Still in Chile - Lota

We arrived in the strange holiday town of Lota. I say strange because it has a very popular beach on the pacific coast It has all the features of any beach all over the world.  However the town is also adjacent to a large port and is also a coal town, though the fortunes of coal are now much reduced. 

Riding the rails

The consequence is that a railway runs right along the back of the beach with such long trains running along the unguarded track, complete with people riding secretly on the wagons.

First view of the Pacific from our campsite

We camped on a site that was perched on a small cliff where we were made so welcome by the manager, he seemed excited by our presence and told us that he is a coin collector. We scrabbled around and managed to scrape up  a few British coins. He was delighted and refused to charge us for our stay. He phoned up a friend who could speak English just to make sure that we were ok.

Coal Mines

We had heard that there was a mining museum nearby and we went to visit.

Getting ready to go down

A drive around this interesting town brought us to the old coal mine where we were given a helmet with a lamp and all kinds of instructions and then herded into a mine lift and down into a real coal mine!

Winding down in the cage

Now I know this was just a taster but we spent  a couple of hours  with a Spanish speaking guide , himself a miner. 

Our mining guide spoke only Spanish but still maged to be captivating

Of course we struggled to understand his Spanish but he was so characterful that it was really brought to life. I know that we only went down a fairly short way and we did not have to down deep  or far under the sea! I have always had great empathy with miners and this brief experience has really enhanced that feeling. These great workers work in such conditions, physically gruelling and dangerous and if you grow up in a mining town , you have so little choice.

It was hard to take expressive pics while moving on the highway but the damage was devastating and came right down to the road all around the city

 Now we had heard a great deal about forest fires in the region. I think I had assumed that it was a regional matter that focused on the city of Concepcion. Well we drove through the city and found to our horror that now the fires had finally been extinguished. Though literally in the past couple of days. It was truly astonishing to find that the fires had covered a massive area, but not only that it had virtually surrounded the city with the highways acting as a firebreak between the flames and the city. Many people had been evacuated  and some had lost everything and the city had been all but cut off.

It is an interesting fact that nearly all the firefighter in Chile are volunteers and there had been a massive movement of them from all over this big country.

My record of this event is of course inadequate but this was such a scene of devastation. All dealt with by unpaid volunteers, in fact we gave a lift to 4 young students with their shovels, who were on their way home to Santiago after volunteering to fight the fires in Ascunsion. on the same journey we saw a convoy of fire engines returning to points North

Valparaiso

On we went to this remarkable town. Now we had read about it in our Lonely Planet guide. We had always found this to be dry to the point of being unreadable. We read up about Valparaiso, I found nothing in this guide to get me interested in it. We read some dire stories about crime in the town. When we arrived in the dark having got lost on the way. we found it really difficult to find anywhere suitable to spend the night and eventually found ourselves  sleeping parked in a city street.

Looking over Valparaiso 

The next day we went into the town to have a look. Parking is difficult there

We pulled into a petrol station to fill up. The forecourt was quite small and we asked where we could park to go for coffee and a bit of internet. The attendant said ‘just leave it there.’ He was quite insistent, and so we did just that. 

Di and Mark arrive for tea

We were able to find out about a walking tour which is such a great way to get a feel of a town. while we were sitting in the van an English couple who were also passing through came to chat to us. Ping invited them to have tea with us in the van and we had a very pleasant hour with a charming pair of fellow travellers.


That afternoon we went on the tour  we found how communication in the town is by trolley bus and also, because it is built on a series of steep hills which make up the neighborhoods and are reached by ancient funicular railways. 

One of the many ascenciador s that take
you up into the various parts of the city

We also learnt something about how the once vibrant commercial economy was brought down by the opening of the Panama Canal. The city was an important link in the communications chain and did very nicely thank you. However when the canal opened  the almost unexpected consequence was that the port lost its importance almost overnight.  The best example we saw was one street that was so incredibly opulent and grand   with beautiful and sumptuous buildings which are now almost derelict. There was a beautiful hotel for the rich traders. It was owned by a very successful family who were ruined once the canal opened.Interestingly one woman remains  and still lives in the building which is virtually in ruins. She manages to eke out a living by allowing the informal street traders to leave their stalls and stock there for a small payment. Valparaiso was a very interesting and cultured city with a busy port.

