We´re in Loja, Ecuador on our way to Chris´ Peace Corps site out in the jungle.
A lot has happened since I last wrote, but I don´t have nearly enough time to do it justice. Therefore, a brief recap:
Spent a day in Santiago seeing the sites, then flew to Guayaquil, Ecuador. Jon got bed bugs. Bummer.
Met Chris at the airport in Guayaquil and then took a bus the next day to Puerto Lopez. The next day, we went on an awesome 5 hour boat tour where we 1) caught about 30 fish 2) went snorkeling 3) ate fresh ceviche made from the fish we caught 4) visited a secluded beach on an island and 5) saw a whale. Totally awesome.
From there, we went to Mantanita and Vilcabamba. All of us got violently ill during our stay in Vilcabamba, possibly because of the cooked cow intestines that Mack, Chris, and I ate.
And now we´re on our way to the jungle!
More later when I get a chance.
Monday, April 6, 2009
Monday, March 30, 2009
Holy shit, I fell asleep on the bus and woke up in a Hollister ad.
No, seriously.
I´m in Mantanita, Ecuador, and it´s just like a Hollister ad. Beautiful people, wearing very little clothing, and actually surfing. Thatched roofs and everything. And I always thought that store was based on a fictitious place that oozed sex and cheap perfume.
Thursday, March 26, 2009
Sure, that will make me feel much better.
So, as you know, we had a flight from Punta Arenas to Santiago yesterday. The flight left a little after 3 and was supposed to arrive at 8:10. Sounds great, right?
Well, first off, we didn´t realize that it wasn´t a non-stop flight. The flight, in fact, stopped in both Coyhaique and Puerto Montt. No big deal.
Balmaceda (where the Coyhaique airport is) must have wicked winds, because both flights that have landed there have been kind of sketchy landings. But yesterday, either the pilot must have sucked, something must have been wrong, or the winds were really bad, because we had to ditch the landing. Had almost touched down and then the plane started gaining altitude and going faster. And then we circled the airfield a few times before finally touching down. Mack almost lost his PB&J.
As if that wasn´t enough, we had a bit of a delay taking off because they had to check out a technical problem. But don´t worry--the plane turned out to be 'satisfactory.'
So we flew the 40 minutes or so to Puerto Montt, where the real fiasco ensued. Everyone had to get off the plane 'so the plane could refuel', or so we gathered from everyone's interpretation of what was being jibbered in spanish over the intercom. Seriously--intercoms are hard enough to understand in english, let alone rapid spanish. To add even more confusion, my 'Fundamental Spanish' book has not yet gotten to the chapter where they cover the vocabulary necessary to describe the fact that the plane is broken and probably almost fell out of the sky. I guess ignorance is bliss?
At this point, everyone was freaking out, saying they wanted a new plane. But they stuck us back on the same plane that we had been on. Apparently it was safe enough.
Oh wait, no it wasn´t. Because about 15 minutes after we boarded Plane number 1, they asked us to get off and board Plane number 2.
Of course, Plane number 2 was not yet at the airport, so they gave us all sandwiches. Clearly, a sandwich and a good ol' Coca-Cola soothe all of my fears of dying in a plane crash.
But then plane number 2 arrived and we flew safely to Santiago, landing, right on time, at roughly 2am.
Did I mention that the Santiago airport is about half an hour outside of the city? And that it's really hard to get a hotel room at 2 in the morning?
Boy, the concrete floor sure was comfortable!
Thankfully, I'm boarding yet another flight tomorrow--on a different airline.
Well, first off, we didn´t realize that it wasn´t a non-stop flight. The flight, in fact, stopped in both Coyhaique and Puerto Montt. No big deal.
Balmaceda (where the Coyhaique airport is) must have wicked winds, because both flights that have landed there have been kind of sketchy landings. But yesterday, either the pilot must have sucked, something must have been wrong, or the winds were really bad, because we had to ditch the landing. Had almost touched down and then the plane started gaining altitude and going faster. And then we circled the airfield a few times before finally touching down. Mack almost lost his PB&J.
As if that wasn´t enough, we had a bit of a delay taking off because they had to check out a technical problem. But don´t worry--the plane turned out to be 'satisfactory.'
