Ancient Forests and Abuelo (Grandfather) Trees

It's amazing that the arid landscape around Trevelin provides the gateway for visiting the Alerce forests since they need 3000mm of rain per year minimum. It's a testament to the rainshadow of the Andes, and it's a constant wonder that the Pacific Ocean lies close behind these high peaks, over there in the fjordlands of southern, southern Chile. There are huge lakes scattered throughout this region, and wild, green rivers connecting them. Adventure tourism is here but the wilderness retains it's wild character. Most people we meet are from the more populated areas around Buenas Aries and the Rio de la Plata. It's cool to see them out enjoying this part of their country backpacking, kayaking, hiking, mountain biking and river rafting---especially the young people. Not a lot of fancy gear, no lycra or spandex or ultra light gear, but they are making it happen on small budgets and with big spirits. We spend a day hiking in Los Alerces National Park with it's turquoise and emerald lakes surrounded by green shrouded peaks. We were able to get a close up view of the plants in these forests and take our time admiring the many varieties, shapes and forms. The park protects an area of Valdivian rainforest of the type that is fairly rare in Argentina----more common of the Chilean side of the mountains. Much of the park is a scientific research site and there are several endangered animals that the park provides habitat for including the tiny pudu, a deer the size of a small dog.

La Tronchita

We'd read about, we thought it would be cool to see but we didn't think we'd get that far south. "La Tronchita," also known as the Patagonia Express, the old steam train that was once the only way besides horses to get down to these parts. The train ended at Esquel, and still does 3 hour long round trip run north to a small native Mapuche settlement and back. It was great living history riding the narrow gage through the arid steppe, surrounded by impossibly steep ochre mountain ridges and green valley floors where the lambs graze. A small cultural center gave us a glimpse into the history and present of this still very much alive culture, a people who defended their land so fiercely from the Spaniards that this southern region was not conquered for many years after the northern areas were well settled by Europeans and the wars for independence from Spain were being fought. We enjoyed the ride with Argentine's of all ages who pulled out their gourds end enjoyed cups of Yerba Mate for the ride. We took turns hangling our heads out the windows and standing between train cars. A cultural ambassador from the Mapuche people joined our train car for awhile and sang us many beautiful songs while we swayed along the narrow gage transported in time and space. 

South and Further South

The force that pulls you south in Patagonia took hold of us as we headed out of Bariloche, Argentina in our rented VW Gol (that's right, no "f"). We headed for El Bolson, a smaller town (23,000) situated in a spectacular mountain valley. This hip little town was South America's first municipality to become "non-nuclear" back in the early 1980's and while they were at it they declared the town an "ecological municipality." The highlight of visiting El Bolson, alongside the great diversity of people, is it's vibrant weekly artisan market around the town square. We enjoyed purusing the market for fresh organic produce and admired the quality and craftmanship in the many things for sale there. We listened to a soulful Argentine reggae band and a high energy Ska band. Of course we supported a few artisanas with our pesos and got some cool stuff, too. Staying in a cabana a few k's outside of town, and with our own wheels (!) we were able to enjoy some of the wonderful trekking around the valley, visiting the "refugios" where remote living refugio caretakers (think fire lookouts in the Cascades) create a warm, wood stove atmosphere and cook things like pizza and "wok" which they sell alongside hot chocolate and cervezas. We also got in a long awaited by Miles and Lily horseback riding venture which we all enjoyed where we rode the the confluence of two large rivers and had thrilling walks over the rickety suspension bridges. After a few days in El Bolson we just had to get a little further south so we continued on through wild mountain landscape as forest turned to arid steppe. We traveled through Esquel and on to Trevelin (not much beyond these small towns until Punta Arenas, still 1200 kilometers away) where our next home away from home for a few days was a cabana off the dirt road leading to Parque Nacional Los Alerces.

the Tres Lagos Crossing

There are few passes through the rugged south central Andes and the southernmost is known as the Tres Lagos, or three lakes, crossing. It's pretty much for tourists only because of the cost and the length of time it takes, but we decided on the recommendation of other travelers that it was worth it to see the dramatic scenery, not to mention that Miles was a strong advocate of seeing and riding on the three catamarans. Speaking of tourists, we haven't seen hardly any North Americans since coming to Chile. Sure, there are lots of travelers, but most of them are wither from within Chile or from other countries in South America. Of course, there are a few Europeans, Assies and Kiwis around but the North Americans have been scant. On leaving Chiloe we got our first real rains of the trip, arriving in Puerto Varas on a day with low clouds obscuring Volcan Osorno. We left early the next day on a bus headed east, traveling for about an hour to the shores of the first Lago where we boarded the first catamaran. Traveling for two hours accross the lakes the weather slowly lifted and we gazed up at the surrounding peaks, the slopes of the volcano and the cloak of verdant Valdivian Rainforest, made up of many species of evergreen broadleaf trees and the cypress-like Alerce, one of the three oldest tree species in the world. These forests are incredible, with an understory of wild fuscia and layers of lichen draped trees. At the end of the first lake we go to hike for a couple of hours on our own, so we made our way up to a waterfall and the weather had warmed up enough that we all enjoyed a refreshing splash. Another bus took us over the pass and accross the Argentine border around the massif of El Tronodor with it's seven glaciers. The border between Argentina and Chile follows a line along the peaks of the highest mountains. Another smaller catamaran accross an emerald green glacial lake, another bus ride and then the final 2 hour lake crossing which took us into Bariloche, Argentina. During the crossing we traversed Chile's first National Park, Parque Nacional Vincente Perez Rosales, and the first National Park in South America, Argentina's Parque Nacional Nahuel Huapi, which was founded in 1903 with through a grant of 7000 hectares and now has grown to a colassal 710,000 hectares. Together these parks protect a large swath of the spectacular southern Andean Cordillera and the watersheds of many, many large and small beautiful lakes. It was an incredible trip and it was very exciting to arrive in Argentina, the third country we will visit on this trip.

