So far so good

It’s been a week since I arrived in Cusco. So far I’ve seen in the New Year with Malu, lost another camera and started my Spanish classes. I’m staying at Hospedaje Inka, a hostel where I was when I first visited the city 5 years ago. Then I had a pot to pee into at night but now have an ensuite bathroom which I suppose is progress of sorts. The same can’t be said about the McDonalds, KFC and Starbucks that have sprung up in the main square.

There is an eclectic mix of people at the hostel – a hedge fund manager who has exchanged Wall Street to study the ways of the shaman; a group of Argentinian students who prefer to discuss the “the hand of god” over the Falkland islands (las islas malvinas); and a Peruvian guy who is in the process of divorcing his English wife….ummmm.

Well it’s Friday night and time to go paint the town red or at least sup a few Cusquenia beers.

On my travels again

Well, it’s been a while since my last post (1364 days to be precise). In that time I’ve whisked Malu to London, broken up, relocated to Barcelona and I’ve now just quit my job…. again. I’ll soon be on my way back to South America to spend new year in Cusco and who knows I may bump into  Malu while I’m there  ;).

In between I’ve learnt how to pee sitting down (curtesy of  a crazy Brazilian landlady), made some great new friends and discovered I’m happiest cycling up very steep hills (I hear Peru has one or two of those).

So that just about brings things up to date. I plan to add posts to this blog from time to time so you can keep tabs on me whilst eating a lunchtime sandwich at your desk.

Back in Cusco

After 3 days more of travel I’m now back in Cusco. My jinx with buses continued when the service from Santiago broke down in the Atacama desert. We roled into Arica 41 hours later and 11 hours late. However the episode did give an interesting insight into group dynamics. While the woman passengers harried the driver over the delay the men busied themselves with scavenging water from passing traffic. I sat and watched the shadows grow longer.

My neighbour for the trip was an estate agent who was intent on selling me a property. Granted they were cheap but then they were located in the desert and crammed into large estates with the same design and colour. When in Chile function always triumphs over form.

I’ve now booked my flight home in time for Easter so you can ready the red carpet and I’ll try not to be too miserable. With any luck Malu will be joining me in London to study English. We’ll just have to see how the visa application goes.

Stopover in Santiago

I’m drafting this posting as I sit in one of Santiago’s central parks with conquers falling around me. I’m escaping the heat of the day as I wait for my evening bus north to Arica. Santiago is considered by many a poor cousin to Buenos Aires but I like it. The centre is more compact, has many green spaces is less humid in summer and students offer free hugs (“abrazos gratis”) in the street. I feel a little guilty for not working through the itinerary of sites provided by tourist information but there is little time to see beyond what I visited before, particularly since the museums are closed today. I do have a favorite restaurant in mind for dinner so I hope it’s open.

Puerto Varas

I’ve just spent the past two nights in Puerto Varas, a pleasant city on the shore of Lago Llanquihue. I had planned to travel directly to Santiago but it was the end the school holidays when I arrived from Chaiten and all transport was booked up. Our bus driver, who lives in Puerto Varas, kindly gave a group of us a lift. The perfect snowcapped cone of Volcan Osorno and the shattered cone of Calbuco dominate the landscape here. With the return of blue skies I was able to get a closeup view from the lakeside beaches at Ensenada and Petrohue. Sadly my camara battery went flat so I wasn’t able to capture the best of the views.

Carretera Austral (Chaiten)

The heavens opened as I pitched my tent. There was heavy rain interspersed with incredible torrents of driving rain and that is how it stayed until I left two days later. The highlight of the area is Pumalin Park which is formed from land owned by the creator of North Face clothing. With the weather as it was I opted for a day tour which took in the main walks and vistas. The park forest clings to the sides of impossibly steep valleys and is so humid, verdent and diverse. When my guide arrived wearing rubber boots and oil skins I knew I was in for a wet trip. My Gortex “waterproofs” stood no chance and I was wet through but surprisingly warm by the end of the day. Check out http://www.parquepumalin.cl/content/eng/index.htm for some great dry views. Dinner was local salmon in the company of a French couple and the group of Israeles who after a second day without a lift finally paid for a bus.

Carretera Austral (Puyuhuapi)

The fishing village of Puyuhuapi was billed as the best place to stop en route to Chaiten. The guide book wasn’t wrong. It’s located at the head of a fjord of the same name and has thermal springs and Queulat park closeby. I hitched a ride to the park to see the hanging glacier Ventisquero Colgante. The driver of my ride to the park was a fishing guide during the summer and a builder during the off season. He was taking his children to Coyhaique to buy school uniforms. Hitching is a fun way to see this remote area and to meet the locals. You need some luck, a bit of patience and preferably a small backpack. On my return ride from the park I passed a group of Israelis who failed to get a ride north and ended back in Puyuhuapi.

Carretera Austral (Coyhaique)

Jeff and I took a day to rest and plan… or rather eat and drink.We stumbled upon an empty restaurant and dined on succulent emu and local beer. Our second day in town proved to be more productive. We did a day hike in Reserva Forestal, I reserved a seat on a bus heading north while Jeff plotted a more scenic route by hire car.

The road to Chile and the Carretera Austral

We left El Chanten with the sun shining and were welcomed to the town of Puerto Madryn by a stunning sunset.The dusty 10 hour bus journey along route 40 will soon be forgotten.

The following morning we took a bus across the border to Chile Chico. You aren’t permited to carry any vegetable or animal products into Chile so I said goodbye to my “English tea” and powdered milk but stopped short at my cotton boxer shorts.

A ferry then took us across lago Buenos Aires to where buses were waiting to take us the final stage to Coyhaique. A local apointed himself as my guide for the bus ride and proceded to poke me in the ribs each time we passed a mountain or lake. Unfortunately for my ribs there’s a lot of mountains and lakes in this part of the world. I have now joined the Carretera Austral, the road comissioned by General Pinochet that will take me north to Puerto Montt.

El Chalten and Mount Fitzroy

Upon entry to El Chalten, the park ranger informed us that we were lucky. Lucky that we had missed the three preceding weeks of sunshine and the associated risk of fires in the park. Lucky is not how I felt as I trekked through driving rain the following day to setup camp at De Agostini by Lago Torre. Wearing trainers and a windstopper, Jeff was probably feeling even less blessed. We opted not to hire a stove but a friendly New Zealander, Andrew, brewed up tea and shared his hot dinner.Thankfully the rain didn’t last. The clouds lifted to some degree the following day to give a glimpse of the panorama we had seen as we had approached El Chalten by bus.

See trekking map.