Chile

11-14-24   We Made It!

After a long and crazy journey through Peru, we entered Chile on the 14th.  Our 11th country on this journey.  And what a difference an imaginary line in the dirt makes once you cross the border.  Wonderfully paved roads, drivers who don’t honk incessantly and for no reason, stop lights, well marked roads, very friendly people and a certain calmness that was so very refreshing. Did I mention cumpletos?  Hot dogs smothered with tomatoes, guacamole and mayo…A chilean classic and so much fun to eat!

We grabbed a simple hotel in Arica as camping along the beach seemed like it would be too busy and noisy.  Although the beachfront has been recently renovated and was very welcoming with restaurants, big sandy beaches, volleyball arena, bike/walk path and more.

11-15-24  Off In the Direction of San Pedro Atacama

It is a 700 km drive to San Pedro de Atacama from Arica.  San Pedro is a cool little town with a lot of unique desert attractions to see.  Even with the great Chilean roads, this will be a 2 day drive through more desert – the desert started south of Lima and it just won’t quit. We gassed up, washed the cars and headed out.

We passed an indigenous geoglyph along the way of a rain god called the Atacama Giant!  He is almost 400’ tall and was built between the 11th and 15th centuries.  Some say the rain god geoglyphs marked where water was.  It is hard to imagine there ever being water near Huara, Chile.  Pretty cool though. The other geoglyph, well, no idea who or what that dude is.

As per usual the desert is pure punishment.  Long steep inclines and descents, incredibly strong winds and dust devils by the hundreds.

We were able to  make it as far as La Tirana, a very small little town home to an eco hostel/campground run by a wonderful host named Coca.  Now mind you this little refuge is in the most unforgiving desert environment, but she took over 20 years to lay out the grounds, cabins, camp area, etc.  She reuses everything, cooks meals with solar stoves and is an absolute great lady.

We cooked up a great pasta dinner, played some Rummikube and hit the hay.

 

We were excited to see the night sky in the Atacama Desert – world renowned for its night skies.  As luck would have it we are traveling through as we approach a full moon which makes the night sky so bright, it is difficult to get those magnificent night sky views.  We hope to have better luck as we pass through La Serena where there are multiple observatories available.

11-16-24 On To San Pedro de Atacama

We crack on and endure another day of high wind, dust devils and Mars like landscapes as we make our way to the town of San Pedro de Atacama.  It is a cool little town driven in its growth the last few decades by tourism.  Brazil, French, Argentinian, German, Canadian, and Swiss are the most common.  Us Americanos not so much which is nice actually as you meet new folks.  The natural sights around the town are the draw…night sky, Valle de Luna, salt flats, thermal pools, exploding geysers and hiking in the Andes.

We picked a campground near town (and paid the price for road noise and the most night barking dogs one could imagine!!) – and lo and behold – we met a fellow traveler we had met in Cusco (Mateus from Argentina) and Ugo and his girlfriend from France who’d we met in Otovalo, Ecuador.  They are making the trek on motos.  It was great to catch up with them and is part of the fun of making this journey.  You meet people along the way and sure enough, run into them later on the journey

We walked the little town, dropped off laundry and continued our goal of finding the best Pisco Sour between Peru and Chile.  Pisco is a liquor made from grapes each country claims the right to call its own – for us – we just want to find the best classic drink made from it.  We do like trying them everywhere we go.

One of the worst nights sleep ever – Saturday night so you had music late, way too much traffic on the small dirt road in front of the campground and the hounds were loud all night long.  But hey, it is all part of the experience right? 🙂

11-17-24  Saltara de Atacama Salt Flats

The town is tucked pretty close to the Andes and several active volcanoes are still in the area – in fact one sign said Chile had 159 volcanoes??  As the Andes were built, the uplifting from the mountains created a valley that trapped water and over time that water evaporated creating salt flats.  Water from the Andes keeps some show pools alive and 3 native Flamingo bird types live there.  It is amazing to see Flamingos going about their business in the middle of nowhere.

   

The Flamingos are pretty cool…

After checking out the salt flats, we headed to another area called Piedras Rojas to see more salt flats and do a little hiking – but alas – we got there and apparently you had to buy a ticket online to enter and now sold out for the day??? hmmm

Well, one good thing we experienced heading down to Piedras Rojas is crossing the Tropic of Capricorn – another great milestone along our journey south.

Oh…and watch out for those wild llamas!

Back at the ranch we tried a few more Pisco Sours and found one of the better tasting ones at a bar called the Karavan Restobar – super good!  Oddly enough, one of the worst was next door at La Casona which came with a strong dish soap taste…no bueno.

11-18-24 Time to Keep heading South

Roz had a meeting she needed to be on so her and John rolled to Calama to make sure reception was going to be good enough.  Matt and Tracy headed to Valle de Luna to check it out before heading to Calama to meet up with John and Roz and get to the coast and the town of Antofagasta before sunset.

