Posts From Chile

The drive out of Arequipa was stark and desolate. Big bone dry hills of sand and crumbling rock. But it set the scene for the days travel, all day we drove through variations on the theme of desert. If we had stayed on the coast in Peru we would have travelled through desert all the way from the Ecuador border and, from what we read, there is still many hundreds of miles of it to go in coastal Chile.

We awoke to a grey sky; sea mist in the mornings and evenings is apparently the norm in this part of the world - but eventually the sky cleared into a bright warm day.

The drive to Iquique was about 200 miles and it turned out to be generally a good road through desert scenery. Just out of Arica we came to some very interesting structures called something like guardian angels, they were abstract sculptures that seemed to be made out of mud. The remainder of the drive went through a series of large dry valleys. In each valley, the road descended 2000 ft down to a small river and then climbed out again. This happened maybe 6 times. The valleys were dry, completely devoid of vegetation except on the floor where the small river flowed.

We spent most of the day around the campground. I could say we relaxed and in part that would be correct. But also I spent a good deal of the day working with Bernie on his RV (and drinking beer). The metal cover over the valves on his propane tank was badly bent from an encounter with part of a gate and it needed to be straightened. This involved removing the tank, releasing all the propane, bashing the protective cover with a large hammer, and having a bracket re-welded onto the tank (that's why the propane was released from the tank). In the end it all worked out, but there were periods of doubt.

Today it was our turn for vehicle work. The truck needed the fluid changed in the transmission, and being hi-tech it needed a special fluid that I feared only a Chevy dealer would have. Dextron VI is the stuff. We hung around town for 6 hours while they changed the fluid, and topped up the differentials and transfer case. Why 6 hours - that was courtesy of their 1:30 - 4:00 lunch break.

Today Sandra, Bernie, Nina and I went for a 30 minute paragliding run hooked up in tandem to an experienced pilot. This was Bernie's way of celebrating his birthday and Nina and I just tagged along because it sounded like a good idea.

We got a late start from Iquique as I wanted to hang around the flight school using their wifi to fix a problem that had developed with the software that downloads maps to our GPS. Got it fixed eventually but it left me with the feeling that maybe we have too much technology with us - you think!!

Over the past couple of days we had been indecisive about our route after Tocopilla, would we or would we not head inland towards El Tatio Geysers. Well today we decided - El Tatio here we come. The downside of this decision, which we would later suffer with, was altitude. In one day this route would take us from sea level to 14,500 ft. As it turned out this was too much - but that's getting a bit ahead of the story.

Well the effects of altitude did not diminish during the night. We both suffered from head aches and an in-ability to sleep - it made for a long and uncomfortable night.

Leaving San pedro this morning we had one of those delightful little surprises. Just outside the town was a sign pointing to a gravel side road with the sign Cordillera de la Sal. We spent about an hour negotiating our way along this track past various weird geological structures formed by salt pushing up the ground. Eventually we got stopped by deep sand and had to turn around. Our next expedition vehicle will have a better (ie higher) tire floatation in sand.

A quiet day!

Last night Nina and I were talking about bureaucracy and which of the countries we have visited display the worst bureaucracy. This conversation was prompted by a conversation Nina had with her sister about the level of effort and paper work associated with moving their family back from Germany to Australia.

Today we were simply heading south, trying to cover some miles. More desert scenery.

A long drive today trying to make some headway south. Today signaled the first of a few milestones, the vehicle ticked over 40,000 miles on the odometer, and we left the Atacama desert behind finally. Coming up in the next few days are 30,000 trip miles and S 30° latitude.

We continued up the valley this morning to the town of Vicuna. Quite a lovely place, clean and tidy with a wonderful main plaza with great old trees. We walked around for a while absorbing the atmosphere and soaking up the sun.

A milestone again today - over the 30th parallel.

Another milestone - 30,000 miles since Gig Harbor in just under 9 months

Today was going to be another day of chores. First stop an organization named SALFA (the local Chevy dealer). We found one of their outlets near where we spent the night but it turned out only to be a sales office for very large Mack trucks. They sent us into the heart of the city to there light vehicle sales and service office. To cut a long story short, the Chevy people checked the brakes for us (did not need any work) but could not replace the shock absorbers as they did not have replacement parts. However they drove us to a local workshop that dealt in aftermarket parts and they were able to fit 4 new shocks. Mind you this took all day. But the tiger feels a lot better with the repairs.

