The Old Patagonian Express: La Trochita

From Esquel there's an old train, run just for tourists a couple of times a week. La Trochita, or, in English, the Old Patagonian Express, runs on tracks just 75mm wide. It was a fun experience to ride it up to the Indian village of Nahuel Pan, although we were dissappointed that the museum at the top was closed.

Inside the little train it was rather cramped.  H was too big to be comfortable in the seats,  but we found there was much more room in the cafeteria carriage and so we drank coffee going both up and down.

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!

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. 

Photo Upload: Glaciar Perito Mereno

We were amongst the first to arrive at the Glaciar Perito Mereno, this has the advantage of being able to park in the top carpark, which is a shorter walk to the best viewpoints.
We spent hours watching the chunks of ice crash from the Glaciar, then we made lunch in the car and went back to watch some more. (In the pics you can see a littke bird trying to steel my lunch from me).
Watching the glaciar was fun. Glaciars are noisy: they crack and thunder all day as the ice moves and pieces fall. All day long H said a certain large piece was going to fall, I reckoned that people had probably been saying that for months. But at about 4pm H was proven right when a 'finger' about the size of a bus, fell from the front corner of ghe glaciar. It's purely for our memories though, we'd given up having the camera ready!

Hitchhiking Patagonia

I've only ever hitchhiked a few times... When my other options weren't so viable. But it seems that hitchhiking the Carretera Austral  in the Patagonia in Chile is a popular option. So popular that when we crossed the border from Los Antiguos to Chile Chico we were greeted by about 20 hitchhikers as we left Chile Chilo. 

We weren't going far, just 6km and then turning off to a camp spot, but H decided we could offer what we were doing. So we pulled up and 3 young Israelis joined us. They actually joined us to the camp spot and then again until their intersection the next day. 

They were nice young fellows, just a month into their travels and not yet jaded by their travels like the Israelis I had met when I backpacked Northern South America a few years back. One even said that the campsite was the most beautiful place he'd ever seen. 

The campsite was 11 kms from the main road at a place called Bahia Jara. It certainly was a specially pretty place. 

Our hitchhikers got lucky, especially as there were 3 of them, as they waited less than an hour. They said some of the people had been waiting 7 hours. 

I have mixed feelings about the hitchhikers. If they are Chilean or Argentine then I have no problems, but when a foreigner has spent so much on airfares to get here and then expects others to give them a free ride ... Well, part of me says it's a bit much. I kind of fell that they should buy a bus ticket. 

We certainly feel the weight difference when we add 3 men and heavy packs to the load, in fact H dumped some of our water in the morning to compensate. 

On the other hand I like giving a ride to the young people, of all nationalities, as I think seeing our travel style, our lifestyle, can be quite inspirational for them. I think that we can show people that this can be done, that if you like travel then here's an option. 

Sheep shearing festival in Southern Patagonia

After Torres del Paine H and I backtracked about a 150kms to a little place called Villa Tehuelches because they were having a Festival of sheep shearing and I was very keen to go. 

It was fun and interesting. The event included shearing demonstrations, singing and dancing events, sheep dog trials, a disco and lots of lamb to eat. 

This event was in Southern Chile, but in a sense it seemed quite Argentine. Most events didn't seem to run at their scheduled time, but not that it mattered much. 

What I most enjoyed was the camping amongst the Chileans. We looked out Saturday morning to see a skinned sheep riding on the rear mounted spare tire of a SUV. It seems that each camping group brought a large grill, wood and coal and plenty of sheep/lamb. 

The Saturday night disco was scheduled for 10pm. We arrived at 10.30 to an empty hall and no music, things didn't kick off until about midnight. We stood out (H being the tallest there, and I being the fairest skinned and the only blonde) and at 2am we were probably the first to leave. 

All in all we enjoyed the Festival del esquila in Villa Tehuelches. 

Half a million penguins in one spot at Punta Tombo, Argentina

At Punta Tombo, on the coast of the Argentina Patagonia, there's about 500,000 magellanic penguins nesting annually. We were there super early in the morning, just finishing our walk before the 5 buses of teens arrived. 

Penguins are cute, we all know that. At Punta Tombo you get to observe a weird landscape, some with shrubs but at each metre another hole in which there is likely another penguin on his or her eggs (his or her because penguin couples take it in turns to mind the eggs while the other one feeds). This weird landscape goes to about a kilometre inland. 

The holes aren't deep so you can see into them. To manage the visitors there is a strict walking trail and board walk which provides plenty of viewing of all the aspects and the penguins don't seem the least concerned about people being there. 

Penguins are in the holes, wandering about amongst the holes, heading down to the beach for a wash and a feed, and others are returning to their hole/partner. Amongst the penguins, there are also little cavies (guinea pigs are in the cavy family) running everywhere. And the occasional guanaco (like llamas). 

Another bonus, being there so early in the morning (the first by a long shot), we saw 2 guanacos having a fight in the parking lot while we were cleaning up from breakfast, right outside the back door of the camper. Even the parkranger had his camera out. These animals have long necks and so the fight was mostly a kind of wrestle where they went neck to neck and tried to topple the other. Neither was successful and they eventually ran off. It was an exciting event to have such good viewing for!