worldoftravelling

“No one even considered it a volcano, but that changed quickly. On May 2, 2008, Volcán Chaitén, 10km northeast of its namesake town, began a month-long eruption with a 20km-high column of ash. During the first week, successive explosions emitted more than a cubic kilometer of rhyolitic ash. The rampage caused flooding and severe damage to homes, roads and bridges, decimated thousands of livestock and spewed ash as far as Buenos Aires. Chaitén’s 4000 inhabitants were evacuated.” Excerpt from Lonely Planet South America.

Chaiten is a lot smaller than I imagined but despite this I didn’t get to see any of it – as the rain continued to fall. Thankfully my delightful accommodation had excellent WiFi, so I was able to catch up with ‘administration chores’.

Trying to leave town proved to be a challenge. Naviera Austral, the Ferry company with the monopoly around here, has an office in town and I still had a bone to pick with them. Unfortunately, every time I went to their office it was closed.

So I paid a visit to the bus station. The once a day bus service to Puerto Montt was fully booked – for the next five days!

I went back to the ferry company, thankfully the office was open this time and the lovely lady behind the counter spoke enough English to understand my problem from nearly a month ago. She sorted me out a ferry ticket to Puerto Montt and agreed to waiver the fee. If I could actually board this ferry I would complete the journey I had originally set out to do – but in reverse!

Chaiten to Puerto Montt ferry – 12 mind numbing hours!

Next stage: Puerto Montt to Valparaiso.

Coyhaique to Chaiten.

My next journey was supposed to take 10-hours but due to road works I was advised that it could take up to 12 – mmm, if only that had been the case! This bus was the second worst that I have been on during my travels to date and the journey ahead would take its physical toll on my body. We left Coyhaique, an hour late, at 9.00 am.

My fellow passengers were a mix of Chilean travellers and foreign travellers. It was raining outside so the windows of the crappy old bus steamed up constantly making it impossible to see outside.

Up until today I would have thought it impossible for anyone to eat 7 dry bread rolls and drink 5 cans of coke in the space of an hour but that’s just what the person sat next to me did. During a brief introduction I found out that his name was Carlo. More on Carlo later!

And still it kept raining. There are only 3 busses a week from Coyhaique to Chaiten so seats get booked up very quickly, especially if the weather turns bad. As the journey unfolded we stopped for “pee pee” breaks and refreshments at various villages along the route. At each stop there were hoards of other travellers standing in the pouring rain with their belongs glued to their backs looking like vertical tortoises, waiting for a bus to get them out of their misery. The bus by now was bursting at the seams but still they tried to climb aboard.

The journey was slow and bumpy one, in many places the stone track road was undergoing major repair work.

Peter and Luke, two super guys, joined the bus midway through the day. We had travelled together, off and on, during previous legs of my trip to date.

At 9.30 pm, with only 1-hour left to go, disaster struck. The hissing noise that suddenly erupted was soon diagnosed as a flat tyre. After 10-minutes of head scratching, by the short bespectacled bus driver, it was obvious that he was clueless when it came to changing a wheel. Carlo to the rescue.

Having had a fair amount of experience changing tractor wheels, in a previous life, I rolled up my sleeves and began to help. I now speak a little Spanish, Carlo spoke no English, but we worked together in harmony with the occasional grunt and hand gesture. It was cold outside, the rain was coming down like stair rods and the only light we had was from a car that agreed to wait whilst we carried out our operation. Due to the darkness and the difficulty of using a jack on an undulating gravel road, and the rusty wheel nuts, It took nearly 2-hours to remove the old wheel and replace it with the ‘good’ one.

As Carlo and I climbed back on board the bus a round of applause erupted. I’ve never received a standing ovation for changing a wheel before. The bus driver also rewarded me at the end of the journey by finding, and paying for, my first nights accommodation.

I still believe it was the driver who should have been applauded, for managing to get us all safely to our destination, a drive of nearly 16-hours – without a break.

I liked Puerto Tranquilo – it’s just that, tranquil. A nice place to recharge your batteries and great place to get over any ‘incidents’ that might have occurred during the day!

I eventually found a bed for the night and my gentile host kindly pointed out a poster on the dining room wall advertising some sort of horse related event. That night Puerto Tranquil did not live up to its name – it was wild! There were numerous rodeo competitions and lots of live music. I met some lovely people, ate too much red meat and drank far too much red wine.

Next stage: Puerto Tranquil to Coyhaique.

Lago General Carrera.

“Shared with Argentina (where it’s called Lago Buenos Aires), this massive 224,000-hectare lake is a wind-stirred green-blue sea in the middle of sculpted Patagonian steppe. The rough and twisty roads dwarf the traveler making you feel like you’re crawling through the landscape.” Excerpt from Lonely Planet South America.

I’m so very glad that I persevered with my original plan and made it here, not many travellers have this region on their radar but it really is an amazing part of Chile.

The first leg of my adventure began at 10:00 am on Sunday morning as I boarded the minibus along with two other passengers. The road ahead would follow the lake along its southern shore, from Chile Chico on the east, to Puerto Tranquil on the west.