This morning we discovered that we left one set of keys at the workshop that replaced the shocks. What a drag - we had to drive all the way back into central Santiago to get them.

We did not travel far today. Nina has a cold and needs to rest in the sun. So we drove from our gas station just west of Santiago to the coast to a camp ground near Laguna Verde. We found the camp ground from a tourist brochure.

We drove back to Santiago from the coast to pick up a new (warmer) jacket for Nina from a local camping store. They said it would be available Saturday. To do this we had to negotiate our way through Santiago traffic in the, ritzy, Los Condes area of the city. But - when we got to the store it was closed!!!!

Today everything was closed, even the toilets at the gas station, for the presidential election. Guess this is another good excuse for a day off.

It's 9 months today since we left Gig Harbor, seems amazing that we have been living in this little vehicle for so long. When I look at the map I am a little surprised by the distance we have travelled and even more surprised when I contemplate the return journey - I think it will take another 9 months.

Today we left Highway 5 (the Panam) for an excursion East into a region of lakes and volcanos. The country side is now very temperate in appearance, rivers large and small, evergreen trees, lush pastures and spring flowers.

After a slow start, partly caused by me wandering off to an internet cafe without telling Nina where I was, we headed off looking for a minor road that would (we hope) circumnavigate Volcan Villarrica and lead us to Laguna Lican Ray the next lake south. The scenery was lush pastures, fine stands of evergreens and crystal clear rivers and a few minor water falls. The road turned out to be a little rough and gave us a chance to experience the positive effect of new shock absorbers. We even got to take the Tiger on some real 4x4 road - but only a little way. We could not complete the traverse to Lican Ray as the road became impassable to a vehicle as big as the Tiger. So we retraced our steps back to Villarrica and took the opportunity to do some chores, washing clothes, and washing the Tiger.

It was a beautiful morning with the sun shining off the glassy waters of the lake, and the occasional small wavelets washing the black sand beach. This really is a lovely setting for a campground.

We got off to a bad start today. On the exit from our hotel parking place we had to go through a narrow gate. The gate posts were about 3 inches wider than the Tiger. But the driveway was not level so part way through the gate the Tiger tilted and bumped into the left hand post causing some damage to the house body and damaging the plastic panel where we put in fuel.

We joined up with the Panam Highway at Orsono late this morning and followed it south with a small side trip to explore the town of Fruitilla, then around a peninsula (jutting from the west into Lago LLanquihue), and back to the Panam. The drive was pleasant through nice green country side. The weather was cold, grey and wet - not really encouraging for getting out and seeing things.

The weather had improved over night so we could explore the camping ground before leaving without getting wet. It was in a wonderful position right on a headland with fine views of the ocean. Like many camp grounds we have seen in Chile it was once an impressive facility and a substantial investment but over the last probably 10 years there has been little maintenance and now it looks run down.

The end of today brought us to the town of Quellon and a big milestone; the end of the Panamerican Highway. It runs 29,000 miles (though different versions of the route are different lengths see - Pan American Highway) from Prudhoe Bay or Fairbanks Alaska to Quellon. Chile and is called Ruta-5 along much of its length. Now we can't claim to have driven the entire Panamerican as often we have travelled by lesser side roads, but we have certainly travelled the distance.

Today we are heading north to the towns of Puerto Varas, and Ensenada to meet up with the Canadians (Sam and Bernie) that we met in Colombia and Iquique Chile.

Today the four of us (Nina and I, plus our friends Bernie and Sam) drove into Puerto Varas about 50 kms from the campground to do a bit of sightseeing. The town has a number of old German style buildings that the guide book recommended; they were pretty run down and needing some maintenance. Another example of Chilean tourism infrastructure in need of repair. We took the opportunity to have lunch at a Mexican restaurant.

We spent a quiet New Years day in the camping ground at Ensenada. Most of the day Nina and I worked/played on our laptops, she cataloging our 13,000 photographs and me updating the software machinery that controls the whiteacorn website.

The sun came out today and we had a gloriously sunny day. We got to see both the volcanoes that sit beside the lake, they are quite impressive. It was warm, light sweater weather, not hot but that did not stop the locals from frolicking on the beach and swimming in the lake - brrrhhhh!.

