Chile 2014 summary including a slideshow

I'm home again. Sitting in my sofa and feeling great! It was a wonderful vacation. It was everything I expected and more.

My highlights were

• My birthday. I loved everything about that day. It was fantastic weather, a wonderful hike, a good dinner, sweet cake and great company.
• The 29 km hike with the AMAZING views and the race in the end. The 2 beers after the hike tasted like heaven
• The horse back riding. It was just lovely
• To taste wine is always on my list. I could have tasted some more though….
• To spend time with Maria. She is one of my best friends and to have all this time to talk about everything was the best.
• Maria's and mine fish&seafood dinner. It tasted FANTASTIC

I learned some things about Chile:

• That Patagonia is cold was expected, but that the beach is cold was a surprise. Santiago was hot though.
• Chileans are very friendly and nice. Every time I thought someone was about to fool or trick me, they were actually just nice and friendly. This was a very pleasant surprise.
• The service, at least in Maitencillo, was a bit different. I think it might be because they were not used to foreigners there. Hardly anyone spoke any English (which was not the case on all other places I visited)) and they were not really keen to help. At times it felt like we were disturbing them when we asked for help or assistance.
• The food varied a LOT. I honestly don't understand how a beach village like Maitencillo couldn't serve a great fish or seafood dinner. The only great dinner we had in Maitencillo was the one Maria made.

I have to say that South America continues to be one of my favorite parts of the world. On the other hand - I don't really have any parts that I don't like.

So as a summary - I can recommend Patagonia and Santiago. Maitencillo requires a friend like Maria - a close friend that speaks fluent Spanish and can cook. I don't think that too many people are as fortunate as I am. :-)

Until my next trip - Take care everyone! Check out the slide show

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HaW85ZbpjEc&feature=youtu.be

Never give up the search for a great meal

When you are traveling one of the most exciting things is the food culture of the country you are visiting. I have been to countries where I found the food a bit boring (like Cuba - not a lot of spices there) and others that gave me a pleasant surprise (like Malaysia with their mixed food cultures). My impression of Chile started off quite good. The food in Eco Camp was great and we enjoyed great 3 course dinners every day. My expectations of the food in Maitencillo was therefor quite high. As a beach village I was expecting great seafood and fish dishes. 

The cabin that my friend and I rented was located next to one of the most popular restaurants in the village, so that was the first place we tried out. The food was OK, not great, but not bad either. Then we tried the restaurant that was famous for the best ceviche in town (a South American dish that is slightly different made in each country). I couldn't eat more than a third of it. I just didn't like it. We took in second dish and I could eat it, but didn't really enjoy it. At this point we got bit worried. Was there any great food in the village?

We checked the internet and found that besides of "our" restaurant (that belonged to our cabin) there was another one that was highly recommended. We decided to go there for dinner. This time we chose a dish from their "Recommended" page - their Frutti de Mare. Again - we were very disappointed. It was hardly eatable. This was not the way to enjoy the wonders from the sea just next to us.

The next morning we decided to check out the local fish market. We had decided to cook our own dinner. We walked around and then approached the fishermen that we felt gave us the best first impression. My friend Maria, who speaks fluent Spanish, did the talking. Even if I didn't understand that much of the discussion I got the feeling that the fisherman took an immediate liking in Maria. He was showing her everything and was eating everything, raw, in front of us just to proof how fresh and good it was. Maria even tried some herself. We ended up buying mussels, sole, scallops and much more. Suddenly we had spent more money on the fish market than we would  done in an restaurant. But the plastic bag with fish and seafood that we carried with us was very heavy. Then we spent the next hour buying all other things that was needed to create a fantastic dinner. In the end the whole food shopping tour took us more than 2 hours.

Maria checking out the fish market

Big mussels

Our Sole files' in preparation

In the late afternoon I went for a jog and Maria started to prepare dinner (yeah - she spoiled me.) At dinner time we then enjoyed mussels as entree and sole with all scallops, shrimps and other seafood for main course. We finished it off with fresh blueberries, strawberries and raspberries together with ice cream. And BOY what a great dinner it was. Everything tasted like something from heaven. In the end I could hardly move, since I had eaten too much. But we still hadn't finished it all. We had a great lunch the next days and could even offer the neighborhood cats a great feast.

Birthday Celebration Dinner

Dessert 

Strange Maitencillo

Maitencillo is a funny place. Or should I say strange. 

First of all it is beach place, but it is cold. You look out the window and think it will be 25-30 degrees C outside and then you go out and freeze.During the night the temperature comes down to 14-15 degrees C. During the day it is only around 22-23 degrees C. In the mornings I actually use a fleece.  But it is a very nice temperature for running.