The Valle de Luna really was like being on the moon.  dark sand dunes and rocks mushed together gave it a very moon-like appearance.  Atacama continues to deliver…

 

These rocks are called the Three Marias – and do look like people from certain angles.  While the sun worked against us, we snapped pics and both Tracy and Matt thought the one pic below with one rock in it looked a lot like Oscar from Sesae Street!  Ahhh…maybe ya had to be there 🙂

After meeting up with Roz and John in Calama midday, we headed off to Antofagasta on the coast…and kept the Pisco Sour search alive (these were pretty…but not great)

After a lil stroll on the malecon in the morning and a workout, we head out.

   

11-19-24  Rolling South

Our goal is to be in La Serena in 2 days and try our hand at one of the 8 different observatory telescopes in the area to take in the night Atacama sky.  It is about 700 km so we’ll head to a beach campground about half way today and then hopefully get to La Serena on the 19th.

About 45’ south of Antofagasta is a “thing” called El Mano Del Desierto” (Hand of the desert).   Built in 1992 and financed by the Pro Antofagasta Corp, the hand is 11M high and there is no specific interpretation.  Some say it is the city saying goodbye to the traveler and others say it represents the victims of injustice and torture during the military dictatorship of 1973-1990.  Whatever it means, it is pretty cool and stands in the desert all by itself.

We waved goodbye to the “Hand” and kept heading south and while we were still in the desert, you could start to see signs of life as we went through the day – and by life we mean plants.  The desert gradually started yielding to a slightly greener landscape.  By no means were we in Ireland in spring, but the sight of plants was encouraging. We found a camp sight along the beach called Pan de Azucar – Yunco.  It was an incredible beach  with a nearly empty campground.

 

11-20-24 La Serena

We made La Serena towards the end of the day and it was refreshing to see trees, shrubs and a return to a more normal landscape.  One of the goals for La Serena was to tour and use one of the telescopes at the 8+ observatories outside the city to take advantage of the Atacama night sky.  Well, turns out some of these observatories were being used for scientific research and only open for tours on a Saturday – but not at night.  Actually, you had to commit to a 5 hour window for being driven back into the desert for a night viewing tour at one observatory that only allowed you to use a 12” telescope, not the 8.1 meter one inside the observatory!  with the full moon only 3-4 days behind us and the night sky still very bright, we decided to pass.  But we camped in a unique campground on the beach in Guanaqueros just south of La Serena.  Every campsite had its own shower and bathroom??? Crazy – but the soft wave sound was great to put you to sleep.

We ate a restaurant a short walk away and met Fernando, a great guy managing the restaurant’s activities.  He promised the best Pisco Sour (‘cuz we are on a quest) and he delivered one of the best we had – his secret ingredient??? ground ginger…money!

 

These cute lil nuggets wanted to join our table, but alas…only a table for the four of us!

 

11-21-24 Off to Mendoza and Argentina!

Roz has to return on the 28th of Nov, doesn’t want to miss the wine country and beef of Argentina (can ya blame her!) – so we head to Mendoza for a few days and will return to the Santiago area early the week of Thanksgiving to continue wine exploring, but making sure we can get her tot he airport on time.

So we drive all day….and we mean all day to hit the border with Argentina and make our way all the way into Mendoza to camp at a winery.  The road up the Chile side of the Andes was steep, but gave some good pics of John’s rig working its way up the pass.

540km+, but blessed with a simple border crossing at the top of the Andes.

See you on the Argentina page!   Ciao

11-24-24 Round 2 For Chile

After the lengthy border crossing, we headed down the twisty-curvy Chilean road down off the pass where the border crossing was…

We headed down to a campground in San Bernardo called Camping Izuelina.  There were a handful of overlanders there and we ran into Harold and Petra from Germany.  We met them when shipping our vehicles from Panama City to Cartegena as we both stayed in the Overland Embassy campground and used that company for logistics.  They were wrapping up their trip, selling their van and heading home in the next few weeks after a trip through Buenos Aires.  Love how you keep crossing paths with folks you meet along the way.

11-25-24 Colchagua Valley

With only 3 days until Roz heads home for a bit, we head into the wine rich Colchagua Valley to take in some food and wine.  We stay in Santa Cruz, the heart of the valley and have lunch and wine at the Via Manent Winery.

The funny thing is this is the same winery Tracy and Matt visited almost 10 years ago to the day when their daughter Katie was studying in Chile.

Same table!

What a great memory!

To make the experience even better was the food wine and of course…

the company!

Did I mention the waiter liked to sing the blues???

11-26-24 Montes Winery

One of the more iconic wineries in the valley is Montes.  Tracy and Matt also visited this winery in their last Chile visit.  We scheduled a tour, wine tasting and lunch at their outstanding restaurant.  Man, what a gorgeous facility and location.

The tour was led by a 23 year old aspiring 2nd level sommelier named Jose.  He gave us the history and wine making approach at Montes, including the playing of Gregorian Chants in the premium wine cellar to help their best age better?  who knows?