So we flew the 40 minutes or so to Puerto Montt, where the real fiasco ensued. Everyone had to get off the plane 'so the plane could refuel', or so we gathered from everyone's interpretation of what was being jibbered in spanish over the intercom. Seriously--intercoms are hard enough to understand in english, let alone rapid spanish. To add even more confusion, my 'Fundamental Spanish' book has not yet gotten to the chapter where they cover the vocabulary necessary to describe the fact that the plane is broken and probably almost fell out of the sky. I guess ignorance is bliss?
At this point, everyone was freaking out, saying they wanted a new plane. But they stuck us back on the same plane that we had been on. Apparently it was safe enough.
Oh wait, no it wasn´t. Because about 15 minutes after we boarded Plane number 1, they asked us to get off and board Plane number 2.
Of course, Plane number 2 was not yet at the airport, so they gave us all sandwiches. Clearly, a sandwich and a good ol' Coca-Cola soothe all of my fears of dying in a plane crash.
But then plane number 2 arrived and we flew safely to Santiago, landing, right on time, at roughly 2am.
Did I mention that the Santiago airport is about half an hour outside of the city? And that it's really hard to get a hotel room at 2 in the morning?
Boy, the concrete floor sure was comfortable!
Thankfully, I'm boarding yet another flight tomorrow--on a different airline.
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
So much for getting away from the tourists.
After El Calafate, we headed south. More long bus rides, estancias rolling by the window, and mountains ringing the horizon.
Our first stop was Puerto Natales and Torres del Paine National Park. For the most part, the trip from Calafate to Natales was uneventful, except, of course, the border crossing. Come to find out, most countries don´t like you to transport fruit and vegetables over the border. This includes 2 pounds of cooked pasta, 2 nalgenes full of pasta sauce full of vegetables, and 2 packets of fresh green beans, which we happened to be carrying as the giant billboards warning you not to have vegetables rolled past the window. Oh god. Oh god. Oh god.
Thankfully (stop worrying, Mom), we told them about the pasta, and they could have cared less. I think the experience shaved about 4 years off Jon´s life. Half his beard fell out from the stress (Just kidding, Jon´s mom).
Arrived in Puerto Natales as the adrenaline drained from our systems and found a really nice hospedaje to spend the night in. Went to an information session at Erratic Rock, an even cooler hostel run by two Americans--which was fantastic, because it gave us all of the information we could have ever needed for hiking the W in Torres del Paine. Spent the evening buying dried fruit and vittles for the upcoming 6 day hike.
And then, on Tuesday morning at 7:30am, it was off to Torres.
A little background: Torres del Paine is one of the most famous parks in South America. Compared to parks in the states, it´s not terribly huge. In fact, there are only two main routes that people hike while there: the W and the Circuit. Realistically, the Circuit is a continuation of the W, so there´s really only one main trail in the park. Refugios, campsites, and lots of infrastructure is scattered evenly throughout the trail. The park is famous for its cuernos (horns) and torres (towers), which are giant basalt features that stick up pretty much out of nowhere.
And lots and lots of people like to go see them. (Hey, you would too if they constituted 90% of the images that turn up when one googles patagonia) So much for getting away from the tourists.
Setting aside the fact that you couldn´t pull of to the side of the trail and pee without having another hiker sneak up on you, it was a pretty great trip. Here´s the run down:
Day 1
Hopped on a bus full of other hikers and took the 2.5 hour bus ride to the park. Paid the entrance fee and admired the glorious view of the towers thrusting up into a clear blue sky. Rode half an hour further and got dropped off at Lago Pehoé, where we caught a catamaran. Before hopping on the boat, though, we took a quick walk up to Salto Grande, a sizeable waterfall where one lake drains into the other. Pretty cool. Really windy (at one point, the wind whipped my hat off my head and threw it about 20 feet. it must have been pretty entertaining to watch me chase after it).
The catamaran ride was spectacular and spectacularly windy. Thankfully, we were some of the last people on, which had the dual advantage of placing our bags on top of the giant pile of backpacks and relegating us to the floor on the top level of the boat. This latter fact might not seem like much of an advantage, but it allowed us to a) not get whipped by the wind b) not get splashed by the giant waves, and c) have a great view of the Paine massif. Winners.
