Monday, January 16, 2006

Hi all:

Today we had a great and active day. The weather was gorgeous, clear,
sunny, high in the mid-60’s. A perfect day for a drive and a hike.
The Andes are just dramatically beautiful. After breakfast we drove
into the Andes. This was a project itself as the road we drove on was
gravel, with lots of potholes and washboarding. Photo attached.
Fortunately, we were just about the only ones on the road! Our little
teeny Toyota did very well. The signs warning you of steep uphills and
downhills are standard, but then, occasionally, you get one that
emphasizes what’s coming. Photos attached. Views of the local
volcanoes are beautiful, and there is a string of them along the range
of the Andes. Another photo attached.
The Parque Nacional Puyehue is in the southern Andes close to the border
with Argentina. The road to it climbs and climbs until you are in a
valley with mountains soaring above. Our hike started on the valley
floor and went straight up. The trail is beautifully constructed and
maintained, but that doesn’t make the climb much easier. It’s so steep
that most of it is stairs cut into the mountain. After about an hour we
reached a lookout (photo attached) and then turned back. We had lunch
at the restaurant at the park, and then drove all the way into the Andes
to the border with Argentina before turning back and retracing our steps.
Tomorrow we fly to Santiago for a couple of days of city sightseeing,
and then meet up with our trip to Antarctica on Thursday. Friday we fly
out to Ushuaia.

Sunday, January 15, 2006
Not too much to report. Yesterday we traveled from Pucon in the
northern part of the Lake District first to Valdivia, and then to Puerto
Octay where we are now.
Valdivia is a small city on a river just inland from the coast. There
is a wonderful market there on Saturday, and we had a good time
strolling at the market which has an amazing selection of fish of all
sizes and kinds. There are many fishmongers who yell out to you trying
to get you to buy, and there are loads of vegetable stalls as well. The
whole thing is on the riverbank and lots of fun. We had lunch at a
floating restaurant on the river—fresh fish, and very good.
As we arrived at our hotel in Puerto Octay the rain began, and it was
like a tropical downpour, but it went on all evening, all night, and
into this morning. We had a poor dinner here at the hotel, and went to
bed. Our room is supposed to have a spectacular view of the volcanoes
across the lake, (Lake Llanquihue—try pronouncing that!) but they have
not been in view due to loads of clouds. Today we explored Frutillar,
Puerto Varas, and Puerto Montt, local towns, and the most excitement we
could round up was a handicraft market on the street which had many
stalls, most selling the same stuff. We did but a couple of things,
however. We also toured a very nicely done German heritage open-air
museum in Frutillar which gave us a good understanding of the role of
Germans in settling this area. It took place in the 1860’s, and the
stories are very reminiscent of the development of the US west.
We had a very late large lunch, and probably will not have dinner.
Joyce just had a kuchen—the area sells kuchen of all sorts
everywhere—remnant of the German heritage here.
Lots of excitement here with the election--Chile just may elect the
first woman president elected in her own right (not because of a
husband) in all of Latin America. Voting was today.
The plan for tomorrow is to tour Lago Llanquihue. The weather forecast
is excellent—I hope it’s accurate. If so, I should have great photos of
volcanoes that we have not seen yet.
That's all for now. Love to everyone.
Victor

January 13, 2006

We had an active and lovely day. This morning, after breakfast, we drove to the Parque Nacional Huerquehue (I can’t pronounce it either). This is an Andean park, east of here, close to the border with Argentina (which runs down the spine of the Andes). It is so beautiful it defies my abilities to describe it. Soaring mountains, beautiful forests, loads of rivers with waterfalls, spectacular views. Joyce’s back is feeling considerably better, so we were able to take a fairly long hike. Just lovely.

After lunch, we decided that we deserved a thermal treatment. There are many thermal springs nearby, and all of them sound wonderful. The hotel recommended one as far away as it could be, up a dirt road about a half hour (once we got to the dirt road). We found out why.

Los Pozones is located in a deep canyon with a good-sized river running down the canyon floor. That floor is quite steep, so the river runs fast, and the river bed is very rocky so there is a considerable roar of water. Alongside the river is a series of pools of hot water, all man-made, but all so beautifully done that you might think they were natural. The whole thing is landscaped with trees and flowers, and some of the pools have small huts built partially over them to leave your towels, etc. but also to provide shade under them while you are in the thermal pool. Each pool is a different temperature, ranging from warm to so hot you can hardly stay in. There were very few people there, and we had some pools to ourselves (there are six or seven). Photos attached.

After being made limp by the hot pools, back to the hotel, dinner and to bed.

January 12, 2006

Well, the volcano, Volcan Villarrica, showed itself today, photo attached. It soars over the landscape and dominates the skyline in a way reminiscent of the way Etna does in Sicily. It’s active, and at night, we’re told, you often can see fiery stuff coming out of the crater on top. The last true eruption was about 20 years ago.