Check out the chants…

And then it was time for tasting – the wines were solid and we had the best Syrah any of us had ever had…crazy good

And then it was off to their restaurant for another awesome meat and wine feast.  All of this wine tasting and meat eating finally got to Roz…

Yup, I think the folks at Montes were ready for us to leave!  But ahhh, another solid wine experience in the Colchagua Valley.  Then it was back to the airBnB for a nap and ready ourselves for a new wine experience for Wednesday.

11-27-24 Making our Way Back to Santiago

Roz has a flight to catch late Thanksgiving Day, so we’ll continue our wine journey today, ending up in the Maipo Valley again to lessen the drive pressure making it to the airport.  But wait!  We found a winery near to Santa Cruz called Vik.  A newer winery started in 2004 and they went all in on the marketing and architecture.  You felt like you were in a James Bond movie walking into it.

The meal and the wines were actually quite good and Franco our waiter worked very hard to ensure we left happy.

We headed back to Santiago and stayed in a different campground near Maipo called Camping Oasis El Maiten.  Large facility with 2 pools, ample shade, picnic tables and 2 lovely Shepherds keeping an eye on everything.

11-28-24  Happy Thanksgiving!

Well, no one in Chile is aware of the big day and nor should they be, so it was a normal Thursday.  We set out to get the rigs worked on before heading south and so John went off to the Rover mechanic for new vacuum pump and suspension spring housing and Matt hit the shop for rotation, balance and another alignment.

After the work was done for Matt, he and Tracy found a cool winery outside Santiago in the Maipo Vally called Santa Rita.  Over 100 years old and with a cool history as the original owners helped the revolutionary fighters in their battle for independence and the son back in the late 1800’s went on to become president.  Oh, and did we mention they make great wine??  The 120 is the ultra premium wine line in honor of the 120 soldiers rescued at the winery.

 

Nico, our guide, was great and he also got an invitation to come stay at the Rotter house in Denver…let’s see…that makes 78 people invited to Denver over the trip!  One cool thing done at Santa Rita is they keep a small number of bottles of their best wines each year and then pull out one bottle a year to test it.  They want to prove their best wines can mature in the bottle 15, 20…even 30 years and still be awesome. The area is done under in a cellar…nice cool, dusty-musty atmosphere!

John dropped Roz off at the airport in the evening, and then we all reconvened back at the Camping Izuelina where we stayed 4 nights prior.

11-29-24  Off to Pichilemu

Pichilemu is a small beach town we had heard good things about so we headed to the coast.  It is a good thing Chile has great road signs otherwise we could have gotten lost.

We rolled into town later in the day and it was a beach town for sure, with a beach vibe that comes with the surfing.  But the town seemed to be more primed for the less than 35 yr old crowd or old surfers.

The cliffs over where the bugger surfing waves are is called , Punta de Lobos – and it provided great views of the area and surfers.

We found a campground just outside town, set up camp and then cooked a mean meal and enjoyed some of the great wine we brought from Mendoza and the Chilean wine country.  Great wine everyday is a good thing…just saying.

11-30-24 Making Our Way To Lonquimay

We are headed down to Lonquimay for some fly fishing and it is a 2-3 day drive depending on the route we take.  We leave Pichilemu along the coast in the AM and run into a cute little fishing village, called Bucalemu, setting up for their Saturday market.  We grabbed some Empanadas with high hopes of them being epic, but they missed epic and met “yummy” standard.

The yellow lupine flowers simply emerged on our drive and dominated the landscape as we drive – super beautiful.

 

We stayed along the coast until we hot a town called Constitucion.  They were having a huge Saturday market, but the town wasn’t terribly distinctive.  A mix of commercial port and local mid size town.  They did have this crazy white rock off the beach but this was not enough to hold us so we motored on.

We ended the day at a campground near Linares called Camping Sun Ir Mas Lejos,  with a nice host named Marianne.  We settled in and called it a day.

 

12-1/2-24 1st Day of December and onto Conguillio National Parque

Our fly fishing guide for 12/3 gave us a recommendation to stay at a national park on our way to Lonquimay.  Conguillio turned out to be amazing for a few reasons:

1. It was the first time we have seen rain in “forever” and it got cold in the park – down to 26 degrees at night.  So super fun for the change in weather

The park is host to a very special tree called the araucaria.  Only place it grows supposedly and it is very “Dr. Seuss” like.  But they really add to the beauty of the forest.

2. Simply Gorgeous!  The park is surrounded by 2 volcanoes, one (LLaima) is one of the most active in South America, and they make for a amazing place to relax and take a hike (which we did of course).

The following morning the skies cleared and we had a perfect day – so before our hike we needed to fuel up and Edels provided the perfect meal –  Dead Eyes!  Matt made sure there was enough butter to keep everyone healthy.

After our hike we headed into Lonquimay and a campground (Camp Loren) Pablo our guide had picked.  The drive was cool and included a 4.5KM tunnel and more great Chilean Scenery.

Of course Matt had to get his line wet as soon as we arrived at camp, but no fish – an eerie foreshadowing for the next 2 fishing days!!