Second of all they have turned the day around, even though they have daylight as the Swedish summer. For example - according to the hotel information breakfast is served 8.30-11.00. But when I, the first morning, came to breakfast at 8.30 they looked at me like it was 5.30 in the morning. They hadn't put the tables in order or even started to make breakfast. So I had to come back 30 minutes later and then they actually came and told me that breakfast was ready. I was the only one who wanted breakfast that early. None of the market places, restaurants or coffee places open before 12 and most of them open around 3 or 4 in the afternoon. The beaches are empty until 3 in the afternoon, but they are full with people at 7 in the evening. Most people seem to eat lunch around 3 in the afternoon and everyone goes out for dinner around 10 in the evening. It is very confusing.

In principle the whole city is organized so that you should sleep long in the morning. It is too cold before 12 and nothing is open. But as hardworking women Maria and I wake up at 9 every morning. We need to find a way to change our rhythm so it is in sync with the rest of the city.

Evening light in Maitencillo

Wine tour and the Beach

After a week of quite cold weather in Patagonia, it was quite nice to be back in warm and sunny Santiago. It was not a long, stay just 15 hours, but still. I stayed in the same hotel that I had done when I arrived to Chile. It is a nice middle class hotel called Bonaparte. The rooms are nice and clean, the internet quite reliable and the breakfast great. All that you need from a hotel room. I spent the evening catching up on e-mails, Facebook and wrote a couple of blog posts.

The next day was the wine tour day. At 9 my ride came to pick me up. The wine tour was supposed to start at 10.20. First I thought it was a bit early to drink wine, but I got into wine mood as soon as I arrived at the vineyard. It is called Concha y Toro and is, according to our guide, the second largest winery in the world. In Sweden I think the most known wine from them is Casillero Del Diablo. It turns out that the winery has a quite wide selection of different wines and as a part of the tour we got to try some of them. I fell in love with the Private Selection of the Casillero. So I bought a bottle of that, together with a bottle of Rosé and a bottle of sparkling. No - I don't plan to bring it back to Sweden, but to drink in on my days at the beach together with my friend Maria. During the wine tour we also got to meet the devil in the cellar. :-)

The Vineyards

The Devil in the Cellar

After that my driver took me to the beach. It was a 2,5 hours drive from the winery, where I slept most of the drive. I finally arrived at Hermansens Cabins in Maitencillo. The cabins where next to the biggest beach so it was a great location, but "my" cabin wasn't the best one. It is situated just behind the main building, so you can only see a glimpse of the ocean through the windows. But it has a nice outdoor place with a BBQ place. The cabin itself is quite small. Then it turned out that they had cleaned the cabin with some kind of stuff that consists of gasoline. It smelled so much, so I could hardly breath inside. I actually first thought it was a gas leak in the house, but it turned out that the smell went away when the cleaned the cabin a second time with some other stuff. I was not in a good mood through all this. After a very late lunch, that they offered me for free due to the smell issue, I decided to write some blog posts. Then the internet didn't work. Sigh! Well you should have days with issues also on your vacation. The next day the internet worked, even though it is not totally reliable. And the beach is great. So now I think I can enjoy my days in Maitencillo. ;-)

The beach in Maitencillo

The front yard of the cabin

Final Days in Patagonia

On our fifth hiking day I woke up and felt that I had reached the limit. I had a cold with an annoying cough already when I left Sweden and 4 days of hiking hadn't helped my case. I felt more sick. Since I knew that the day would consist of either an easy hike or a tough biking tour I decided to stay in the camp. The bike tour would be too tough for me and the hike seemed OK to skip. If I should take it easy one day on my vacation, this was the day.

Horses of Patagonia

After breakfast I went back to bed and woke up 2 hours later. I surely needed to take it easy. The rest of the afternoon I spent taking care of all my pictures, filtering and sorting. I also ended up making a slideshow, that I showed to everyone else in the evening. They all seemed to enjoy it. I will upload it on Facebook when I get back home. I think it will take too long time, if it is even possible, to upload it from Chile. The internet lines I have been using have not been the fastest.

We had a nice final dinner together in Eco Camp and exchanged e-mail addresses. There is always a picture that you want from someone else and there is always someone that you will keep in touch with for years after. At least that is my experience.

The next day was just one long transport day back to Punta Arenas.