Arrived on the other side of the lake around 12:30 and hiked up toward Glacier Grey under partly cloudy skies. Had a spectacular view of the glacier--much better than the view we had of Perito Moreno. Camped for the night at Los Guardas, a free campsite north of the Lago Grey Refugio.
Day 2
Took a short hike (without our backpacks) a little further north, where we got wide open views of Glacier Grey. The southern ice field (of which Glacier Grey is a part), is one of the biggest ice fields on the planet. Call me a total science dork, but it was INCREDIBLE to have a vantage over a giant field of blue ice, rippled with crevasses. Hopefully I´ll be able to post some pictures soon (or Mack and Jon will).
Picked up our backpacks and hiked back to Lago Pehoé, where we camped for the night next to the shiny, new refugio (really, it was a beautiful hotel). Rained a little bit on our way down, then rained and had crazy wind all night. Needless to say, it´s hard to sleep when the tent keeps collapsing down on your head.
Day 3
Woke up to a beautiful sunrise, with the cuernos poking out from behind a golden orange mist. And then the rain started, for serious. And we hiked in it.
It was miserable.
Arrived at Los Cuernos refugio and set up our tent in a nice dry spot under a big tree. This turned out to be an ill-fated location, though. The rain stopped shortly after we arrived and the wind started up. By wind, I'm not talking your average, run-of-the-mill, high pressure system wind. I'm talking wind like sticking your head out of the window of a car on the freeway. Wind like getting hit by a car on the freeway. Or a truck for that matter. Seriously, there would be no wind and then, BAM, out of nowhere, you'd get struck by a gust that would just about knock you over. I've never experienced anything like it.
Apparently, neither had our tent. At about 9pm, after several hours of enjoying ourselves and drying out in the refugio, I went out to the tent and found it wrapped around our nice big tree. One of the poles was snapped in half and had ripped a 4 foot long hole in the fly. Shit.
Thankfully, Torres del Paine is one of the few places that, when shit hits the fan, you can rent a fully-functional, fully set-up tent. Of all the places for our tent to get destroyed, it was actually a pretty good one.
Day 4
After a miserable Day 3, we woke up to clear skies and windy yet beautiful weather. Hiked up Valle Francés and then spent the night in our nice, rented tent back at Los Cuernos. Valle Francés was nice, but I struggled with the fact that Valle Hermoso and Fitzroy had proceeded it. Regardless, it was a beautiful day hike and very nice to spend a day without the big bags.
Day 5
Long, 7 hour hike from Los Cuernos to Campamento Los Torres, the free campsite just below the towers. The weather was beautiful and much of the day was spent hiking over the steppe, with the Paine Massif off to our left and a big blue green lake spread out to our right. Was feeling a little sick from days of hiking in the rain and nights of not sleeping because of the wind. (And, by this point, you´re probably sick of this incredibly long blog post. Hope you don't have something more important to be doing...)
Day 6
Woke up to a snow storm. And I thought I was avoiding winter by skipping to the southern hemisphere! We hiked up to the towers and sat in the snow waiting for the sun to come out. Eventually it did, giving us a beautiful, ethereal view of the towers covered in snow and shrouded by cloud. Definitely worth it.
And then we hiked down to Hosteria Los Torres and caught the bus back to Natales!
Wow. This post has gotten wayyyy too long. To sum up, we had a great trip to Torres, saw lots and lots of people (which slightly ruined the experience, but was okay overall), had two crummy days that gave us great war stories, and have not yet killed each other.
Life is good. We're head to Ecuador on Friday, which makes life even better.
Our first stop was Puerto Natales and Torres del Paine National Park. For the most part, the trip from Calafate to Natales was uneventful, except, of course, the border crossing. Come to find out, most countries don´t like you to transport fruit and vegetables over the border. This includes 2 pounds of cooked pasta, 2 nalgenes full of pasta sauce full of vegetables, and 2 packets of fresh green beans, which we happened to be carrying as the giant billboards warning you not to have vegetables rolled past the window. Oh god. Oh god. Oh god.