 

12-3/4-24  Fishing in the Bio Bio and Rahue Rivers

Matt had made contact with a handful of fly fishing guides in Chile and Argentina so as we make our way through Patagonia we can try our hand at catching the big Patagonian trout you hear about.  We fished the BioBio and Rahue Rivers for 2 days.  Both days we waded and fished with help of Pablo who had his hands full with the 3 of us!  The days were hot, then winds constant and the rivers swollen from snowmelt and recent storms. So the current was VERY strong.  So strong you could only safely wade 3-5’ from the shore or you would get swept away.  This made for very difficult fishing as the seams for the fish were now 60-80’ away vs 30-45’ normally.

But we hammered it for 8 hour each day – Everyone caught a fish, although in total you could make 1-2 fish sticks from the lot.  Too funny given the effort, but per usual, Tracy caught the most with 4 and she could have maybe got 2 fish sticks from hers!  LOL Yeah we were picking on the young ones.  The experience was great to be fishing in Chile in great surroundings and we know we will be fishing again moving south.  Pablo was awesome and as you can imagine pulling out all stops to catch fish, but conditions from the shore were just too challenging.  He does make great lunches however!

 

12-5-24 From Lonquimay to Camp Trafanpulli

Pablo gave us a recommendation for a campground halfway between Lonquimay and Pucon, a small town at the base of a large volcano.  We headed in that direction in rain and got another night of camping in the rain and cold as well!  Ahh, springtime in the Andes??  Oh, and yes we started being more aggressive looking for and stopping for Cumpletos!

12-6- 24 Pucon and Valdivia

We left in a light rain in the morning and wound our way through beautiful Chilean countryside.  Very relaxing drive through ranches, valleys and farms – muy tranquillo!

We hit Pucon for lunch and our 1st taste of another Chilean favorite – Chorreanos!  Basically a bed of french fries covered in chicken, beef, egg, onions, cheese and other goodies.  Man did it hit the spot!!

The volcano is called Vulcan Villarica and the clouds from the rain parted right as we got to town!

After lunch it was a short drive to Valdivia, a town on a river near the ocean we had heard good things about.  We camped at Orilla Verde, right on the river (by big ships) and set out for a quick dinner and walk to see the town.  It wasn’t as cool as folks said for the area we saw, but it also wasn’t terrible.  We found it hard to describe.

The Pisco Sours at dinner were both tasty and pleasing to the eye – I mean rice paper photos tossed in was a new twist.

12-7-24 Frutilla and Puerto Varas

We headed out in the AM after helping 2 fellow campers at the campground get a ride to the police station.  They were a Russian couple that were injured in a motorcycle accident the day before (we actually passed them while they were being attended to by 1st responders) – and what an odd coincidence they were camping at the same spot??  The husband had a separated collarbone and still slept in a ground tent- tough damn Russians!

It was a short drive to Puerto Varas – passing through a somewhat German town called Frutilla on the way.  We stopped for a German lunch of beef snitzel while looking at Vulcan Osorno across beautiful Lake Llanquiue.

There a few other volcanoes on the horizon, but none match Osorno for beauty.

12-7/8-24 Puerto Varas

So we come into this town the afternoon of 12/7 and sort of cruise through it so we can grab a camp spot about 20’ out of town towards the volcanoes on the lake.  The town is cute and a lil touristy, but in a perfect spot on the lakefront to take advantage of the magnificent volcano views.  The campground, El Trauco, was in a village called Ensenada and was right on the lake with great views of the volcano.  It is hard to not overload this posting with more volcano photos as it is so impressive, but we’ll do our best to manage the urges!

 

Sunset, the evening sky and the sunrise kept up the beauty…really pretty cool.

12-9-24 Petrohue Falls

In the bottom of this morning volcano pic you can see 2 dogs running towards Matt as he is taking the photo.  Not knowing their intent, Matt snapped the pic and then stepped back into the campground and closed the gate just as the hounds came screaming up…lol…checkmate right…Nope – crazy hounds knew where a hole in the fence was and came in to hang out

After breakfast it was off to Petrohue Falls in the Vincente Perez Rosales National Park, the oldest national Park in Chile.  The falls cut through pure, ancient lava flows and was a good catch in the park.  We also drove up to Lago Todos Santos to see the view of the lake, but the wind picked up a lot and made walking around the shore a challenge.

 

12-10/11-24 Prep for the Trip South Into Patagonia

We grabbed a hotel in Porto Vargas today and got after some oil changes, car washes, differential fluid changes, alignment and other basic maintenance items.  Roz flew back into town in the afternoon (Welcome Back Roz!) and so the day was filled with checking out the town and the rig prep.  Some walking around town while rigs were being worked on caught the flavor of the season as Xmas prep was well underway.  All the shops had Xmas decorations and carols were heard everywhere you went (in English??)

We started each evening with a Pisco Sour at the hotel bar before heading out to find dinner.  Alejandro, Catalina and Mateus all took lead on a night crafting their best Pisco Sour and all definitely had some pisco skills as all were very good.  Super friendly and helpful staff at the hotel.

