"Lower, higher... (english version)" Chile Travelogue by Maillekeul

Chill-out....

Bouh ! What a pity leaving such a pretty city as Arequipa, warm and sunny, for a country we don't know much about (though we try to translate the subtleties of the Lonely Planet), except that it contains this adventurous area known as Patagonia, and, in the deep Southm a part of Fireland and iots extreme cold.. But, we're gonna burn this Fireland, thanks to the human torch, Stef Reporter, ready to catch fire on for-penguins-only dancefloors... !
So, we cross the border and pass through many cutsom stops (these guys woke us up 3 times in the middle of the night and made us open our bags to check if we did not carry fruits !) and, after 20 hours of bus and one pause in the seedy bus station of Arica, we arrive in Calama, north east of the country... On the road, landscapes did not evolve (still desert). We say to ourselves that Calama is compulsory a nice place, as we are fond of Andean cities... What a disappointment ! Town of nothing, with never smiling people. We begin to believe we made a mistake coming here, in this city, in this country, where Pinochet sequels are still visible...

But try my Calama Page...

The dessert of the desert....

We leave Calama to San Pedro de Atacama and things radically change : we are in Gringoland 2, with 50 % of frenchmen (mostly "Bourgeois de Boheme"). But how cute is this village ! High (2100 meters) and close to the most arid desert of the world (guess its name ? Desert of Atacama, of course !). We enjoy some really nice tours :
- on the edge of a huge sand dune to attend a staggering sunset and the changes in colours of the surrounding mountains,
- in the desert itself, where we stand on one leg to watch flamingos and the glint of the mountains (still colour-changing) on the small lakes where flaminogs quench their thirst... And, as we know that Salar Uyuni in Bolivia is better, we are already getting impatient to go there !

See Travelogues of my San Pedro Page and other travelogues of my Chile Page

A lazy cat in Valparaiso

After being so impressed by the intense reflections of Atacama, we carry on with two different towns on the Chilean Coast...

La Serena, siren of Normandie

It's true, this city made me think about the harbour towns of french Normandie... You can fell it by the global architecture of the houses (use of medieval stones) and the nearness of fresh but sunny beaches. As if the only difference with french Normandie was the presence of palmtrees and penguins, among which the one we met on the beach and whose story was really sad (See Travelogues of my La Serena Page ). We stay 2 or 3 days in this place that remains a "city" whose exotism is consequently limited.

Valparaiso : the unexpected expectation...

here, on the other hand, it's completely different. Valparaiso called to my mind for years and years, maybe because of this "Il Postino" moovie involving the character of Pablo Neruda, or maybe thanks to an old french song praising the merits of this artists' city (like Paris). Whatever, we came full of hopes and I can say that we have globally been satisfied. Valparaiso is a port, where, among sea-lions, some military vessels hang around... But, above all, it is surrounded by numerous hills where unfortunately many buildings have been erected and where many different styles flourish, according to the class of inhabitants. You can get to the top of these hills by cable cars made of old wooden logs... maybe the ancestors of the ones in Montmartre ! From the top of the city, you enjoy a pretty nice view over the ocean and also teehe buildings that dot the landscape that, a long time ago maybe, has inspired Neruda and his artist pals. The streets of Valparaiso are also echoing the diversity of influences that modified the style of the city along the years : Time square in the 30's, a "barrio antiguo" with dirty and old shopwindows (that is maybe why it is called "antiguo"...), empty broad places where tourists look for typical pictures... In short, there is a lot to see, and you may like it or not. Personally, I loved it ! One con, though : books about 3rd reich or anti-jews novels pop up in bookshops... It's maybe a consequence of the return of freedom of speech (it may have excesses). We leave the city a bit frustrated not ot know more about the history of all the places, but we swear to fill the gaps once we get money (send us more !!!).

See my Valparaiso Page

The sunrise in Puerto Varas

Benvenidos in Chillan...

Chillan is a bastard town, set between the famous region of Patagonia and the south of the north (!) Chile. We stayed there only a few hours, time enough to visit the Escuela Mexico whose library has been nastliy tagged by local and mexican artists (See travelogue of my Chillan page ), to walk in the closest village, Chillan Viejo, and to have a severe discussion with our landlady, nostalgic of the old Pinochet (what a Romeo, this guy...).

Puerto varas, last step before Patagonia...

After a new bus night (tiring, in the end...), we are stopped in the middle of a highway (I love this !), at dawn, next to Puerto Varas, our destination. After a 30 minutes walk, avoiding trucks and cars speeding up on the "autopista", we arrive at the top of the village and attend a wonderful sunrise over the Llanquihue lake, on the store of which the village is settled. After this colourful brightness, we visit the village (a bit of a Lego one).

