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