I have finally found time to get another post on here to let you know how we are going. When I last left you we were still in Santiago and still in Chile.
Our next stop was Pucon Chile, which as I will remind you, was like a Queenstown. It was indeed that and it definitely surpassed my expectations. First up we were able to camp for dirt cheap and the adventures we had were amazing. We went on some Quad bikes for 2 hours and having never ridden them before (riding Jay’s CBR up and down Handle court helped) took a little adjustment, but after that we were hooning around dirt tracks and just taking in the amazing scenery. The scenery in particular was the active volcano but that I will explain in the next adventure. Every now an then we would stop and the guide would take us through jungle or to look out points. There were a few caves that were formed by the volcano in past eruptions.
Now, back to the volcano. Yes, we climbed it. And when I say climbed, I mean from the base to the top. It seemed like a good idea to laugh in the faces of all the people that paid an extra 10 bucks to get a chairlift a third of the way up, but it wasn’t. It turned out to be the hardest part of the hike and we drank most of our 2 litres of water in that part alone. It was alright tough as there was plenty of snow. We happily ate that until the guide (100 metres from the top) kindly said “no no no… Mucho Sulpha…”, we quickly stopped eating it but we are fine now. We eventually made it to the top and the peak was great, 360 views and bubbling lava. Needless to say, the burst mode on the camera got a good work out. We managed to capture a few great shots. The best part about climbing to the top was that we didn’t have to climb down. We got to sit on our a$!ses and slide all the way down. All in all, it was a very rewarding experience that was even more so knowing that we were some of 4 people out of 50 to do the whole thing. Robyn was the only female so kudos to her…
After that we were on our way to Bariloche Argentina which happens to be the chocolate capital of the country. We cruised around the city, ate and drank chocolate. Robyn got her hair cut for less than 10 bucks, its the shortest it has been in the 5 and a half years i have known her. We checked out a waterfall and ate Tenedor Libre. Thats spanish for all you can eat. Picture Limor’s, but more meat… There were carcases haning on the grill for us to select from. It was really nice to, but the feeling after I left wasn’t. Good thing it was a bit of a walk back to our hostel.
Has been more laid back since then but we have still managed to notch up over 40 hours on various buses. Its about that for our next bus ride alone, all the way from Torres Del Paine (Chile) to Buenos Aries.
We are currently in El Calafate awaiting the morning so we can visit Moreno Glacier. A 60 metre wall of ice. We won’t be actually walking on this one. We are saving that for Torres Del Paine.
Anyway, I will leave it there so I can try to add some pictures for your viewing pleasure. This will probably be the last post for about 2 weeks as we will be hiking for 10 days in that time.
I hope you are all well and that I hear from more of you soon.
Cheers,
Glen
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waiting to see some photos…this is mum by the way… pas is having all sorts of medical tests to try to find out if anything is wrong…nana getting better…..little robin has tummy upset and missed her first day at kinder without mum or dad and kim is hoping she can go tomorrow…..kris probably in thailand for a few days..he is not keeping in touch with me… bad boy… dad in sydney again this week so I am all alone until jay gets home…… keep having fun and stay in touch as often as poss…… seeya….love mum
Kris - Wednesday, Feb 8, 2006 16:49:22