fact that this small nation is located geographically in between the two superpowers, Brazil and Argentina, does remind me a bit of the situation back home. Fighting against interests of the surrounding big nations does create a general atmosphere of debate and consensus, which is particular. People are proud of their country and don't want to be mistaken for their big neighbours, nor do they want to be compared to them. Sounds a bit like Switzerland, as well. Am I really surprised how quick and well I get along with the Uruguayans?
On the other hand, this country is flat as anything. No big mountains in sight, which means that hiking adventures will probably more be sort of a Sunday afternoon stroll. To complicate things, a lot of information about sights in this country is plain misleading.
Tourist books, such as the "Lonely Planet" put emphasis on detailing Uruguayan beach cities. They neglect entirely the numerous national parks in the back country. I guess that Thomas Kohnstamm - the infamous travel writer who never visited a certain place about which he wrote a travel guide - must have been the author of the Uruguay chapter in the "South America on a shoestring" (Lonely Planet) guide book. Although there seems to be a new, dedicated "Uruguay" guide book from that company, it really is just a collection of some Uruguay-related pages from their "Argentina" guidebook (!) - compiled together with a massive reference about Buenos Aires (Argentina).
Truly, for the first time, I feel cheated about the money spent for a guide book. And I would be throwing this paperback without hesitation into the nearest rubbish bin, if it wasn't for my handwritten annotations contained therein. The Uruguayan guy in our hostel in Puerto Natales (Chile) did help me to write down many corrections, additions and first-hand hints and tips about places to visit in his country.Although my next stop is the city of Montevideo, I hope to be able to travel at least some of the places I was suggested to. A bit short on time, I will try to explore as much as new ground as possible after seeing the capital city. Feel free to come back and discover with me a lesser known Uruguay in the next couple of days. And maybe you'll find out, why I love countrys starting with the letter "U"...
Labels: Uruguay
posted by Reto at
11:00
2 Comments
Links to this post
19 January 2009
Herbal infusions in Buenos Aires
Arriving in Buenos Aires after a 24 hour bus ride from Bariloche was like arriving in Argentina. While locals might argue that this megalopolis doesn't really represent the true spirit of this country, I was relieved to find an authentic place, which doesn't cater solely for tourists. Buenos Aires has its rough edges that plague every capital in the world: Noise, pollution and the daily life full of stress. The city is divided into 48 'barrios' (districts), covering a surface of 203 km2. According to the latest census, over 3 million people live here. On my arrival, I was welcomed by a tropical heat, something that I've missed in windy Patagonia, where a sweater to fight the chill was the mandatory day-pack.
Here I also reunited for a day with Carlo, whom I met a while back in Puerto Varas (Chile) and Francisco, his friend from Buenos Aires. The three of us visited first the area of La Boca. Parts of this district are a bit touristy by having loads of souvenir stands and tango dancers in the restaurants. But being with a local, we quickly got away from the beaten path and found ourselves in the famous football stadium of 'La Bombonera'. I have never seen a stadium where the seats are located so near to the sports field. It's almost as if you'd be able to touch the players during the game. Unfortunately, there was no game during my stay, because I would have loved to be part of a cheering crowd. Some of the seat rows are stacked upon each other. This allows for a very small footprint of the building, which looks as being roughly half of the size of similar structures back home. However, the total capacity is an enormous 57'000 people.
Being home of the team 'Boca Juniors', history tells that the founder of the club struggled to find the team colors. He decided to choose the ones from the first vessel's flag sailing into the harbour. It was a Swedish one. Blue and yellow therefore became the team's color and the whole stadium follows the same colour scheme. Since the 'enemy' team (River Plate) from the other part of the city uses red, this colour is completely absent in the entire place. They went as far as to negotiate with Coca-Cola - the team's sponsor - different colours. Consequently, long before the introduction of 'Coke Zero', the advertising for the drink in the stadium were painted - as a worldwide unique feature - in black and white, instead of the corporate red.