Dinners were awesome, especially at Carne Y Papa (Meat and Potatoes).  A very cute little restaurant serving massive portions and owned by a massive guy who loved the fact we had eaten there 2 of our 1st 3 nights in town!

We headed out on 12-11 for Chiloe Island and the Penguin Sanctuary for a day trip.  We hopped on a short ferry ride and headed across the island.  Unfortunately Edels heard a large “Clank” and pulled over to find his rear differential drain fill plug had fallen out – yes the mechanic the day before did or did not do something he was supposed to and so some roadside repair work was done with the help of a few local mechanics and we headed back to Puerto Varas to get the rig fixed properly.

The cool thing about having to head back to Puerto Varas was we ran into the “OverlandingForGood” family (Scott, Carrie, Lily & Case) from Utah we met with Nick up in Cusco back in August!  They were headed down the island and we all pulled over to catch up.  Amazing coincidence, so we have Edel’s mechanic to thank for making this happen??

12-12-24 Chiloe Island and Our Push Into Patagonia

We headed back out to Chiloe Island after Edels had his differential fixed yesterday afternoon.

We went to the Penguin Colony at Punihuil on La Isla Grande Chiloe.  It is a cute beach area where the locals have made businesses supporting the viewing of the Humboldt and Magellan Penguins that migrate up here using the…you guessed it…the Humboldt Current.  There are 3 large rock outcroppings where the penguins hand out right off shore.  We met Scott, Keri and the family there and headed out.  You gotta love the carts the locals invented to get us into the boats without incidents or getting us wet!  I can think of many other places in the world they could use this human moving cart.

 

The penguins are too cute in all honesty.  They hop around the rocks, have crazy expressions on their faces and didn’t seem to mind the crazy humans drifting by in boats.

We grabbed some lunch at a beachside restaurant…(and the meals were awesome – even abalone!)

and then headed up to camp where Scott and Keri had camped the night before on a cliff overlooking the beach.  Really nice wild camp spot that was a solid ending to the day.

12-13-24 Let’s Go To Patagonia

We start making our way to the gateway to Chilean Patagonia – the town of Hornopiren – where you catch a 4 hour ferry that deposits you in the northern part of Patagonia.  We have tickets for Saturday, the 14th, and so grab provisions in Puerto Montt and then head to the town of Hornopiren to camp and catch the ferry the morning on 12/14.  The campground setting was under the watchful eye of Vulcan Hornopiren

12-14-24 Patagonia

We are incredibly excited to catch the ferry and sit back and check out the scenery as we head to Calgary Gonzalo, the ferry drop off in Patagonia.  For those who have done the inside passage up in Alaska or cruised fjords in Norway…the views are similar and stunning.  The weather was clear and perfect and we met up with our friends and got going.

Leaving Hornopiren…

The ferry stopped after 3.5 hours and everyone unloaded and then drove (eg: raced) for about 10 miles to the next ferry for the last 45 minute ride to Caleta Gonzalo.  We didn’t’ understand the rush until we saw the next ferry was smaller than the 1st so if you came in last – you had to wait over an hour for the ferry to leave and return…sometimes it is the little things..

Once we arrived we hit a waterfall hike (Cascada!) that turned out to be more difficult than we thought but delivered on a 2 level gorgeous waterfall.

 

After the descent we did a quick trip to a very short hike to see the Alerce trees native to the area.  While no Redwood, they stand on their own for big.

The sights for the day were just amazing but we needed to find a camp spot for the evening.  And when we thought we were done with gorgeous sights, lo and behold we camped under a volcano with steam oozing out the sides.  What a damn day!  This bad boy last erupted in 2008 and took out the town of Chaiten.  Just wild.

12-15-24 Another Cool Hike in Pumalin Douglas National Park

We split with our friends at the camp spot as they were going to do a 4 hour hike up the volcano (2k ft elevation gain – no thanks!) and we headed off to do a “simpler” glacier view hike (1.3k ft elevation gain) and kinda in the shade of the forest.  Well, we are glad we did the “simpler” because it was difficult and it felt like you were always going up – 3 miles of stair stepping!!

Well the sweat and fatigue were worth it as we were rewarded with a cool view of the mountain valley and the glacier off in the distance – Patagonia keeps delivering.  Matt contemplating calling an Uber for the trip back to the parking lot.

 

We limped our way to a campground along an inlet to the sound.  It was a little noisy and unsettled when we arrived but on Sunday afternoon….

but as we relaxed and get caught up on lil odds and ends on Monday,  the place is calm and amazing.  Patagonia gave us one more gift on Sunday…

12-16-24

We used half the day to get organized, cleaned up and get a few meetings out of the way and then continued the trek south to Lago Yelcho – A sweet lake with a pretty view of lake and mountains…what a surprise.

12-17-24  Down to Quelat National Park

Today was about simple exploring as we have some extra time before we need to get to Coyhaique on Fri 12/19.  So we meandered down to Lago Rosselot National Preserve for a view and possible hike – but it was a bust as no real good place for either that we could find!  Then down to Termas El Sauce, a geothermal hot spring.  We arrived only to find we need reservations??  So we checked it out and then got back on the road.

