Parque Nacional Huerquehue

Parque Nacional Huerquehue is a smallish national park not far from Pucón (see previous entry). There are three buses a day -- 8, 1, 4. Courtesy of problems in acquiring a tent, I missed the 8 bus, and ended up on the 1, which reached the park about 2:15. There is a campground in the center of the park, a five-plus hour hike from the gate. While I had originally planned to spend two nights there, I opted for discretion and stayed at the campground near the gate.

This turned out to be a Good Thing, for reasons that shall become clear. This campground had wooded sites, and was located near Lago Tinquilco, a smallish lake partly within park boundaries. I had the entire grounds to myself, and enjoyed a beautiful sunset over the lake.

The next day I hiked up into the higher grounds of the park, where there are more small lakes and waterfalls. This was an absolutely beautiful area -- wooded, with native trees abounding. There are several types of trees here that have trunk diameters in excess of 10 feet. I think it makes doing trail work here exciting...

The highlight of the day (and the next day too) was Lago Toro, which is a picture postcard waiting to be sold.
Someone else's picture

Late in the afternoon I arrived at the other campground, at which point I really appreciated my decision to stay in the other one. This one was essentially a hunk of pasture (complete with cow pies, but this has been experienced before...), with little redeeming character. They claim there is a "refugio" here, but all I saw was a very low leanto that on a good night might allow 3 people under it. They also claim to have an outhouse. The sad excuse of an outhouse was in a sad state of neglect, being full of trash, and generally unusable. Fortunately, there was a shovel-head in the camp leavings nearby, which I was able to use for dealing with things normally done in an outhouse.

I spent the evening in conversation with an Italian woman who was spending several days at this godforsaken campground, whose only benefit is its central location, so that she could fully explore the park.

The next day (which would be today!) I made a brief early-morning excursion to a small lake nearby, and then hightailed it back the way I came, more-or-less, to eventually return to Pucón.

Tomorrow I climb a volcano.

Hasta luego!

  

Pucón, a nicer version of Lincoln NH

After wandering the city of Santiago yesterday (including a very nice visit to the summit of Cerro Santa Lucía, and also to Parque Quinta Normal, two of the nicer parks in this city of parks), I made my way to one of Santiago's four bus terminals (go figure), and took a night bus to Temuco, a roughly 8-hour drive. Temuco was just a bus-changing point for me on the highway -- about 20 minutes after arriving around 6 AM I was on a bus to Pucón. (That's "poo-kon'" to you.)

The countryside here reminds me of rural upstate New York. Finger Lakes, say. But they have a somewhat distinctive architectural style here. Lots of wood and stone. Think, oh, Adirondack meets Swiss chalet. It works pretty well, and they seem to flog the style in the stores here, just like in the Adirondacks.

Pucón is a small town, completely dedicated to outdoor fun. The main town is fairly compact (can be walked in less than 10 minutes), but is full of an array of restaurants, shops, and outdoor activity operators. The hot item these days seems to be going on ropes through tree canopies, judging by what's being flogged. Also available: white-water rafting and kayaking, lake tours, park tours (more on that later), and volcano climbing.
 

Volcano climbing. Uh huh.

This is in what is known as the Lakes region of Chile. Pucón is on the shores of Lake Villarrica. Looming overhead is 2980+ meter Volcán Villarrica, one of Chile's more active volcanos. As I sit here typing, it occasionally puffs steam.

And you can climb it. With guides. Just about every day. And see the lava bubbling in the crater.

OK, there are a few issues here. One, I've never been on a volcano. That close. Two, I've never done ice axe and crampons. The touts say this is a non-technical climb, don't worry.

So I'm not. That's Patience's job anyway.

Before I go (or try to, conditions permitting), I will be spending a few days in Parque Nacional Huerquehue (whose name is impossible to pronounce correctly) camping. It has lakes and views and camping, oh my.

I'll next check in on Wednesday. Hasta luego!

  

Santiago, the first time around

Santiago is a large, fairly cosmopolitan city. It reminds me a lot of large European cities -- mostly clean, rough spots here and there, a nice downtown (with pedestrian zone and the obligatory Plaza de Armas),
 
tony neighborhoods (Providencia), and a clean, apparently-well-working subway.

I spent yesterday mostly walking around the city some, but also fussing about travel arrangements, since I had to book a night bus (part of the way) to my next destination. Tonight's target is Temuco, in the lakes area south of here. But it is only the transit hub en route to Pucón, a smaller town near unto the lakes and mountains.

But I digress.

I also went into one of the local history museums, and discovered how much Spanish I now seem to be capable of reading. It's amazing what limited English contact will do, even if I sometimes make the TV work against that. The museum had a reasonably nice presentation of Chilean history, from the earliest native settlements until about the turn of the 20th century. (The 20th century galleries were undergoing revision, err, renovation.)

Near the center of Santiago is a small mount that has been turned into a very pretty city park, full of follies and 19th-century charm.
   
  

Happy trails!

  

Missed connections strike again

So my plan for today had been to catch a bus to the mountain town of Putre. The lady at the tourist office told me it left at 7. I get up early, I'm there shortly before 7. Bus has been gone for a while.

Qué?

Turns out it left at 6:30. Arrgh. I am not spending another day in Arica. It's nice, but I feel like I've explored it well enough, thanks.

So I grab a cab to the airport. A few too many dollars later (not to mention sitting in the airport for a few hours) I'm on a plane bound for Santiago. I get to sit next to two older Aussie ladies, the first native English I've heard in almost 4 days. We trade reading material -- one Asimov's SF mag for a murder mystery set in Baxter Park Maine. It's a page turner -- three hour flight, 3/4 finished.

My consolation is that when a similar thing (missed bus) happened to me in Spain, I didn't have any really good alternatives lined up. I must be learning something.

