Mendoza on my Mind

Mendoza was just swell. I spent 5 nights in Hostel Lao, including 2 on the couch when I didn't book ahead and they ran out of room. Odd to wake up in the morning to a bunch of people sitting in the living room around me.

Across the 4 days I spent there, activities included running in the park, walking around a bunch, getting my haircut, as well as some more extraordinary endeavors, such as:

Wine Tour

Biked through a nearby wine region with a group from the hostel. Lots of samples. I acted as a poor sometimes-translator when the guides didn't speak English. 

Horseback Riding

Sadly, I forgot my phone/camera. But I was the only person on the tour, so Ignacio (the guide) and I had some quality bonding time. I was on a horse named Mono, que significa "monkey." He was pretty stubborn. The day was beautiful, as were the vistas. It ended with a great asado (grilled steak) lunch outdoors looking out on the ranch and vineyards.

Spa

Not something I was initially planning on doing, but I had some extra pesos to use up and it was recommended by other folks in the hostel. Good thing, too. The place is up in the mountains about a 1hr drive and is simply beautiful. There were hot tubs of varying temperatures and an incredible pool and, of course, mud exfoliation. 

Hard to take a photo of yourself when covered in mud, but those two beautiful people are a couple from the hostel. I bummed around with them a bit during the day. Rest assured, I looked similarly ridiculous.

I bid adieu to Mendoza, though I'd love to return, and endured an excruciatingly long bus ride back over the Andes to Santiago. Border crossing again ridiculous. Here I am now, in Santiago, crashing at the apartment of friends I met in Torres del Paine. How great! They even cooked for me last night, and I donated vino (wine) de Mendoza to the cause. 

This will be my final destination before flying home on Saturday eve. I'll wrap this all up with an introspective, retrospective post before I leave. Thanks for reading, everyone.

The Home Stretch, pt. 2

Alriiiiight. Falling behind on the posting. So picking up where part 1 left off...

On the second day camping, weather was beautiful. We walked thru a nature trail, and then had sandwiches on the dock near the campsite. Returning back to Castro the next day, we stayed in the the same cheap hostel and (Owen and Reanna) cooked up a great meal. I helped clean...

The next day we all parted ways (or so we thought). I booked an overnight bus to Santiago. I arrived, and lo and behold Owen and Marcella arrived on a separate bus right after me. So we were stuck with each other for the afternoon, before another bus took me across the border to Mendoza.

Owen wasn't very happy to have to say goodbye a second time. But we did, and I arrived at Hostel Lao in Mendoza later that night (the border crossing took almost 3hrs!!). 

It was a wonderful place that came complete with friendly staff and a couple of rambunctious dogs. This guy here is only 4mo old and he's a troublemaker. 

The Home Stretch, pt. 1

Hi everyone! 

Thanks for checking in. I've made my way north and over the border to Mendoza, Argentina, or--as one strange cab driver told me and Avinadh early in the trip--the land of "women like horses." Remains unclear what he meant, exactly.

But first, let's talk about Chiloe! I wound up in Castro, which is the primary "city." Pretty small, really. But cool, an old fishing port. I walked all around looking for a hostel, and ended up in a nice house/hostel thing. Not very social, at all. Howrver, within minutes I'd encountered an American couple haggling with the owner in the hallway outside my room. Their names are Owen and Marcella, and although they didn't end up staying in my hostel, they did stay next door and were great companions for the next few days.

We went out for lunch that first day, and I got some curanto, which is a traditional dish in the area. Allow me to describe: chicken, beef, pork, on top of shellfish. Observe.

There were also seals popping up in the window you see there. But they popped down as soon as my camera came out, so sorry.

Later in the day, we met up with an Aussie friend from the ferry, Reanna, and got a pretty sweet salsa lesson at a rather empty dance club that night. However, it was a woman who we were imitating,and she didn't demonstrate any male moves. Therefore, my salsa repertoire now consists largely of sultry hip swinging, chest shaking, and flamboyant arm movements. Alas. 

The next day was largely dedicated to laying low and relaxing. Netflix works when the wifi does, and so I watched a good deal of House. I did check out the giant wooden church in town. There was a ceremony going on, complete with a super cute fat toddler in formal garb. 

Old wooden churches are a thing on Chiloe, apparently. This one was quite gawdy outside, but remarkable inside. 

So with all this lounging around and whatnot, I arrived at the decision to go camping in Parque Nacional Chiloe for a couple of nights. Even better, the dynamic trio of Owen, Marcella, and Reanna decided to come along! The next day, we headed out and took a very interesting/crowded/haphazard bus ride out to the boondocks of Chiloe and the entrance to the park.

The camping area was really great. Fire pit, covered table, well protected and flat. Friendly stray ("community-owned") dogs included! The hiking in this park is a bit lacking, especially compared to what I'd been doing down in Patagonia. Really, this was just an excuse to get out of town and relax. That we did. We spent about two days and two nights, which included lots of good cooking, sandwiches made with love courtesy of Owen, some walking, and cards. Also, rain, as the ecosystem is basically a rainforest. It didn't get us down, though, and the weather was actually quite nice during the day.

On the boat, off the boat, pt 1

Howdy! I'm writing from Castro, Chile on the island of Chiloe. It's known for its churches, seafood, weird homes on stilts called palafitos, and some sweet national parks. But how did I get here?

Good question. As I mentioned in the last post, I decided to take a 3-night ferry from Puerto Natales (where I stayed before/after hiking Torres) to Puerto Montt. Pros: downtime, insanely nice weather, Patagonian fjords, whale/penguin/seal sightings, and the company of some folks I'd met in Natales. Cons: being on a boat for 3 nights, lousy food, cramped facilities, cow smell, a bit pricey.