Street art:

An important feature of Valparaiso is street art. It seems that in order to gain the status of World Heritage site, a condition is that the buildings may not be altered physically, so people can only use paint to change their houses. Out of this has arisen a custom of hiring or allowing artists to express themselves all over the place. The result is that nearly everywhere is  a riot of colourful and mostly beautiful original artwork. Street art is everywhere in the cities of South America nowhere to the degree of Valparaiso.

From Valporaiso we went on to Santiago.
As we drove away from the town we came across the local cemetery. At first we mistook it for blocks of flats in a kind of council estate. 

Then as we drew closer we realised that these concrete structure are actually kind of pigeon
holes forcoffins and what we were looking at was a vast array of tombs it went on and on.

The cemetery is easy to find as it is just past the 'British' lighthouse.

Mountains:

Ah those mountains!

Chimbarazo, Cotopaxi took me by the hand! Well not quite.
The important mountains in Chile have names like O’Higgins and Fitzroy. There is even a region named Cochrane.
Since then having moved north along Chile, the massive Andes have become even more of a feature. Having got around to realising Just how high they are, then How long they are. Now I have had to wrap my head around just how wide they are. As we approached Santiago their presence continued to grow. The mountains sort of circle around the city.

Santiago

The Presidential palace . Here President Allende ended his own  life after the building was all but destroyed in the coup de tat when General Pinochet ordered Air force jets (made in Britain) to fire a sustained salvo of rockets at the building intent on killing everyone inside.

We stayed a week in Santiago which is a huge modern wealthy city. We camped,  rather strangely, in a car park beside a local park it was busy and dusty and in almost every way it was not a good place, but actually it turned out  to be   really quite a good place to spend some time. The car park was busy but the watchmen who look after the place allow overland vehicles to camp there. This is really stretching their role as car park attendants. On the grapevine we learned that a generous tip was the way forward. They allowed us to use toilets, take as much water as we needed. And even do repairs etc.

At the top of the hill

Cable car ride

In addition The park was lovely and spread its way up the side of a steep hill there was a brand new cable car in which we travelled  to the top and a 150 year old funicular railway down the other side. The road on the hill was used by innumerable serious cyclists  who were practising for competitions.

 The Metro was nearby and we were able to explore the city and we even took a very interesting walking tour. 

There was a visiting exhibition of  Pablo Picassos work was in the city. So we went there. To our surprise, when we arrived an official came up to us and escorted us to the front of the queue and showed us into the exhibition We have absolutely no idea who he thought we were, but we enjoyed the privileged.

A bit of first aid for a little girl in the park

 A few minor repairs  and it all worked out well. We left Santiago to make our way across the border toward Mendoza in Argentina.

 We had been told that it was a really great drive, it was even described to us in some detail.

We were really unprepared for what it would be like. I had resolved to fill up with diesel before leaving Chile. As we drove through our day there was a long distance before we finally found one it was just before the border and the whole place had been flattened with just 2 pumps remaining. We were able to fill up. After queueing for a while we had the pumps to ourselves. I told one of the attendants that I would like to fill our reserve tank for the first time since our last adventure with it. I explained to the attendant  that it might be ‘Problematico!’. He pointed to his colleague  and said in broken English, ‘that’s not problematico, you should try working with him! We had quite a funny time filling up and once complete  off we set for the border. We picked up a couple of hitch hikers they were a couple from Guatamala. Quite bizarrely they told us that they make their living by juggling! Funny old world insn’t it.

Our traffic stopping puppet

NB:  In every city and town in both Argentina and Chile at busy traffic lights, jugglers appear.  It is a kind of busking. Some of them are ok and some are incredibly clever and imaginative and they all seem to make a living.  It would appear that your basic South American motorist never tires of a good juggler!
While in Santiago trhey managed to move up a notch with gigantic puppet  making as to stop the traffic or even push the cars back and generally taking charge of the junction.

Anyhow, I explained to them that we would only be able to take them to the border with Argentina.

The picture on our satnav

Now I really had no idea of the drive up ahead. With the Andes all around us we embarked on the steep climb which was hard work, and then…..

We turned a corner and saw ahead and above us was the most dramatic sight.  A road the that climbed up higher and higher we learned later that there were over 30 switchbacks and hairpin bends. 

looking down from above

To look up we saw layer after layer of maybe 40 or 50 big trucks, it was so high that it was difficult to see the cars,stacked up on each layer  it was such a dramatic and quite surreal site. It took us well over an hour to get to the top. I have to ask you to use your imagination here as it was really hard to photograph this incredible sight. It was necessary to just keep driving up. We were all immersed in it and between the four of us were amazed at what we were experiencing. Eventually we reached the top.  Still then  a breathtaking view all around as we drove a further hour to the border.