Other parts of the city we did visit show a bustling commercial area, where new buildings are built continuously. The city is actually pretty old: Founded in 1536 at the location of today's San Telmo, Buenos Aires is one of the older cities on the South American continent. Still, the whole metropolitan area is booming these days and the vibe downtown shows definitely positive and relaxed signs. It is actually fun to watch businessmen drinking 'mate' (a herbal infusion) while walking around in the business district. Mate is otherwise very common around the countryside, where people would drink using straw pipes from mate gourds (bowls) by squeezing a thermos canister with hot water under their arms. Seeing this national drink still being celebrated in busy Buenos Aires, is the best sign to show how representative of Argentina this city is. Although I usually tend to hate big cities, I definitely ended up liking Buenos Aires. Will be back one day.Labels: Argentina
posted by Reto at
17:21
0 Comments
Links to this post
16 January 2009
Experiencing the mother of all roads going to Bariloche
The "Ruta Nacional 40" (or: RN40) is the Argentinean mother of all roads: It stretches over 5000 kilometers from the Bolivian border down to the southern tip of the continent, while it passes through 20 national parks, over 18 big rivers and crosses 27 passes. In short: This is the backpacker version of the famous "Route 66" in the U.S.Two years ago, the road was still less than 50% paved. The part of the road linking the towns of El Chaltèn and Bariloche is still mostly unpaved. Sounded like a small adventure, so I had to take that road. Around midnight, some French guys and I were lining up on a cold, windy sidewalk at El Chaltén to wait for our bus to pick us up. Fabrice, one of the crazier among the French guys, found an empty barrel in which he managed to create a small fire that would keep us warm. We were tasting (aka: drinking) some Argentinean red wines and singing. This must have looked a bit odd, like some homeless people from New York City who had gathered in a rural Patagonian town to sing French songs of the "Resistance". At least, the police must have been confused and they started to patrol in five minute intervals around our block.
However, our bus eventually arrived. By that time, almost all people waiting had become friends. Even though the road was very bumpy, we had a great time, but fell asleep quickly. I woke up a couple of hours later after a perfect nights rest in my comfy seat. It was almost nine o'clock and our bus was about to stop for breakfast in front of a road house in the middle of nothing. "Diez minutos!", ten minutes, the driver's assistant shouted and off we were to get breakfast. Well, the way the assistant did pronounce his words, it sounded more like "let's try not to waste too much time and be on the bus within the hour".Since there was only one toilet for 50 passengers and one very slow cashier in the restaurant, the time needed was definitely more than only 10 minutes. Consequently, I faced the difficult choice of which queue to prioritize... Our subsequent stops were five minutes (Argentina: half an hour) and 15 minutes (Argentina: a bit over one hour) long.
Along the route, several times the people next to my seat changed. There was this 60+ year old lady who was offended that my knees would touch her butt inadvertently as she was trying to squeeze into her window seat. Each time I would bend down to get something out of my day-pack lying on the floor, she would start to nervously stretch her skirt making sure that her knees were covered. Needless to say that I found numerous occasions to tie and untie my shoe laces or fumble for stuff in my bag.Further along the route, the lady had to leave and got replaced by a twenty-four year old Brazilian guy who gave me the biggest smile I've ever seen in my life. Which actually includes the biggest dental braces I've ever seen. But he was fun talking to and as it turned out, he was admiring rap music. Just before he was leaving, he would give me 50 cents of Brazilian money as a souvenir and smiling at me: "50 Cent from Brazil". Well, dumb-fumbler as I am, I did not get the irony of his message and handed him - in return - a piece of Swiss money which would remind him of our encounter. It was Yann, another French guy on the bus, who quickly pointed out that there probably isn't (and never will be) a rapper named "One Franc".