Thankfully (stop worrying, Mom), we told them about the pasta, and they could have cared less. I think the experience shaved about 4 years off Jon´s life. Half his beard fell out from the stress (Just kidding, Jon´s mom).
Arrived in Puerto Natales as the adrenaline drained from our systems and found a really nice hospedaje to spend the night in. Went to an information session at Erratic Rock, an even cooler hostel run by two Americans--which was fantastic, because it gave us all of the information we could have ever needed for hiking the W in Torres del Paine. Spent the evening buying dried fruit and vittles for the upcoming 6 day hike.
And then, on Tuesday morning at 7:30am, it was off to Torres.
A little background: Torres del Paine is one of the most famous parks in South America. Compared to parks in the states, it´s not terribly huge. In fact, there are only two main routes that people hike while there: the W and the Circuit. Realistically, the Circuit is a continuation of the W, so there´s really only one main trail in the park. Refugios, campsites, and lots of infrastructure is scattered evenly throughout the trail. The park is famous for its cuernos (horns) and torres (towers), which are giant basalt features that stick up pretty much out of nowhere.
And lots and lots of people like to go see them. (Hey, you would too if they constituted 90% of the images that turn up when one googles patagonia) So much for getting away from the tourists.
Setting aside the fact that you couldn´t pull of to the side of the trail and pee without having another hiker sneak up on you, it was a pretty great trip. Here´s the run down:
Day 1
Hopped on a bus full of other hikers and took the 2.5 hour bus ride to the park. Paid the entrance fee and admired the glorious view of the towers thrusting up into a clear blue sky. Rode half an hour further and got dropped off at Lago Pehoé, where we caught a catamaran. Before hopping on the boat, though, we took a quick walk up to Salto Grande, a sizeable waterfall where one lake drains into the other. Pretty cool. Really windy (at one point, the wind whipped my hat off my head and threw it about 20 feet. it must have been pretty entertaining to watch me chase after it).
The catamaran ride was spectacular and spectacularly windy. Thankfully, we were some of the last people on, which had the dual advantage of placing our bags on top of the giant pile of backpacks and relegating us to the floor on the top level of the boat. This latter fact might not seem like much of an advantage, but it allowed us to a) not get whipped by the wind b) not get splashed by the giant waves, and c) have a great view of the Paine massif. Winners.
Arrived on the other side of the lake around 12:30 and hiked up toward Glacier Grey under partly cloudy skies. Had a spectacular view of the glacier--much better than the view we had of Perito Moreno. Camped for the night at Los Guardas, a free campsite north of the Lago Grey Refugio.
Day 2
Took a short hike (without our backpacks) a little further north, where we got wide open views of Glacier Grey. The southern ice field (of which Glacier Grey is a part), is one of the biggest ice fields on the planet. Call me a total science dork, but it was INCREDIBLE to have a vantage over a giant field of blue ice, rippled with crevasses. Hopefully I´ll be able to post some pictures soon (or Mack and Jon will).
Picked up our backpacks and hiked back to Lago Pehoé, where we camped for the night next to the shiny, new refugio (really, it was a beautiful hotel). Rained a little bit on our way down, then rained and had crazy wind all night. Needless to say, it´s hard to sleep when the tent keeps collapsing down on your head.
Day 3
Woke up to a beautiful sunrise, with the cuernos poking out from behind a golden orange mist. And then the rain started, for serious. And we hiked in it.
It was miserable.
Arrived at Los Cuernos refugio and set up our tent in a nice dry spot under a big tree. This turned out to be an ill-fated location, though. The rain stopped shortly after we arrived and the wind started up. By wind, I'm not talking your average, run-of-the-mill, high pressure system wind. I'm talking wind like sticking your head out of the window of a car on the freeway. Wind like getting hit by a car on the freeway. Or a truck for that matter. Seriously, there would be no wind and then, BAM, out of nowhere, you'd get struck by a gust that would just about knock you over. I've never experienced anything like it.
Apparently, neither had our tent. At about 9pm, after several hours of enjoying ourselves and drying out in the refugio, I went out to the tent and found it wrapped around our nice big tree. One of the poles was snapped in half and had ripped a 4 foot long hole in the fly. Shit.