And finally we tried to camp in Quelat National Park to find out it closes at 2:30 PM and the camping was closed!  WTF??  So that was like strike 3 for the day, but we did get a smooth and enjoyable ride through this part of Patagonia, so was it really that bad…heck no!

We camped on the shore of fjord near the park at a place called Las Toninas Camping.  A bit windy bit nice views up the fjord.  Tomorrow…we go to the park and check out the Hangling Glacier.

12-18-24 Queulat National Park

We awoke to rain and the prospect for sun was bleak for 2 days.  It was a bummer because we wanted to see the hanging glacier in Queulat Park.  We did get times of rain and no rain, with one break in the weather giving us a beautiful rainbow.

With the rain hanging around Tracy and Matt headed off to a nearby hot spring to soak for awhile.  To their amazement no one was there and the facility was beautiful sitting right on the shore of the fjord.

The pools were hot and soothing, but a dip into the fjord was needed and so we walked straight in and a was it cold! Practice for when we hit the water at the end of the PanAm trail in Ushuaia.

After the hot springs everyone got packed up and we headed south, but Tracy thought it was worth s trip into the park just to see what was there – what a great idea that turned out to be!  With low hanging clouds and drizzle still persistent, we walked to the 1st lookout and all we got to see was “potential” for a great view.

We walked about 800 meters to a different viewpoint and it took about 15-20 minutes as we had to stop and photo a beautiful swollen river and trail scenery… and us of course.

And what did we find when we got to the end of the trail you ask after that 20’ walk?  Well, a brief bit cloud clearing revealed the glacier – magnificent and complete with gushing waterfalls.  What a difference a few minutes can make!

After gazing at the prize for awhile we headed back to the rigs and drove south to Coyhaique.  The 3 hours drive was splendid – just gorgeous views every curve you go around.

12-19/23-24 Coyhaique

We will camp in Coyhaique for 4 days, fish 12/21-22 and head out on 12/23.  Normal recoup stuff – laundry, groceries, work for those who have it, vehicle odds and ends, etc.  The weather was a little on the cool and wet side although in all honesty it couldn’t make up its mind.  You always had 3 layers on and were constantly adjusting on an hourly basis.

Coyhaique is now a town of 74k and is a hub for goods and travelers heading north and south along Ruta 7.  The town is set in a gorgeous valley but comes across as a bit weathered and a little dated.  The core activity for us if fly fishing.  The contacts Matt used from Montana and Denver fly shops delivered on having 2 guides for the group for each day.  John and Roz go with one (Nico Gonzales Rojas) and Matt and Tracy the other (Nico’s younger brother Sebastian).  The fishing was far better than Lonquimay, and everyone had a chance to hone their fishing skills.  The amazing part is the setting.  The teams fished in different areas each day, but it didnt’t matter what river you were on – the setting was gorgeous and you didn’t see other people – fisherman or other!  No way this happens in the states.

The rock below is called English Mufffin rock and on the right hand side towards the bottom you can see the profile of a face – the nose sticking out and pine trees giving the hair an afro look.

Each day the guides prepared a yummy lunch and the riverbanks where you ate made for an incredible setting.

 

But the main reason to come was for the fishing and everyone caught fish.  We fished the Manihuales, Simpson and a few other rivers. Conditions varied from high wind on the Manihuales to rain on the Simpson, but who really cares when you are fishing in Chile!

12-23-24 Down to Puerto Rio Tranquillo

We headed down to Puerto Rio Tranquillo which is a very small town on the edge of the 2nd largest lake in South America – Lago Gral. Carrera/Buenos Aires – a massive lake that cross into Argentina.  The water is a color we have not seen on such a massive body of water.  Part emerald green, part deep blue- really wild.

We settled into a campground on the edge of the lake just south of town called Pudu- after the mall mammal down here.

12-24-24 Christmas Eve

What appears to be the sole reason for the town’s existence is marble caves and marble cathedral – geologic features carved by wind and water over 300-400 million years – says our stoned guide – lol!  The lake is bounded by massive limestone formation (s) that is the source of the marble and time did create some cool features.

We geared up and headed out for a look! Oh – and we met Miriam – but more on her later…

Here is a smattering of cave photos – oh and our guide made sure to give every couple on the boat the chance (3 different times) to have their photos taken in different caves…so we did it!

The guide pointed out where the rocks formed the shape of different animals – Can you see the serpent head in this one???

And the dog’s head?

How about a mummy?

The guide would have you pose “desandornado – crazy”, contemplas- contemplate and a regular couple photo – We think he had more fun that the boat.

The marble cathedral is a little different than the caves …this is the view of the heart for couples…

After the tour we headed south to the last town for provisions before Puerto Yungay and our ferry ride on 12-26…Cochrane.

