Tag Archives: points of interest

Villa O’Higgins

February 21, 2016Chilecamping, chile, ferry, floods, patagonia, patagonian wind, points of interest, rain, sightseeing, travel, wicked campersJudy

‘To almost lose the van once may be regarded as misfortune, but to almost lose the van twice looks like carelessness’ – with thanks to Oscar Wilde, I couldn’t have said it better myself. We’re both fine, and feeling very, very lucky!

We have just been to Villa O’Higgins, which is as far south as it is possible to get in Chile, without crossing over into Argentina. A couple of hundred kms south of Cochrane on a narrow, windy unsealed road, with a 7km ferry trip across a fjord about halfway down. There’s an interesting village, Tortel, on the northern side of Routa 7 which is vehicle-free – it’s accessible only by steps and boardwalks. We went there today as we headed north.

So it was all going without a hitch until we met a bus on a narrow bit of the road, plus there was also a rock on either side of that particular bit, making it impossible for the 2 vehicles to pass without some manoeuvering. We backed the van down the road and to the side to let the bus pass, and couldn’t get out of the very soft edge of the road. In fact, the rear wheel was pretty much spinning in the air, and the front wheel had fortunately got wedged on a rock that held it in place and stopped the van from tumbling over the edge. This was the downside of the slope, which just went down the mountain into a river. So we stayed put and hoped that someone with a hefty 4WD and a rope might come along and help us out. We grabbed our passposts, some cash and a couple of credit cards out of the van ( and afterwards we remembered all the other things we should have grabbed, like the van’s original registration papers and the extensive record of all the border crossings it had done with us). One car stopped and the driver spoke English, so he was able to organise other people who also stopped to help. One guy got out his brand new snatch strap (I hope it’s the only time he ever has to use it), a guy with a 4WD Nissan ute offered to help pull the van out, and 3 guys got behind the van and pushed. Success! I hooted and hollered like a mad woman, someone praised God en espanol, we were profuse in our thanks to everyone, told them how much we loved their country, and we were all good to go our separate ways. I guess it’s some kind of measure of how serious it all was that we didn’t even think to take a photo until we were some way down the road. We stopped on the way back today and got some.

We headed straight for the free army-run ferry across to O’Higgins. It runs 3 times a day at this time of the year, with the last one for the day going south at 6pm. We joined a long line of cars, more than one ferry-load, but we found out that if there is more than one ferry-load, the guys will take another trip. So we got across to the other side with the second load just before 9pm. The possible camping spots near the ferry dock were taken, and we headed further south. Found one possibility, but after our recent near-disaster, Greg was reluctant to drive on soft ground, so we went another couple of kms and found a great spot in a dry creek bed. We would never, ever, ever have even considered such a place in Australia, but what can I say? We were tired, it was getting late and anyway, what were the chances that it would flood?

Well, er, excellent, as it turned out. It rained all night and I woke just before 8am to Greg yelling ‘F@^K! Wake up! We have to get the car out of the water!’ He never swears, so this was serious! He had got up for a wee just before 6.30am and it was all fine, but later on the sound of water where it shouldn’t have been made him look out the window, to see a raging torrent of water in the previously dry river bed. It was around a foot deep when he moved the car … and The One Time we needed the car to start, it did!

Dumb, dumb, dumb, but we were so lucky that we managed to get out when we did. We lost some stuff that we’d left outside overnight .. 20L container of fuel, our Ice Box cooler with food in it, and the previous night’s washing-up – some plates, cups, cutlery and cooking pot that were on loan from Wicked Campers. Greg waded in freezing thigh-deep water to rescue our shadecloth/groundsheet thing and our folding sink, which had caught on bushes at the side of the water, but the rest would have floated a long way down.

Anyway, we drove to Villa O’Higgins. The surrounding mountains had white stripes of waterfalls rushing down to join all the other floodwater. Rivers and lakes were full and flowing fast, and the lakes had lines where their usual blue water had been joined by tannin-brown flood water. And it kept on raining. V. O’Higgins was awash, and there were some very bedraggled-looking hitchikers walking along the road, trying to get a lift anywhere! We went to the only shop that was open, walked through the cloud of tiny insects hovering around the boxes of rotting fruit and found a cooking pot to replace the one we’d lost. It’s the same brand, but a bit bigger.