Far Away in Chiloe

Chiloe is the second largest island in South America, Tierra del Fuego being the largest. It is a truely unique and special place being a stronghold of traditional Chilean culture and rural life. We rented a palifitto, a house on stilts of the type that once lined the coasts of Chile's fishing communities. Over time, athquakes and tsunamis have destroyed most of the palafittos but Castro sits in a protected fjord on the east side of the island so some of the palafittos have stood the trevails of time. "Mi Palafitto" was restored and fixed up by Sophia, a Chilean doctor living in Castro. She helped us get settled in and oriented and we spent ten dqys exploring the many wonderful aspects of Chiloe including it's old wooden churches, 16 of which are USESCO woeld heritage sites, and summer cultural festivals where we enjoyed traditional music and dance, food and fun. We walked beautiful beaches, kayaked in the fjord,  and on a few of the clearer days we could see the cordillera de los Andes accross the straights on the mainland, including the actively erupting volcano which recently forced the evacuation of the small city of Chiaten. Before we left Chiloe we visited a nesting colonly of Magellic and Humbolt penguins. Lily's favorite part of Chiloe was the old church at Colo, the huge artisan market in Castro, watching the tide come in and out from Mi Palifitto and the black nedked swans that hung out in the tidal flats. Miles favorite things about Chiloe was the design of Mi Palafitto, seeing the penguin colony and searching out the old churches in the remote corners of the island. Jim's favorite things were seeing the old ways still so alive and how they do eveything, literally everything, out of wood, and the music. Tracie enjoyed reading Darwin's writings about visting Chiloe on the voyage of the Beagle and thinking about what had changed and what hadn't since his time, seeing the Andes across the Gulf of Ancud and the brightly painted houses and boats that brightened even the greyest days. We took away many great memories along with our handmade warm wool sweaters and hats. Chiloe was avery special place. From here we head intto the Andes mountains and Argentina. 

Super Cama to Valdivia

We bid farewell to Casa Kryenberg, Lucia and Juan Pablo and the city of Valpariaso and boarded the bus for the 11 hour journey south to Valdivia. The bus system in Chile is amazing to us Norte Americanos. You can catch buses of all shapes and sizes to nearly anywhere very convienently and cheaply. For our long trip south we choose the overnight "super cama" bus with the cush sleeper seats. Miles has become the supreme travel researcher in matters of transportation gaining expertise all of Chile's major bus companies, their fleets and routes. Chile being such a large country and distances between regions so vast that 12-22 hour trips are commonplace. We boarded the bus at 10pm in Santiago and arrived in Valdivia, considered to be in the northernmost portion of Patagonia, around 9am. Valdivia is a beautiful small city that lies at the convergence of three large rivers. Extensive wetlands were created as a result of the 1960 earthquake, largest quake ever recorded on the planet we're told at magnitude 9.5, which resulted in a huge tsunami that hit most of southern Chile. Valdivia is famous for it's fish market. We stayed in a cabana in the nearby small village of Niebla on the outer coast where we visited the ruins of two of the 16 Spanish forts that formed the last stronghold of the Spaniards on the Pacific Coast of the Americas. The Chileans defeated the Spaniards here in one of the final battles for independence. We were able to see a reinactment of the battle for Fuerte Coral which ended with the raising of the Chilean flag. There was also a folk festival taking place in Niebla while we were there where we were able to see music and dancing while the sun set over the beautiful estuary. Our stay in our cabana in Niebla was short as our destination was further south to the island of Chiloe. Yes, it resembled home here in many ways yet oh so different. 

Valpariaso: City of Artists and Acensors

We fell under the spell of Valpariaso. All four of us. After 5 days spent exploring the winding alleys of the Cerros Allegre and Concepcion, watching the busy port and visiting the small towns and beaches to the north and the south, wandering through museums and artisan shops and feeling the history around us we were smitten. How quickly we forgot that the old buildings were worse for wear, that we are not really "city" people and that our Spanish learned from travels in Mexico and Central America does not for some reason seem to help us understand much in Chilean Spanish. Was it our perch on Cerro Allegre where we stayed with a painter who taught classes in the dining room and sold paintings from the garage and from where we watched the lights of the city appear each night and reflect the sky filled with stars? Was it observing the historic port where ships bound for Rapa Nui (Easter Island) mingled with ships readying for or fresh from rounding the horn and an occasional cruise ship bound for Anarctica while the Chilean navy stood guard? Was it visiting Pablo Neruda's "house in the sky"? Or was it the seemingly irrepressible artistic urge, a gallery behind every garage, a mural on every wall and graffitti literally everywhere? Or maybe it was the acensors, ancient lifts that carry you up the 14 mountainsides that make up the city, each one unique in it's design? No, I think what really sealed the deal was the dinner at J Cruz Verde. A little back alley restaurant that looked as dubious as you could imagine but upon entry was the most amazing hodge podge of visual imagary and Chilean hospitality where we were serenaded by the owner and his guitar while we feasted on the beef pobre---ooh la la!----and got to add our own graffitti to that covering the walls and the tables. That was the meal when we felt we had become part of the place and it a part of us as we all agreed we love this city because it has so much character. Gritty and real, old and wonderful there is nowhere else in the world you could imagine to be quite like Valpariaso!

Plaza de Armas, Santiago