Woke up this morning thinking in Spanish! Well, when I say thinking in Spanish, I was thinking of various things I need to do today, and how to ask the necessary questions. So far, I´ve managed to change hotels - I walked to the one that I was meant to be in, but it´s further out of town, and more than twice the price of the one I was in last night. Admittedly, it looked a lot posher, with a big casino that can only be described as Argentine bling, but I´d rather spend the money on nice food. So I swapped to the hotel over the road from the one I stayed in last night (which is now full). Both are pretty run-down and very basic, but clean and functional and about 12 quid per night. Last night I got very lucky on the food front, as I went to the restaurant next door and ordered a steak which came in a delicious mustardy sauce, with a big pile of roasted vegetables - sweet potatoes, pumpkins, courgettes, aubergines, carrots and onions. Was very glad I hadn´t ordered a starter as well, as it was a huge portion - probably big enough for two - but I hadn´t had a proper lunch, only the stuff they handed out on the bus, so managed to scoff the lot.
Am now at El Chancho Rengo, a cafe at the main crossroads in town, enjoying a late morning coffee. Realised I accidentally stole the room key from my hostel in Temuco yesterday, so I´ve managed to make an envelope and stick it together with sticking plaster to post back to them. I´ve made a new friend too - the dog from the hotel I'm staying in, who followed me through town and into the post office, and is now lying by my feet.
Zapala is actually a very nice town - only small, but it has a good feel to it, and seems a bit wealthier than Temuco. You wouldn't want to spend long here, as far as I can tell there isn´t much to do, but it's an ok place to spend the day waiting for my pick-up tomorrow. Think I'll book somewhere to stay the night here for when I come back from the ranch, but am not sure about booking a bus or anything as yet, as I was hoping to pick other peoples' brains about where to go next, and don't necessarily want to make definite plans in case I want to stay on at the ranch.
The sun is so hot here - the air isn't too hot when you're in the shade, but think I'm really going to struggle at the ranch in this heat. Will have to be surgically removed from my baseball cap! Have also brought a couple of scarves and loads of sun-cream, so will just have to stay wrapped up - will probably come back whiter than when I went away, which is what usually happens.
Ok, will say ciao for now, as I'm not sure when I'll next get the chance to update you on my adventures - probably early March, as I plan to leave the ranch on the 10th or 11th, but I guess it depends slightly upon what date other people there plan to leave, as it sounds like it's a bit of an epic journey - I get picked up from Zapala tomorrow, then it's a three or four hour drive to the trail-head, where we swap four wheels for four legs, to do the last 15 miles or so on horseback, including a river crossing. (Yes, Mum, I promise to wear my riding hat!) Am slightly concerned about what happens to my very heavy rucksack at this point, as I can see everything ending up completely soaked, but I've got a fairly large, rubber dry-bag to put the essentials in. Am also hoping that I might be able to fill it with water during the daytime once on the ranch, to heat up in the sun, so that I can have some sort of bath/shower with it in the evening, as I think the alternative is heating water on a wood-burning stove which sounds pretty time-consuming. We'll see... there's a lot of unknowns about this whole trip, but I think it will be an adventure one way or the other - just hope it's a good type of adventure.
Lots of love to you all - hasta luego!
Monday 9 February 2009
Sunday 8 February 2009
Zapala 1
Hotel Pehuen, Elena de Vega y Etchulez, Zapala, 02942 - 423135
Am so glad I booked into this hotel! It couldn´t have been easier to find once I got to the bus terminal at Zapala - a very different story to yesterday´s clueless wandering. I was up at 6 this morning ready to get my bus from Temuco to Zapala, over the Andes. Maggi, the lady at the hostel very kindly phoned for a taxi for me, which was only about 2,000 pesos - just over two quid - and two quid well spent as the bus went from a completely different terminal to the one that I arrived at from Santiago, and would have gone to otherwise. I knew there were a few terminals, and had asked a couple of people whether Igi Llaima (the one I had to go from) was the same one that I arrived at, but obviously hadn´t been making myself understood... oops!