Headed 8kms south to the end of the Carretera Austral Southern Highway, then turned around and drove north. Caught the last ferry of the day, at around 7pm, and pulled off the road several kms north of the dock, on a nice, solid, not-too-windy viewpoint by the side of the road. No vehicles passed us until around 9am this morning.

The edge of the road were we got stuck and pulled out from. It was many metres down for the van to slip — The edge of the road were we got stuck and pulled out from. It was many metres down to the river for the van to slip down

The dry river bed we got out of a day later, still fast flowing, with Judy pointing out when we were parked — The dry river bed we parked in a day later, still fast flowing, with Judy pointing out when we were parked

A picture Judy took a few minutes after we reversed out of the river

The day before, the first day we have been able to eat lunch outside in the sun for a few weeks

In the Ferry queue again. It was 3 hours before we got to the other side

The Ferry leaving with the first load, we had to wait for it to come back to pick the rest of us up

Clearing a landside that had been brought down by the rain with another traveller

"fin del camino" the end of the road, about 8km south of Villa O'Higgins — “fin del camino” the end of the road, about 8km south of Villa O’Higgins

Villa O'Higgins. We are not sure what they do there but there are 500 people — Villa O’Higgins. We are not sure what they do there but there are 500 people

Multiple waterfalls pouring down from the mountains

Back on the Ferry. Its fun (not) because you have to reverse down the ramp onto the Ferry

Parked for the night beneath the mountains with ice and waterfalls

Torres del Paine, Chile

February 18, 2016Chilecamping, chile, glaciers, national parks, patagonia, points of interest, sightseeing, torres del paine, travelJudy

So last Thursday was my birthday, and we had lunch at a parilla grill in Puerto Natales. ‘Grill’ doesn’t really translate well, it’s much more involved than just slinging bits of meat on a gas or electric-fired hotplate – parillas are restaurants that cook over open fires. The one we went to had a circular open fire where they cooked whole sides of lamb, with a hearth where the chef cooked pieces of beef and fish over the coals. We both had Patagonian lamb with potatoes and a ‘Chilean salad’ – tomatoes, sliced onions, chopped chillies and coriander leaf. All delicious, the perefect Patagonian meal, and the perfect birthday lunch.

In the afternoon, we headed north-west to Torres del Paine National Park. The road was pretty ordinary, but we’re used to that, we’ve been on a lot of crappy unsealed roads by now. We paid the admission fee plus a fairly extortionate fee ($20 per person, per night!) to camp in one of the campgrounds within the park, but the view of the Torres towers was almost worth it. Greg may not have thought so, as there was no hot water in the mens’ bathroom, even though there were 4 gas hot water systems in various states of dis/repair. It rained overnight, but cleared the next morning and the view really was stunning. I think I’m going to run out of adjectives and superlatives to describe the places we’ve visited over the last week.

There’s a boat cruise to Grey Glacier, running 4 times a day. We missed out on the 2pm cruise, but got seats on the 6pm cruise and were really happy about that. The afternoon cruise had almost 100 people on it, but the later one that we did had just over a dozen people, which suited us just fine. In addition to providing sightseeing to the 3 arms of the glacier, the boat takes hikers to and from the starting/finishing point of one of the very popular hiking trails in the park. Loads of people hike in the park, we didn’t realise how many until the following day when we watched a boat taking about 100 hikers with gear from another launching post further north in the park.

The cruise to Grey Glacier was excellent, we were able to get close to all 3 arms of the glacier, and the guide spoke good English and was able to tell us a lot about the Torres and the glacier. We dollar-cost averaged the previous night’s expensive campsite by sleeping in the car park near where the boat was moored. Free camping is very common and acceptable in both Chile and Argentina, and easy to do, especially when it doesn’t involve a tent.

Patagonia lamb cooking

Parked in front of Torres del Paine on a sunny day

Never getting bored of looking at the mountains

Trekking in Torres del Paine is not a wilderness experience. The queue of 50+ trekkers for just one of the 4 boats a day that take them to the start. There are shops, cabins and more along the route

A windy snowy day up on Torres del Paine

It’s all north from here!

February 8, 2016Argentinaairbnb, end of the world, points of interest, sightseeing, tierra del fuego, ushuaiaJudy

We haven’t really done much while we’ve been in Ushuaia, but once I start writing it down, I might think differently. We didn’t go anywhere apart from walks around the town. The car has stayed parked outside the building we’re staying in. There is a national park not far from here, but it didn’t sound as interesting as some of the parks we’re planning on visiting as we travel north, so we decided to skip that.

