ValparaÃso
I arrived at Santiago at 7 in the morning, before I had left I had forgotten to get my glasses or spare contact lenses out of my rucksack, so I woke up nearly blind (-6,5). But as soon as I got off, a bus was about to leave for ValparaÃso, so I promptly caught that, and by 9 0´clock, I found myself in ValparaÃso... Couldn't have been any more simple.
Finding my hostel "Hostel Yoyo" proved very simple as well... Once I had gotten lost a couple of times, misread my map, walked beyond exhaustion and then more or less passing it by chance. ValparaÃso is built in two levels, and the difference between them is big, giving a HUGE incline in the roads going up, and of course the hostel was up such a road, but I made it. As I got there and checked in, they even threw in a free breakfast (you normally only get those you pay for), so I ate and set out discovering the city.
ValparaÃso is known as Chile's cultural capital (an official declaration), but truthfully... It isn't very interesting. Yes the "ascensores" are rather amazing, but the city feels very grey, smoggy and plain dull (except for the frequent chances of being hit by a car). The place could have been so much more, big parts of the city are old buildings, but they are left to decay, and there are even incidents of buildings that have either collapsed, burned or just been abandoned, that are just left in their pitiful state. Other photographers on flickr have managed to get some great shots from this place, I just don't find this place special in any way, and I am really looking forward to going to Santiago tomorrow.
I am glad that I did indeed come to ValparaÃso, it is very positively described around the internet, in my Lonely Planet book and by some fellow travelers (although others didn't like the place). If I hadn't gone here, I would always be wondering about what it would be like. Tomorrow morning I do intend to go out and see it again before I catch a bus to Santiago, hoping that the city will try and redeem itself to me.
In the evening I watched Music and Lyrics, although that wasn't my own choice, some girls were watching it. Afterwards I watched half of Master and Commander, but after a rough night on the bus, I was too tired to go on, and went to bed.
Volcan Villarrica
Pictures here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/twaize/sets/72157603879919093/
My watch roused me form my lovely sleep around 3 o'clock, and when I had gotten up I realised that there were no matches left with which to lite the stove. So at 4 o'clock I was picked up with nothing in my stomach, but fortunately I had 3 bananas, 4 apples and a good deal of chocolate. We arrived at the beginning of the trail at around 5 in the morning, and this was where I for the first time, met another traveler who spoke a Scandinavian language. Yong is Chinese but has lived in Sweden for 15 years, and speaks fluent Swedish; needless to say we spoke the entire day, it was a very interesting conversation as Yong works for Sony Ericsson. However at around 5 0'clock we started walking towards the top of Volcan Villarrica, in pitch black darkness. Around 7.30 the sun dawned, and the sheer massiveness of this 2847 meter high volcano started to form in my head, but my first concern was the amazing views, how could I ever describe them? We had been in pitch black darkness (the guides and some of us had headlamps) for 2,5 hours when suddenly the world just opened underneath us, in that wonderful red colour that only the sun can create.
But the walk up was very long and very hard, around 8.30 we made it to the snow on the mountain, where we put on our cramps and started climbing up the snow, which was even steeper, felt harder but was much slower (not really a consolation). But now in clearer daylight, we could see much further and the sun really began to play with its rays, even though I have been to Torres Del Paine, this was my favourite view of South America so far, it was just so much more powerful.
At 11.10 we finally made it to the top, and immediately started coughing due to the sulphuric acid coming from the lava, but we found a nice little spot where the wind made sure we only got fresh air. After about 30 minutes on the top we want back down, and this was where the real fun began. The trip up had been very scenic, beautiful and hard; whereas the trip down was plain old fun. We sat down on our buttocks and slided all the way down the snow, it was fast and fun.
Back in town I took a shower and ate dinner with Yong before I boarded a night bus to Santiago, with the goal of reaching ValparaÃso the following day.
To Pucón
I rose early and went on the bus to Pucón, as if by a magic coincidence, it was actually on time. I had had a hard time sleeping the previous night, so I kept falling asleep on the bus, and then waking up when the bus was pulling out of every single bus station, in a state of terror that I might have missed my stop; but that didn't happen as much as one time.