Anyway, despite having to pass through two lots of customs, this journey was a lot less stressful than the previous one. I had a very entertaining converstaion with the lady sitting next to me, Eva, who was also going to Zapala. A combination of charades and looking things up in the dictionary meant we actually managed to have a reasonable chat. There was a lot of discussion between her and two girls in the seats next to us as to whether or not I should attempt to eat my four ciruelas (plums) before we got to the Argentine border crossing, where all fruit is confiscated. In the end it was decided that it wasn´t a good idea as the sign on the toilet door on the bus said that you were only allowed to urinate in the toilet - nothing else!
Anyway, I'm now holed up in my hotel room and it's about 6pm. Feel like I should be out and about exploring Zapala (it´s not very big) but I don't have a map of the town, and to be honest, the last few days have been hard work just getting from A to B, so I'll leave it until tomorrow. I'm hoping that I can just get some food in the hotel tonight, and pay when I pay for the room tomorrow as I've got no Argentinian money yet, the bank is shut as it's Sunday, and I was hoping to change some of my US dollars so I'm not carrying them around all the time.
Must also try to learn some more Spanish, as, even in Santiago I only met a couple of people who spoke good English. Since leaving there on Friday, not only has nobody spoken any English whatsoever, but I haven´t even seen anyone who looks like they´re anything other than Chilean or Argentinian, which is great, but scary at the same time as I'm not only having to be very self-reliant, but also rely very much on the help and kindness of strangers, something I rarely need to do in London.
The bus ride through the mountains was great - on the Chilean side it started off as farmland that could have been southern France, or maybe even England in places, except the trees are different. Saw someone cutting hay with a machine pulled by cattle, and then as we climbed higher there were lots of pine trees and rivers. On the Argentinian side of the Andes it looks much, much drier, a vast landscape broken only by outcrops of rocky hills, and clusters of what look like poplar trees. There are also lots of monkey-puzzle trees, which from what (I think) Eva was saying, is where pine nuts come from. It certainly looks as though it will be really hot for riding.
Am so glad I booked into this hotel! It couldn´t have been easier to find once I got to the bus terminal at Zapala - a very different story to yesterday´s clueless wandering. I was up at 6 this morning ready to get my bus from Temuco to Zapala, over the Andes. Maggi, the lady at the hostel very kindly phoned for a taxi for me, which was only about 2,000 pesos - just over two quid - and two quid well spent as the bus went from a completely different terminal to the one that I arrived at from Santiago, and would have gone to otherwise. I knew there were a few terminals, and had asked a couple of people whether Igi Llaima (the one I had to go from) was the same one that I arrived at, but obviously hadn´t been making myself understood... oops!
Anyway, despite having to pass through two lots of customs, this journey was a lot less stressful than the previous one. I had a very entertaining converstaion with the lady sitting next to me, Eva, who was also going to Zapala. A combination of charades and looking things up in the dictionary meant we actually managed to have a reasonable chat. There was a lot of discussion between her and two girls in the seats next to us as to whether or not I should attempt to eat my four ciruelas (plums) before we got to the Argentine border crossing, where all fruit is confiscated. In the end it was decided that it wasn´t a good idea as the sign on the toilet door on the bus said that you were only allowed to urinate in the toilet - nothing else!
Anyway, I'm now holed up in my hotel room and it's about 6pm. Feel like I should be out and about exploring Zapala (it´s not very big) but I don't have a map of the town, and to be honest, the last few days have been hard work just getting from A to B, so I'll leave it until tomorrow. I'm hoping that I can just get some food in the hotel tonight, and pay when I pay for the room tomorrow as I've got no Argentinian money yet, the bank is shut as it's Sunday, and I was hoping to change some of my US dollars so I'm not carrying them around all the time.
Must also try to learn some more Spanish, as, even in Santiago I only met a couple of people who spoke good English. Since leaving there on Friday, not only has nobody spoken any English whatsoever, but I haven´t even seen anyone who looks like they´re anything other than Chilean or Argentinian, which is great, but scary at the same time as I'm not only having to be very self-reliant, but also rely very much on the help and kindness of strangers, something I rarely need to do in London.