Thankfully, Torres del Paine is one of the few places that, when shit hits the fan, you can rent a fully-functional, fully set-up tent. Of all the places for our tent to get destroyed, it was actually a pretty good one.
Day 4
After a miserable Day 3, we woke up to clear skies and windy yet beautiful weather. Hiked up Valle Francés and then spent the night in our nice, rented tent back at Los Cuernos. Valle Francés was nice, but I struggled with the fact that Valle Hermoso and Fitzroy had proceeded it. Regardless, it was a beautiful day hike and very nice to spend a day without the big bags.
Day 5
Long, 7 hour hike from Los Cuernos to Campamento Los Torres, the free campsite just below the towers. The weather was beautiful and much of the day was spent hiking over the steppe, with the Paine Massif off to our left and a big blue green lake spread out to our right. Was feeling a little sick from days of hiking in the rain and nights of not sleeping because of the wind. (And, by this point, you´re probably sick of this incredibly long blog post. Hope you don't have something more important to be doing...)
Day 6
Woke up to a snow storm. And I thought I was avoiding winter by skipping to the southern hemisphere! We hiked up to the towers and sat in the snow waiting for the sun to come out. Eventually it did, giving us a beautiful, ethereal view of the towers covered in snow and shrouded by cloud. Definitely worth it.
And then we hiked down to Hosteria Los Torres and caught the bus back to Natales!
Wow. This post has gotten wayyyy too long. To sum up, we had a great trip to Torres, saw lots and lots of people (which slightly ruined the experience, but was okay overall), had two crummy days that gave us great war stories, and have not yet killed each other.
Life is good. We're head to Ecuador on Friday, which makes life even better.
Monday, March 16, 2009
Torres del Paine!
As Mack writes, we´re headed into Torres del Paine for 6 days of hiking in South America's (supposedly) best national park. I´m sure that there will be lots to write when we return, but for now I´ll let you do a google image search and drool over the results.
Sunday, March 15, 2009
In Argentina!
Hey everyone! We´re in El Calafate, tourist capital of Patagonian Argentina, and home to the world-famous Perito Moreno glacier. Spent the morning at the glacier, staring anxiously at it (hoping to see a big chunk or two fall off) in a miserably cold drizzle. It´s nice to be warm and dry.
Getting here has been quite the experience. We left the estancia at 5:45 Tuesday morning for Cochrane, where we caught a bus south. The bus ride, unsurprisingly, was a long (7 hour) ride on narrow dirt roads. At one point, the road dead-ended and we had to take a 40 minute ferry ride! There´s no road like this anywhere else in the Americas. It poured rain for most of the ride, so the scenery was spectular, but in a misty/ethereal kind of way.
On Wednesday, we hopped on a boat from Villa O´Higgins on a long journey into Argentina. The weather had cleared, and we had a spectacular ride to an area close to the border. Views of the southern ice field, illuminated by golden morning light were the real highlight. Arrived on the other side of the lake, unloaded most of our heaviest belongings on a horse (yes, a horse), and started walking. About 10km later, we reached the Chile/Argentina border which is demarcated by a) two highway signs welcoming you to both Chile and Argentina (depending on which direction you´re heading), and b) a metal marker that says Chile on one side and Argentina on the other. The nice road we had been following turned into a muddy horse trail at the border. Apparently, Argentina doesn´t like visitors.
After another 10km, we arrived at Lago del Desierto, where we managed to catch the ferry. The best part about this, besides for the fact that we arrived in time for the ferry and got great views of glaciers along the way, was that we were able to barter the price down, saving us about 50 bucks. I love saving money.
I´m running out of time, so time for the highlights:
Spent a few days in El Chaltén, home of Mount Fitzroy. In short, it´s a freaking unbelievable mountain chain. Cerro Torre, in particular, is an incredible, jagged spire that seems to defy gravity. Yesterday, Mack, Jon, and I woke up at 4am, hiked for 3 hours, and arrived in time to watch sun rise on the Cerro Torre and Fitzroy ranges. Words just don´t describe it--these mountains look as if someone drew them in; as if some cartoonist had received the instructions: we need a mountain chain, something really tall and spiky and covered in ice. Make it look kind of unreal.