The second night on the bus, we drove to an unknown rural Patagonian town at around 1:30 in the morning. Our bus stopped on what was apparently kind of a main road, in front of the only restaurant around. Our drivers told us "media hora", which made us a bit wary about how long that stay meant to be by Argentinean time standards. This remote place actually was very efficient: All those of us who were hungry, were able to order and eat freshly made Pizza's within the hour. The last half hour, we saw our food in candle light, because - for whatever reason - the electricity was shut down at 2am. To be honest, for the short time being there, I did fall in love with that place. Hoping that the bus would break down and that we had to stay for a day or two in the Argentinean outback.Unfortunately, the bus was in perfect condition and two hours later, we arrived at "Esquel", where the French guys were leaving. Since they continued onwards to Chile, I wasn't really keen to stay with them and I kept focus on heading further according to my plan. Arriving in a good mood and overexcited from the accomplished road trip, I was shocked when I saw first Bariloche - my day's destination.
Never - on my entire trip, did I want to leave a town right upon arrival. Until now.
Yes, Bariloche is very scenic and very beautiful. People here are friendly and the place is probably very exciting for (South) Americans. It's rightfully one of the main tourist attractions in the Argentina.
But this town just looks like home. The main streets are full of souvenir shops and restaurants. The central square features a medieval castle. Many houses are built chalet-type. The local speciality in Bariloche is (drum-rolls): Chocolate! Even the lakes and mountains around town look suspiciously Swiss. Unsurprisingly, one of the main local tourist attractions is a visit to the "Colonia Suiza".
I ended up staying two days in town doing absolutely nothing. Just having a rest. Definitely, I am not yet ready to go home.
Labels: Argentina
posted by Reto at
16:09
0 Comments
Links to this post
14 January 2009
Российская палатке в El Chaltén
The new tent which I inherited from my crazy Russian friend, Evgeny, proved to be of great value in El Chaltén, since all the hostels in the village were fully booked. Therefore, I ended up on the free campsite just outside of town, which was a perfect money saving as well. In this town, there are about 150 permanent residents living. During summer, the influx of tourists and seasonal workers ramps up this number to a staggering 2000 people average on any day. Calling itself the "National Trekking Capital of Argentina" and being located in the "Los Glaciares National Park", El Chaltén is splendidly surrounded by the mountains Cerro Torre, Cerro Chaltén (also known as mount Fitz Roy) and numerous glacier valleys and lakes.
Some guidebooks and brochures call this place "Paradise on Earth". On a sunny day this description comes close. There are many treks through "Paradise", ranging from two hour trips up to multi-day tours. All of them are absolutely scenic and breathtaking. On the first day of my arrival, the Patagonian winds blew strong, but my new Russian tent withstood the forces of nature unharmed. Thanks Evgeny! The first trek, partially in rain, took me up to the "Poincenot" base camp at the "Laguna De los Tres". This is the most famous of all hikes and is the closest spot to see mount Fitz Roy. Although the clouds were hanging low with some sprinkles of rain, the excursion was fantastic.Next day, weather was absolutely superb and skies cleared of all clouds in the afternoon. It would stay this way until I would leave El Chaltén. Among the number of scenic treks that I undertook, was the "DeAgostini base camp" (resp. the "Laguna Torre"). There, the glacier "Clacial Torre" is calving its ice into a small lake - with mount "Cerro Torre" in the back drop. This looks kitschy like a Hollywood movie set. But it is reality and plain nature. Staying for an hour or so to enjoy the sight while enjoying a small lunch is an unforgettable experience.
The steepest hike was the twelve kilometer trip to the "Loma del Pliegue Tumbado" covering an altitude change of 1000 meters. The view from the sightseeing point near the top was absolutely rewarding the strenuous hike. Given the difficulty of the track, there were not many tourists - which is a bit of a drag on the other trails around El Chaltén.I absolutely enjoyed this area, it was definitely one of the good surprises on this trip which made me stay longer than anticipated. Originally, I had planned one day of a bit of hiking, but I ended up staying four days covering most tracks around town. To be honest, this extension of stay was also due to the fact that onward bus tickets to the northern direction are hard to get. But waiting for the bus in El Chaltén was never boring. And camping in my Russian tent on the free and scenic campsite was definitely a fun change and had zero impact on my budget. Every morning, I woke up with the most beautiful mountain panorama I've seen so far. Other people pay for such vistas.
