Visiting Paraguay

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Asuncion, Ciudad del Este, Foz do Iguaçu

We jumped out of the taxi at the Argentina/Brazil border and said our goodbyes to Kevin’s parents. The taxi driver instructed us to exit through Argentinean customs and then take a bus from the border check point that would take us through Brazil and into Ciudad del Este in Paraguay without stopping and requiring us to do immigration paperwork in Brazil or Paraguay. The reason for this is that Ciudad del Este is a city that thrives based on the sale of discount electronics. In order to promote shoppers to cross, the Paraguayan and Brazilian borders allow people to cross the Puente de Amistad (literally bridge of friendship) without requiring entry and exit paperwork which would cause long lines and disincentive potential shoppers.

We decided to spent one night in Ciudad del Este in part because we didn’t know how quickly we would be able to cross between the 3 countries, in part to break up our travels, and in part to see another city in Paraguay. It turns out that if you aren’t interested in shopping there is not a whole lot to see in Ciudad del Este. We found a park near the hostel where we stayed at and went for a walk around the perimeter in the morning. In the afternoon we walked to the bus stop to pick up tickets for the following day to Asuncion.

The park where we went for a walk

If we had known Ciudad del Este had waterfalls we would have skipped the overpriced Iguazu Falls

The bus ride from Ciudad del Este to Asuncion was an easy and uneventful 6 hour bus ride. We arrived into the bus station in Asuncion in the early afternoon when it was hot and humid so we decided to splurge on a taxi instead of our usual method of taking the local buses. We arrived at the apartment building that we had rented from booking.com and found that there was no doorman downstairs to let us into the building. Normally reservations on AirBnB suggest that you coordinate key transfers with the owner, but with booking.com listings we have always been able to just show up in the past. While reviewing the confirmation email from Booking we saw a note that said to contact the owner prior to arrival to coordinate getting the keys. Unfortunately, at this point we had no cell phone, no internet access, and no cyber cafes nearby.

Kevin set out in search of an internet cafe or one of the businesses where you can pay to use their phone, leaving Lisa to watch our bags. When he walked across the street to ask 2 ladies sitting in plastic chairs in front of a business where he could find such a place one of the ladies offered to take him to another lady who had keys to the building and lived a couple of doors down. After a few minutes of explaining to the lady with the keys how we had arrived with a reservation but no keys and no way to contact our host, the nice lady offered to call the contact person from the listing and get them to come and let us in. She also opened the doors and let us sit in the lobby to wait the 15 minutes we had been told it would take for the keys to arrive. About 45 minutes later a nice young gentleman arrived to let us in and to apologize for the delay in letting us into the building. In the future we will make it a point to read all of our reservations a bit more carefully.

The view from the balcony of the apartment we rented

Of all the countries that we have visited in Central and South America, Paraguay is by far the least developed for tourism. We spent a good deal of time researching places to go but aside from a couple of national parks that were 6+ hours by bus away from Asuncion we couldn’t find much so we decided to spend a little more time in Asuncion. The city has a small downtown area with some high rise buildings and a few landmarks to visit, but after visiting major metropolitan areas like Buenos Aires, Montevideo, and Santiago, Asuncion had substantially less to visit. Also, Asuncion felt less safe to walk around than the other big cities especially at night which combined with the hot humid weather during the day left us feeling unmotivated to go for our usual long walks around the city. We walked for a couple of hours each day around the city center and spent the rest of the time in the apartment that we rented trying to catch up on our blog (we were over a month behind at that point).

Palacio Lopez

Banco Nacional de Fomento

Catedral Metropolitana de Asuncion

Oratorio de la Virgen de Asuncion

Some of the colorful street art we encountered walking around Asuncion

The parks and buildings were slightly run-down throughout the city

Asuncion had flooded a few times this year, in parts the water still hadn’t receded and had displaced thousands of residents

Another flooded street

Many of those displaced by the flooding have set up temporary shelter in parks and plazas in the city center.  Although the situation is hopefully temporary, many of those living in the parks have already been there for months prompting the creation of stores and restaurants as well has having electricity wired into the rudimentary types of structures shown here.

Bright colorful goods sold on the streets of Asuncion

After 5 days in Asuncion we felt that we had more than exhausted all there was to see and felt well rested and ready to get back on the road. From Asuncion we headed back to Iguazu where we stayed in Foz do Iguazu on the Brazil side for a 2 nights before flying on to Brasilia and begin exploring our final country of South America for our trip. Having already visited the waterfalls we decided to explore the town of Foz do Iguazu. On our walk we stopped into a Brazilian steakhouse where they bring a variety of different meats to your table on swordlike skewers and cut you off as much as you want. They also had an all you can eat salad bar so both of us were able to eat well. The meat was some of the best Kevin had had on our trip and the meals cost less than $6 per person. We both left stuffed and Kevin ended up skipping dinner because he was still full from the buffet experience.

Tomorrow we have to get up bright and early to catch the bus to the airport and get on our 9 am flight to Brasilia.

 

Iguazu Falls-The Penultimate Waterfalls

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Foz do Iguaçu, Iguazu Falls, Puerto Iguazu

Our flight from Buenos Aires arrived in the late morning to the airport outside Puerto Iguazu on the Argentinean side of Iguazu Falls.  We opted to take a taxi from the airport to our hotel so that we could drop our stuff off quickly at the hotel and then head to the park to see the waterfalls. Our taxi driver ended up being extremely friendly and offered to chauffeur us around for our entire time in  Iguazu.

From the moment we walked out of the airport we were swarmed by colorful butterflies

The waterfalls sit on the tri-country border of Argentina, Brazil, and Paraguay.  Argentina and Brazil both have parks that you can pay to enter and see the falls.  The falls themselves are so spectacular that reading about them and even seeing the photos can’t possibly do them justice.  The falls are a collection of 275 waterfalls that span a horseshoe shaped gorge almost 2 miles across.  After some research we learned that the Argentinean side had a much larger park with trails to walk while the Brazil side had a relatively short path with a variety of vista points along it.  We decided to spend our first afternoon exploring the Argentinean side and go the next morning to see the views from Brazil.

Iguazu Park on the Argentinean side

The first stop on our tour in the Argentinean park was Garganta del Diablo (throat of the devil).  From the park entrance we took a train up to the path out to the Garganta lookout platform.  The path was a collection of metal walkways passing over the top of the river that run for 1 km before arriving at the platform sitting directly over the top of the falls.  This small section of the falls is a chasm approximately 500 ft wide with water tumbling over 260 ft to the pools below.  The volume and force of the water is so great that the area is perpetually shrouded in a dense mist.  Being at the top of the falls was awe-inspiring but because the mist was so intense the views were greatly obstructed.

Traveling the metal walkways to the Garganta del Diablo

The view looking out over the Garganta del Diablo

Some photos from the platform looking over the edge of the Garganta del Diablo

From the Garganta del Diablo we made our way back to the train and headed back to our next hike, the upper circuit.  The upper circuit was a half mile series of catwalks, bridges, trails, and lookout platforms.  From here we started to get an idea of just how massive Iguazu Falls truly were, though we still were not able to get a complete picture of the falls.  On the hike we were able to stand at the top of a half dozen different waterfalls and admire many more from a distance.