We spent the early part of the day in the town of Villarrica, a typical Chilean town, to get the feel of it. It’s not at all third-world. Unlike rural Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia, small town and rural Chile has a very European feel to it, probably because after the Spanish conquest the native population was decimated, and the Spanish brought in lots of Europeans, including a substantial number of Germans, to settle the land. What we’ve seen of Chile is modern, with no poverty in sight. Villarrica, however, is the home of the largest concentration of Mapuche that is left, and there is a museum with some artifacts. There is also a Mapuche village where you still can see their culture and crafts. Attached are four photos of Mapuche life: a young woman dressed in typical Mapuche headdress and breastplate, a basket made of cow’s udder (they really use these!), a very large and somewhat crude loom on which they weave large, somewhat crude blankets, etc., and a long, coiled (but it straightens to play) hollow tube, made of cow intestines, with a mouthpiece (and some have a cow’s horn on the other end), which is played like a horn. They really make use of the entire animal! The udder basket, by the way, is stiffened and shaped, not soft, and it is done so that the four teats function as legs. Weird.

After lunch a relaxing afternoon at the pool and in the hot tub, a siesta, and dinner.

January 11, 2005

We slept in this morning, Victor to 7:30 and Joyce to 9:00. After breakfast we took a long walk around the property of the hotel which was absolutely beautiful with lovely gardens and a volcanic pebble beach. We then drove to the volcano and about half-way up on a dirt road designed to ruin the suspension of any car, to the base of the ski area. The top of the volcano is cloaked in clouds today, and not in view, although the snow fields on the slopes were easily seen. We then went into the very lovely town of Pucon for lunch.

Although Pucon is a tourist town, it is one in the nicest of ways with many shops and restaurants. A Uruguayan restaurant had been recommended to us, and who would have believed it, but they have a Garbage Plate in the Uruguayan restaurant in Pucon, Chile. With much gesturing and the waiter’s poor English and our non-existent but dictionary-assisted Spanish, we found out that “chivito” is a typical Uruguayan dish and the specialty of the house. We weren’t completely sure what was in it, but I ordered it anyway.

A huge dish! Steak on top of a mound of French fries; on top of the steak is a large slice of local ham, on top of that is a thick slice of melted cheese, on top of that is a fried egg, and on top of that is a thick slice of local bacon. Alongside all of this, on the same large oval plate next to the mountain of French fries and the steak, etc. are creamy potato salad, green salad, avocado pieces, tomato slices, and chunks of heart of palm. I ate a fair amount of it. After walking around the town a bit, back to the hotel for a short siesta, and preparation for fishing.

Now the relating of the trip fishing could be done in a number of ways. Let me just tell the facts. We were picked up at 5 PM by Marco and his young assistant Stephen, in a four-wheel drive truck. The weather had been good all day but was deteriorating, however Marco said the best fishing is in bad weather, and so off we went, east into the Andes. After an hour on dirt roads which deteriorated into almost no roads, which ended and we then traveled over fields with cows and high grass until we reached a small lake, Lago Llancalil, which Marco said had the best fishing for trout as no one else came there. By now it was cold (they estimated lower than 10 degrees Celsius or about 50 degrees Fahrenheit). The wind was picking up. The rain became almost a torrent. We suited up in waders, semi-waterproof jackets and double hats and loaded into a somewhat decrepit rowboat. Joyce and I sat on the rear seat facing astern, and put our flies into the water. Almost immediately I caught two rainbow trout (which we released). After a while, when there were no more bites, Marco changed Joyce’s fly and she then caught another rainbow. All were released. The next two and a half hours we spent in a windy rain (although there were a few breaks in the rain and wind) and caught no more fish. We were cold, damp, and a bit tired of floating around on the lake when the session ended and we warmed up in the car and went back to the hotel for dinner (starting at 10:30 PM when the restaurant was full).

One could put spin on this. It was truly a beautiful spot, and the experience was really special. However, it also could be written as three hours floating around on a small lake in a tiny rowboat in a cold windy rain for the experience of catching three fish. Which also is true.

Attached are three photos—the gardens at the hotel, and two at the lake, one of Joyce and me, one of Marco and Stephen.

January 10, 2006 10 PM


Well, we’re here in Pucon (pronounced poo-kon), Chile. The trip was long (24 hours) but uneventful, and flying Air Canada out of Toronto was as good as it can be in coach. There was more leg room and there are more comfortable seats in coach than in any other airline we’ve been on, and we’ve been on many.

We arrived in Temuco at the northern end of the Lake District just before 5 PM, picked up our car, and drove just over an hour to our hotel in Pucon. The flight out of Santiago to Temuco was beautiful with the snow-capped Andes out of the window. Our hotel room is right on the lake, with a fireplace (which is now lit) and a gorgeous view. Photos of the Andes and the view out of our hotel room window attached.

We’ve made arrangements to go fly fishing with a guide tomorrow. This is apparently one of the most wonderful fly fishing areas in the world (Ned confirms this) and Felice and Lee as well as Ned recommended that we get a guide and do it, so we will. Sunset here is at 10 PM. The guide will pick us up at 5 PM and take us to a special isolated place to fish. We don’t get to keep any we catch—it’s all catch and release. We’ll get back at about 10:30 PM, in time for dinner—yes they eat that late here. We were exhausted so we had a very early dinner tonight—sat down at 8 PM, and were the first ones in the restaurant.

More after we get some trout!