This was back in mid February and I have already described the outing to the Fiesta del Guacho . The day before I had decided to take myself out to a ‘proper’ meal to celebrate my birthday. Having put on my only skirt and a clean T shirt I set out at about 8.30pm to find a good restaurant. San Martin de los Andes is a very trendy place so there was bound to be a good choice. However, I had completely misjudged how the different meal time culture was from the south. In Patagonia everyone is out hiking and ravenous at the end of the day and intending to get up early. So, meals were being served at pretty ‘normal’ time ie 7.30 onwards but here the Spanish type timing had come into play.
I wandered around town looking into windows of restaurants that were all set up but definitely not expecting anyone yet. So I window shopped for an hour!! By 9.30 I had done a complete survey of what this small town had to offer!! Eventually, I saw other people peering at menus and decided it was now ok to be seen entering a restaurant. I was ravenous but I had of course been able to do a very thorough survey of which restaurant I was going to eat in. Delicious meal during which some guy came up to me calling me Julietta ..... he was convinced I looked like someone who was a friend of his sister's. Quite genuine ... not a local chat up line.
The other joy of the weekend was a day’s riding with Yvonne Corbett. Once again I have Harry Hastings to thank for my introduction to Yvonne. He said I had to make contact because we would get on. And, of course, he was right. Yvonne is an anglo argentine based in San Martin and organises riding trips. She was just back from a long trip into Chile so I was lucky to catch her. We met for a drink and in between lots of people passing by and greeting her, we agreed that I would join her for a day out on Sunday.
She picked me up at about 10.45am ... with Raoul her business partner. Roaul was a delightful chap, an Italian-argentine, who very soon was giving me his life history. While he did this, Yvonne popped into various shops collecting things for our lunch. Eventually, we motored out of town a bit to Raoul’s ‘property’. This was a set of old barns and one small new house that he had just built surrounded by a plantation of trees and various fields – with the horses in. He used to run a nursery providing trees for the municipality so he is happy amongst his plants. He seems also to have fingers in other pies .. including a business in Chile that makes some kind of electronics for buses.
While Raoul shows me his property .. including the accommodation they have prepared for riders in the old barn, where he intends to build his new bigger home, and his strawberry patch, Yvonne catches the horses and prepares our saddlebags (lunch!). Finally we saddle up, I borrow a pair of riding chaps and a nice broad brimmed hat from Raoul, and Yvonne and I set off.It was a glorious day: sunshine but a good breeze too. We wound our way through lovely woods and meadows, whilst having slow chats about all sorts of things. Yvonne was very good at pointing out all the trees and flowers ... lots of them ... including blankets of the astrameria and clouds of a white flowers... also some enormous purple thistles. Yvonne did all the opening and closing gates and fences (we were crossing quite a lot of neighbouring properties). I felt I should have helped but I knew I would have difficulty getting up and down – she was much more nibble. Her horse was called Bandiera and was a grey/dappled horse. I was on Colorado ... which is what they call bay horses. The riding was not challenging so I felt quite at ease – we did a few canters but I could hold on to the pummel quite easily. The horses are controlled like polo ponies by just flicking the reins forward, backward, left and right - very easy. Colado was much more responsive than the horses at El Condor.
In a clearing in a wood, we stopped for a lovely lunch of tomato, avocado, egg and meat with delicious bread... and wine. Much more chatting and talks about changing tack in mid age, divorce, business partnerships, etc. A very happy time. Then a long ride further around the hill and eventually back to Raoul’s place by 6pm. He wasn’t there but had picked strawberries for us so we sat in the sun and had gin and tonic and strawberries until he rocked up. It was all very laid back .... and they eventually dropped me off at my hostel at about 8pm. I was setting off for Pucon the next day and rather regretting leaving San Martin after such a lovely time: fiestas, riding, ..... Perhaps I will go back for a longer riding trip sometime.
Tuesday, 23 March 2010
Monday, 15 March 2010
A trip to the end of the road - photos to follow
On this journey my priority has been to my diary rather than putting postings on this blog. And even that has become quite difficult to keep up to date. So, inevitably I have missed out describing some key parts of my journey. So, I will try to do some filling in now.