Rainbows were not in short supply at the waterfalls, occasionally we even saw double rainbows

Lisa enjoying the view

As the hour began to get late we decided not to rush and try to get through the lower circuit that afternoon, but instead to come back tomorrow afternoon after visiting the Brazilian side in the morning.  We headed back to the park entrance where our taxi driver was sitting and waiting to take us back to our hotel.  After a refreshing swim at the hotel we had dinner at a great restaurant suggested by our taxi driver.  Kevin and his Dad shared a barbecue variety platter that arrived at the table on a small hibachi style grill that was still lit and cooking the food while we ate dinner.

Staying at a classier joint with Kevin’s parents

The next morning our taxi driver picked us up at our hotel to drive us across the border to experience the Brazilian side of the falls.  This border crossing was a novelty for us because as we reached the checkpoint the driver pulled over and asked us for our passports.  He told us that we could wait in the car while he proceeded to walk in with our passports and take care of the customs process for us.  How the border agents can process people’s paperwork without them being present was a mystery to us, but we a few minutes later our driver arrived and we set off to the park.

After our half day on the Argentinean side we felt like we had seen some impressive views but nothing prepared us for what we were about to see.  From the Brazilian side you could see the falls from end to end though they were so massive you could appreciate only a small section of falls at one time.  The trail on the Brazilian side was only 1.2 km but every two minutes provided us with a new vantage point to admire the spectacular waterfalls.  After a couple of hours hopping from viewpoint to viewpoint we headed back to our taxi who transported us back to finish exploring the the Argentinean side of the park.

Our first looks at the waterfalls from the Brazilian side were amazing to say the least

Any one section of Iguazu Falls would be a stunning natural wonder anywhere in the world

A look at the viewing platform on the Brazilian side

Kevin’s Mom at one of the lookout points

 

Kevin and his Dad showing off their photogenic natures

Another father son shot

Family photo

Some extended family shots

After a brief picnic lunch at the park entrance we made our way to the trail along the lower circuit.  This trail did not lead us to the top of many waterfalls but it did give us some different perspectives for the falls we had seen the day before.  By far the highlight of our second day on the Argentinean side was a boat ride that took us under the falls.  As we made our way to the dock to pick up the boat, we were each given a dry bag for any possessions that we wanted to keep dry.  Thankfully Lisa had her waterproof camera so we were able to get some photos to commemorate our trip under the falls. We didn’t think we could have been more wet if we had swam out to the falls. The passengers on the boat were equal parts cheering and laughing as we were drenched by our trips along the edge of two different waterfalls.

One of the other boats coming out of the waterfall as we were about to enter

How we looked before going into the falls

Looking back at the falls after our “shower”

Stopping for a photo along the river after our boat ride, Kevin’s Dad channeling his inner Little Mermaid

Looking back at the falls from the boat dock

A panaroma from waterlevel

Kevin’s Dad enjoying some of our last moments at the falls

Sadly our time with Kevin’s parents came to an end in Iguazu.  After a last breakfast together his parents headed for the airport and we began our trek to explore Paraguay.

 

Our last night in Puerto Iguazu we went to see a show that our taxi driver explained as a water and light dancing show with music, it turns out the light was actually doing the dancing on the water and Kevin’s translation of the driver’s statement should be taken literally

With our faithful taxi driver

Visiting Buenos Aires

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Buenos Aires, Cafe Tortoni, Puerto Madero, Recoleta Cemetery, San Telmo, Teatro Colon, Tigre

We arrived back in Buenos Aires a day before Kevin’s parents arrived so that we would be able to meet them at the airport.  Their flight was scheduled to arrive at 6:00 am but they were slightly delayed leaving Miami and ended up arriving closer to 7:00 am.  We woke up bright and early at 5:45 am, left all of our stuff at the hotel that we had rented, and walked out to the main street to find a cab at around 6:15 am.  We found a cab quickly and thankfully the morning commute had not started up yet.  We made it to the airport just before 7:00 am and had time to get some gourmet coffee at McDonalds (the only option near the arrival gate) before finding a good vantage point to search the arrivals for our latest travel companions.

We had made signs prior to going to the airport with Kevin’s parents names on them so that we could hold them up while we looked for his parents and make them smile when they arrived after a long flight.  Unfortunately, they found an exit from customs with less traffic and managed to pass through the arrivals gate undetected.  Kevin’s Dad saw us, snuck up from behind, and turned the surprised around on us.

Those are some good lookin’ signs!

We didn’t have a set plan for our first day in Buenos Aires because we weren’t sure how Kevin’s parents were going to feel after their long travel day.  When the four of us arrived at the apartment that we had rented his parents each took a shower and had some coffee while we walked to our hotel from the previous night to collect our stuff.  When we returned to the apartment his parents were relatively refreshed and ready to go exploring.  We decided that we would go for a walk around town  in the morning and then do a walking tour that afternoon.

From the apartment we walked through some of the scenic downtown and along the waterfront, enjoying the nice weather and the chance to catch up.  As we got closer to the time of the walking tour the sky began to get darker and darker.  With an hour to go before the tour the thunderstorm began dumping rain with deafening cracks of thunder that you could feel in your chest. We were forced to find shelter in a cafe along the the Avenida 9 de Julio, one of the major avenues of Argentina.  We bought coffees and had a light lunch while waited, hoping that the storm would break in time for us to do the walking tour.  Unfortunately, every time it looked like the storm was letting up and we would get ready to leave the cafe the rain would begin again in earnest.  We ended up deciding to walk back to the apartment when the rain was slightly less intense and wait out the storm there.  The rains continued into the evening so we finally decided we needed to brave the storm again to go get some dinner.  We found a nice restaurant a couple of blocks away and had a quiet dinner.

A high probability of rain won’t stop us from goin on a walk!

Family photo on the Puente de la Mujer

Group shot in Plaza San Martin near the apartment we rented

The next day we did a self-guided tour in the morning, exploring a bit of the Recoleta neighborhood and the cemetery located there.  The cemetery was definitely one of the most impressive that we have been to.  The beautifully carved tombs and statues made it feel more like we were walking in a museum than a cemetery.  There were several famous people buried in the cemetery but the hodgepodge spacing of walkways and tombs meant we had to search for a while to find the burial place of people like Eva Peron.

A few of the scenes from Recoleta Cemetery 

Glenda (Kevin’s Mom) helping the locals carry their load

The most impressive roots of a tree we had ever seen

From the cemetery we made our way across town towards the Congress building where our tour started at 3 pm.  On the way to the tour we stopped to introduce Dave and Glenda to empanadas, a staple of our diet throughout our travels.

The Congress building where our tour started

The walking tour lasted about 3 hours and had over 50 participants, one of the highest attendances of all of the walking tours we have done on our travels.  We learned a great deal about the mismatched architecture styles of the city, the ongoing economic and political challenges that Argentinians face, and history of the city as well as the country.