My final day in the south of Chile I spent horseback riding. It was just me and the guide riding along the beaches and through the meadows, I had the nicest horse. He was so calm, but was still easy to ride. You didn't need to push him all the time just to make him move, which is normally the case for rental horses. It was a nice end to my time in Patagonia.

My horse

The Steep Hike

On our forth hiking day we were heading for the famous Towers. The granite towers are the ones you see on most pictures from the national park Torres Del Paine. We saw them from Eco Camp, but now we were going to see them up close. The hike from the camp up is 22 km and the elevation is around 1000 m. Our guide Roberto described it as a tough hike, so I was prepared for the worst. 

As everyday, we started the hike in sunshine. The weather shifted a little during the day, but mostly it was sunny. The first part of the hike was quite steep uphill, but not worse than most uphill hikes I have done. Just before we came to our first stop, the Hosteria Las Torres, it was a long downhill. It is always annoying to walk downhill, when you know that you are heading for the top of the mountain. All the elevation you have gained is suddenly lost. 

After the Hosteria we walked through the forrest. It was a nice and easy trail. It was even easier today than any other day, since I had taken out most of the things from my back pack. It now weighed only 4.5 kg instead of nearly 10 kg as it had done on the previous 3 days. I usually don't mind to have a little bit heavier back pack. It makes the hike a little bit tougher and I like that. The problem this time was that I had back pain. For the first time ever during a hike! Anyhow - it felt extremely easy with the light back pack.

We were told that the last part of our hike would be the toughest one. It would be steep uphill and also a difficult path. I was prepared for the worst. Again - I was happily surprised. Yeah, it was quite steep uphill, but it was not as tough as some of the hikes I have made. (The toughest one I think was Mount Rinjani on Lombok). We reached the top without any problems and got this beautiful view.

But again - it was so windy. I put on all the clothes I had brought with me and put myself out of the wind and still I was freezing. So the lunch break on the top was a lot shorter than all the other days. It was just too cold.

On the way back down to the camp I felt that my knees were hurting a bit, so I decided to take it easy. Together with Todd from the group we walked down nice and slowly. When we finally reached to camp we went directly to the bar and enjoyed a beer. There is nothing that taste as good as a beer after a hike.

The Windy Hike

On the third day of hiking I woke up rather stiff and also tired after a night with not too much sleep (due to the dormitory effect). But when you see the beautiful nature around you, it is not hard to find the energy again. This day's hike was only 11 km and not too demanding. The only thing to be concerned of was that we now had reached the real windy places of Patagonia. I usually don't have any problems with the wind. 14 years as the girlfriend of a windsurfer has made me quite used to strong winds, so I didn't expect it to be an issue. But it was harder than I thought, since the wind was so cold. The wind was around 18 m/s or 40 mph at the view points. So you needed a a lot of clothes when you were in the windy spots and as soon as you came out of them it became hot (since the sound was still shining). It was hard to find the best balance of clothes/layers. In some of the view points it even felt like the wind would knock me off my feet, but luckily it never did. 

Again we had beautiful views on the hike but of a different kind (see below). Here we had the possibility to see the Grey glacier. It was fantastic to see it. First from the distance on our hike and then from the boat (that took us back to Eco Camp) that drove up just next to the glacier. 

We didn't reach the pot of gold

Small Ice bergs

We saw another owl

You forget it is summer when it is so cold, but the flowers remind you.

The Grey Glacier from the boat

When we came back to Eco Camp it felt a little like coming home. Even it the tent domes where a bit chilly during the night, everything else about the place was lovely. The dining place, the lounge and the bar were all cozy and warm. We got Pisco Sours every night before dinner, ate a 3 course dinners that tasted fantastic and drank good wines. I mean - who wouldn't like that?!

The LONG hike!

The second day of hiking we knew from the start that it would be tough. The hike is 29 km and nearly 1000 m in elevation. We were told that it would take 12 hours (even though it was stated 10 hours in my itinerary). The weather was with us again and it was nice and sunny. We had been warned that it would be colder and windy, so we carried a lot of clothes in our backpacks. Mine weighed 10 kg in total.

The first part of the hike was quite flat and not very demanding. But then we came to the Refugio Italiano, which is the starting point to get up into the famous French Valley. This is the place for serious views and where we would have the possibilities to see avalanches. We were not disappointed. For the first time this season the weather was so good that we could get to the highest view point. Maybe it was also the nice weather that caused so many avalanches because we saw at least 10 of them and heard many, many more. It was an amazing hike, which you can see in the pictures below. And the clothes that we carried - they were needed even though it was sunny. We got our first real encounter with the famous Patagonian wind.