Back to Miriam – lots of people hitchhike their way through Patagonia.  It is truly a thing.  You see hitchhikers all along the road and the area is very safe and you give rides where you can.  We only have 2 seats and so haven’t been able to carry any extra folks – but Miriam, who we met on the cave tour – asked if we could take her about 40km in the same direction we were headed and so Matt and Tracy said Yes!  She hoped in the front seat and Tracy and her shared the seat as we rumbled south.  We dropped in her the town of Bertrand and continued on to Cochrane.  It was fun connecting with her and getting her story as we drive south.

The drive south followed a river that had the craziest color for the entire length we saw…

We found a little hotel in town where we could spend Christmas eve and Christmas and take a break from the travel.  We came in loaded up for 2 awesome meals – Xmas Eve was steak and Xmas was lamb – both with wonderful wines we had in tow and saved for the 2 nights.

12-25-24 Christmas

Christmas Day we found Rodolpho, the hotel owner, preparing his open fire BBQ to prepare the traditional Chilean Xmas dinner…lamb – I mean this is how you do lamb am I right? Oh and he made sure we all got some after his Christmas dinner…so good.

Christmas Day we headed over to Patagonia National Park -one of the parks saved by the founder of the North Face company.  Working with the Chilean government the foundation has done a fantastic job “re-wilding” the park.  We drove through the entire park and it was the most traquil way to spend Christmas.

We are the blue dot on Google Maps…so cool

 

When we arrived back at the hotel we used R2D2, Rodolpho’s converted cement mixer BBQ to grill up our lamb chops and relax…we won’t forget this Christmas.

12-26-24 Catching the Ferry at Puerto Yungay

We are excited to catch the ferry and take a 2 day ride through the islands off Chile’s coast to reach Puerto Natales.  It was an overcast and drizzly ride for the most part down to Puerto Yungay to catch the ferry.  Rodolfo said the valley we drove through gets over 300 days of rain…and it looked like it got every bit of that water.

Puerto Yungay is a “couple of streets” little port and is the jump off point for 2-3 different ferry trips taking folks south.  The ferry to Puerto Natales is the longest of the ferry rides and the ferry company is NOT using their newest boat for this trek ):

Edels had an idea to make a Greco Completo – Hot lamb, grilled chorizo sausage, chopped tomatoes, avocado and of course….Mayo!  We broke out cooking and prep gear while waiting for the ferry and brought Edel’s food idea to life – let’s just say none of the Cumpleto’s “lived” very long 🙂

After eating we waited for our boat to pull up so we could load and go.

 

12-27/28-24 The Ferry Ride

The ferry is a bit dated but we met fun folks from Chile (lived in Marcos, CO for a bit), Germany (Raffael & Nicole had cool Landcruiser) and the states (Garth from Charlotte riding a bike from Puerto Montt to Ushuaia), the UK couple bike riding their way south, the english dude and his dog who have been living in way southern Chile doing research and knows everything about the waterway and what you are seeing – and that was in the 1st day! Lots of other interesting folks that all have a story about their journey south.  These encounters add so much to the trip and are a real bonus.

 

This poor boat hangs out and rusts away – but is a nice little bird condo!

 

The ferry makes only a few tops on the way south.  One stop is at Puerto Eden – home of the centolla crab (aka king crab).  The ferry pulls up to this island with a small community on it where a few people walk on/walk off – but more folks walked off and up to this little market.  Someone on the ferry told us a vendor there sells centolla empanadas…so we hustled off and hopped int he growing line behind this one vendor – glad we did as she only had about 75 with her and how delicious they are was not a well kept secret! Man they were a treat.

The stop got even better as a group of dolphins rolled past and help shepherd the ferry back out into the water.

We got glimpses of the ice fields and glaciers that make up Torres  del Paine and Los Glaciares National Park as we cruised the waterway. Keeps the excitement up for once we hit the shore.

Anyone else up for a nap on deck?

12-28-24 The Last Leg of The Ferry and Puerto Natales

Some great sights to carry us through the last day…

 

Looking forward to more glaciers as we head farther south to Ushuaia.  On the tail end f the ferry ride the mountains moved a little more into the distance and the landscape started to flatten out a bit – but still provided for great views.

Here we are approaching Puerto Natales and then we make land and head into town for dinner at Santolla’s for the best king crab around.

And we are off once again on land – now to grab a place to stay and that king crab dinner.

   

Sunday, 12-29, we head off to Torres del Paine National Park to see what it has to offer.

12-29-24 Torres del Paine National Park

We drove from Puerto Natales to the park in the morning thinking we were going to do a drive in the park and maybe a small hike or 2.

The weather was unusually warm and the sky almost cloudless – a rarity from talking to folks who work in the park – Oh – and no wind which was even more rare as winds are such an issue they have a sign letting you know what the wind risk is!

The main feature of the park is a gorgeous mount feature comprised of horns and towers – the geology of the place is crazy and worth a few minutes to Google it and see how all this came together.  We took pictures as we approached the park, but the closer we got and after taking the hike to the near-base of the mountain, the beauty really hits home.  Some views from outside the park.

This video from a ways back is impressive, but wait til you view the one when we are at the base.