My visit to El Condor Estancia was just for three days but I am so glad it went .... even though it cost me more to get there than to be there. I had been told about it by Harry Hastings a friend of my goddaughter Alice. He told me I just had to go and he was so right. The trouble was it was at the end of a very long valley with no public transport going anywhere near. Taxi would have cost the earth and so I hired a car.
I set off with a photocopy of a bit of a map from the car rental people. They told me to go to Tres Lagos (proper tarmac road) and fill up at the petrol station. Then it was unpaved road from there. “just be careful there are a few rivers you need to go through but the car should be OK” It was a fiat uno ... I wondered what kind of rivers they were talking about but it was their car not mine, so I took their word for it. So feeling a bit nervous of the city traffic I find my way out of town. They had said there was nothing particular I had to remember except to keep my headlights on while on the main road. I decided to do it all the time.
Driving to Tres Lagos was fine. It took about one and a half hours. There were very few cars or lorries on the road despite it being the main trunk route north. Passed the edge of Lago Argentino which was a milky turquoise colour as it is fed by the glaciers and then passed the turning to El Chalten where I had been just the previous day or two. When I got to the petrol station I was greeted warmly by the pump attendant ... who thought I was Italian from the way I was speaking Spanish and was a bit surprised I was travelling alone. Que Valiante! He pointed me onto the right track ... literally and off I went ..... very stoney road but soon I got the hang ...much like driving in Kenya or Malawi but much better graded road.
So on and on I went ... no other car in sight. I had seen at the beginning a small sign saying El condor 116 km.... blimey.... all the way juddering along. But slowly I was managing about 50 km an hour mostly managing to judge where to drive and occasionally hearing a tremendous thud as a large stone hit the bottom of the car. The road went straight through the middle of the wide, wide brown valley. It must have been about 10 miles wide and I wouldn’t really have been surprised if I had seen a dinosaur grazing in the distance. it felt elemental ... particularly when you could see in the distance an great black plug standing out in the middle. The sides were escarpments of streaked brown and white layers and at the top there was a dusting a snow. So on I went for mile after mile... past a large sluggish brown lake and eventually came to a turning. In all that time I had passed one car and seen one lone guanaco. So the junction showed El Condor to the left ... 86km. Off I set again this time winding my way along the side of a river eventually coming to a gate ... the first estancia which had a sign requesting you shut the gate behind you ... El Condor still 26 km to go.... I go through several more estancias.... and come across my rivers . They were actually mountain streams nastily disguised as bumps in the road – I practically flew over the first one! After the shock I got to be able to see when another one was sneaking up on me. After 3 hours (yes 3 hours) of this road I arrived at about 6.30pm at El condor ... literally at the end of the road. You could not go any further and it was beside another azure lake nestled beneath an escarpment and a valley leading up to snow clad mountains (I realised we must be right by the Chilean Border as there is a Gendarmaria station just before El Condor).
So there I was ... pretty shattered ....and no one comes out to greet me. I see a family sitting playing cards in the first building and kind of gesticulate to them . They come out and after some awkwardness they realise I am also a guest and welcome me in and show me what must be my room as it is the only empty one. They offer me tea and start chatting..... delightful people Alberto, Marion, Sophia, Juan and Sante..... Alberto is a shareholder in the ceilos patogonicos group which owns El Condor .
I took the opportunity to have a bath (! yes first one for I don’t know how long.) and then I heard people coming back from a ride - quite cold by the looks of their faces and clothing. I gathered that dinner wasn’t until 9.30 so I sat and read my book and then I found myself in conversation with an English couple in their late 40s/early 50s who were on a 9 week honeymoon. Eventually a happy supper with theArgentine family, a very interesting photographer called Celine and the honeymooners.
The couple running the place Gwen (Dutch) and Nico (Argentine) appeared and discussed what I and the others wanted to do. Agreed that we would all go on a ride the next day to la Laguna de Corazon. So a good night’s sleep ... the electricity went off at 11.30.