I arrived in Pucón, found my hostel, went sightseeing, booked my tour for the volcano hike and then discovered, that I would be back in time to grab a late night bus to Santiago, and be there the following morning. So I did just that and got a day refunded from my hostel, which I in turn spent on the barbecue dinner there.
During the day I watched Charlie Wilson's War together with Danny and Vikki from Manchester, read more in my book and nothing else really, it was really a rather uneventful day. However the barbecue food was good and I hit the bed at 22.30, hoping to get some sleep as my guide would pick me up at 4 in the morning...
The Oregon Girl
I woke up and had the included breakfast, for the first time in Bariloche not having a specific time to get up. It didn't take long before Dave left as his bus was at 12 o'clock, it was a good goodbye, we had traveled together for only a week, but Dave is a thoroughly good guy, and I wish him all the best on the remainder of his travel. Before leaving myself (on a 14 0´clock bus) I said my farewells to Eyal and Rachel.
The bus started at Bariloche, and so loaded on a lot of people, delaying the departure by about 30 minutes, but that didn't matter much, my destination was Valdivia, and it was only a place where I intended to find a bed, sleep and get the earliest bus to Pucon the next day. But the busride had a good factor, I sat next to a girl called Lindsay from Oregon, but who lived half the year in Alaska (not exactly sure if it was a half year) guiding groups around the wilderness, it sounded very exciting. But of all my bus trips, it was by far the best unexpected company I have had. She was only going to Osorno (a couple of stops before Valdivia), so I slept for the last part.
When I arrived in Valdivia I found a cheap hostel (6000 peso is cheap in Valdivia unfortunately), ate a sandwich and went early to bed as I had bought a 6.50 ticket to Pucon for the next day.
Another Day In Futaleufu + El Bolsón
2nd of March:
Today Dave, Eddie and I were supposed to go on a dayhike, but they had been invited to go to lunch at the house of a local family, so during the entire day... Not much happened.
For dinner Eddie was supposed to cook, but after the huge lunch he and Dave had had, he wasn't interested in dinner; so the 3 of us and 2 Israeli's went for a nice little dinner at a teahouse, eating a burger. As the bus next day was early in the morning, I hit the bed for an early 23 o'clock night.
3rd of March:
I got up early to cook my lovely egg sandwich for breakfast and to catch the 7.30 bus Argentina. The ride to the border was smooth, just like the border crossing and the bus to Esquel on the other side. Once in Esquel we only had to wait 15 minutes for our 2 hour busride to El Bolsón; and there was where you really found out that you were in Argentina.
The busride was cheap, the seats were big and comfortable, and the 2 hour busride included a full free meal and drink, not even remotely possible in Chile.
We arrived in El Bolsón and traversed the entire city in order to make it to fantastic hostel "La Casa del Viajero", an organic-hippie-feng-shui hostel run as a sort of commune, which works fantastically here, especially as El Bolsón is known as the hippie town of South America.
Dave and I started out by walking about the town, finding out when and where the different buses to Bariloche leave, and when/where the buses to the surrounding areas (for a bit of trekking) leave, before settling down for an ice cream. Argentinians are very proud of their ice cream, and that's okay as it is good; but it is only the ice cream which is good, the cone is kind of like soft cardboard, so for me it doesn't quality as an ice cream, but that is a matter of definition.
Afterwards we went back to the hostel for some relaxing, I read in my book and Dave had a nap in a hammock. We then started talking to a girl called Lucia (who works at the hostel) who told us about the area (trekking) and about a really good nearby restaurant where we would eat dinner.
So when the time for dinner came, we walked to the place (which ended up being quite far away) which was closed. So we consulted the Lonely Planet and found a nice place at the complete other end of El Bolsón (walking from extremity to extremity) just to find another closed place. So we found some random street place, a little bit pricey (not a lot) but delicious. We then walked back to our hostel for a nice long sleep.
Oh and on a side note, I managed to swap my fantastic Master and Commander novel by Patrick O'Brian for The Odyssey by Homer.