One of the Thinker statues with the Congress building in the background

The Museo Historico Nacional del Cabildo y la Revolucion on the corner of Plaza de Mayo

The Escula Presidente Roca next door to Colon Theatre

Our third day we went in search of Samba and street markets.  We started our day walking along the waterfront at Puerto Madero making our way towards the neighborhood of San Telmo.  In San Telmo we were explored the antique market though we had no real interest in buying souvenirs that we would have to carry with us for an extended amount of time.  We also walked by the Boca Juniors stadium and the colorful houses of the Bocas neighborhood.

On our way to San Telmo we stopped at Cafe Toroni, one of the oldest cafes in Buenos Aires for breakfast. The cafe is known for its churros and chocolate and for having a salsa dancing show in the evening.

Some photos of the beautiful views we had while walking along Puerto Madero

 

In front of a statue in Parque Lezama

The colorful houses of the Bocas neighborhood

Boca Juniors Stadium

Some of the interesting creations at the San Telmo market

The next day we toured the Opera House and planned to see the Bellas Artes and Eva Peron museums.  We did not count on another torrential downpour forcing us to dive into another cafe and see if the storm would pass so that we could continue our walk.  Again fate was not on our side, but this time we were much farther from our apartment and the rain more intense.  We ran from the cafe to an underpass where we tried to get a cab, but the many taxis that passed were already full.  We ended up making a run for a nearby bus stop where we ironically found an open cab to take us back to the apartment.

Teatro Colon

Some images of the impressive interior of the Colon Theatre

The cafe where we hid during the rainstorm

Our last day in Buenos Aires we took the train to the Tigre Delta to see another local market and explore a picturesque town.  Thankfully, the weather was beautiful and we were able to spend the day walking around town enjoying the sites.  We were also there in the off-season which made it feel as if we had the entire town to ourselves.

The clock tower near the train station where we left for Tigre

The street-side cafe where we stopped for lunch in Tigre

A parking lot Tigre style

On one of the bridges connecting the banks in Tigre

Tomorrow we have to get up early and make our way to Iguazu Falls, one of the attractions that we have been the most excited about visiting, especially since we will get to share the experience with Kevin’s parents.

The Sandy Coast of Uruguay

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Cabo Polonio, La Paloma, Montevideo, Punta del Diablo, Punta del Este, Valizas

Our time in Uruguay continued with a tour of the coastline. We spent a little over a week hopping from one beach town to the next. It was a wonderful way to enjoy the relaxed Uruguayan culture.

Our first stop was Punta del Este. It was the largest of the beach towns we visited and was known for its glitz and glamour. We, however, were traveling during the off season so the busy and flashy reputation didn’t seem to fit with the quiet city we found ourselves in. We spent a lot of time walking along the coast where they had a boardwalk that provided a nice path leading up the beach.

The beach along the eastern side of Punta del Este

Downtown Punta del Este

La Mano (the hand) sculpture, by Chilean artist Mario Irrarazabal

At the intersection of Miami and California?

One of the foods that Uruguay is known for is the Chivito which is thinly sliced beef with mozzarella, tomatos, black or green olives, bacon, ham, and  egg.  We went in search of the best Chivitos in Uruguay and we found our favorite in Punta del Este where they even had a soy patty sandwich for Lisa to try.

The lighthouse on the hill of Punta del Este

We caught the beginning of the Palm Sunday service while on one of our walks

Just another sunset in paradise for us

A look at the harbor on the western side of Punta del Este

From Punta del Este we caught a bus heading east to the town of La Paloma. We had arranged to stay in an AirBnB for a few nights while we were there. The owner of the house offered to pick us up from the bus station but as we didn’t have a functional cell phone we were unable to get in touch with her. We didn’t think this would be a problem until it started pouring shortly before we arrived at the bus terminal. We only had a general location on a map and the knowledge that she had a thatched roof to guide us to her house. After a few wrong turns and knocking on the door of the wrong house we finally showed up drenched on her doorstep.  The rest of our stay in La Paloma was pleasant and we really enjoyed our AirBnB hostess.

The thatched roof house where we stayed, our room was the one on the second floor whose window you can see

Slaving over the stove

Downtown La Paloma

The beach at La Paloma, we still have yet to try our hands at surfing

N for Norlander (Lisa is below the arrow if you can’t find her in the picture)

Our sunset in La Paloma had beautiful shades of pink and purple with an almost full moon rising on the horizon opposite the sun

The next stop on our tour was Barra de Valizas. The hostel itself was build piece by piece by the owner directly on the sand. This caused the structure to be a bit quirky and full of character. Our room was directly above the kitchen, slightly larger than our mattress, and barely tall enough to sit upright. We also had a small balcony outside our room that was accessed by crawling to the window and then gracefully wiggling your way outside.

Some shots of the piecemeal built hostel where we stayed, on the top right of the photos you can just make our our deck

Kevin enjoying the view from our deck and Lisa peeking out of the window from our crawlspace bedroom

We chose to stay in Valizas because it was walking distance from Cabo Polonio, a remote beach town and national park that was only accessible by crossing the dunes either on foot or in a 4×4 transport vehicle. We decided to walk the 3+ hours along the beach and over the dunes. The coastline was beautiful but walking in the soft sand was more of a workout than we anticipated.

A view from the top of the dunes, with Cabo Polonio in the distance.  Unfortunately, the uniform color of the sand makes it difficult to see the contours of the dunes.

The beachfront and downtown Cabo Polonio

The town of Cabo Polonio was tiny with one main street, several restaurants, and no electricity. Even walking both the perimeter and along the only street through the middle of town, the tour of the whole area didn’t take very long. We enjoyed the peaceful nature of the waves and rocks before deciding to take the 4×4 back out to the park entrance. Unfortunately, we didn’t realize buses heading to Barra de Valizas were few and far between when we planned our excursion to Cabo Polonio. After a few minutes of deliberation we opted to walk the 13km back to Valizas in lieu of waiting 3 hours for the next bus. By our calculations we arrived before the bus would have and enjoyed a scenic walk back to Valizas. Ok, we’ll be honest, we had to walk down the side of the freeway… it wasn’t very scenic but it was good exercise.

“Main Street” in “downtown” Cabo Polonio

The 4×4 trucks that transported people to Cabo Polonio from the park entrance

The last stop on our tour of Uruguayan beach towns was Punta del Diablo. This was a very relaxed town that draws a large number of Brazilian tourists every summer. We enjoyed our final few days at the beach before heading back to Montevideo.

We were very impressed with the driver of the horse drawn cart that you can see in the surf.  He maneuvered the horse and cart from the promenade down onto the beach and then reversed back into the surf so that the workers could unload the days catch into his cart.

The promenade of Punta del Diablo was full of bars and restaurants

We enjoyed watching locals sandboard on the dunes, this young man was ok after his spill.  He popped up and ran back to ride his board down the dunes again.

We decided to spend a few more days in Montevideo before heading back to Buenos Aires to meet up with Kevin’s parents. We splurged a bit and rented a nice AirBnB apartment with a balcony and views of a park and the waterfront. We spent our time hanging out with a friend we had made while in the lake districts of Argentina and meeting new friends at a wine bar near the harbor. We also had the opportunity to go on several long walks all around town.

