I have been meaning to update you all for a while now, but my time is very busy here, as I'm sure it is for all of you at home. Today is exactly a month since I left Canada, and I have only " months of holiday left!!! Okay, okay, I know I have no good reason to complain since not everyone takes a 4 month trip, but there is so much to see and do that I just want to stay longer and longer...
I have been traveling lately with two other women, one Swiss and one French. It has been great having travel buddies, although sometimes I do long for my space and some quality silence :) But tomorrow we part ways as I fly south to Peurto Arenas in order to make my way into parc Torres del Paine. I just had an email from a friend, Victor, who was there a couple of weeks ago, and the pictures are AMAZING so be sure to check back for my post on the trecking in a couple weeks. From now until then I will be mostly out of contact as I go from one park to another for more hiking and glacier walking.
The next few posts are some highlights from the last couple weeks - enjoy!
I hope you are all doing well, and if you have time it would be great to hear from you - news from home is always a welcome diversion!
xox
Andrea
Valdivia and the deadly scallop
February 9-11
After looking forward to visitig Valdivia for a number of days, I was happy to arrive and find that it was a really nice town. Its right on the river, with several island making up the city and surround area. Its also very close to the ocean, so it had about everything! I had traveled there with a friend from Villarica but since she was only planning to spend one day we went straight away to the local brewery, Kuntzmann, where we had a sampler to make sure we enjoyed all the flavors that the city had to offer :)
For the next day, I planned to go visit park Oncol and do some walking there for the day. I met up with a Swiss girl that morning and planned to go together, but where we got to the tourist info the bus was sold out (this is high season in Chile afterall!). I guess there is some merit to planning in advance, but I´m on vacation so we all know that that´s not going to happen - and actually almost resulted in me missi
ng out on hiking with a friend in Patagonia, but that´s a later story. Since we missed the park, we went to the botanical gardens instead and saw a lagoon with water lilies and bladderwort, so it was not a wasted day after all :) That night, on our way to dinner, we ran into Patrick, a guy from the UK who we had met in Villarrica. He joined us for dinner - since we were by the sea, we went for seafood, although since I was trying to save some money, I had cooked for myself at home and was just going along for a beer. Patrick, Janine, and Nicole all had seafood, and after my comment that scallops were my FAVourite seafood, Patrick gave me one from his pasta dish. I would regret his generosity later...
The next day Nicole and I made the bus for Oncol and had a great walk through forests to a lookout that showed us both the city of Valdivia and the Pacific Ocean - an impressive vista. Even more impressive, once we noticed them, were the numerous (yes, numerous, not just one!) volcanoes in the distance. It was a wonderful clear day and we had lunch at the top in the sunshine. It was on the way down that I started feeling a bit funny. My head was light and my feet seemed really far away. By the time we got back down, I was feverish and had a headache so I lay in the sun for the 3 hours waiting for the bus back to town. I spend the next 2 days feeling pretty crappy and having no energy. Nicole saw Patrick, who was feeling fine, the next morning, so I put down my sickness to the usual travellers illness. I promised myself that I would be more careful with my eating....
I have been traveling lately with two other women, one Swiss and one French. It has been great having travel buddies, although sometimes I do long for my space and some quality silence :) But tomorrow we part ways as I fly south to Peurto Arenas in order to make my way into parc Torres del Paine. I just had an email from a friend, Victor, who was there a couple of weeks ago, and the pictures are AMAZING so be sure to check back for my post on the trecking in a couple weeks. From now until then I will be mostly out of contact as I go from one park to another for more hiking and glacier walking.
The next few posts are some highlights from the last couple weeks - enjoy!
I hope you are all doing well, and if you have time it would be great to hear from you - news from home is always a welcome diversion!
xox
Andrea
Valdivia and the deadly scallop
February 9-11
After looking forward to visitig Valdivia for a number of days, I was happy to arrive and find that it was a really nice town. Its right on the river, with several island making up the city and surround area. Its also very close to the ocean, so it had about everything! I had traveled there with a friend from Villarica but since she was only planning to spend one day we went straight away to the local brewery, Kuntzmann, where we had a sampler to make sure we enjoyed all the flavors that the city had to offer :)
For the next day, I planned to go visit park Oncol and do some walking there for the day. I met up with a Swiss girl that morning and planned to go together, but where we got to the tourist info the bus was sold out (this is high season in Chile afterall!). I guess there is some merit to planning in advance, but I´m on vacation so we all know that that´s not going to happen - and actually almost resulted in me missi
ng out on hiking with a friend in Patagonia, but that´s a later story. Since we missed the park, we went to the botanical gardens instead and saw a lagoon with water lilies and bladderwort, so it was not a wasted day after all :) That night, on our way to dinner, we ran into Patrick, a guy from the UK who we had met in Villarrica. He joined us for dinner - since we were by the sea, we went for seafood, although since I was trying to save some money, I had cooked for myself at home and was just going along for a beer. Patrick, Janine, and Nicole all had seafood, and after my comment that scallops were my FAVourite seafood, Patrick gave me one from his pasta dish. I would regret his generosity later...The next day Nicole and I made the bus for Oncol and had a great walk through forests to a lookout that showed us both the city of Valdivia and the Pacific Ocean - an impressive vista. Even more impressive, once we noticed them, were the numerous (yes, numerous, not just one!) volcanoes in the distance. It was a wonderful clear day and we had lunch at the top in the sunshine. It was on the way down that I started feeling a bit funny. My head was light and my feet seemed really far away. By the time we got back down, I was feverish and had a headache so I lay in the sun for the 3 hours waiting for the bus back to town. I spend the next 2 days feeling pretty crappy and having no energy. Nicole saw Patrick, who was feeling fine, the next morning, so I put down my sickness to the usual travellers illness. I promised myself that I would be more careful with my eating....