The bus ride through the mountains was great - on the Chilean side it started off as farmland that could have been southern France, or maybe even England in places, except the trees are different. Saw someone cutting hay with a machine pulled by cattle, and then as we climbed higher there were lots of pine trees and rivers. On the Argentinian side of the Andes it looks much, much drier, a vast landscape broken only by outcrops of rocky hills, and clusters of what look like poplar trees. There are also lots of monkey-puzzle trees, which from what (I think) Eva was saying, is where pine nuts come from. It certainly looks as though it will be really hot for riding.
Saturday 7 February 2009
Temuco
Hospedaje Maggi Alvarado, Recreo 209, off Av. Alemania, Temuco
The last 24 hours have been a bit of a struggle! Managed to get myself to the bus terminal for my night bus, but I´ve never seen so many people all looking lost! It was absolutely rammed. Fortunately they´d written on my ticket which row of platforms my bus was going from, but even so, it was still a choice of seven, so had to keep battling my way through with all my baggage everytime I saw a Pullman bus, as I knew that was the company I was travelling with. It ended up being an hour late, maybe more, I´m not sure as my watch has no battery (although I´ve managed to replace that today) and my phone had died. I finally managed to find some other people that were waiting for the same bus - a family, with two daughters going off to Valdivia, being seen off by their parents.
Was great once it arrived - the seats really do fold right down so they´re virtually like beds. No meal - think I´d got the idea that they actually gave you dinner on board, like on a plane, but you got a box with a brownie, some fruit, a drink, and the Chilean equivalent of a jammy dodger! Five minutes or so into the journey they switched off the lights, and that was it - everyone snoring. I slept for a bit, but then woke up with an extremely itchy face - I think it´s a combination of sun, and just the general thing of being away from home and out of a routine. Anyway, there was no way I could go back to sleep like that, so took an antihistamine, which knocked me out shortly afterwards, and next thing I knew, we were there! I think that could be the way to go from now on...
So, arriving at Temuco first thing in the morning was a bit nerve-wracking. There was the usual gaggle of taxi drivers ready to whisk you off for extortionate prices, which, in retrospect, might have been a good idea. I opted for a local bus instead, which only took me as far as the rural bus terminal. Once there, I had no idea which onward bus to get, so started walking instead which would have been fine, except the only hostel I´d managed to book was off the map in the guide book. Again, this may have worked, had the guide book mentioned that it wasn´t a street directly off the main road, but rather a street off another street! Oh, and to make it worse there were two streets with the name I was looking for, so doubly confusing for anyone trying to give me directions. I eventually found it, and was absolutely exhausted as I must have walked a good couple of miles carrying the equivalent of a sack of potatoes on my back. After a quick shower I ventured out again, under strict instructions as to which of the little buses to take - ironically there was a bus-stop about 100 yards from the front door. I suppose people just assume you´ll get a taxi and don´t think to tell you these things.
Anyway, I wandered back to the big food market that had been setting up as I got off the bus in the morning, and spent a couple of hours just watching what was going on. It was mainly food, and a lot of it just people sitting on the kerb with produce they´d grown at home, in addition to the bigger stalls. I sat next to a lady selling runner beans (approximately 15p per kilo) and watched her fill a bag for a customer, then nip over to one of the stall-holders to borrow their scales - she´d got it bang on one kilo... very impressive! I bought some bread and cheese and a couple of empanadas, (breaking my golden rule of never eat meat from the street, especially not in the heat!) Would have loved to have bought things to make a salad, but I don´t think you could have bought just one piece of something. Was great fun and kept getting wafts of lovely fresh herbs as people were walking around with big bunches of coriander for sale. There were horses and carts, but not the tourist type, as I haven´t seen anyone else vaguely European all day, and a cart pulled by cattle too. I did see a few shops which seemed to specialise in carne equino, their sales boards complete with pictures of prancing ponies, and there was some great looking seafood on sale as well. I wish I´d been feeling brave enough to give it a try, (the seafood that is, obviously not the horse meat) but it´s such a hustle-bustle atmosphere I´d have just felt like a bit of a dim-wit with my lack of Spanish, not really knowing what I was ordering.