Some sculptures in Parque Rodo

Evidently Uruguayans are big into the video game Oregon Trail, at least that is what we believe that the artwork represented

The beautiful apartment that we rented

The view from the balcony in our apartment

We have loved our time in Uruguay. Before we arrived we knew very little about the country, besides that it was the often forgotten neighbor sandwiched between the two South American giants of Argentina and Brazil. Over the past couple weeks of traveling here we have become very impressed with this progressive country. It is incredible safe and friendly. It has a poverty rate of less than 10% (lower than the US) and a literacy rate of greater than 98%. The government provides a laptop for every child and every household can have free internet access. Education is free up through university. The current ruling party has pushed through a very liberal agenda over the past few years, legalizing gay marriage, marijuana, and early abortion. Regardless of political stance, the country feels very different than the rest of South America.

 

Heading to Uruguay

Tags

Buenos Aires, Colonia del Sacramento, Montevideo

From Ushuaia we flew up to Buenos Aires. Our trip was relatively uneventful, the only thing of note was the extremely high winds at the Ushuaia airport. When the taxi pulled up in front of the terminal the driver popped the trunk for us to get our bags out.  The wind was so strong grabbed the trunk as it unlatched and slammed it upwards almost into the rear window.  We thought at first that we had been rear ended by the loud sound but then quickly realized what had happened.  When we went to open our doors we had to brace ourselves and grab the handles firmly so that the wind didn’t rip the doors off as we got out.  Thankfully when we went to take off the high winds didn’t give our pilot any troubles.

On our way back from dinner we saw Eva Peron’s image lit up on the side of a building

From Buenos Aires our plan was to take a ferry to Colonia del Sacramento, one of Uruguay’s oldest towns.  We had looked online but none of the cheap tickets were available.  We decided to try to go to the ferry terminal and see if we could get a cheap ticket day of, and if not stay a night in Buenos Aires and leave the next morning. As it turns out the ferry was sold out so we bought our tickets for the following day and set off in search of a hotel for the night.  Knowing that we may need to spend a night in Buenos Aires we had loaded maps with a few reasonably priced hotels so we knew which direction to go from the ferry terminal.  We walked for about 30 minutes before finding a place that we liked.  Kevin’s parents were going to meet up with us in two weeks and tour Buenos Aires with us, so we decided it would be best not to do too much site seeing before they arrived.  In the end we found a Korean restaurant a few kilometers from the hotel that sounded good so we decided to get some fresh air and exercise and walk to the restaurant.  When we finally arrived at the restaurant we were disappointed to find out that it was closed, so we ended up walking for another 30 minutes before settling on a pizza and sandwich place near the National Congress building.

 

On our way to dinner we happened upon a giant obelisk

The congress building in front of where we had dinner

The next morning we went for a walk down one of Buenos Aires charming pedestrian streets and stopped at a cafe for coffee and a medialuna.  A medialuna translates to half-moon and it is a small croissant with a light sugary glaze on top.  After breakfast we continued on to the end Calle Florida (one of the busy commercial walking streets) and then wandered back to our hotel to pick up our bags and go to the ferry terminal.  The ferry was very modern and comfortable, the only downside is that passengers can’t get to any of the decks outside for fresh air or to take pictures.  The trip lasted about an hour and thankfully we arrived in Colonia del Sacramento with no issues or seasickness.

The church on the central plaza in Colonia del Sacramento

The hostel we stayed at in Colonia del Sacramento was one of the best located that we have ever stayed in (at least when it comes to walking with our heavy packs on our backs). It was a quick 3 block walk from the ferry station and about the same to the bus station that we would be leaving from the following day. We dropped our bags off at the hostal and then went to explore the town. The town itself is built along the banks of the Rio Plata (Plate River) and the historic section of town is a UNESCO world heritage site for its colorful buildings and tree-lined streets. Colonia del Sacramento was officially elevated from a town to a city but it is only home to about 30,000 people.  We explored the historic section, climbed to the top of the lighthouse, and went for a walk along the river front before calling it a night.

 

 

Lisa on the banks of the Rio Plata

 

 

The lighthouse that we climbed to the top of

 

The view from the top of the lighthouse

 

 

We were treated to a gorgeous sunset on our walk along the waterfront

The next day we took a bus to Montevideo which took just under 3 hours.  We had read that outside of the capital city of Montevideo and beach towns, Uruguay mainly consisted of flat plains used to raise cows.  The bus ride confirmed for us that there wasn’t much in the way of magnificent scenery that had become the norm for us while riding on buses through southern Chile and Argentina.

 

We both really enjoyed our time in Montevideo.  The first couple of nights we were able to use some of Lisa’s hotel points and stay in a Holiday Inn in the center of Montevideo.  On our first full day in Montevideo we went on a walking tour because we feel so much more connection to a city and country when we learn about the history, culture, and architecture.  Montevideo is one of the best cities that we have been to for walking around.  There are lots of beautiful buildings to see in the downtown area, there are a few large parks, and there is a paved promenade called La Rambla along the river that runs for over 20 kilometers.  The rest of our days in Montevideo we spent walking for hours on end enjoying the city and the laid back culture of its inhabitants.

 

Plaza Independencia in Montevideo with one of many General Jose Artigas statues in Montevideo

A picture from the Rambla along the banks of the Rio Plata

Two men fishing on a jetty off the Rambla

 

 

From Montevideo we are heading east and then north along the coast, planning to stop in a variety of beach towns up the coast towards Brazil.

Sunset on the Rambla

Patagonia – Reaching the End of the World

Tags

Laguna Esmeralda, Puerto Natales, Punta Arenas, Torres del Paine, Ushuaia

Back to Chile! After a wonderful overview of Torres del Paine during our day trip from El Calafate we decided to head to Puerto Natales, Chile, a common homebase for travelers planning to spend time in Torres del Paine. The bus from El Calafate was easy and we didn’t have any difficulty crossing the border from Argentina to Chile. The town of Puerto Natales felt much larger than El Calafate and lost some of the quaint (though often touristy) charm that we had found on the Argentinian side of the border. We spent several gray and rainy hours wandering the streets and strolling by the lake that bordered one side of the town.

Our main reason for staying in Puerto Natales was to spend more time in Torres del Paine. We made the decision, back in September when we started our travels that we wouldn’t bring sleeping bags or tents on our adventure. We knew we would mainly be sleeping in hostels and the extra weight of any non-essential items didn’t seem worth it. Torres del Paine, however, only offers limited options if you don’t have either camping equipment, a car, or a large budget to pay for hotels within the park. Since we had none of these, the famous W-circuit (a five day trek to the most famous views of the park) was out and we opted for one of the few day-hikes that we could reach by bus. Lucky for us, it was one of the most spectacular hikes in the park.

The bus picked us up before sunrise and drove us a couple hours to reach the gate of Torres del Paine. Fortunately, we were able to use our stamped entrance tickets from our last trip to Torres del Paine a few days before to gain admission to the park. We then hopped on a shuttle that dropped us off near the trail head. You would think that due to the popularity of the park that there would be a huge sign pointing out the trail head from where the shuttle drops you off, but we either missed it or it didn’t exist because soon we were wandering aimlessly with a group of 4-6 other day hikers trying to figure out where to go. Eventually, we were pointed in the correct direction and we headed off down the road in the direction of the trail.