It’s a gravel road all the way so progress was made at a relatively steady speed. Hugging the edge of the lake then suddenly climbing high above it felt like a slow motion roller coaster ride. Each twist and turn providing breath taking views across the lake and the surrounding snow covered mountains.

We arrived at our destination – Puerto Tranquil – at around 2.30 pm. My first task was to find some accommodation. Using the well honed phrase: “Tiene una habitacion?” I tried numerous Hospedaje’s (B&B’s) but without success. For the time being, I abandoned this task.

Las Cavernas de Marmol (the caves of marble) were created by the clear waters of Rio Tranquilo that dug into the giant limestone cliffs and created an impressive labyrinth of caves. The peninsula is known as the Marble Cathedral and can be reached by boat, during a guided tour.

I joined a group of 7 and boarded the relatively small but ‘functional’ tour boat. To my great surprise we were given life jackets. It took over 20-minutes to reach the caves and during that time the lake turned from mill pond to raging sea. Credit where credit is due, our ’16-year’ old ‘captain’ managed the conditions admirably.

It was a magical experience to see the caves and quite like nothing I have ever seen before. However, it would be the boat trip that became forever etched in my brain rather than the caves.

On our way back to the launch ‘the captain’ decided to have a race with another tour boat. As we sped along, crashing into each and every oncoming wave, it wasn’t long before there was a loud crack as the boat hit a rock. Unperturbed ‘the captain’ just kept racing on. I tried desperately to point out the water that was now entering the boat through the half metre long gash, that had appeared just inches away from me, but ‘the captain’ just kept on going. The younger members of our group were now whooping and screaming with joy as we bounced up and down with such a ferocious force. Sat at the front of the boat, with my teeth clenched and my knuckles white, all I could do was hold on for dear life and focus on absorbing the relentless pounding as my arce hit the hard wooden bench beneath me.

It was only when we reached dry land that ‘the captain’ finally began to realise the severity of the situation. Thankfully everybody managed to get off the boat before it slowly began to sink.

I quickly walked away from the situation muttering a little prayer.

Next stage: Puerto Tranquil – bucking broncos and the largest BBQ I have ever been to.

El Chalten (Argentina) to Chile Chico (Chile).

Those of you who know me well enough will be aware that I can be very single minded. When I set myself a goal I dam well make sure I achieve it. If I couldn’t carry out my Argentina/Chile discovery anti-clockwise then I would do it clockwise. The ferry debacle was not going to sway my plans.

So at 21:30 I boarded a bus that would take me from picturesque El Chalten (Argentina) to little Chile Chico (Chile). This was to be the worst journey that I travelled on to date! The road was rough and the bus was old.

By 10:00 the next morning, having slept surprisingly well, I arrived at the sleepy little town of Los Antiguous (Argentina). From there a small group of us boarded a minibus that took us across the border into Chile.

Chile Chico – I just love the name and I just loved this town – quiet and compact.

I stayed in a Hospedaje (a mixture of home stay/hotel/B&B) and the little old lady who ran the place made a real fuss of me.

Next stage: Chile Chico to Puerta Tranquil.

The Castro to Chaiten ferry disaster!

I arrived at the extremely uninviting passenger terminal of Castro at 7pm. I wanted to drop off my bags and grab some food. My ferry was due to depart at midnight and I was so very excited. I would get to travel to Chaiten in style. My destination was across on the mainland and considerably further South than my current position. When I arrived at the entrance gate I was stopped by the security guard who fired a heavy barrage of Spanish at me. Not understanding a word, I joyfully waved my ticket at him. Nonchalantly he pulled out his mobile phone and quickly tapped the keys. Turning the phone to me, a message read: “but it has gone.” He tapped a few more keys. “Come back next week.” He was obviously using a translator app but the message was clear, I had missed my ferry. I have no idea how their 24-hour clock works but it is clearly different to the one I use. It transpired that my ferry had left on the 18th not the 19th.

I wearily trudged back to the bus station with a heavy heart. Luckily I managed to catch the last bus back to Ancud – I really did not want to stay a minute longer in Castro. I returned to my previous hostel. Tail between my legs, but with the best smile I could muster, I explained my predicament. Thankfully they had a bed available and thankfully there were a few familiar faces with whom I could drown my sorrows over a beer.

This error will cost me time and money – I have a little more of one than I do the other.

1. £25.00 on a wasted ferry ticket.
2. I will have to travel 12-hours, by bus, to Bariloche in Argentina.
3. The only sensible option left, to get me to El Calafeta and Glacier Perito Moreno, will be to fly from Bariloche.
4. The flight will cost £175.00 one way.
5. I will waste 5-days waiting for busses and a flight – it’s peak season here at the moment.

Scale of error: Imagine you are in Shrewsbury and in order to get to Bedford you have to travel via Penrith. A round trip of nearly 400 miles. At least this way I do save The 48-hour bus journey from Chaiten to El Calafate. Every cloud has a ……… .

Next stage: Puerto Varas to Puerto Montt to Bariloche (Argentina).