The making of shingles: Alerce

I've already done 2 posts about the shingled buildings on Chiloe Island and in Chile's Southern Patagonia, so here's some pictures of the trees that the shingles were traditionally made from.  It's called Alerce.

These old trees can be 4000 years old,  and they aren't so renewable. The Alerce trees are now protected, it's illegal to harvest them.  New shingled homes are made with cypress or fabricated shingles.

The old Alerce singles are said to be virtually indestructible,  so there's still lots of buildings with those to be seen.

On the Alerce walk in Pumalin National Park they had constructed parts of the walk using fallen Alerce trees,  sometimes you just walked on the big old tree that they had carved tred into.

An interesting meeting

On Chiloe Island, H and I had a project of photographing as many different shingle types as possible.  We stopped outside one house in a tiny village to photograph the following shingle that we hadn't seen before.  I jumped out of the car to get the photo and was startled by a man sitting on the front step.

He explained that he was the man from next door and that I should get a photo of his house. He led me to his house, this is it, with him now sitting on its front step.  I think it only fair that I publish it, since he was so determined to have me take the photo.  He also wanted a chat,  about politics, but I couldn't stay for the smell!

Fortunately most houses on Chiloe are in better condition than this,  but,  when I had seen them like this I had assumed they were abandoned, and this proves I was sometimes wrong.

Also, I must mention that houses in southern Chile, when not shingled timber constructions were most often made with corrugated iron. Sometimes they looked very nice.

Enjoying free fruit in Patagonia

We hardly buy any fruit anymore.... Patagonia has fruit trees everywhere with fruits falling off them. 

This week it's apples and blackberries (okay, not a tree but wild), 10 days ago it was plums, 10 days before that it was cherries (not so great for eating, but we made wonderful jam). 

The trees are planted on public and private property (we don't enter to take from private property, but fruit falls beside the road). The fruit is generally smaller than what is in the shops, and might be stung (bitten by insects), but mostly it's good eating, and I'm enjoying my free snacks. 

I still buy bananas and feel guilty about how far they've travelled, but it's my number one fruit of choice, the one I can't live without.... Although I like them a bit green. 

Chiloe's shingled buildings

Chiloe is particularly famous for its shingled churches, but it's not just the churches that are shingled, the houses are too. The timber (Alerce if it's old) shingles come in many different styles, and we took many photos of them.. These are just a few.

Salmon and Mussell industry in Chile

H and I have been most impressed with the salmon and mussel industry in northern Patagonia,  in terms of production size it's most impressive. Along the inner coast of Chiloe, and the mainland coast opposite it, there are facility after facility for the production of salmon and mussels.

In these photos you can see the salmon is produced in pens,  and the mussels with rope nets (I think, seems to be) attached to floats. A local told us that if you leave a rope in the water off this coastline for 6 months,  you will pull it up covered with mussels a good size for eating. We saw trucks being loaded with 20 tonnes of mussels a a time!
Unfortunately,  we didn't come across any museums that explained the salmon or the mussel industries,  and I think it could be very interesting.

Chiloe, also has a famous meal of mussels and other shellfish and chicken and pork, all cooked in a pit with hot stones (an interesting Polynesian influence), and there's a picture here of me with it,  it's called Curanto. It was very yummy!, but I didn't quite manage to eat it all, neither did H (which proves how big it is).

Two Thermal experiences on the Carretera Austral

Coming north on the Carretera Austral the first hot springs we found out about were at Puerto Murta. They were virtually unheard of but we decided to go to the tourist office and find out. 

After about 1 hours waiting and payment of CP$20,000 (about $40) we had a teenage boy in our car directing us to the  hot springs. The drive, which was short but almost an hour each way, was rough, across many fields and it looked as though no one else ever went there. We could not have found the place without the guide. 

The location, when we got there, was beautiful, with a small (like 2 metres squared) pool of thermal water overlooking a very picturesque and bendy river. The pool had a lot of sediment and I was grateful that it seemed that not many people visit, as I don't think the flow seemed enough for a clean supply of water. 

Overall, for the money and effort spent I don't think this pool was a good excursion. But, it might have potential to be better.... So don't dismiss it completely. 

After that experience, we decided to try the other extreme by visiting what is considered to be Chiles premier Spa experience. We did an overnight at Termas de Puyuhuapi Hotel and Spa. This was an unusual splurge for us, but we loved it!

By sleeping the nights prior and the night after, in the camper, just 200m from where the boat departs (this hotel is only accessible by boat), on the waterfront, we were allowed to get the best advantage of the Thermal baths and take the earliest boat over and the last boat back (the following day). 

We did a package that cost US$200 per person for a waterfront hotel room (very nice, a real comfy bed!!!!), breakfast, dinner and access to both the outdoor and indoor pools. But as we camped next door to the boat launch we really got extra value of more time. They also allowed us to take food over with us (lunch). 

We were the only people in the indoor pools as I think most people had a different package to us. 