The busy border crossing high in The Andes

Even the border was an experience. We let our passengers go on their way as it became clear that we would take many hours getting through the border in fact it took over 3 hours  by which time it was completely dark We cleared customs and spent the night in the car park. Very glad we had been able to fill up with fuel.

We awoke the next morning to even more incredibleness. Looking at the fantastic mountain vista.

Just one glimpse of that magnificent railway

What is truly hard to believe is that there is a, now disused, British built railway that picks it way roughly along the same route  through tunnels over bridges  and as it ploughs its way through these gigantic mountains the track is covered with an avalanche shelter miles and miles long . What is incredible is that it has been built and run at all. Then  consider that for some reason someone has pulled the plug on this engineering marvel.

We met up with our friends Jen and Kinh and continued on our way toward Mendoza.

Now today, right now I am writing this pretty much in real time!

We had been told of a much more adventurous route  to Mendoza.

We had been told it was really quite a difficult route but considering  we were with Jen and Kinh who  are really quite experienced  and we both have really great vehicles we decided to give it a go.

It is a 70km drive, but up and over the mountains.

Just before the night on the bald mountain.

The road started rough for quite a long way but was quite mangeable. along the way we ran into other traveller who engaged us. one was proudly insistant on showing us his version of a camping car. and another was just walking along playing his flute. 

Our wandering Flautist

I stopped to talk with him and found that he is a serious music student who enjoys hiking, it was such a nice moment in our travels.

 After some time we ran into problem areas where it was really difficult to get through.

The most difficult parts were where the van leaned over to such a crazy angle  and was hard to control. 








I should explain  at this point that our van has quite a high driving position,which means that the feeling of it leaning over is magnified by the leverage. Add to this I know a friend who has actually turned an identical van onto its roof. I had glossed over the knowledge that I really have a problem with heights.

We started to ascend the mountain and several times encountered places where the van was tipping ,as I felt it , quite violently. The road became narrow and ran around the mountain with me on the side that has the sheer drop into the valley below.  Every tiny bump felt to me as if it would tip us over the side.

See what I mean about tippiness

I have in the past described some of our scary drives. However this was truly terrifying. Earlier Ping asked  me if I was  enjoying the drive and I said yes as it was really quite thrilling, but then as we went higher it tested me further. With barely enough room to drive up and  now being incredibly sensitised to any sensation of tipping. That was when the sky darkened and a rainstorm began. We tried to go on but were very aware  that the wet alters the nature of the ground. The rain then turned to a  hail storm that joined in leaving the path covered in places with hail.  I needed to stop until the storm had passed  and the fogged up windscreen cleared we all inched our way up further till we found somewhere we could stop for the night. My companions were all ready to go on but I had had enough for now. As we have stopped and the rain has finally passed we are perched up here at about 3000 metres up, the air is quite thin and it can be hard to exert ourselves. It is not so bad, but it really doesn’t help. It has been such a difficult choice but I have said that I will continue tomorrow. For now Ping is making some food with Jen and we will spend the night.

 I will continue this tomorrow I hope once we are back at a sensible height preferably on firm concrete the following morning. It is a long time since I have felt so bad about a situation. I hated my inability to function sensibly. My fear of heights had really got the better of me. I was uncomfortable spending the night on this ledge even though I am sure it was quite safe. All through the night I was fantasizing about the handbrake cable snapping spontaneously or maybe the wind would get up and blow us over !

Now it is morning, when the adrenaline has gone and I have time to think ,it is worse. I could not persuade myself to drive the van  to either continue up or to  make my way back down. Being someone who needs to be useful  and capable I was simply not functioning and I felt wretched.  

Kinh taking the van back down

Ping took the decision from me and told our friends that we would return rather than continue over the mountains.

Our friend Kinh who is completely at home with these matters, he was never worried at all about driving round and round on a ledge up in the sky, he offered to drive the van down to a more sensible place for me. Of course he did it like it was just another day at the office.

Our first human contact in 24 hours

 We drove back along the route. To find that the rain had altered a lot of the hazards we encountered on the way out. just towards the end the first people we had encountered in 24 hours was this police patrol Having said that this was one of the more adventurous drives I have had and I do not regret taking it though I heartily wish there were no mountains in the way. My sincere thanks go to Jen and Kinh for their  support and help. I am so sorry to have held you up!

Now back at our starting point I think it will take me more than a day or two to recover from the awful emotions I experienced. 