We thought about eating out somewhere here, but all the Trip Advisor top-rated restaurants had fairly standard ‘international cuisine’ menus, and the more authentic Argentinian places had such terrible reviews that we weren’t confident about eating at any of them. Also: dinner here is usually at around 10pm, which is a bit late for us. So instead we bought some rump steaks from the supermarket and cooked them ourselves … twice! Excellent meat, around $14 per kg. The other night I poached a double chicken breast on the bone, then cooked lentils in the poaching liquid, sauted some onions and carrots and mixed it all with some Moroccan spice that I’d brought from home. I always travel with a few spices in little ziplock bags.

There were a lot of ships docked here yesterday – a couple of cruise ships, a couple of Antarctic vessels, a lovely 3-masted sailing ship and the National Geographic Explorer, which is now heading east past Puerto Williams. Greg found a great website for keeping track of what’s in port and where ships are located – Marine Traffic. I think if I lived near a shipping port, I could become whatever the maritime equivalent of a ‘train-spotter’ is.

We walked down to the dock, past lots of tourists and a few locals who had brought their folding chairs down to watch the goings-on. Then along the sea front for a while. We have been lucky with the weather in Ushiaia – sunny days, apart from some rain this morning, but it’s fine again now.

As we drove here, we saw a nice-looking camping area near a lake, so we’re planning on staying there tonight, then back into Chile tomorrow for a while. We had intended visiting Punta Arenas, which is a few hundred kms north and west of here, in Chile, but it seems to be just another shipping port, so we’ll give that one a miss and head straight to Puerto Natale, and national parks, mountains, glaciers.

See you in a day or so!

Looking up the street we are staying in with the Martial range behind

Another day another bunch of cruise ships

Out and about in Rio de Janeiro

January 22, 2016Brazilpoints of interest, rio, rio de janeiroJudy

Another rainy morning, so not a great time for us to go to see Christ the Redeemer or Sugarloaf Mountain. Greg dragged out his raincoat and went to check out a few local shops, then went for a wet trudge along Copacabana Beach with his new toy – a not-GoPro camera and a ‘selfie stick’.

We decided to have a go at navigating the public transport system to go into central Rio and see what we could find. There’s a metro station just a block away from the apartment and we managed to buy rechargable cards without any hassles. The trains are frequent, most are airconditioned, they are clean and give good information on where they are going … even down to a green light above whichever door will be opening at the next platform. We wandered along a mall with an open-air market and reached the magnificent Municipal Theatre, with shiny gold trim and lovely stonework. We found lunch at a Brazilian/Kuwaiti restaurant nearby … huge serves, friendly waiter, out of the rain. It’s funny how many things here remind us of our time in Portugal. Cultural similarities, I guess … and bloody cobblestones everywhere here, just like in Portugal!

The National Library is currently shrouded in scaffolding and most of it is fenced off for renovations and an extension, but we found the main entrance and popped inside for a quick look. Magnificent! A tramline is being built just outside, for moving hordes of people around during the Olympics. It looks like it has a long way to go to completion, but I guess they know what they’re doing and it will all be good to go by August.

We found the Metropolican Cathedral of San Sebastian, which looks a lot like a modern-day Mayan Pyramid, with 4 stunning full-length stained glass panels around the interior. Built in the 1960s and ’70s, I noticed a few commemorative plaques near the main entrance mentioning Pope John Paul II, and one which also mentioned Mother Theresa.

No idea what they said, my Brazilian really only extends to telling shop assistants that I don’t have their supermarket’s reward card and saying ‘Thank you’, and even then I get it wrong half the time because it’s gender-based. A smile always helps. We’ve noticed that everyone here is friendly, helpful and seems happy.

The weather had cleared by mid-afternoon, but we are still not quite in the local time zone … okay, we’re extremely jet-lagged, so we opted for a short nap over trying to get to either Sugarloaf Mtn or Christ the Redeemer …and woke up 5 hours later! I’m sure we’ll be in the right time zone within a few days, probably around the time we head to Chile and have to adjust to being another hour behind.

It’s raining again this morning, but hopefully it will clear again this afternoon.