A gentle start and then we went to the stables around 10 and set off with Carlos the gaucho in the lead ....spurs and all. His smart dog constantly moving up and down the line checking we were all there. Bringing up the rear was Katya an enthusiastic girl from near Buenos Aires who had just joined them for a month or two. We wound our way up through open meadow and then through lenga wood and occasionally into areas where the wood had been burned to make more meadow for cows. This is something that the current owners of the estancia (cielos patagonicos) are taking action to restore. They have not managed to eliminate the cattle which are now very wild but have been able to fence them into a peninsular at the far end of the estancia. They occasionally go and kill one for meat. It was a magic day and not demanding at all in terms of the riding. The horses were sluggish but sure footed and so we plodded up and down happily. The two young boys from the Argentine family 8 and 12 yrs old on possibly the biggest horses..... but still very confident riders. Tired and happy we had a wonderfully jolly meal and went to bed.
The next day was just me for the day as the others were all leaving. I went on a ride with Juliet and Katya up to the condor cliff. Katya was very chatty ad explained about her studies, how she was fed up with private education and was going to a state university. Then on to politics and how unpopular the president was.... pretending to take from the poor and give to the rich but seemed to have fingers in a lot of pies where the money did not actually go to the poor. Her mother runs a 1000 head dairy farm and will soon have to give up .... taxes so high not worth doing it. I heard the same about the beef. The managers of the beef estancias are refusing to produce enough beef preferring to kill it rather than send it to market... so now they are importing beef from Brazil!!!
The two girls were charming and when we got to the top the condors did their thing --- at least 10 of them circled directly around us.... just superb!. With the blue lake and white mountains behind and the craggy rocks and woods below us. So after lunch we had a steep descent going below the cliff we had just climbed up. By the time we got back two other argentine families had arrived and got themselves ensconced. They were not as forthcoming as the others but at supper did their best to include me where possible. I was outnumbered.
The return journey was just as magical... starting at 7.30 in the morning. This time a rather misty morning with a bit of drizzle but this made the colours all the more lovely. Saw guanaco, hares and rhea as I bumped along ... oh and about 4 cars – two of which were police vans!
I was just a magical time and I would return like a shot for a longer stay.
Photos will follow but take an age to upload so will wait until I have better internet connection with time.
My visit to El Condor Estancia was just for three days but I am so glad it went .... even though it cost me more to get there than to be there. I had been told about it by Harry Hastings a friend of my goddaughter Alice. He told me I just had to go and he was so right. The trouble was it was at the end of a very long valley with no public transport going anywhere near. Taxi would have cost the earth and so I hired a car.
I set off with a photocopy of a bit of a map from the car rental people. They told me to go to Tres Lagos (proper tarmac road) and fill up at the petrol station. Then it was unpaved road from there. “just be careful there are a few rivers you need to go through but the car should be OK” It was a fiat uno ... I wondered what kind of rivers they were talking about but it was their car not mine, so I took their word for it. So feeling a bit nervous of the city traffic I find my way out of town. They had said there was nothing particular I had to remember except to keep my headlights on while on the main road. I decided to do it all the time.
Driving to Tres Lagos was fine. It took about one and a half hours. There were very few cars or lorries on the road despite it being the main trunk route north. Passed the edge of Lago Argentino which was a milky turquoise colour as it is fed by the glaciers and then passed the turning to El Chalten where I had been just the previous day or two. When I got to the petrol station I was greeted warmly by the pump attendant ... who thought I was Italian from the way I was speaking Spanish and was a bit surprised I was travelling alone. Que Valiante! He pointed me onto the right track ... literally and off I went ..... very stoney road but soon I got the hang ...much like driving in Kenya or Malawi but much better graded road.
So on and on I went ... no other car in sight. I had seen at the beginning a small sign saying El condor 116 km.... blimey.... all the way juddering along. But slowly I was managing about 50 km an hour mostly managing to judge where to drive and occasionally hearing a tremendous thud as a large stone hit the bottom of the car. The road went straight through the middle of the wide, wide brown valley. It must have been about 10 miles wide and I wouldn’t really have been surprised if I had seen a dinosaur grazing in the distance. it felt elemental ... particularly when you could see in the distance an great black plug standing out in the middle. The sides were escarpments of streaked brown and white layers and at the top there was a dusting a snow. So on I went for mile after mile... past a large sluggish brown lake and eventually came to a turning. In all that time I had passed one car and seen one lone guanaco. So the junction showed El Condor to the left ... 86km. Off I set again this time winding my way along the side of a river eventually coming to a gate ... the first estancia which had a sign requesting you shut the gate behind you ... El Condor still 26 km to go.... I go through several more estancias.... and come across my rivers . They were actually mountain streams nastily disguised as bumps in the road – I practically flew over the first one! After the shock I got to be able to see when another one was sneaking up on me. After 3 hours (yes 3 hours) of this road I arrived at about 6.30pm at El condor ... literally at the end of the road. You could not go any further and it was beside another azure lake nestled beneath an escarpment and a valley leading up to snow clad mountains (I realised we must be right by the Chilean Border as there is a Gendarmaria station just before El Condor).