And damn. It was unreal. A true once-in-a-lifetime experience. The pictures, unfortunately, won´t begin to do it justice.
So now, I´m in El Calafate, and we´re headed toward Torres del Paine tomorrow. Looking forward to getting away from all the tourists and doing a little more hiking.
Hope you´re all well! Missing you!
Justin
Getting here has been quite the experience. We left the estancia at 5:45 Tuesday morning for Cochrane, where we caught a bus south. The bus ride, unsurprisingly, was a long (7 hour) ride on narrow dirt roads. At one point, the road dead-ended and we had to take a 40 minute ferry ride! There´s no road like this anywhere else in the Americas. It poured rain for most of the ride, so the scenery was spectular, but in a misty/ethereal kind of way.
On Wednesday, we hopped on a boat from Villa O´Higgins on a long journey into Argentina. The weather had cleared, and we had a spectacular ride to an area close to the border. Views of the southern ice field, illuminated by golden morning light were the real highlight. Arrived on the other side of the lake, unloaded most of our heaviest belongings on a horse (yes, a horse), and started walking. About 10km later, we reached the Chile/Argentina border which is demarcated by a) two highway signs welcoming you to both Chile and Argentina (depending on which direction you´re heading), and b) a metal marker that says Chile on one side and Argentina on the other. The nice road we had been following turned into a muddy horse trail at the border. Apparently, Argentina doesn´t like visitors.
After another 10km, we arrived at Lago del Desierto, where we managed to catch the ferry. The best part about this, besides for the fact that we arrived in time for the ferry and got great views of glaciers along the way, was that we were able to barter the price down, saving us about 50 bucks. I love saving money.
I´m running out of time, so time for the highlights:
Spent a few days in El Chaltén, home of Mount Fitzroy. In short, it´s a freaking unbelievable mountain chain. Cerro Torre, in particular, is an incredible, jagged spire that seems to defy gravity. Yesterday, Mack, Jon, and I woke up at 4am, hiked for 3 hours, and arrived in time to watch sun rise on the Cerro Torre and Fitzroy ranges. Words just don´t describe it--these mountains look as if someone drew them in; as if some cartoonist had received the instructions: we need a mountain chain, something really tall and spiky and covered in ice. Make it look kind of unreal.
And damn. It was unreal. A true once-in-a-lifetime experience. The pictures, unfortunately, won´t begin to do it justice.
So now, I´m in El Calafate, and we´re headed toward Torres del Paine tomorrow. Looking forward to getting away from all the tourists and doing a little more hiking.
Hope you´re all well! Missing you!
Justin
Sunday, March 8, 2009
The plan.
Just in case you were all wondering, here the timeline for the next few weeks:
Leaving the estancia on Tuesday (we hope...there´s rumor that the buses may not be running)
Taking the bus to Villa O´Higgins and crossing the Argentine border to El Chaltén.
Hiking around Mount Fitzroy.
Traveling down to Torres del Paine and hiking the W.
Flying from Punta Arenas to Santiago on March 25.
Flying from Santiago to Guayaquil, Ecuador on March 27.
Hanging out on the beach/in the jungle with Chris Beeler, a friend who´s doing the Peace Corps in Ecuador.
Cruising the Galapagos from April 10-17!
Flying back to the States on April 24.
That´s it! It´s hard to believe that almost 7 weeks have gone by, and that so few weeks are left.
Leaving the estancia on Tuesday (we hope...there´s rumor that the buses may not be running)
Taking the bus to Villa O´Higgins and crossing the Argentine border to El Chaltén.
Hiking around Mount Fitzroy.
Traveling down to Torres del Paine and hiking the W.
Flying from Punta Arenas to Santiago on March 25.
Flying from Santiago to Guayaquil, Ecuador on March 27.
Hanging out on the beach/in the jungle with Chris Beeler, a friend who´s doing the Peace Corps in Ecuador.
Cruising the Galapagos from April 10-17!
Flying back to the States on April 24.
That´s it! It´s hard to believe that almost 7 weeks have gone by, and that so few weeks are left.
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