I also wish I´d been brave enough to take my camera along, but feel as though I stand out as a foreigner enough as it is, and don´t want to do anything else to draw attention to myself. That said, I expect most people were so busy going about their daily stuff anyway that they would barely notice. I don´t know, I suppose I´m just a bit wary whilst finding my feet. The hostel here is nice - seems more like a B&B really, and I´ve got my own room (yay!) which is good as I´m knackered and have an early start tomorrow. It´s quite a bit cooler here, although still very hot in the afternoon. My hands and feet look a bit brown, although it´s probably just dirt. Had a sneaky mid-afternoon nap, as when I got back from town there was no-one home, so had to sit outside, fortunately only for an hour, and luckily in some shade, but enough to make me sleepy. The lady has a mischievious poodle called either Perla or Bella, I haven´t quite worked out which - it went for a shampoo today so is very fluffy! Was making the most of all the attention, and is actually quite entertaining for a small dog...
The last 24 hours have been a bit of a struggle! Managed to get myself to the bus terminal for my night bus, but I´ve never seen so many people all looking lost! It was absolutely rammed. Fortunately they´d written on my ticket which row of platforms my bus was going from, but even so, it was still a choice of seven, so had to keep battling my way through with all my baggage everytime I saw a Pullman bus, as I knew that was the company I was travelling with. It ended up being an hour late, maybe more, I´m not sure as my watch has no battery (although I´ve managed to replace that today) and my phone had died. I finally managed to find some other people that were waiting for the same bus - a family, with two daughters going off to Valdivia, being seen off by their parents.
Was great once it arrived - the seats really do fold right down so they´re virtually like beds. No meal - think I´d got the idea that they actually gave you dinner on board, like on a plane, but you got a box with a brownie, some fruit, a drink, and the Chilean equivalent of a jammy dodger! Five minutes or so into the journey they switched off the lights, and that was it - everyone snoring. I slept for a bit, but then woke up with an extremely itchy face - I think it´s a combination of sun, and just the general thing of being away from home and out of a routine. Anyway, there was no way I could go back to sleep like that, so took an antihistamine, which knocked me out shortly afterwards, and next thing I knew, we were there! I think that could be the way to go from now on...
So, arriving at Temuco first thing in the morning was a bit nerve-wracking. There was the usual gaggle of taxi drivers ready to whisk you off for extortionate prices, which, in retrospect, might have been a good idea. I opted for a local bus instead, which only took me as far as the rural bus terminal. Once there, I had no idea which onward bus to get, so started walking instead which would have been fine, except the only hostel I´d managed to book was off the map in the guide book. Again, this may have worked, had the guide book mentioned that it wasn´t a street directly off the main road, but rather a street off another street! Oh, and to make it worse there were two streets with the name I was looking for, so doubly confusing for anyone trying to give me directions. I eventually found it, and was absolutely exhausted as I must have walked a good couple of miles carrying the equivalent of a sack of potatoes on my back. After a quick shower I ventured out again, under strict instructions as to which of the little buses to take - ironically there was a bus-stop about 100 yards from the front door. I suppose people just assume you´ll get a taxi and don´t think to tell you these things.
Anyway, I wandered back to the big food market that had been setting up as I got off the bus in the morning, and spent a couple of hours just watching what was going on. It was mainly food, and a lot of it just people sitting on the kerb with produce they´d grown at home, in addition to the bigger stalls. I sat next to a lady selling runner beans (approximately 15p per kilo) and watched her fill a bag for a customer, then nip over to one of the stall-holders to borrow their scales - she´d got it bang on one kilo... very impressive! I bought some bread and cheese and a couple of empanadas, (breaking my golden rule of never eat meat from the street, especially not in the heat!) Would have loved to have bought things to make a salad, but I don´t think you could have bought just one piece of something. Was great fun and kept getting wafts of lovely fresh herbs as people were walking around with big bunches of coriander for sale. There were horses and carts, but not the tourist type, as I haven´t seen anyone else vaguely European all day, and a cart pulled by cattle too. I did see a few shops which seemed to specialise in carne equino, their sales boards complete with pictures of prancing ponies, and there was some great looking seafood on sale as well. I wish I´d been feeling brave enough to give it a try, (the seafood that is, obviously not the horse meat) but it´s such a hustle-bustle atmosphere I´d have just felt like a bit of a dim-wit with my lack of Spanish, not really knowing what I was ordering.