You have seen one Ande you have seen em all!

If all the children in all the world shout out 'I believe in Ferries'! then Tinkerbell will be saved.

As I am writing this we are taking a ferry which bridges one of the major gaps in the Carretera Austral, a 9 hour voyage along a kind of inland sea.

For the past couple of weeks we have been treated to gorgeous vistas of mountain scenery and wonderful lakes formed or fed by glaciers. But you end up taking a lot of this beauty in your stride.

The omnipresent Andes

As we take this boat ride to our right land is in sight continuously. For the entire journey is the dark grey green silhouette of the Andes an unbroken line of mountains as big as one can imagine. It forces me to realise the monumental reality of a range thousands of miles long! 

Lunch time entertainment

Fish beautifully presented for sale

Seafood beautifully displayed for sale

We arrived from the ferry in Puerto Montt which is quite an interesting small town with lovely small market selling mostly clothes and Fish, supplied directly from the boat in the harbour. 

An old friend

And his family. 'Thats the Mrs on the left'.

We spent much longer there enjoying the experience. There was a family of sea lions in the harbour who had clearly taken up residence for the rich pickings as fishermen throw away the bits they don’t want and the tourists chuck other stuff for them. The water is lovely and clear so you just watch the young animals swimming and playing and fighting over scraps. 

Fishing boats of all shapes and sizes come and go all the time and the huge pool that makes up the harbour goes on around a bend into an area of intense marine activity of all kinds and over all that it is quite lovely.

Juan Pablo

Just before moving on let me go back to Peurto Montt where we met one of the intrepid cyclists His name is Juan Pablo and he is from Equador. He had an idea to go to Chile and cycle the Carreterra  Austral. However he had arrived in Peurto Montt in pretty poor shape and  very low spirits. Why I asked. He explained that he had a goal to ride this highway. It was plain to see that he was pretty much exhausted. Really quite crestfallen about it becoming plain that he would not fulfil his ambition He needed some encouragement. As we talked to him it transpired that he had ridden over the high mountains of Bolivia, across the salt pans in the Bolivian desert.  He had almost died of dehydration through under estimating the great Atacama Desert.  And more recently had caused himself unspeakable pain by accidentally spilling boiling water over his sandalled foot.

Juan Pablo

As I was speaking with him I found that I was learning a great deal about setting goals and then having to change plans or live with the goals unmet.

Someone recently gave me the sage advice that 'When everything else has failed, reduce your expectations’ 

Suddenly while talking to poor old Juan Pablo it all made sense. I was able to point out to him that far from failing he had, unwittingly met other goals that were fare more impressive, by accident!

I pointed out that nearly all the Australeers that I had met had in fact started out from Santiago sparing themselves the need to chug up and down the mountains of Bolivia or across the driest and least populated desert in the world, whilst carrying a nasty injury. Now it is true that there are a number of people who do all of this  but not  the short timescale that had been set for JP he had to be back at his desk in  three weeks or lose his job. So in the leave of absence given by his boss he had ridden over snow laden mountains, across the barren salt flats and nearly died of thirst in the Atacama. I felt able to say to him that I found it hard to point the finger at him for under achieving. He had merely set the wrong goal which, when I last checked is not against the laws of overlanding. I want to say a couple of things here. First is congratulations Juan Pablo on your magnificent achievement! 

Let us all learn about the false idol that is artificial goal setting. Of course we all need something to measure our achievements but let us not ever overlook the things we really achieve.

I raise a glass to Juan Pablo who I am proud to have met!

We left there to travel on to Osorno which is famous for its volcano  We arrived at a municipal camp site to stay. Municipal camps are quite common as the local authorities have to make some provisions. However most of them are pretty grim and worth avoiding. 

These strange, noisy, large birds have been all around for most of our journey No idea what they are called but we miss them when they are not around.

 This one was different   It was a lovely large public park with the gate looked after by enthusiastic staff  They took so much trouble to ensure that we knew what was available and where it all was. Our man took the trouble to use his phone to assist, every time we spoke he would punch it ito his phone and then translate his answer. He showed us the showers very clean and well kept. He explained the times  and then said ‘you can have your shower now’ he said this several times with slightly increased intensity until I felt I may get into trouble if I did not immediately take a shower. He was just being helpful but I did wonder if at some point he would offer to scrub my back. We settled in to notice several other vans parked around as well as many tents and families just enjoying a lovely day out.