Hard to really paint an accurate picture of the experience. I was in a tiny three bed dorm with a couple of nice guys from New Zealand and Scotland. James (of San Francisco, from Torres del Paine) was also there. Generally a pretty social atmosphere, as we didn't really have anything else to do. There was a lot of this:

Here I am looking bundled:

As mentioned, there were cows in less-than-ideal conditions:

Awesome sunset:

There was also a lot of running back and forth when someone spotted a whale spout, penguin, dolphin, etc. I got a good view of dolphins frolicking alongside the ship, and saw a bunch of whale spouts but no whale tails, really. Here's what it was like when someone saw something:

I had a tendency to lag behind.

At night, we played dice games and drank and looked at stars. Again, not much else to do. My stomach, lo and behold, actually held up well while on the boat. Side note regarding the earthquake: there were whispers about it on the boat, but with no wifi or tv we were pretty cut off. I didn't even realize there was a tsunami scare. Eek. Sorry to worry friends and fam! 

On the boat, off the boat, pt 2

Early Friday morn we landed in Puerto Montt and were unceremoniously tossed out.

It was foggy, I was tired and with a nasty case of the spins that plagued me most of the afternoon. I guess it's fairly common when transitioning from boat to land and also coming off of motion sickness meds. At any rate, I didn't feel quite well enough to go bus anywhere else, so I stayed and rested in Puerto Montt for the day. It's a rough-around-the-edges kind of citu that, once I was feeling better, I thoroughly enjoyed. Not much to do or see, though. Very friendly owner at the hospedaje, and we chatted a bunch in Spanish once I had risen from the dead in the afternoon. There was also a Chinese man from LA staying there. He is retired, and in the process of traveling the world for 10 years. Woah.

Got a slow start (dogs howling all night!) on Saturday and left midmorning for Chiloe. I wasn't sure I was going to come here, initially, but I got my rough itinerary worked out for these last couple of weeks (flight booked out of Santiago on the 19th, just in time for Easter dinner and the marathon) and this seemed like a logical stop.

It was a short (3hr) bus ride, but my inner ear/vestibular system remained uncooperative. No reading, just had to try to sleep. Upon arriving in Castro, the biggest city on the island, I walked all over looking for a good hostel. Met a San Franciscan couple (they're everywhere) and grabbed some lunch with them. 

The beast is called curanto, and it is a bowl filled with chicken, sausage, beef, shellfish, and some broth. It's supposed to be an aphrodisiac... I felt mildly nauseated. Walked around and snapped some pics on another beautiful weather day.

The latter is the inside of one of the aforementioned churches. Very wooden and cool. Outside is purple and yellow and tacky. At night, met up with the couple again as well as a few Australians from the boat. We got a salsa lesson and watched a one-man funk show. 

Today, Sunday, virtually everything is closed. However, the plan tomorrow is to cross the island (about 1hr) and do some camping in Parque Nacional Chiloe. It's supposed to be beautiful, if a little wet. I only plan on a couple nights of camping, and it looks like the folks from San Francisco or Australia will accompany me.

Ciao!

Wind and people and rodents and hiking, pt 3

Also, a fox ran through the campsite right in front of me that night. Cool! And no mice!

The next morning was probably the pinnacle of the hike, literally and figuratively. We woke up before sunrise and hiked with our sleeping bags and mats up to a lookout on las Torres. Just incredible. Relaxed, took pics, and snacked/drank some whiskey. 

We then proceeded down, packed up camp, and had a relaxing hike down to the hotel (seriously) where we snagged some snacks and packed up.

And that's that! I am writing this after two days of chilling (and failed fishing) back at the hostel in Puerto Natales. Have decided to take the Navimag ferry this afternoon from here to Puerto Montt. It navigates the fjords along the coast of Chile. Should be relaxing and incredible. But I need some motion sickness pills to knock me out just in case. Not sure what the wifi situation is, but we arrive in Puerto Montt on Friday. 

Ciao!! 

Wind and people and rodents and hiking, pt 2

The next morning was cloudy as we hiked up the second arm of the W, Valley Frances. Definitely beautiful, but somewhat obscured. 

James and I even witnessed an avalanche. Craaaazy. This is also the point at which we started to assemble a hiking group. We were joined by a couple of gals from Finland, and also a very funny guy from England named Daniel. He's a professional storyteller. He was also robbed of over $300 at Refugio Grey, which combined with a broken tent meant that he needed a tent buddy for the last night of the hike. James and I gladly obliged, as there are obvious advantages to keeping a storyteller around. And so, the hike continued.

That last one is the campsite for the third night, called Refugio/Campamento Cuernos. That was a very fun night with wine and dice games and such. A couple from San Fran also joined in. Strong American contingent. Unfortunately, the mice were particularly vicious at this campsite. Our Fin friends wound up with holes in their tent and a sleepless night. I also woke up to one mouse in my tent, although he got out quick through a gap in the zipper (I guess that's better?). Worst of all, Daniel and I had hung our food indoors. However, even there food was not safe from this particular brand of ninja rodent.  Someone placed trekking poles against the wall, basically forming a superhighway to our bags. They got to my oats (wah), but not too bad and I just boiled them extra thoroughly. No hantavirus to report yet...

Another beautiful but long day of hiking followed. 

Night 4 was spent at Campamento Torres, at the tip of the third W arm. Definitely my favorite site. Cooked and played dice and cozied up with Daniel, who as I mentioned needed a tent mate for this night. Good thing, cuz it was cooooooooold. Definitely below freezing.