So where's the catch? Well, the free campsite has no showers. You probably guess how I must have looked and smelled after four days of trekking. Luckily, I bumped into a French guy during the last trek. Since he stayed in a hostel, he sneaked me in and I got a free shower there. Well, there is another catch: Going further north to the next city on my list did result in a 30 hour bus trip through the famous "Route 40" in Patagonia. Leaving El Chaltén shortly before midnight, this meant two full nights on a bumpy, unpaved road in a standard bus. But the French guy who helped me getting a shower got on the same bus with some of his friends. The road trip through Patagonia definitely was bound to happen. Make sure to come back to read that fun part of the story...Labels: Argentina
posted by Reto at
06:00
1 Comments
Links to this post
11 January 2009
On the roller coaster to El Calafate
Visitors crossing the border on the road from Puerto Natales in Chile to El Calafate in Argentina are being greeted by a big, spanking new signpost reading "Las Malvinas son Argentinas" (The Falkland Islands are Argentinean). Whew, that's quite a bold statement - however a bit pointless, since no British tourists were travelling on my bus. Instead of being intimidated, most passengers were bemused of this governmental declaration of force which evaporated into a void of pitiful smiles among the crowd. On a much friendlier and welcoming side, the customs officers proved to be very efficient and immigration was swift. It took merely ten minutes to process all the 50 people from my bus.Unfortunately, another "tour de force" caused me to travel alone - without Evgeny. The night before our departure, we did party hard in anticipation of our trip through Argentina. One girl in the bar asked to join our trip - the rest of the story is obvious and doesn't need a big explanation. To cut things short: Evgeny gave me his tent which I liked so much - as a farewell gift. In return, I gave way. So I was travelling alone on the bus to El Calafate.
Hesitating for a moment to go back south to Ushuaia instead was not an option, because seats to that destination are scarce. They are sold out three or more days in advance in El Calafate, same as in Puerto Natales. Neither are towns where I want to spend so much time alone waiting for my bus.In the dorm of the hostel in El Calafate was - among other travelers - an old drunk German who would moan all night about how sick he was. He kept everyone awake for most part of the night. Lacking sleep, I found myself roaming the streets of El Calafate being grumpy and cynical. Many unimportant details of daily life caught my attention, for example: The local ATM (note, there is no plural in it) has a ridiculous withdrawal limit of 300 Argentinean Pesos (roughly 90 US$) per day. This will buy me either 6 nights in a dorm, or 7 lunches or 2 tour bus excursions to the nearby glacier. Unsurprisingly, many tourists milk the money machine with two or more cards at the same time. The resulting queue is very long for most of the day. Another detail is the omnipresent shortage of coins in town. Many shop owners would moan and roll their eyes - or give me the stare of death - when I didn't have the exact change. Paying a can of coke (2.50Pesos) with a 5 Peso bill can be a frightening experience in El Calafate.
To be fair, all these unimportant facts tell more about my mood than about Argentina. But the sudden shift from having probably the best and
most memorable moments (on the "Navimag" ship and in the "Torres del Paine" National Park) to this low point of my round-the-world trip was very drastic and abrupt. But there is always room to learn and after hearing similar stories from other travelers, I was prepared having to face an emotional roller coaster potentially sometimes during my journey.Unwillingly helping, the drunk German in my dorm would also moan and complain when being sober and awake. He constantly was bragging to anyone about how long he was stuck in El Calafate waiting for his bus. And how miserable he felt. Seeing this guy was like watching in a mirror - with the only exception that I decided that I definitely did not want to end up that way.