So there I was ... pretty shattered ....and no one comes out to greet me. I see a family sitting playing cards in the first building and kind of gesticulate to them . They come out and after some awkwardness they realise I am also a guest and welcome me in and show me what must be my room as it is the only empty one. They offer me tea and start chatting..... delightful people Alberto, Marion, Sophia, Juan and Sante..... Alberto is a shareholder in the ceilos patogonicos group which owns El Condor .
I took the opportunity to have a bath (! yes first one for I don’t know how long.) and then I heard people coming back from a ride - quite cold by the looks of their faces and clothing. I gathered that dinner wasn’t until 9.30 so I sat and read my book and then I found myself in conversation with an English couple in their late 40s/early 50s who were on a 9 week honeymoon. Eventually a happy supper with theArgentine family, a very interesting photographer called Celine and the honeymooners.
The couple running the place Gwen (Dutch) and Nico (Argentine) appeared and discussed what I and the others wanted to do. Agreed that we would all go on a ride the next day to la Laguna de Corazon. So a good night’s sleep ... the electricity went off at 11.30.
A gentle start and then we went to the stables around 10 and set off with Carlos the gaucho in the lead ....spurs and all. His smart dog constantly moving up and down the line checking we were all there. Bringing up the rear was Katya an enthusiastic girl from near Buenos Aires who had just joined them for a month or two. We wound our way up through open meadow and then through lenga wood and occasionally into areas where the wood had been burned to make more meadow for cows. This is something that the current owners of the estancia (cielos patagonicos) are taking action to restore. They have not managed to eliminate the cattle which are now very wild but have been able to fence them into a peninsular at the far end of the estancia. They occasionally go and kill one for meat. It was a magic day and not demanding at all in terms of the riding. The horses were sluggish but sure footed and so we plodded up and down happily. The two young boys from the Argentine family 8 and 12 yrs old on possibly the biggest horses..... but still very confident riders. Tired and happy we had a wonderfully jolly meal and went to bed.
The next day was just me for the day as the others were all leaving. I went on a ride with Juliet and Katya up to the condor cliff. Katya was very chatty ad explained about her studies, how she was fed up with private education and was going to a state university. Then on to politics and how unpopular the president was.... pretending to take from the poor and give to the rich but seemed to have fingers in a lot of pies where the money did not actually go to the poor. Her mother runs a 1000 head dairy farm and will soon have to give up .... taxes so high not worth doing it. I heard the same about the beef. The managers of the beef estancias are refusing to produce enough beef preferring to kill it rather than send it to market... so now they are importing beef from Brazil!!!
The two girls were charming and when we got to the top the condors did their thing --- at least 10 of them circled directly around us.... just superb!. With the blue lake and white mountains behind and the craggy rocks and woods below us. So after lunch we had a steep descent going below the cliff we had just climbed up. By the time we got back two other argentine families had arrived and got themselves ensconced. They were not as forthcoming as the others but at supper did their best to include me where possible. I was outnumbered.
The return journey was just as magical... starting at 7.30 in the morning. This time a rather misty morning with a bit of drizzle but this made the colours all the more lovely. Saw guanaco, hares and rhea as I bumped along ... oh and about 4 cars – two of which were police vans!
I was just a magical time and I would return like a shot for a longer stay.
Photos will follow but take an age to upload so will wait until I have better internet connection with time.
Catching up post earthquake and Easter Island
I’m afraid I have been a bit quiet since the earthquake drama...but I have been on the road. Flew out of Easter Island on the day I was meant to arriving into Santiago airport on Thursday 4th at 8.30 in the evening. As you probably know the terminal had been damaged by the earthquake so they could not use it. After a bit of wait in the plane while they took off our luggage, they bussed us to the far side of the terminal where our bags where all lined up on the tarmac. We picked up our luggage and walked to the car park which was empty apart from taxis, buses and hotel reservation tents.