When we got back to Refugio Italiano at 5 in the afternoon, our guide Roberto told us that we had another 2,5 hours of hike left. Since we had walked since 8.30 in the morning we were not really in the mood to hike any more. But the last part of the hike, to our next stop Refugio Grand Paine, was quite easy and flat, so we were allowed to do it on our own without any guides. Therefor we decided it to do it as sort of a race. Our goal was that it shouldn't take us more than 1 hour and 45 minutes. It quickly became clear to everyone that Juliet, my room mate, was in a league of her own and she finished the whole thing in 1 hour and 20 minutes. 3 of us, including me, took 1 hour and 35 minutes and then the rest came in after that. We were, in other words, quite exhausted when we finally reach our stop and the beer tasted like something from heaven. A beer after a hike is perfect - it has water and carbs. Just what you need.

After a shower and dinner I fell into bed. Unfortunately it was not a long nice sleep. To sleep in a dormitory is not my thing. But I got a few hours and was ready for the next days hike.

The Birthday Hike

The 28th of January I turned 50 years old. When I, during the summer of 2013, was thinking about how I wanted to celebrate my birthday I pretty quickly arrived at the idea that I wanted to be abroad and I wanted to hike. I have for a long time thought about going to Chile and Patagonia and I felt that NOW was the time to do it. So on my 50th birthday I had my first hiking day in Patagonia. What a great way to spend MY day!

Our hikes in Patagonia originated from the Eco camp. When we arrived to the camp the first night it was quite cold and rainy. It didn't look good. But on the morning of my birthday I woke up to a lovely sunshine. There was a beautiful light on our tent domes. See picture below. It felt like the sun was shining just for me and I was so happy.

Tent domes

The tent domes was an unusual place to sleep in. They are like any tent but a little more fixed and with a proper wooden floor and real beds. But they are as cold as a normal tent. Since it was only around 5 degrees Celsius during the night I was quite happy that the beds had a lot of covers and blankets. But it required some extra effort to step out of the nice warm bed in the morning.

A nice and easy trail to start with

The weather was shifting a little bit during the day, but we had never any rain. We just walked through a beautiful landscape and enjoyed the scenery every step of the way. It was a quite smooth start to our hike, since we walked only 12 km during the day and it was only around 300 m elevation. It took us about 7 hours including all the snack breaks and a long lunch break.

The birthday girl

Lunch break

In the late afternoon we arrived to our first stop - the refugio Los Cuernos. We were told before hand that we would sleep in dormitory rooms, but to our big surprise we all got nice little cabins to sleep in. I shared mine with Juliet from England. The cabins were extremely nice and had a beautiful view and even heating!!! On top of that there was a hot tub we could use. Juliet, Michael and I were the first ones that stepped into the tub with a beer in our hands. Life was good!

Lago Nordenskjold, next to our Refugio

We saw the lake from our cabin

The hot tub with Michael and Juliet

In the evening  we had our dinner in the refugios restaurant. To my big surprise the travel company had arranged for a birthday cake and the whole hiking group sang to me. :-) That was just enough birthday attention for my taste. So we ate, drank good wine and then I fell into bed, very tired with a happy smile on my face. It was a GREAT birthday. 

Birthday cake! And I had 2!!!! pieces!

The trip to Patagonia

After a week in Torres Del Paine in Patagonia and a couple of days in Punta Arenas I'm now back in the civilization of Santiago. It has been a great week of hiking. In fact it has been an AMAZING hiking week. We had the best weather so far this season and could therefor do ALL the hikes (which is not always the case). This means we hiked 74 km on 4 days. For those of you who are not hikers I can tell that is quite a lot. Most hikes are around 15 km and less if there is a lot of uphill. We had 2 hikes that were 29 km and 22 km and both had around 1000 m of elevation. These hikes were quite tough, but for different reasons. On the following blog posts I will describe each of the hikes with pictures.

But first - the trip to Patagonia. It started with breakfast at 4 o'clock in the morning and a flight at 5.50. I arrived in Punta Arenas 9.15. It gives you an idea how long this country is. Santiago is approximately in the middle of the country and Punta Arenas is in the south but not as far as you can get. There is still some left of the country. :-) Then we, I and some fellow travelers, were taken by car for around 6 hours to the National Park Torres Del Paine. It was a looooong trip. But finally, at around 7 in the evening we arrived to Eco Camp - our base for the hiking. 

Arriving in Punta Arenas

We saw some cute owls.

BIG cave that we visited on the way to Torres Del Paine.

Guanocos. They are like wild lamas.