A visit to the glacier "Perito Moreno" would keep me busy with new perspectives. Being one of the major tourist attractions on the Argentinian side of Patagonia, this is one of only three glaciers in the region that are not retreating. The noise of breaking ice during the calving was amazing. what is more fascinating, is the fact that at times, the Perito Moreno glacier does form a natural dam - separating the two halves of the lake "Lago Argentino". This creates a rise in water level of more than 20 meters on one side of the lake, subsequently resulting in an enormous pressure on the ice dam. When the water from the lake finally breaks this ice barrier, the rupture event is told to be spectacular. In fact, all over the town of El Calafate, I spotted various posters from the last couple of ruptures - the one of 2004 having
been apparently the most photogenic one. This day trip out to the glacier was a bit touristy and I found the park entrance fee coming at 60 Pesos a bit steep (remember how many Pesos per day you can get from the local ATM?). But the weather was fine and seeing Perito Moreno glacier is definitely an impressive and recommended sight.The town of El Calafate itself reminded me a bit of Pucón in Chile or Franz Josef in New Zealand. These are all very touristy places. They are nowhere representative of other towns in these countries. Most visitors love to stroll for a day through the streets shopping for souvenirs and having nice food and drinks in the restaurants and bars. But there is little to discover and explore. So I had little reason to stay longer than a day here. Luckily a lot of buses were heading north which meant that I did not have to wait days for my bus to leave. Definitely, there was no risk in ending up like the obnoxious German from my dorm room. And I spotted the first glimpses of a returning smile on my face in the mirror.
Labels: Argentina
posted by Reto at
15:07
0 Comments
Links to this post
08 January 2009
Wet and wild in Torres del Paine
Still a bit hung over from the New Year party on the Navimag ship, Evgeny and I arrived in Puerto Natales where we booked quickly into our hostel. Ahead of the pack, we secured the last two beds in the dormitory of the "Erratic Rock", which is the de-facto hub for backpackers setting off for the hikes through Torres del Paine National Park.Most people would stay an extra day in Puerto Natales to do some food and gear shopping for the trip. But Evgeny and I decided to leave right away on the next morning. This proved to be a bit of a challenge, since the town of Puerto Natales was basically shut for the public holiday of First of January. This remote village would not bother about a ship arriving once a week with hundreds of fresh tourists, willing and eager to spend money. It was very hard to find supplies, but we managed to find the only small convenience store that was open on that day. There, we spotted mostly junk food in the two shelves. We had to change our small shopping list: Dried fruits and nuts would be the substitute for Apples and Oranges. Bacon spread was substitute for meat. Cheese was the only matching item from our shipping list, that we managed to get in the store. As we found out later, it was pretty horrible quality.
Very early on the 2.1., we left for the park. The trip is a combination of bus and boat rides and we made it to the campground at noon time. Upon arrival, we started to put up our tent. It has a military look and Russian (Cyrillic) writing on it. Needless to outline, that our home for the day stood out from the crowd of other tents on the site. Next, we left for a short six hour return hike to a glacier. Since we planned to do a slow hike and take our time, our target was to be back at the campground 8pm. Dailight isn't an issue at this time of year, since the sun sets at around 10pm.
The weather was fantastic and when we returned to the camp site, we spotted the first few familiar faces from the Navimag ship. These people had spent shopping in the morning instead and then arrived by the last boat at 6pm in the park. They already knew that we were there, because our fancy tent would leave no doubts about who'd owned it. Although the "latecomers" were only six hours "behind" us, we had a full day head start for the four day hike. On the second morning, as we were leaving and having enjoyed a five minute breakfast - we did spot the others snuggling out of their sleeping bags. They were cooking porridge and boiled eggs and then later planned to set off for the same trip that we did in the afternoon of the first day. Sometimes, having too much food is not the best option, Evgeny and I agreed. Because the weather turned bad and we were the only ones to have enjoyed a full dry hiking day in the park.