And then as we cruise into the park and through the park to the trailhead…and Matt and Edels helping some tourist bus driver get unstuck…

 

And then right as the trail ends these mountains are just amazing

Amazing how much better this video is closer than the one farther away..

Right as this picture was being taken you could hear loud rumbling – like thunder – coming from one of the ice formations – Tracy turned to see it…crazy!

Really spectacular hike and views.  After the hike we headed to a lodge on Gray Lake in the park where we were going to stay and had booked boat ride to glacier on the lake.  We didn’t know quite what to expect but what a “cool” way to end the day!  The blue ice is from the glacier weight overtime eliminating the oxygen (we think) – but man it is a sight.

 

12-30-24 Starting Trek South To Ushuaia

We left Torres del Paine and headed down to Punta Arenas, a medium sized port town and grabbed a camp spot for the evening.  The weather had changed quite a bit and goes to show how lucky we were the day before.  The side by side below shows what we would have missed coming into the park 1 day later.  Man- what a difference a day makes!!

We camped at a place where we were fortunate to have very little wind and cooked up another good dinner before calling it a day.

We were going to visit a penguin colony the following day but decided instead to keep heading south to Ushuaia and catch the penguin colony on the way back given the timing of the ferries to visit them.

12-31-24 The Push South

We made it as far as Rio Grande, Argentina – about 1.5 hours into Argentina – so yes – we are now back in Argentina!  The landscapes are not awesome, mostly flat plains and sheep ranching.

Please hop over to the Argentina page to follow us as we finish the southward part of the journey into Ushuaia on New Year’s day!

Ciao!

1-12-25     WE ARE BACK IN CHILE!! – The Road to Santiago

We hit the road at 8 and head north to Santiago – but with gas, health and food stops – the drive is another 14 hour day.  That makes 3 grueling travel days.

Good news – we arrive safely at El Izeulana (place we camped at before) near Santiago around 11 pm, share a bottle of wine and go to bed.  The plan, well executed, brought us over 1200 miles in 3 days and we are now in a position to get vehicles ready for shipping.  We drop them off on 1/21 so we have more time than we really need, but tow truck drivers don’t get paid to sight see as you drive so we’ll make the best of the time we have.

1-14/21-25  The Wait

Tracy leaves 1/21 and Roz 1/22.  John and Matt have to stay until 1/21 to get the vehicles to San Antonio and make sure they get loaded and all things are in order.  It is mid summer and temps are in the high 80’s and hot. The big news on Monday 1/20 is that while Matt and John are at a notary, Tracy went off exploring in what was supposed to be a safer area.  As she was returning from her walk some kid snuck up behind her and tried to grab her purse (on a sling across her chest and not easy to remove) and instead got a necklace she was wearing.  She wasn’t hurt thank god, and no one around did anything to help as it was so quick!  Funny – after all the places we have been, this happens in a “safe” neighborhood in Santiago!!

Part of Tracy’s last day on 1/21 was spent at Cousino-Macul winery on the outskirts of Santiago.  A smaller and older winery in the area – always a good way to spend half a day on a tour and tasting!

John and Matt have some personal things to take care to help pass the time and will need to spend a day thoroughly cleaning and organizing the rigs before they are loaded.  It is too bad the vehicles can’t get loaded sooner -but oh well!

John has had this camp table for over 10 years and it has gone to Alaska and all across the US.  The trip took its toll on the poor thing and the leg finally caved in – a sad parting  🙂

There was some down time for sure during this time in Santiago.  Watching playoff football at an Irish bar, continuing our indulgence in Chilean food and enjoying the mid 80’s temps when it is frigid back in the states.

There was a bit of a scare regarding the shipping of the vehicles.  We were told on 1/16 that while we had made a reservation on the ship, the shipping company did not acknowledge-approve it so we were left without a ship!  There are only 3 shipping lines from Valparaiso-San Antonio to the US and now 2 were fully booked out until mid-March.

The last shipping line (MSC- the most expensive of course) was left and we submitted a request to them and waited 2 days to finally get an answer…and it was YES!  So we now load the vehicles into a container on Monday 1/20 and the ship leaves for Houston on 2/4 – with an arrival somewhere towards the end of February- Whew…that was close.  If we couldn’t get a slot on MSC, we would have had to store the vehicles in Valparaiso for a month until the shipping schedules opened up later.  The shipper believes companies are accelerating goods shipments to the US before the new administration comes in and imposes higher tariffs.

So Matt and John patiently wait until 1/20 cleaning up loose ends and working on things back in the states.  Monday came and the logistics of getting a tow truck out to the camp area where we stored the vehicles and get the vehicles down to Valparaiso generally went without a hitch.  Vehicles made it to the shipper in their storage facility, cleared customs and now wait to get loaded into a container  for shipping out on 2/4.

After a few more indulgent meals and then Edels is off Tuesday evening 1/21 and Matt follows on 1/22.  Now we wait for the process to deliver the vehicles to Houston later in February and Edels has his shipped to a place to get a new engine (what a coincidence it is Denver!) and Matt will meander home after visiting relatives along the way.