Janet and Scott receive expert instruction from me on  putting away their tent 

Just next to us we met a couple, she Canadian and he Kiwi they were on their way by motorcycle from Canada to New Zealand. We enjoyed a nice evening hearing about their travels and the adventure of taking two motor bikes  but later having to sell one and ride together they were most interesting company and were also in the process of looking for applying for jobs as they travelled so they would have work to go to when they got to NZ.

On the drive towards Orsono  we happened upon this extraordinary restaurant:

The name here is The Rescuers, their huge car park was full of old cars , aeroplanes and steam engines , together with an array of old iron. we just happened to pull in here.

Steam engines galore

it may not be clear but the plane is sitting on an ice cream van

We only stayed one night there as we had arranged to meet friends further on and we were already worried we would be holding them up. We had wanted to see the Volcano but our park worker told us that there really were plenty more where they came from and we would get a chance to see more as we went on. 

This what I call a volcano.

im, er and a volcano

So we continued to Lake Villarica which also has a beautiful volcano overlooking the lake  and really looking like a volcano should, pointy with a snow cap and a little wisp of white smoke at the top.

It towers over the town of Pucon which is another holiday town but this time very noticeable one for the more wealthy holiday maker it is very beautiful and full of expensive looking holiday makers wearing up market versions of the 'kissmequick' hat.

take a moment to read the quaint wording of this sign

I love this boat for taking tourists around the lake. It has to be the saddest tourist ride ever.

As it turned out our friends had been significantly delayed as they had been refused entry back into Chile as they were driving a right hand drive car. None of us had ever heard of such a thing. It meant that they had to find another border where the border officials too had not heard of it.

While we waited we learned that all the National Parks had been closed due to numerous forest fires, including one which had spread out of control and seriously threatened the city of  Assencion.  That city was all but surrounded by wide spread fires.

We eventually met up with our friends Jen and Kihn who had decided they would stop a little further north.  We went to stay the garden of a Hostel  which was run by a chap called Haitian John.  John ,or Jean as he was properly called as a French speaker. He was such a nice chap though we never discovered why if you wanted a shower you had to ask him to put a light bulb in. If you didn’t ask then you did not get told it was necessary. Bath time was a very strange affair. 

It being Chinese New Year we agreed to go for a Chinese meal. It really wasn't up to much and the whole experience was slightly surreal, but we had a nice evening just the same.

The next day we had a visit to the local museum where we learned quite a bit about the colonisation and liberation of Chile The most outstanding consequence was that most of the indigenous tribes have been overwhelmed and pretty much wiped out. There was one exception, The Mpachus who were such ferocious fighters and expert strategists that they have never been really beaten down. Indeed after several hundred years they are still battling with the government.

When the forest fires broke out the government were quick to say that they were suspects for starting the fires deliberately. Interestingly all the people we spoke with did not find this at all believable.

At the end of a couple of days in this town  we decided that we would together go and visit the seaside. However after  some interesting miscommunication, including seeing Kihn and Jen driving in the  opposite direction as we drove according to their directions. We ended up in completely different destinations.

Everyone uses the ferry

We ended up spending the night at a little ferry port  where in the morning the locals really took a shine to us, insisting on sharing breakfast with us. 

Our hosts for breakfast

They brought a tray of empanadas (a bit like a pasty). Ping had one which she enjoyed  very much. I was handed one up to the cab while I had a very nice conversation with a woman nearby. Unfortunately, while I was talking I found somthing sort of meaty and sort of stringy  which I pulled out of my pasty like the old conjurers trick of flags of all nations. I continued eating and showing this woman how much I was enjoying it when I found an octopus tentacle sticking out of my pasty. Now I have manged to eat some pretty interesting things in my time, possibly, including domestic pets but this one really did it for me. I just could not choke it down and frankly I felt nauseous all morning.

Just before starting the pump!

Water was delivered by tanker to this location. Just the same our new friends insisted on plugging us into the tanker which was alright until he started the engine on the pump, which left all concerned very wet indeed.It was a very generous gesture indeed.

Finally a load of bullocks.

Getting ready for work

Here was my chance for an act of selfless heroism. A local farmer had just hitched up a pair of bullocks to a cart and had just popped his small children into the back of it when without warning the bullocks took off. It was some distance away but it all unfolded in front of me. They sped away spilling children out of the back of the cart as they went. As they gathered speed, I downed tools  and ran towards them clapping my hands and yelling quite a lot, ended up in their path as they finally ground to a halt. The children were unhurt and it was smiles all round as we set off on our way.

All smiles and away we go