The sky went cloudy that morning and the the fog would become thicker and the intervals of the occasional rain sprinkles became shorter. Half way up to the so-called "French Valley", we set base with our tent and left the heavy bags in it. By the time, we arrived on the top of the subsequent round trip hike, the whole park was covered in dense clouds, with strong winds and pouring rain. We took a couple of miserable pictures and immediately went down again to a small shelter next to our camp. We discussed our options over a horrible-tasting hot instant soup. It became obvious to us that the bad weather was here to stay at least for another day or two. We both found good reasons to decide to abandon our trip here. For one, Evgeny is short on time - he has only two weeks left of vacation - making it impossible to wait for better weather. For my part, while other folks might actually enjoy mud hiking in military style, this is not really what I would call a fun trip.So we packed all our bags, took down our tent and hurried back to the campsite where we just stayed the night before. Next to that site was a "Refugio" (Hostel), featuring a canteen, hot showers and warm beds. There was very little chance that we could secure these beds, since these refugios tend to be booked well in advance. But the hope made us literally run back through pouring rain and mud tracks. Upon arrival, we were very lucky and secured the last two beds, booked a nice dinner and breakfast for next morning - before taking the boat and bus back to Puerto Natales. This completely blew our budget - but we enjoyed every single peso spent.
Back in Puerto Natales we saw many people gradually pouring in town - abandoning their hikes - same as we did. It would not stop raining in the park for the rest of the week. Evgeny and I were glad to have stopped at a perfect moment. And we managed to get at least a glimpse of the park during sunny weather. There, I proposed to Evgeny that I'd change my itinerary and that we'd travel together northbound through Argentina - instead of separating here as I originally planned to go further south to Ushuaia. He was very happy about this - but since his flight back to Moscow was due in two weeks from Buenos Aires, we would have to speed up a notch on our road trip. That did not matter too much for me, since I bumped into a guy from Uruguay who'd share travel tips for his country with me. Traveling faster through Argentina and afterwards being able to include Uruguay in the itinerary sounded like a logical combination. So we bought our ticket to Argentina and prepared for the big and fast road trip. But that is yet another blog posting coming up soon...
Labels: Chile
posted by Reto at
20:31
0 Comments
Links to this post
04 January 2009
On the Navimag from Puerto Montt to Puerto Natales
Travelling from Puerto Montt to Puerto Natales on the "Navimag" ship was an unexpected highlight during my journey. To cut a very long story short, this boat journey had everything that I missed on the Yangzi river cruise back in China. The sights here in Patagonia were spectacular, plus the crew, the facilities and the other people on the boat were simply fantastic.
As the Lonely Planet guidebook does outline, this three day journey through Patagonia may actually be a nightmare, when the weather is rough and passengers literally see nothing sort of what we did. However, we were lucky for most parts of the trip: The first two days were filled with sunshine, on the third day it started to rain - but there was still enough visibility to make your jaw drop in awe because of the scenery.On the first day on the boat, I met Evgeny, a Russian from Moscow. We quickly became friends since we figured out that we had a lot in common. Moreover, I wanted to brush up on my Russian language skills - which now has been added a considerable number of swear words.
When we ordered Vodka from the ship's bar, Evgeny was shocked to see that the bottle stood on the shelf - not being refrigerated. We explained to the barman that Vodka has to be served chilled. To our surprise, when we returned on the next day, we spotted a couple of Vodka bottles in the fridge. Since we celebrated New Year on the boat, we did drink a special "Russian Cocktail"- as Evgeny called it. It actually became our favourite drink during the three days on board: Consisting of a glass of beer half full of Vodka, the other half is being mixed with dark beer.As we were approaching the 31.12., every nationality would celebrate their New Year in a different time zone. The cheers among individual groups started early in the day with the guys from New Zealand. By 6pm, Evgeny and I were celebrating Russian New Year. We called it a wrap shortly afterwards since we were very tired of all the partying. Consequently, I missed the Swiss New Year and the Chilean New Year.
Next day, the overall atmosphere on the boat was a notch friendlier, as most of the people made friends during the boat trip and the New Year´s eve party. So did I. In fact, by the end of the journey, everybody knew us - the guy from Russia and Switzerland who would spend most of the day speaking in a strange language and drinking Vodka.There are parts of my round-the-world trip that are so memorable that I sometimes wish that I could relive that experience all over again. The Navimag trip definitely was one of these moments. Upon arrival in Puerto Natales, Evgeny and I therefore decided to trek in the Torres del Paine National Park together - more about this great hike in an upcoming blog posting.
Labels: Chile
posted by Reto at
14:58
0 Comments
Links to this post