The hike up to the Mirador las Torres, the lookout point that gives the best views of the iconic granite towers of Torres del Paine, was as beautiful as we had hoped. The trail was about 8-9km in each direction and passed long the sides of mountains, across rivers, though valleys and heavily forested areas until we reached the final stage of the hike which required climbing up and over the final mountain ridge made entirely of rocks and boulders. Needless to say, we were very happy that we only had small day packs as we watched many fellow hikers lugging huge packs up the trail.

The hike was amazing and gave us plenty of opportunities to climb on massive boulders and take photos from different vantage points. We found a boulder at the edge of the lake that made the perfect picnic spot. After exploring the area around the lake we decided to make our way back down the trail.

Our first glimpse of the lake and towers from up close

Lisa doing some impromptu rock climbing

Kevin had been hoping to see a wild fox throughout our travels in Patagonia, luckily on our last day in Torres del Paine we were paid a visit

As often happens when we hike, we completed the trail much quicker than we had anticipated.  When we got back to the lodge near the base of the hike we decided to sit and rest for a bit before making our way back to the park entrance. “Lodge” might not be the best word to describe this building as it felt (and looked) more like a resort. It had a beautiful airy lounge with curved windows providing panoramic views of the mountains. We relaxed on the plush couches for about an hour until it was time to head back to the entrance of the park and catch a bus for Puerto Natales.

We were told that the park entrance was around an hours walk from the hotel. We were sure that giving ourselves an hour and a half would be plenty of time to make it before our bus left. Unfortunately, without knowing which trails would cut through the valley and provide a direct route to the gate, we were left following the road which took significantly more than an hour. We kept thinking that we would see the gate around the next bend in the road. A little over an hour into our walk we began to get worried. The sun was setting and we still didn’t know how far we had to go, so we started to run. We eventually came across a local trekker who had worked as a guide in the park for many years. He assured us that our timetable for the bus was incorrect and we had plenty of time to get to the entrance. Luckily, he was right, and the bus stop came into view around another bend.

 

From Puerto Natales we made our way down to Punta Arenas. We only had one night in Punta Arenas so we spent our time exploring the town. The town was very colorful with many building painted bright and bold colors. We walked up to a mirador (vista point) that let us look out over the colorful city. We also tried to visit a brewery that is based in Punta Arenas to see if we could go for a tour (a suggested activity we found on one of the tourist sites online). We weren’t sure if it was just the day of the week, or the time of day, or if the facility is no longer open to the public, but it was all locked up when we tried to visit. So Lisa had to settle for trying some of the local beer at a restaurant later that day.

The view looking down on Punta Arenas from the mirador

 

Our final destination in Patagonia was Ushuaia. The bus from Punta Arenas took us to a ferry crossing where we all crossed onto the island of Tierra del Fuego, then across the border into Argentina, and finally down to Ushuaia, a trip totaling between 10 and 11 hours. Ushuaia has the distinction of being the southern-most city in the world and serves as a jumping off point for people heading to Antartica.

The ferry that transported us and our bus to the island of Tierra del Fuego

 

Hanging out at the end of the world!

Our first full day in Ushuaia it rained all day

The weather during out time in Ushuaia was mostly rainy and dreary. We scrapped our plan of venturing into the Tierra del Fuego National Park in favor of hiking closer to town. We did a muddy hike to Lago Esmeralda. It was beautiful and very peaceful but required some fancy footwork to circumvent the puddles and mud pits.

Our time in Ushuaia flew by and it was hard to believe we were finished with the Patagonia portion of our trip. It was a section that both of us had looked forward to for so long and we had not been disappointed by the natural beauty we experienced in the past few weeks. This also concluded the long road down the western side of South America. We have reached the southernmost tip and are now ready to head back north along the east coast.

Glaciers and Granite, our time in El Calafate

Tags

El Calafate, Lago Roca, Lake Argentina, Perrito Moreno Glacier, Torres del Paine

From El Chalten we took a 3 hour bus to El Calafate.  We arrived in El Calafate and had a quick lunch before wandering about town to find a place where we wanted to stay.  We ended up opting for a hostel that we heard about from a brochure given to us when we arrived at the bus terminal.  The hostel was one of the largest that we have stayed in to date with room for almost 200 people.  The size of the hostel was most evident at meal times when the kitchen and dining area was overflowing with people and it was near impossible to find cooking utensils or a spot at the one stove to cook.

The biggest draw of El Calafate for us was without doubt the Perrito Moreno glacier, but it was also the jumping off point for many other activities.  After finding accommodations we spent the rest of the first day researching possible activities and their respective prices for our 3 upcoming days in El Calafate.

We decided that we would spend one day exploring the town and going for a walk around Lake Argentina along the edge of town, one day we would rent a car and drive to the glacier, and one day we would take a bus tour to Torres del Paine National Park across the border in Chile.  The only day with availability for the Torres del Paine tour was in 2 days so we booked that space, decided to explore town our first full day, and then to do the glacier on our last day together. Having a day in town also gave us more time to do a little bit of research and rent a car to visit the glacier.

El Calafate has a relatively small downtown area with one main street littered with bars, restaurants, outdoor sports stores, and tour companies.  We wandered up and down the street our first day seeing what the town had to offer.  We also walked down to the lake which has a nice paved promenade and a protected wetlands where you can sometimes see flamingos.  As we got to the wetlands park we saw that there was a trail inside of a fenced off area.  We arrived at the midpoint of the fencing and it looked as though the trail went parallel to the promenade with entrance at either end.  We headed left and walked along the promenade, constantly looking to see if there were additional paths into the park.  We walked for about 15 minutes to reach one end of the park but sadly found that there wasn’t a way into the wetlands along the entire stretch.  Thankfully there was a playground at the end, so our hike wasn’t in vain.

Lisa and Susan with the Lago Argentina sign

Looking into the wetlands park

Lisa and Suz thoroughly enjoying the playground

 

After playing on the swings and seesaw we headed back the other direction to find the elusive park entrance.  It turned out that there was only one way into the park, through a ranger station where you had to pay 100 pesos per person, was only a hundred yards to the right of where we started our walk along the promenade.  After looking into the wetlands we decided that it was too expensive to enter because we had nice views of the park from the promenade that ran alongside it.  We continued our walk down the promenade in the other direction, enjoying views of the lake, the wetlands, and the various birds that called the wetlands home (sadly no flamingos).  After our walk we headed back to town to secure a rental car for our glacier trip.

The biggest challenge in planning our tours was renting a car to get to the glacier.  We had found a couple of local companies that rented cars at much better prices than the bigger companies like Hertz or National.  The only problem with these smaller shops was their operating hours.  We went to one company that had a car available at a reasonable price, but at the time when we met with them we weren’t sure which day we would need the car.  When we had made our decision we went back and found that the company was closed for lunch from 12 to 4.  We went and wandered around town, had lunch, and then circled back around just after 2 to find the door locked and the lights still out.  In the meantime we decided to try another local rental company that was nearby but we found their prices to be substantially higher and decided to wait on the first company.