I also wish I´d been brave enough to take my camera along, but feel as though I stand out as a foreigner enough as it is, and don´t want to do anything else to draw attention to myself. That said, I expect most people were so busy going about their daily stuff anyway that they would barely notice. I don´t know, I suppose I´m just a bit wary whilst finding my feet. The hostel here is nice - seems more like a B&B really, and I´ve got my own room (yay!) which is good as I´m knackered and have an early start tomorrow. It´s quite a bit cooler here, although still very hot in the afternoon. My hands and feet look a bit brown, although it´s probably just dirt. Had a sneaky mid-afternoon nap, as when I got back from town there was no-one home, so had to sit outside, fortunately only for an hour, and luckily in some shade, but enough to make me sleepy. The lady has a mischievious poodle called either Perla or Bella, I haven´t quite worked out which - it went for a shampoo today so is very fluffy! Was making the most of all the attention, and is actually quite entertaining for a small dog...
Friday 6 February 2009
Santiago 2
Arrived at Che Legarto hostel (Tucapel Jimenez, 24, Santiago) yesterday morning, a bit hot and bothered after walking only about 8 blocks. I´ve brought so much stuff with me, my bag weighs a tonne, but at the same time I seem to have brought the bare minimum - lots of it is winter stuff, which takes up loads of space, but at the moment that´s a bit of a joke as the temperature must be in the high twenties at the moment.
So, yesterday I headed over to the Parque Metropolitano, with plans to amble around, visiting the gardens, and maybe dangling my feet in one of the two outdoor pools they have there. What I hadn´t realised is just how big it is, and that you really need a car to get around. So ended up going up the hill to the viewpoint on another funicular railway, and then terrifying myself on a cable car that covered a fair stretch of the park. Then I decided to walk to the Museo Nacionale de Bellas Artes, through the Parque Forestal, which was also further than it looked. Was a bit hot by the time I got there, and in serious need of some lunch, so got the metro to the main square, Plaza de Armas. It was busy and touristy, and I unwittingly became the lunchtime entertainment for the surrounding tables of Chileans, who interrogated me in Spanish and found my complete lack of comprehension hilarious. It was all very good humoured though, and one of the women helped me translate the menu, and her friend then took a photo of me eating my tortilla de papas and tomato salad, which was all a bit strange! At the other two tables were a middle-aged couple, and a young guy who spoke very good English and acted as translator whilst they quizzed me about why on earth I was travelling on my own and wasn´t I scared? When the couple left I stayed chatting to the young guy, Jonathan, who had done a degree in hotel management, but now wanted to study to become an English teacher. His English was impeccable, and he´d obviously put a lot of effort into achieving a really good accent. He´d spent a month in Hertfordshire visiting a girl he´d got chatting to on the internet, who turned out to be the sister of Rupert Grint, the actor who plays Harry Potter´s ginger friend!
I wanted to see the Frieda Khalo exhibition, so he came along to that (we were in hysterics laughing at her mono-brow), and then took me on a guided tour of the city, which was great as I could take my nose out of the guide book, and will now leave feeling as though I´ve seen the best bits. We climbed up Cerro Santa Lucia, which has an incredible 360 degree view of the whole of Santiago. You can see why the pollution could be so bad, as the whole city is basically in a bowl, surrounded by high hills. We then wandered to the Lastarria district, which seemed a lot more upmarket than where I´m based, and sat drinking tea into the evening. I had my first taste of Mate, which is like strong, bitter green tea, but very refreshing. I really feel I´ve been very well looked after by complete strangers since I´ve been here, let´s hope it continues!
The Che Legarto hostel is nothing to write home about, but, having arrived to be told that although they had my reservation, they didn´t actually have a bed for me, I was grateful that they managed to shuffle thing around and find me a bunk. Unfortunately I was on the top one and there wasn´t a ladder, so, after refusing the offer of a leg-up from the Irish guy on the bunk below me I had to manouvre myself up with the help of the radiator and the windowsill! Still, it was only for one night, and they´ve let me leave my bags here today, and come back for a shower before I head off for my night bus to Temuco tonight, so I can´t complain.