Isla Grande de Chiloé - the scallop saga continues...
Nicole, a French woman Freddie, and I traveled to Chiloe island together to send a few days - we were hoping for good weather, but as anyone who has traveled to Newfoundland knows, islands off of oceanic coasts are not good for predictable weather! We had some sun, lots of rain, and lots of clouds. But maybe this is the reason that the island has lots of folklore and why you need to be careful of knomes when walking in the woods, alone, at night. Fortunately I didnt do this and made it though the island unharmed.
From the north of the island we went to see two penguin colonies - one species from the north and one from the south that both overlap their ranges only on these two islands off the coast of Chiloe. They were funny to see waddling around, all protecting their burrows, but no babies around yet!
Another fun fact, especially for dad and Henry - Chiloe Island is the source of 80% of the worlds potatoe varieties! At the museum I saw 10 varieties, from small to big, from yellow to red to purple. Maybe our blue potatoes that we tried Henry came from here!
Further down the island in Chonchi we stayed in what was supposed to be a "beachfront haven" run by a Canadian guy. Lets just say he gives our country a bad name. The hostel had great potential but needed some serious cleaning and gardening done!! Freddie cleaned her hands on the teatowel in the kitchen and came away covered in cat hair! Yuck. At the hostel, much to our surprise, we ran in Patrick again! This tends to happen when everyone is traveling about the same route using the same guide books :) Turns out I didnt get the one bad scallop of the bunch - Patrick spent 4 days sick and had to go to the hospital to get a rehydration drip put in! The doctors said he caugt a seafood virus of some kind. So it turns out I got off easy, and I can go back to eating/drinking whatever I want.
Peurto Varas - the most expensive place so far!
This is such a resort town I really didnt like it - if I wanted to be overrun by tourists and pay twice the price for a coke, I would go to Tremblant!
On the up side, Volcano Orsono is just on the other side of the lake and we spent a day walking around the base, hoping, unsucessfully, that the clouds would clear and we would get a view of the top. Even without the view, the lake was amazing and the beaches were fine black sand. I think I said this already, but the lakes are so cristal clear and blue they look like the setting for a mermaid fairy tale!
From here I catch a plane to Punta Aranas, and then a bus to Peurto Natales to go hiking in Torres del Paine national park with Mauricio, one of the students I met in Conception. The trip should be amazing and I cant wait....I just hope I am not in such bad shape as I think I am! 4 or 5 days of hiking with all the camping gear will answer that question quickly...
A (pictures to come later....)
Nicole, a French woman Freddie, and I traveled to Chiloe island together to send a few days - we were hoping for good weather, but as anyone who has traveled to Newfoundland knows, islands off of oceanic coasts are not good for predictable weather! We had some sun, lots of rain, and lots of clouds. But maybe this is the reason that the island has lots of folklore and why you need to be careful of knomes when walking in the woods, alone, at night. Fortunately I didnt do this and made it though the island unharmed.
From the north of the island we went to see two penguin colonies - one species from the north and one from the south that both overlap their ranges only on these two islands off the coast of Chiloe. They were funny to see waddling around, all protecting their burrows, but no babies around yet!
Another fun fact, especially for dad and Henry - Chiloe Island is the source of 80% of the worlds potatoe varieties! At the museum I saw 10 varieties, from small to big, from yellow to red to purple. Maybe our blue potatoes that we tried Henry came from here!
Further down the island in Chonchi we stayed in what was supposed to be a "beachfront haven" run by a Canadian guy. Lets just say he gives our country a bad name. The hostel had great potential but needed some serious cleaning and gardening done!! Freddie cleaned her hands on the teatowel in the kitchen and came away covered in cat hair! Yuck. At the hostel, much to our surprise, we ran in Patrick again! This tends to happen when everyone is traveling about the same route using the same guide books :) Turns out I didnt get the one bad scallop of the bunch - Patrick spent 4 days sick and had to go to the hospital to get a rehydration drip put in! The doctors said he caugt a seafood virus of some kind. So it turns out I got off easy, and I can go back to eating/drinking whatever I want.
Peurto Varas - the most expensive place so far!
This is such a resort town I really didnt like it - if I wanted to be overrun by tourists and pay twice the price for a coke, I would go to Tremblant!
On the up side, Volcano Orsono is just on the other side of the lake and we spent a day walking around the base, hoping, unsucessfully, that the clouds would clear and we would get a view of the top. Even without the view, the lake was amazing and the beaches were fine black sand. I think I said this already, but the lakes are so cristal clear and blue they look like the setting for a mermaid fairy tale!
From here I catch a plane to Punta Aranas, and then a bus to Peurto Natales to go hiking in Torres del Paine national park with Mauricio, one of the students I met in Conception. The trip should be amazing and I cant wait....I just hope I am not in such bad shape as I think I am! 4 or 5 days of hiking with all the camping gear will answer that question quickly...
A (pictures to come later....)
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