The weather gods seemed to be on our side as this morning was mostly clear and sunny. We continued south through Parque Alerces past beautiful clear lakes and river, with snow capped mountains, with some fresh snow, in the background. Along the way we saw many campers and a number of RVs made from converted trucks. Argentines seem to be avid campers.

It was raining when we woke this morning and except for a few momentary breaks when the sun won through it was wet, overcast and not particularly pleasant all day. Though even the weather did not prevent us getting some of the wonder and awe from the never ending vistas of mountains, glaciers and lakes. But .. this must be just a stunning place when (or maybe it's if) the weather is clear.

It's still raining.

A day of paved roads

South from last nights camp we crossed the Cerro Castillo range of mountains heading towards the town of Cerro Castillo and the end of the paved road. However before arriving at Cerro Castillo we took a detour, still on paved road, to the port town of Puerto Ingeniero Ibanez. This town is the ferry port for the ferry across Lago General Carrera (called Lago Buenos Aires in Argentina) to Chile Chico. Along the Ibanez road we got some fine views of Cerro Castillo, plus some of the strongest winds we have experienced on this trip, sustained 40 mph I would guess. It was difficult to open doors and walk into the wind.

We continued south along the western shore of Lago Carrera this morning to the exceptionally small town of El Maiten and a road junction. Right is to Villa O'Higgins and the end of the Carretera Austral and left is to Chili Chico and the Argentine border. We are going right, but will be back as the O'Higgins road is a deadend.

We were treated to fine weather today and it really did show off the country side and scenery.

From our gravel pit camping spot we continued south in overcast and wet conditions on a road that was essentially a single track forest road in OK condition. The road was pretty spectacular though, as it travelled along, mostly, the steep west bank of the Rio Bravo and then the equally steep west bank of the Rio Colorado before crossing a narrow causeway to gain the east bank of the Colorado for the final few km into O'Higgins.

It rained hard all night and this morning the river was at least 2 feet higher.

We were greeted this morning by a clear sky and bright sun, what a treat. We continued North to the junction of highway 7 and the road to Chile Chico (highway 256). Along the way we said goodbye to the mighty Rio Baker and its turquoise waters, and Lago Bertrand. The Carretera Austral has been, despite the rain, a wonderful experience and we are sad to leave it.

We moved on again today. Destination the area of Parque Nacional Torres De Payne and Puerto Natales Chile.

We spent the day getting organized for the hike we plan to start tomorrow.

For the past 4 days I have been hiking with our friends Sam and Bernie on a trek called the W in Parque Nacional Torres del Paine. Nina (and Max a temporary traveling companion) drove with us to the park entrance about 90 kms from Puerto Natales on Sunday morning the 31st January and dropped us where a shuttle bus took us the last 7 kms to the start of the hike. Thereafter Nina and Max drove the Tiger back to Puerto Natales where they stayed while we were on the hike - unfortunately her foot is not up to hiking. Max is acting as guardian of Sam and Bernie's vehicle.

Cleaning up from the hike and preparing to move on.

It took a long time to say goodbye to everyone this morning. We had to chat with Bernie and Sam now that they are back from the hike, and say another set of goodbyes to Max the Aussie cyclist, and of course a last stop at the local internet cafe. But we were eventually on our way, heading to Punta Arenas one of the gateways to Tierra Del Fuego.

Overnight we decided that we would give the boat tour a miss and drive ourselves to the Seno Otway Pinguinera a rookery on an ocean inlet west and a little north of the town. The drive was via a reasonable quality dirt road through more flat wind swept steppe country.

The weather gods were good to us. When we first woke, the morning was crystal clear affording us some good views of the mountain. This really is a big mountain, we stood at the lookout at 2900m looking upwards another 4000m to the summit - that's almost like having Mt Rainier starting at 10,000ft.

There is not much to say about today, we spent it at the dealers waiting for the work to be completed. Boring but no problem.

Our journey today continued across the Andean highlands to San Pedro de Atacama. It's hard to capture the beauty, barrenness and spectacle of the scenery. We travelled at between 4000 and almost 5000 metres (13,000-16,000ft) most of the day, surrounded by higher barren multicolored mountains, the occasional salt pan and little habitation.