Today, I headed over to the city cemetary, on the recommendation of Larry, the Irish guy. It was a bit of an adventure, as it was off my map, but you could hardly miss it, it was so huge. Am not sure why, but I always like cemetaries, and this one was incredible, just for how vast it was. There were literally loads of what looked like blocks of houses from a distance, but up close they turned out to be made up of commemorative plaques. There were lots that were far, far grander, but it was the entire walls of memorial stones that were the most touching.
From there I got the metro to Toesca and did a tour of the Palacio Cousiño. It was built by Luis and Isadora Cousiño, part of a wealthy Chilean dynasty that made its money in the mining and wine industries, and was the epitome of opulence, (yes, I did just copy that out of the guide book). Well worth a visit, if nothing more than for the huge fleecey slippers you had to wear over your shoes to protect the parquet flooring. Think it was good for my Spanish too, as everyone else was Chilean, and although the guide spoke English to me, it wasn´t very easy to follow, so think I learnt as much from the Spanish.
I then got the metro back up to Cal y Canto, where I was planning to sample some seafood at the Mercado Central, but when I got there it absolutely stank of fish (funnily enough!) which, in the heat, I don´t think I could have stomached. So walked back down Paseo Ahumada, a pedestrianised area that is probably the equivalent of Oxford Street, and found El Naturista a large cafe/restaurant serving vegetarian food and organic juices - much more my cup of tea!
So, tonight I leave Santiago... It´s been a very gentle introduction to South America, thankfully. And have been very sensible and well-behaved so far...
Wednesday 4 February 2009
Santiago 1
Aaaargh! Well, here I am! I can´t believe I´m finally here after all the months of planning (or lack thereof)... I was extremely lucky my flight wasn´t cancelled on Monday, as loads were, due to the crazy amount of snow we had during the night. I´ve never seen anything quite like it in London - there were 8 inches on my balcony, which makes it even stranger to be in summer clothes and sun-cream now.
I was lucky to be sat next to Alex, a guy from London, on the Heathrow to Sao Paulo leg of the flight, and we teamed up with Geert, a Belgian guy, after the flight to Santiago, so I had some ready made friends to go out with, which made my first night here much nicer than it might have been. We went out with some friends of Alex´s from home, and I had my first taste of pisco sours, which are yummy! Unfortunately they made me so thirsty in the night that I also had to have my first taste of Santiago tap water, which is even worse than in London, but luckily hasn´t made me ill.
Today myself and Geert managed to get a bus to Valparaiso for the day. Saw a small kid riding a large horse onto a petrol station forecourt to fill up a container with petrol - made me smile, as it´s things like that you just don´t see at home. Valparaiso was good for a day, spent exploring the Cerros, or hills, which were very ramshackle but photogenic, with lots of peeling paint and graffiti, but all lovely bright colours. I could imagine it being used as a film set, for something like a Bond film, or the Bourne Identity, with wild car chases through the maze of streets. It was incredibly steep, with a network of ancient funicular railways taking the effort out of the worst bits.
Today´s attempts to buy bus tickets were marginally better than yesterday´s jet-lagged efforts, but even so, the Spanish still has a long way to go. I´ve booked a night bus to Temuco for Friday, and have also managed to book my bus onwards to Zapala, in Argentina, for 8am on Sunday. So that gives me a couple of days to explore Santiago before heading south. I haven´t got particularly high hopes for Zapala, the name of which apparently comes from the Mapuche words for dead swamp, so I´m not expecting it to be a hive of activity or culture!
Hostel Don Santiago (Avenida Ricardo Cummings, 95, Santiago) has turned out to be lovely. It´s only small, but the staff are great - very helpful and welcoming, and much more what I was hoping for than the huge Casa Roja that we went to meet Alex at last night. Ok, so I was very jealous of his swimming pool, but still glad I picked this one instead. I have to change hostels tomorrow though, as they´re now fully booked, so am going to one called Che Legarto, just a few blocks away, so fingers crossed that one is ok too.
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