Thankfully the company was only a few blocks from our hostel but every time we went back that day it was still closed.  Frustrated, we finally went to the travel agent where we had booked our Torres del Paine tour, whose office was in the same complex, to ask if he knew when the car rental shop would open up again.  The tour operator fortunately had their cell phone number and called to ask when they would be back.  We found out that they had to go and pick up one of their cars in some remote location and would not be back that day to open up the shop.  Because we were going to Torres del Paine the next day, we would be leaving early and coming back late, which meant that we needed to get the car rental reservation taken care of immediately.  With the cheaper option seemingly unavailable we decided to go to our backup, pay the extra money, and know that we had the rental secured.  When we went back to the second company they told us that because it was Sunday when we wanted to go to the glacier they would not open until 11 am, which was much later than we wanted to set out.  We decided that this was not a good option, so we went back to the tour operator and asked him to call the first rental car company again and secure a car via phone and fill out the paperwork the morning before heading to the glacier.  All told it took an entire day of visiting rental car companies before we finally had a reservation set up for our glacier trip.

The next day we were up before sunrise to get on a bus to Torres del Paine.  The distance from El Calafate to Torres del Paine as the crow flies is small, but due to political pressures a direct road linking the two has never been built.  Basically, the town of Puerto Natales in Chile survives solely on tourism to Torres del Paine National Park.  If El Calafate were to build a road and have quicker access to the park, Puerto Natales would become irrelevant and die out.  The combination of a roundabout route and two border crossing meant that to have a full day in the park we had to leave early in the morning and come back late in the evening.  To save a little bit of time there is an unpaved road that cuts off a decent portion of the journey, but only rugged vehicles can make the trek.  We, in large part, decided to book the tour that we did because it boasted an off-roading bus that could make the drive and give us more time in the park.  When the bus showed up we were not disappointed, it looked rugged, durable, and up for the challenge.

The tour stopped at various miradores (lookout points) throughout the day in the park.  We visited vibrant turquoise lakes, impressive waterfalls, and went on a short hike.  Our tour guide was excellent giving us facts about the countries of Chile and Argentina, the park, the flora and fauna, and even a geology lesson about how the granite peaks were formed.  The day seemed to fly by as we were whisked from one stunning vista to the next, at each stop feeling confident that it was impossible to have a better view, and constantly being proved wrong.

Before going for our short hike our tour guide needed to prepare us for hiking in Torres del Paine.  He told us that we needed to be ready for strong wind gusts and that when we saw a wind gust coming we needed to turn our backs and brace ourselves until the gust had past.  Reading this I imagine you are having the same thought we had, how on earth will we see a wind gust coming.  Well, it turns out that wind gusts can exceed 80 km per hour in Torres del Paine and come roaring across the lake.  When the winds fly over the lake they kick up and pick up sprays of water that get carried along by the gusts.  So, whenever we saw a cloud of mist in the distance heading towards us, we would quickly turn our backs and crouch down until we had been blasted with a spray of chilly water, then continue on our hike.

We stopped for lunch at a lookout overlooking this impressive waterfall

The first hotel built in Torres del Paine park was on an island in the lake

 

The lake waters were an incredible shade of blue

The after effects of one of the fires that raged through Torres del Paine years ago.  As you can imagine, with the high winds they have in the park, once a fire starts it is nearly impossible to contain

The white mist that you can faintly see above the water is a gust of wind crossing the lake

The next morning we headed out just before 10 am to fill out the paperwork for our rental car and head out to the glacier.  We were greeted with a perfect day, clear blue skies and a temperatures in the 70’s, ideal condition to admire a glacier.  Thankfully, the rental car staff was punctual and we were able to get they keys and head out by 10:20 am.  The drive from El Calafate to the glacier was its own site seeing tour along the banks of a lake and framed by snow capped mountains.

Prior to coming to Patagonia we had done extensive research and the Perrito Moreno glacier was definitely considered to be one of the highlights.  As such, we were slightly worried that it may not live up the hype and the excitement we felt.  We need not have worried, the amazing photos that we had seen could not do justice to the glacier itself.  A towering wall of ice, incomprehensible in its magnitude and beauty.

The park itself was very well designed, a system of metal walkways, look out platforms, and stairs that traversed the hillside facing the glacier.  The closest lookout platforms were only a few hundred yards from the glacier and let viewers truly experience the colossal size of the glacier. One of the highlights of the glacier is watching various pieces break away and go crashing to the lake below. The falling pieces of ice ranged in size from hand sized chunks to blocks the size of small houses.  When the latter would break away a deafening thunder would sound as the ice cracked followed by a second peal announcing that the piece had hit the water.  The challenge was that for the large pieces the sound would be delayed by a few seconds so if you weren’t paying attention all you would see was the waves and icy debris floating on the lake.  We spent a few hours walking along to the various platforms and enjoying the phenomenal views.

Enjoying views from one of upper lookout platforms

The morning sun warmed the glacier and treated us to many portions, large and small, falling to the lake below. The ice in water would slowly dissolve only to be replaced as another section of the glacier would break free

A look at the glacier, the white rings in the water are debris from chunks that had broken free

 

Our lunch spot at one of the glacier lookouts

From the glacier we went to the only other attraction within driving distance, a lake called Lago Roca.  After all the amazing sites we had seen, Lago Roca was pretty but nothing to write home about.  The highlight of visiting the lake was on the drive to the lake we saw a few guanaco (an animal in the llama family) on the side of the dirt road that we were driving down.  Kevin decided to stop the car so that we could take pictures, not knowing that contrary to being scared by a car full of humans, the guanaco were curious and walked up to the car to investigate.  The guanaco are beautiful animals and we all desperately wanted to get out of the car and pet them… until we saw the swarm of insects perpetually circling their furry bodies and decided to instead take photos from the protection of our rental car.

The shores of Lago Roca

 

One of the guanaco that came to visit us

All in all our time in El Calafate was incredible and we couldn’t believe that a week had passed since John and Susan had met up with us in El Chalten.  We were very sad to leave them as we continued south towards Puerto Natales and they took their flight back to California with a brief connection in Buenos Aires.

El Chalten

Tags

El Chalten, Fitzroy, Lago Torre

Settling in for our 22 hour bus ride!

The bus from El Bolson to El Chalten took around 22 hours. It was long but it was stunningly beautiful. We were lucky enough to get the two front seats on the upper level so we had 180 degree views as we headed down the road. The colors were so vibrant and we kept taking photos trying to capture the beauty. We would take a photo and then weave around another curve and then decide that the scenery was even more amazing and take another photo. Needless to say, we have a lot of photos from our drive. The highlight, however, was the approach to El Chalten with mountains growing before our eyes. We got our first glimpses of Fitz Roy, the iconic granite peak, that towered over the tiny town of El Chalten nestled in the valley below.