See my Puerto Varas page

But, above all, we go to Puerto Montt, big port, to look for one of the scarce offices of the scarcer boat companies sailing across Patagonia to Puerto Natales... We find it and we are told that there are places left on the next boat leaving in 2 days ! We buy our tickets (the honor does not allow me to tell you more about their expensive price) and stay 2 more days in Puerto Varas, dreaming about our 4 days cruise (in a Cargo !). The Love Boat, Stubbing, Isaak and Goffer are now very close...

A fjord in the mist...

We arrive at the port of Puerto Montt for the check-in. Good surprise : we have the right to stay in cabins, though we were supposed to be in a dorm (sort of a "death" row, closer to the egyptian tombs..). The reason of it is simple : we are very few on board !
The language diversity during our trip will certainly be very poor : indeed, the other travelers are mostly english speakers. In short, it's not the place to practice spanish ! After a little chat with the hostess (behind a desk), we enter the cargo, an enormous red and yellow ship, with loads of trucks on the deck (it's a cargo, after all !) whose entrance wil delay our departure (4 hours !). We share the cabin with a couple from Wales. On the ship, we have the right to a private bathroom (still in construction...) and the facilities seem very basic. After the first meal (very tasty, but I hate self-service !), we meet a french girl, Sarah, and his italian friend, Chiara, with whom we will discuss most of the time. Indeed, english-speakers stay with other english-speakers and, when we are trying to speak with them, except being enthusiastic about our command of their language (for French guys... of course !), they don't have much to add. The second day of travel goes off under the mist and we just imagine the shapes of the fjords, whose sizes may vary from few square meters to hundreds of square meters... We still go on and, on the 3rd day, the sun is back and we can devour the landscapes : from small green islands to big snowy mountains, passing by a wreck in the middle of the path and the village of Puerto Eden, lost in Patagonia...
In the ship, I must say that it is ficking boring. Except from writing our portraits (see Albums of my Homepage) and playing chess (Maillekeul 20 - Stef Reporter 2), we only spend some hours on the deck to see the landscapes or we fell asleep, due to a specific medicine supposed to fight against sea-sickness. The last day pulls us out of our sleeping posture, with a last blue sunrise and a small islands full of penguins. A nice maritim adventure, but it was only the beginning !

See The First Part and the Second Part of our Trip

Waterfalls in Park Torres del Paine

Puerto Natales, where we landed, is very small, there is snow (in September !) and local poeple are very simple with all the pros (smile, welcome, open discussion) and the cons (lack of culture, racial bias) that it may imply. however, we don't stay much to chat and we go to the best place nearby : the National Park Torres del Paine, world biosphere, according to UNESCO... And we agree ! Lakes with vivd colours, huge waterfalls, the Torres del Paine (mountains whose peaks are huge vertical stones), blue icebergs floating in a giant lake, and I won't tell you more about the Indiana Jones' bridges or the 2500 USD for 3 nights hotel (where Richard Gere might have sleep with Robert Redford... in the same bed ?)... Again !
When we come back to Puerto Natales, we enjoy a splendid sunset, with pink clouds and a very yellow sky... Impressive...
the day after, we wander around in the village, followed everywhere by 4 dogs, occasionally fighting with cats (one cat against four dogs = one Jet Li fighting against four Tcheky Kario... Guess who wins ?...) and we make the most of this sunny day... because we have to leave again to a breath-taking place : Fireland !

See my Puerto Natales Page

Blurry reflection of the sunrise in Punta Arenas

First, we have to stop in Punta Arenas, one of the most southern town of Chile. On our way, animals pop up everywhere : guanacos (cuter lamas), ostriches, sheeps (jamming the traffic, of course) and loads of colourful birds.
There is not much to say about Punta Arenas : a very special cemetary (where poor people are burried in small post boxes belonging to a huge concrete building), but the rest is irrelevant. The incredible blows of wind shorten our night... but also allow us to wake up early and watch a wonderful sunrise (it is the country of sunrises and sunsets !!!) on the desert broad beach.

See my Punta Arenas Page

Then, we take off (by bus !) to Fireland. As you maybe don't know, Fireland is an island and we have to take the ferry (without leaving the bus, very cool...) to go there. Once landed, we enjoy some uncanny desert landscapes, yellow-green lands without relief and a very clear blue sky barely dotted with tortured clouds... We are close to magnificence.

I won't tell you more about our trip on Fireland on this page, because this land is parted between Chile and Argentina. Of course, we will have to pass again by Chile to continue our trip in Argentina (borders are terrible) and we'll maybe go back to San Pedro de Atacama, only to enjoy oanother time its unforgettable landscapes (and also the Manjar, sort of peanut better, but a lot better !).

To sum up, Chile is beautiful...