I had decided to stay the night rather than risk being in one of the bus terminals late at night waiting for a bus to Argentina. So I took a taxi to the hostel I had stayed in before. They were rather subdued, there had been a bit of damage but nothing major. I was given the same room as before and noticed that there were large cracks in the corners where the walls should meet. Were they like that when I was last there ... I just don’t know.
I had a shower and went straight to bed... having my grab bag ready by my bed in case of another emergency. I lay there wondering whether I was safe .... and as I dozed off there was a tremor with the glass rattling..... then again about an hour later but eventually I just fell asleep. Woke at 7,dressed, got a taxi and was on an 8.30p bus to Mendoza. I was so relieved .... but felt guilty that all I could think of was to get out. Tourist trade pretty well dried up in central Chile I imagine.
I had decided to stay the night rather than risk being in one of the bus terminals late at night waiting for a bus to Argentina. So I took a taxi to the hostel I had stayed in before. They were rather subdued, there had been a bit of damage but nothing major. I was given the same room as before and noticed that there were large cracks in the corners where the walls should meet. Were they like that when I was last there ... I just don’t know.
I had a shower and went straight to bed... having my grab bag ready by my bed in case of another emergency. I lay there wondering whether I was safe .... and as I dozed off there was a tremor with the glass rattling..... then again about an hour later but eventually I just fell asleep. Woke at 7,dressed, got a taxi and was on an 8.30p bus to Mendoza. I was so relieved .... but felt guilty that all I could think of was to get out. Tourist trade pretty well dried up in central Chile I imagine.
Monday, 1 March 2010
More news from Easter Island
Well it has felt like a week but actually on a few days. I feel we are in a kind of little unreal bubble sitting out in the middle of ocean ... but I then think back to early Saturday morning and it was very real.
Today I went on a 7 hour hike with an American couple who are staying in the same place as me and we walked along the north coast spotting where there were fallen Maoi (these amazing statues) or Ahu... the platforms they stood on... all right on the edge of cliffs. The sky was beautiful blue, a few fluffy clouds, the sea stretching to the horizon and you know there is NOTHING for miles.... with magnifcent waves crashing against almost jet black volcanic rock cliffs. All this while there is fighting and looting on the streets of Conception .
When we got to end of our walk ... we arrived at the only sandy beach on the island and you could see the high water mark left by the tsunami .... although it was around the headline from where the wave had arrived. It was quite high but had not reached the statues that stand just above the sand. So not too bad but everyone who had been camping there had been evacuated at the time.
When we got back from our hike there was news that a plane had come in. The first since all this happened. It came from Santiago .. which means that the airport must be operating again ... and they are taking out those people who should have left on Saturday .... no commitment as to when other flights will come. However, I was not due out until Thursday so I may leave about Saturday on this basis if they continue.
At least this means there may be some replenishing of fruit and veg ... shop shelves are getting a bit low on certain things.
Today I went on a 7 hour hike with an American couple who are staying in the same place as me and we walked along the north coast spotting where there were fallen Maoi (these amazing statues) or Ahu... the platforms they stood on... all right on the edge of cliffs. The sky was beautiful blue, a few fluffy clouds, the sea stretching to the horizon and you know there is NOTHING for miles.... with magnifcent waves crashing against almost jet black volcanic rock cliffs. All this while there is fighting and looting on the streets of Conception .
When we got to end of our walk ... we arrived at the only sandy beach on the island and you could see the high water mark left by the tsunami .... although it was around the headline from where the wave had arrived. It was quite high but had not reached the statues that stand just above the sand. So not too bad but everyone who had been camping there had been evacuated at the time.
When we got back from our hike there was news that a plane had come in. The first since all this happened. It came from Santiago .. which means that the airport must be operating again ... and they are taking out those people who should have left on Saturday .... no commitment as to when other flights will come. However, I was not due out until Thursday so I may leave about Saturday on this basis if they continue.
At least this means there may be some replenishing of fruit and veg ... shop shelves are getting a bit low on certain things.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