The stunning view from the bus as we made our way to El Chalten

El Chalten has been one of the places we have been excited to visit since the start of our trip. It is known for its beautiful hiking, turquoise lakes, and massive granite rock faces. The town itself was founded in the late 1985, established by the Argentinian government as a outpost to secure its border against disputes with Chile. Since that time it has become a popular destination for trekkers and rock climbers alike.

Looking down onto the town of El Chalten

We arrived in El Chalten the day before Kevin’s birthday. To help us celebrate, Lisa’s sister Rebecca and her boyfriend Michael gave us a reservation at one of the nicest hotels in town. After 22 hours on a bus, this was exactly what we needed. Our room had a huge comfortable bed and arm chairs facing the window with sweeping views of the mountains. We took a short nap and then headed for the hot tub and spa. After an eternity on a bus and countless nights of staying in hostels siting in a hot tub was a true luxury. We then went out to explore the town a bit and ate a delicious dinner consisting on one of the stews the area is known for. We made it back to our hotel in time to watch the sunset.

The next morning we started Kevin’s birthday celebration with one of the most delicious breakfast buffets we have ever had. The spread at the hotel was beautifully prepared with many different individually prepared cakes, cookies, and breads. The granola bar took up entire table with an assortment of fruits, grains, and yogurt. The hot items were just as appetizing. Traveling on a budget, this is not the type of thing we get very often so we ended up spending more than two hours savoring the experience as much as the food at breakfast.

This was just a small part of the delicious breakfast spread at the hotel

The next item on the birthday agenda was to hike to a mirador (lookout point) that was an hour and half up a trail. It was a great hike and the view was well worth it. From there we actually walked back through town and took the road that leads out of town for a couple kilometers in a different direction to get to another lookout spot.

The view from the first mirador

 

The obligatory jumping photo

The view from the second mirador, outside of town

Looking at the view from Kevin’s mirrored glasses

 

That evening we switched over to a new hostel and then headed down to the bus station to wait for our friends John and Susan who were joining us for the next week. John is one of Kevin’s oldest friends and aside from Kevin’s parents, John has celebrate more birthdays and unbirthdays (Kevin was a leap-year baby) with Kevin that anyone else.  Susan is another one of Kevin’s closest friends who actually met John in London 6 years ago while meeting up with Kevin and started dating a few months later.  Lisa was also on that trip so this was a fun reunion for the four of us.  We were very excited that they came down to tour patagonia and celebrate Kevin’s birthday with us. John and Susan had started down in Tierra del Fuego (the southern tip of South America) and were flying up to explore El Chalten and El Calafate with us. Unfortunately, we didn’t realize they had found a bus from the airport that would drop them off at their hotel instead of at the bus station (where we were waiting). Sometimes not having a cell phone makes coordinating things like meeting up much more difficult. Eventually we found each other and we headed off to a celebratory dinner for Kevin.

Kevin’s birthday dinner with John and Suz

After dinner we made our way back to the hostel to catch up and open one of the bottles of wine that we had been carrying with us since we went wine tasting in Mendoza. As all four of us like wine so we thought it would be fun to have a nice bottle to open on Kevin’s birthday. With everything we carried from place to place it was nice to no longer transport the wine.

The next day, the four of us got up and wandered around town. We ate a lazy breakfast and then geared up for an afternoon hike to Lake Torre. It was the easier (and shorter) of the two day hikes we wanted to do in El Chalten. It took us past the lookout point that we had visited the day before and wound us round to a lake with view of granite towers.

Taking a break to enjoy the view on our hike to Lake Torre

We just couldn’t get enough of the view

We made it to Lake Torre!

Lake Torre with the Piedra Blancas glacier in the background

The next day we hiked up to the vista point and lake that is nestled near the foot of Fitz Roy. This hike was considerably harder with the last kilometer or so of rocky switchback leading up the side of the mountain. It was incredible to take in the granite rock face, the glacier, and the turquoise lake. Once we arrived at the shores of the lake we found a few flat rocks and sat down to have our picnic lunch.  We could have stayed for days enjoying the majestic landscape, but as the winds picked up and the temperature dropped a little bit we decided to wrap up our picnic and wander around the lake for some more photo opportunities. The lake water was potable so we all filled our water bottles with fresh crisp snowmelt and braced ourselves for the trek back down to town. As always the walk down the mountain was much more trying than the hike up for those of us with knee issues.

The trailhead leading to Fitz Roy

Walking through the valley, getting ever closer to Fitz Roy

Passing Lake Capri on our way to the Fitz Roy lookout

We are almost there, we only have to climb to the top of this ridge…

We made it!!

Kevin posing in front of Fitz Roy and the glacier

A look at the valley we hiked through to get to Fitz Roy, Lake Capri is on the right

 

We debated staying one more night in El Chalten to do some of the guided activities such as ice climbing, walking on a glacier, or white water rafting.  Unfortunately, everything about Patagonia is extremely expensive, especially the activities.  We decided instead to take a morning bus the following day to El Calafate where we are excited to see one of Patagonia’s iconic glaciers.

Entre Lagos to El Bolson, Crossing the Border Again

Tags

Bariloche, El Bolson, Entre Lagos, Villa Angostura

To get from Puerto Montt back to Bariloche we decided to stop for a night in Entre Lagos. To get there we hopped on a bus north from Puerto Montt to Osorno and from there we switched to a local minibus that dropped us off in the tiny lake-front town of Entre Lagos. There is very little information online concerning Entre Lagos so we weren’t sure what we would find when we arrived. We wandered around for a while until we found a whole street lined with signs for “cabanas.” We zigzagged our way up and down the street checking prices and looking at rooms until we settled on a place to stay. We then took a self-guided tour of the town which took only a few minutes. As there wasn’t much to occupy our time while we were in Entre Lagos, we decided that one night would be more than sufficient and we set out to figure out how to catch a bus that would take us into Argentina.

We found out that one bus company had a kiosk along the main highway that passed along the side of the town. We asked the man working in the kiosk but he apologized and said that he didn’t have any bus tickets going that direction for the next 4 days. He told us our best bet was to travel an hour and a half back to Osorno and pick up a bus (that would then backtrack along the same road) headed to Argentina. Frustrated, we headed back to our hostel to see if we could find another way. Looking online we found the bus company that the man worked for and we found the bus that he told us he couldn’t book us tickets on. We were surprised to see that the bus was almost completely empty on the website. The down side was that it was more than double the cost to book tickets online as it would have been to book them at the kiosk. Since our only other option was to spend an extra 3 hours on the bus backtracking to Osorno, we bit the bullet and purchased them online.

The next day the bus stopped along the side of the road on the outskirts of town to pick us up and we had an uneventful trip crossing the border back into Argentina. We had planned to stay in Villa Angostura a tiny mountain town an hour or two from Bariloche. We had a difficult time finding affordable lodging and finally settled on requesting an AirBnB room in a woman’s house. AirBnB stipulates that a host has 24 hours to respond to a booking request, but in our case it was barely 12 hours from when we found the place online. After waiting another hour to see if we heard from the host we decided to cancel and take the last bus headed to Bariloche that evening. This still gave us several hours to explore the town and the surrounding lakes.