I'm staying near the University of Chile in a small area known as Paris-Londres. It was developed in the 19th century as a sort of "Paris, small streets" area. Very pretty on the outside. The interior decor of this hotel is more cheap-70s wood panel, though. One place that was booked full had a really nice old-hotel look to it. I may try to stay there on my way back...

Time for dinner! Hasta luego!

  

When one isn't feeling well

The best thing I've found to do when not feeling well is to check into a better hotel. It takes the sting out of being sick. I decided I was unwell enough that I delayed going to Putre (up in the Andes from Arica) an extra day.

The traveler's malady struck again, this time with enough force to convince me it was time for the Serious Medication (i.e. antibiotics). I've also been having cold symptoms, which may or may not be related. The antibiotics seem to have had a fairly good effect on the tummy rumblings, but I'm still running sweaty and coughing. Maybe a return to altitude will help.

Arica is a nice place, but there's not much to do, even if I'm spending most of my time in the room.

There's some sort of traditional dance/music festival in Putre this weekend -- I may try to hang around for it.

Hasta luego!


  

The road to Chile

Once again, I had an early start. This time it was to catch a 7:30AM bus from Arequipa to the Peruvian border town of Tacna. This went without a hitch -- the bus left pretty much right on time. We got to see several movies on the bus, including The Terminal, which I had not seen before (Spielberg directs Tom Hanks as a Bulgarian stuck in Newark Airport's no-man's-land). Also some silly surf movie, and another silly teen romantic comedy. Rah. The movies were a welcome respite from the landscape, which was basically piles of sand. Seriously. In the desert Southwest of America, there is life in the desert. The desert here looked like it was completely devoid of life.

Upon arrival in Tacna, the hucksterism for transport to Arica in Chile began the moment I got off the bus. I daresay it happened before I even got out the door.
I paid 18 soles (about $6) for a "collectivo" taxi to Arica. I should have haggled, but was sick and tired of haggling to save $1-1.50. There are buses that make the run, and there are these collectivos, which are mostly decommissioned US police cars (or their near twins). I highly recommend taking the collectivo, even though it costs more than the bus, since you clear border formalities more quickly. One traveler who had crossed this border took a bus, and it was delayed over 1 hour because some idiot had drugs, something neither side looks kindly on. My collection of 5 passengers went through Peruvian formalities fairly smoothly, but the young couple from Ecuador were stopped at the Chilean border (for reasons unknown to me, my Spanish isn't good enough to follow what the driver told the others), so we went on without them.

The entire drive, including border formalities, from Tacna to Arica took a little over 1 hour. This was aided by the driver, who drove really fast down the straight 2-to-4 lane road. How fast? Dunno, his speedo was broken.

I booked into a place recommended by my Rough Guide, but I don't like it, a bit of a dump, and they shut off the water at night (which didn't help when my traveler's disease resurfaced early this morning...)
  

Hasta luego!


  

Finally, a few pictures

First we have the traditional view of Macchu Pichu.

And now we have me standing in front of some vicuñas.



You may have to look a bit carefully, they blend pretty well into the background.

That's it for now. More will have to wait for another time.


  

Colca Cañon, and tour group logistics

Colca Cañon was once thought to be the deepest canyon in the world. It has points that are more than 3000 meters from rim to bottom. However, measurements taken in recent years have placed the neighboring Cotahuasi Cañon even deeper.

But Colca Cañon currently is more accessible, and makes a decent two or more day outing from Arequipa.

The main town in the Canyon is Chivay, which lies at about 3500m (compared to IMG_128Arequipa at 2300m). It was about a four-hour drive, with a tour group of 11. I was the only native English-speaker. There were 4 Spaniards, some of whom spoke some English, 4 Peruvians (ditto), and 2 Poles, whose English was pretty good. (They were both high tech workers/business people.) The bus first passes through a reserve where the endangered vicuña is to be seen. (It's a relative of the llama and alpaca, for those keeping score. It's wool is supposedly even better than alpaca, but is .rare and expensive, since the animals are generally protected.)I
  

After snapping some vicuña pictures, we went over the 4910m pass before descending to Chivay. I believe this pass was the highest point I reached in Peru. Noticeable hints of altitude (headache and shortness of breath) were helped slightly by sucking on "Coca Candy" bonbons. First two ingredients (before even sugar!) were, you guessed it, coca derivatives. I may bring a sample home.
   

At one point the van stopped for a rest break and pictures that begged for a panorama (linked picture is 2Mb, and even larger).


The evening in Chivay exposed differing tour group logistics. Some people pay "package tour" prices that are all-inclusive, and some don't. Most of the group was staying at the Colca Lodge, a fairly tony affair in a wide spot of the canyon. I (on the budget plan) was put into a cheap but effective place in the center of Chivay, and also ate dinner in the company of the over-tired guide. The dinner included (for tips) a music-and-dance show.

The next day dawned early and clear. After reassembling the group, we traveled up some very bumpy roads up on the canyon sides to a place called Cruz del Condor. Between 9 and 9:30 every morning, Andean condors nesting in the area wake up and ride thermals into the sky. It's a quite impressive site.
   
   

The Polish guy took some really great pictures, which he shared.
   

Did I mention that the canyon also has some of the oldest South American terracing? It dates back well before the Inca. Very neat stuff.
 

The rest of the second day was basically occupied by driving back to Arequipa, basically the same way we came.

Back at my hotel in Arequipa, I met a gent (hi Mark!) who's been world-traveling for the last five years, after dropping out of the rat race in the US. He had some interesting opinions on what I should do with the remainder of my time here in SA. He and I both gave advice to a quartet of Swiss 20-somethings who had only recently gotten off the plane.

Coming soon, an account of my border crossing between Peru and Chile.

Hasta luego!