It's nice to splurge occasionally. 

Roadside eats in Patagonia

Completos always seems a strange word for what we call Hot Dog,  but essentially that's what a Completo is. In this part of the world (Patagonia) it's the street food of choice. It's smothered with avocado and mayonaise so I like it better than an American style Hot dog.  Here's a picture of me enjoying one from a road side vendor in Coyhaique.  The other picture is of a cute roadside café we saw in El Blanco, made from connected buses. 

Escape off the beaten track in Patagonia

We had the most marvellous day in Puerto Raul Merin Balmaceda. This is a tiny  town of 300 inhabitants, almost on the coast of Chile but tucked into an inlet and quite protected. The streets are all sand and the people are wonderfully friendly. 

We arrived last night after 3 hours on a dirt road with very little traffic, and a free vehicle ferry that operates on an 'as needed basis' in the main day hours. 

This morning we went kayaking. We explored the rocky shore across from the town and saw many interesting things including starfish, sea urchins, many shellfish, and sea-lions swimming and dolphins on a rapid chase. 

On return to the vehicle H went fishing and was happy to catch raballo. A local chatted with us and we shared our dinner with him ... All in all it was a wonderful day. And although this town is so far away, it's a gem!

Photo Upload: Capilla de Marmol (Marbol Chapel)

We visited the Marble chapel and Marble Cathedral by boat trip. They are spectacular Marble formations, carved over millenia by wind and water. They are accessed from just South of Puerto Rio Tranquilo, which is what we did, or I believe you can take a boat from the town.

These seem better promoted than the Marble caves which can be accessed from Puerto Murta, but rumour has it that Puerto Murta might have the better formations. Oh well, we enjoyed these ones.

Ruta Zeballos: Paso Roballo to Los Antiguos

I thought this was a spectacular drive, but somehow the photos don't quite capture it.

We crossed back from Chile to Argentina at the quiet Paso Roballos. The Argentine border staff weren't sure how to process a foreign vehicle,  but we are getting used to that and it was all figured out. (Amazingly,  in early January at one border crossing we were informed that the computer showed we had entered the vehicle into Argentina 4 times, but only left once. This, of course, is impossible,  but shows the inefficiency of their work. )

Anyway, we spent the day driving in a spectacular part of the world, mostly because the view of the Chilean side is spectacular,  but better from the distance (we think).

At the end of the day, near Los Antiguos, we met an Austrian overlander, who we've been meeting again and again since Christmas in Ushuaia. We were surprised to see him as we'd expected him to be well far away by now, rather than just leaving Los Antiguos (where we had last seen him). He was doing the circuit in reverse to what we had. Unfortunately there had been an overlander accident in town and he had witnessed it and stayed for the week to help out. We saw the wreckage in town, but I can't say much about it aside that everyone survived and it's reported they'll be okay, the vehicle was a right off though.

The most beautiful part of the world

To say a place is beautiful isn't to say that it's my favourite place to have been.... It's simply saying that, for me, it's beautiful. So many other aspects can contribute to making a place a favourite (like culture, the people, the interactions, the climate, ... even your family and friends might make a place special). 

But recently I was telling my father that I think that this Southern end of the Chilean Patagonia might be the most spectacularly beautiful place I've ever been. And he asked 'why, what makes it so much more special?'.

It's a good question to ask and it made me think. 

The landscape is 'difficult', it's steep and covered in thick forest. On the tops of the  mountains there is snow and glaciars, at the bottom of the steep valleys are rivers of flowing water and many lakes. I think it's the waters of these lakes and rivers that makes Southern Patagonia (Chile and Argentina on this point) so spectacular, and it's because of the colour of these waters. 

The waters in southern Patagonia vary in colour and the colours range from blues to turquoise to aqua to green. These colours are due to the waterways being glacial fed. Glaciers carve sediment and minerals as they move and this enters the water to make what they call 'Glacial milk'. The sediment content and mix can vary to make different colours and the water depth and lighting also effects the colours. 

Honestly, if I had seen photos with lakes and rivers these colours in the past I had thought them to be 'touched up', it just didn't seem possible. 

This parts of the world is spectacular, and although most the roads are gravel and rough, it's a good thing.... It makes you slow down and appreciate it. 

Patagonian Chile hospitality and receiving mail in Chile

We stayed a whole week in Coyhaique and not because it's a fantastic place, although it's a perfectly nice place. 

Needing some parts for our cooking stove we requested them, in January, to be sent to the 'Lista de Correos' (Poste Restante) in Coyhaique. But when we arrived, they weren't there. So we spent 2 nights at the campground, 2 nights beside lake Elizalde and at the lake we received an invitation from locals to stay with them on their property out of town, so we had 2 nights there. 