As we walked around we noticed many people in running gear with race medals around their necks. We realized that this was the second tiny Argentinian town that we decided to visit at the same time as thousands of trail runners (see our post about San Martin de Los Andes). This race was sponsored by Marrmot and covered 100 miles over a 3 day span. This also accounted for why we couldn’t find affordable lodging in town.

We spent the rest of our time in Villa Angostura hiking to a couple different lakes, watching kids jump off the pier, and walking around the picturesque town. We then caught the evening bus down to Bariloche.

The turquiose water of the lakes in Villa Angostura

Kids jumping of the pier

One of the beaches at the lake

All of the buildings around town had the feel of a European ski town

 

We were happy to have a few more days in Bariloche before heading further south. It gave us a chance to go on walks around the lake and relax in town. We were able to cook in the tiny kitchen at the hostel and meet people from all over the world who were staying there. One day we took a long walk that wound around the side of the lake. It took us past a kilometer or more of blackberry bushes. These bushes were on public land spanning the space between the lake and the road. So we spent an hour or so searching for ripe berries. The bushes were so full of clusters at all stages of maturity that we both ate way more than we probably should have but it did provide a great snack during our walk.

Oops we ate all the ripe ones before we took the photo

A shot of the lake during one of our walks in Bariloche

The church that often served as a directional landmark in Bariloche to keep Lisa from getting lost

These birds were unlike any we had seen

From Bariloche we headed down to El Bolson. El Bolson is touted as being the relaxed and “hippy” neighbor of Bariloche. Our hostel was tucked in the woods, up a hill and across the river from the main part of town. It felt a bit more like a tree house than a regular hostel with the inside made out of wooden planks and logs. We were met at the door with a bottle of a cold microbrew that was made by the caretaker of the hostel. Most of the people who were staying there were all sitting around a long wooden table with benches, talking and laughing. No one was in a hurry to check us in so we sat and chatted with everyone for an hour or two. When we were taken to our room on the second floor of the hostel we noticed that all the rooms had walls but the rafters were completely open an reinforcing the air of a treehouse. The showers were raised containers that you could fill with hot and cold water and then open a small spout and let gravity down on top of you. All these things added to the charm of this place.

The beer that the administrator of the hostel brewed

Tree-art in the park

We spent most of our time in El Bolson either talking to everyone in our hostel or walking around town. The parks were full of people relaxing and drinking mate (a type of hot tea that is drank through a straw with a filter). People were setting up for a brew and hops festival taking place that weekend.

The river that passes through El Bolson

The obliagory soccer pitch that you can find in every town in South America

Some local artwork with a strong message

El Bolson was a wonderful stop before we get on a 23 hour bus ride down into Patagonia.

 

Puerto Montt

Tags

Isla Chiloe, Lago Petrohue, Puerto Montt, Puerto Varas

Over the many months that we have been traveling we have stayed in hotels, hostels, dorm rooms, apartments, tents and houses. Some of our favorite accommodations, however, have been whe we have chosen to stay with a family. Occasionally this is with friends living in South America and occasionally it is through AirBnB. In the case of Puerto Montt we decided to stay in the house of a retired couple whose daughter-in-law had set them up on AirBnB. We spent four nights with Carlos and Rosario and they treated us like family. They loved to sit down on the couch and chat, they constantly tried to feed us or bring us tea or coffee. They took us grocery shopping and invited us to participate in family dinners with their extended family that lived in town. Two of their relatives were also in town, visiting from Santiago. This was fortunate for us as they had planned several excursions during their stay and were perfectly happy to let us tag along.

A photo of Carlos and Rosario and two of their family members who toured with us in Puerto Montt

One of the days we took a tour of Chiloe, an island just off the coast from Puerto Montt. We all piled onto a bus that drove to the dock, the bus then borded a ferry that took us across the Canal de Chacao to the island. We spent the next 10 hours driving around to many of the cultural and historical sites of Chiloe. We visited the small towns of Ancud, Dalcahue, and Castro passing through churches and markets. We toured the old fort of San Antonio, and walked along the coast to take photos of the colorful houses set up on stilts. The most unusual part of our day was visiting a mythological park that was filled with stuffed animals and paper mache creatures serving as props to explain some of the legends of the area.

Some of the hokey animals from the mythological park

Some of the colorful houses on stilts that lined the waterfront

Looking out from the fort

A church almost as bright as Lisa’s jacket…

You be the judge

At the end of the day we headed back across the island of Chiloe to get to the ferry that would return us to Puerto Montt. On the ferry Kevin was lucky enough to see a pod of dolphins who decided to accompany our boat, flipping as they came out of the water and a couple of seals playing in the distance.

Puerto Montt, itself, was not a very exciting city but it was a great place to use as a base for other excursions. The one highlight is that it had a long coastline, which gave us us ample space to go for a long walk along the water.

The main plaza in Puerto Montt

The waterfront where we went for long walks in Puerto Montt

Lisa with two of our new friends

One of the most impressive vegetarian sandwiches we have encountered (it was more than twice the size of Kevin’s meat sandwich) 

On our final full day in Puerto Montt we decided to visit a couple of the nearby lakes. We initially took a bus to Puerto Varas a quaint, touristy town about 20 minutes north of Puerto Montt. We walked around for a while, admiring the lake and volcano that created a picturesque backdrop for the town.

From Puerto Varas we hopped on another local bus that drove us out to a waterfall (Saltos del Petrohue) a few kilometers from Petrohue Lake. There was a short, well maintained trail that stretched from the road to the waterfall. From there we hiked around the forest a bit visiting a few other ponds and viewpoints of the river.

A view of the volcano from the salto

 

Lake Petrohue was a large lake with a coarse sand beach. There were a few hotels, water sports shops, a museum, and a snack shop along the edge of the lake. We took a little while to explore the surrounding area and grab a bite to eat before heading out. Our bus ride between the waterfall and the lake had afforded us glimpses of the river as it wound its way towards the lake. We decided to walk back along the road to spend more time admiring the river. We were rewarded with beautiful views of the river, but we failed to realize when we set out that walking along a dirt road meant that every passing vehicle kicked up large quantities of dust, making it difficult to breath or see until things settled. After walking for about an hour every part of us was completely covered in a layer of dirt.

Lake Petrohue

One view of the river as we walked along the dirt road

 

 

We picked up another bus on the side of the road that drove us back to Puerto Varas. We got in a little bit before sunset and decided to wander down the promenade around the lake and around town before trying to find a bus back to Puerto Montt. Sometimes, regardless of being able to speak Spanish, it is very difficult to figure out where to find a bus that is actually going to our desired destination. We waited at one bus stop for a while, with several people assuring us that we could find the correct bus at this stop. After failing to have any luck we were directed to another stop a couple blocks away. At this stop we did indeed encounter buses that went to Puerto Montt. Unfortunately, they were so full that the drivers didn’t stop to take on any more passengers. We then walked back to the first bus stop before deciding to try to follow the bus route backwards to see if we could find a stop that would allow us to get on the bus. In the end it took a while but we eventually made it back to Puerto Montt.

Our last look at Puerto Varas before the sunset

 

Tomorrow we leave to make our way back to the Lake District of Argentina. We hope to pass a few more lakes on our way.