Now, for those who don't know, 'Poste Restante' is a mail holding service, called Lista de Correos in this part of the world, that is operated worldwide by the postal service in countries worldwide. The length of time that they will hold your mail varies (from country to country), and some post offices charge the recipient a fee. The Chilean service holds mail for 1 month and I think the fee is about $3. What we didn't know is that mail from the USA (where ours is coming from) can take as long as 60 days to arrive! (Of course, it could get lucky too and not take long at all, and be thrown out if you arrive 60 days later to collect).

Our letter (it's just leather seals) didn't arrive, nor did we want to wait another month. But kindly our hosts have offered to keep an eye out for it and if it arrives we can go back (we are doing a circuit not so far away anyway). As it's only a couple of seals worth $1 each they are coming by regular post. 

So a big thank you from our Coyhaique locals! They were also wonderful hosts and we look forward to seeing them again. 

Proposed new park: Parque National Patagonia

H and I took the road through the Chacabuco Valley where there is action underway to make the area a National Park. It was very nice scenery, although not as super stunning as the parts of the Carretera Austral we had been travelling on or the road from Paso Roballo to Los Antiguos that we were headed for.

We camped for the evening in a place which seemed to be an abandoned house site, it was quite leveled, cleared with grass and there were old fruit trees. It overlooked a place they called Valle Guanaco, Guanaco Valley, and it was a valley teeming with Guanacos (look closely at my photos).

In the early evening I wandered around the site and discovered the fruit trees and that the cherry tree had fruit. These were sour cherries, new to me but not to H, but I liked them. We picked what we could and made a basic jam that evening. We have enjoyed this jam much better than the jams we have bought.

The next morning I went for an early walk. Not much gets up early in these parts. The guanacos were heading back to the valley and I seemed to have alarmed them, but they are funny creatures, they just stood there watching me, and me watching them back. I also think I saw Puma poo, but still no Puma (lucky really, I am no match).

After a cup of tea and a bite to eat I went for another walk while I waited for H to get ready. I was very distracted taking photos of a woodpecker (damn thing kept hiding on the other side of the tree) when H started the engine, my cue that it was time to go. I turned a found a big fox between me and the car.... and H, possibly not knowing which direction I'd wandered,  wasn't even looking!
Wow! I wondered if it was a threat to me..., it was a big fox, Dingo like in size. I wondered how I could get to the car, and decided that first I should get photos. Then I yelled out, to startle the fox and alert H... but neither paid me any attention! When the fox did look at me it seemed totally to lack care, so I moved forward.  The Fox, it seemed, had two greater concerns: there are these birds that lay eggs and then bury them and guard the spot, I think the fox wanted to find the eggs, or get the bird, but it had to keep stopping to scratch itself.... whether it had fleas or something else I won't know, but the poor thing was really itchy. So, it seemed that I was just a minor distraction, maybe it had seen camera weilding tourists before!

Obviously I made it back to the car... and told H to look at the Fox, still scratching itself repeatedly, and get some better photos.

Photo Upload: Shopping on the Carretera Austral

I really enjoy the 'supermarkets' of the small towns in the distant places in Chile and Argentina. At home we wouldn't even call them a supermarket,  just the local store... but they seem to have everything.

Take this (pictured) 'supermarket' in Cochrane, a town on the Southern part of the Carretera Austral. It seemed to have everything you might need: groceries (of course), hardware (H bought nails), irons (pictured, they use wood stoves here so the irons are iron, the old type), wood stoves, chainsaws, mattresses, shoes, clothes, liquor, horseshoes,  saddles ... I actually wander these supermarkets with complete interest.

Photo Upload: Caleta Tortel

The southernmost point that we drove to on the Carretera Austral (Southern Highway) was Caleta Tortel.  It's not the Southernmost point that there is, that's Villa O'Higgins, but we decided not to go there (the guide book didn't make it sound so worthwhile, although people are now telling us it's wonderful).

Caleta Tortel is a fantastic place to visit. It's perched on a seafront, and you park in the parking lot and walk everywhere.  The town is made up of a network of timber boardwalks and many many steps. Added to this I delighted in finding raspberries growing wild, which I was a bit greedy on.

Photo upload: Cochrane festival of local customs and manners

On a weekend in February we got to Cochrane (a town on the Chilean Carretera Austral) on a Saturday in time to see a parade of horses and cattle headed for the rodeo grounds - we were lucky, it was the weekend for the annual costumbrista festival.

Costumbrista translates as of  local customs and manners. The festival involved a showing of horses of horsemanship, of rodeo snd camp draft type events, and local knitting and weaving exhibions as well as music.

We stayed for a good part of the evening but left before nightfall.  We really enjoyed the event but I was surprised to see the men riding very small bulls in the rodeo events, and whipping them. The champion bull rider not only rode the bull the longest but also jumped off and back onto the bull to be facing backwards and ride some more. He deserved the prize money (I think it equated to about $100) for entertainment value. The poor guy in the photos didn't go so well.

I liked seeing the traditional costumes of the horsemen, and I met one who insisted I ride his horse a bit.