After a long bus ride from Mendoza, we spent a day and night stretching our legs and checking out Córdoba. Seemed like a reasonable place but, once again, a fairly big city and so not our cup of tea. Preferring to spend some time bein’ chili in some of the nearby smaller towns, we decided to head to Capilla del Monte (“Chapel of the Hill” in Spanish). A quaint and sleepy town of just over ten thousand, Capilla del Monte is known internationally as a hotspot of UFO and other paranormal activity. We thought maybe we’d have better luck with the ETs after coming up short in Pisco…
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After our amazing (and cold) Patagonia adventure we were ready to head north to warmer weather. Mendoza was our next stop and where we would drink so much wine. So so much.
We arrived after two days of buses; Puerto Montt to Santiago which was overnight and expectedly boring, and then Santiago to Mendoza the next morning, which was an incredible drive up and over the steep Andes Mountains, passing by the famous Aconcaga Volcano National Park and through several tunnel sections of the mountain. WOW - about sums it up! We just spent two weeks in Northern Patagonia (the Arctic of South America) with a rental truck. It is a weird time of year to do it since it is fall now and too cold for most tourists (but not us Canadianses) but it was great because we had the whole place to ourselves!
Ideally maybe it would have been nicer to camp with either warmer weather, or proper cold weather camping gear. We did camp a few nights but were really freezing cold (there was ice involved) so whenever possible we stayed in hostels (which were so expensive, like US$30/night compared to the rest of SA, avg US$10). The coldniss and rainyniss also made hiking slightly less enjoyable, though for the most part we had pretty good weather, considering. We started our two week truck rental in Puerto Montt (see travel map, southern Chile) and decided to also return it there since it would cost an extra US$500 to drop it off in another town, jeeeesh. We got the extra insurance to be able to cross the border into Argentina (about $100 extra) and then headed out! Our itinerary was a bit screwed up since we didn't have much success researching the best routes to take etc. So if you are reading this as a travel guide for yourself I have a number of recommendations at the bottom of this so you don't waste time like we did! Santiago As we’ve stressed many times before (with such claims as “La Paz Sucks”), we’re not city people, and so weren’t really looking forward to passing through Santiago. In this case, however, we were pleasantly surprised! I’m not saying we loved it, but we did spend a couple enjoyable days walking around the relatively clean and attractive city, wandering the parks and admiring the colourful street murals. For me, the most enjoyable part by far was our afternoon at the huge and attraction-packed Metropolitan Park, located on atop a forested hill overlooking the city. One of the largest urban parks in the world, within its over 700 hectares it contains multiple botanical gardens, a zoo, a religious sanctuary, and by far the best part, a long funicular saving you from the hour or more uphill walk. Just what is a funicular, you ask? Well, it’s something between an elevator and a trolley, using cables to pull cars along tracks up the side of a hill. Why the absurd name, you ask? Well, it’s because FUN + SPECTACULAR = FUNICULAR!! Wouldn’t that make “funacular" or “funtacular”, you ask? Well, why don’t you just shut up! After our amazing ride up, we decided to make our way over to the botanical gardens in order to appease our nature cravings. From atop the hill were some great views of the city skyline, and because we were lucky enough to be there on a relatively smog-free day we could actually see across the valley to the mountains behind (kind of). Being located in a valley as it is, air pollution is a huge problem in Santiago. We were both pretty disturbed by the brownish hue looming over the city, and to think that this was a good day is pretty disturbing. While admiring the view at a lookout, we ran into Eleanor, a technical writer from Seattle who’s been solo-traveling her way through Chile. We ended up hanging out with her for a few hours, sharing travel-stories and getting some great advice for our upcoming trip to Patagonia. In the late afternoon we parted ways so Chelsea and I could make it to opera. Yeah, we do stuff like go to the opera, because we’re fancy people. Valparaiso After a couple days in Santiago, we were ready to move on to the much more highly-anticipated Valparaiso, a port city about an hour bus ride from Santiago. A beautiful and hilly city made up of arsty-fartsy bohemian-types and sketchy port-workers, Valparaiso took all the things we liked about Santiago and somehow made them ten zillion times better; where Santiago has one funicular, for example, Valparaiso has FIFTEEN. Booya! We stayed in the cafe-packed neighbourhood atop Cerro Alegre (happy hill), and from the minute we arrived we were amazed by just how picturesque the city really is. From atop the hill, everywhere we looked was packed full of colourful buildings, elaborate graffiti and murals, and it was almost impossible to walk anywhere without stopping every few steps to take another photo. As luck would have it, our new friend Eleanor was staying at an hospedaje just down the street from us, so we met up with her the next day to explore. In search of fun-icular times, we decided to try and tackle as many of the badboys as we could, an interesting goal that promised some scenic views of the city. We reviewed our maps, put together a rough route and hit the road with a skip in our steps. Things quickly ground to a halt, however, when we reached the top of our first funicular, ascensor San Augustín, and were warned by the operator that it wasn't safe to leave the tiny building. Apparently we were about to stroll into the sketchy neighbourhood atop Cerro Cordillera, where walking around as tourists with our day packs and cameras would surely get us mugged. We asked if it was safe to at least pop our heads out for a look, but were warned that someone may catch a glimpse of us and end up following us down! WTF?! This caught us completely off guard, since we'd already walked around Cerro Alegre and the downtown core the previous night and felt completely comfortable. To be safe, though, we resignedly rode back down and modified our plans. Valparaiso is an awesome city to explore by foot (avoiding the sketchy parts...), guaranteed to bring out the photographer in anyone. We wandered the streets taking in the breathtaking coastal views and admiring the variety of colourful graffiti, ranging from small but detailed characters to multi-storey murals on the sides of apartment buildings. We wandered all over town, checked out the large cemetery overlooking the city (Eleanor seems to be fascinated by monuments to dead people), stopped for a delicious fish almuerzo (an affordable two or three-course lunch typical in Chile), and managed to ride four of the fun-tacular elevators (last time, I promise). We wrapped up the day at our hostel, sharing some of Chelsea’s home-cooked Thai curry, a couple bottles of delicious Chilean wine, and an action-packed Jenga tournament. Thanks, Eleanor, for the awesome day! After stumbling on countless teenagers rolling and smoking doobies in the many secluded stairways and alleys on the previous day’s wanderings, temptation kicked in and we managed to score some of the good stuff from one of the guys working reception at our hostel. Needless to say, our second day in Valparaiso consisted of much more bein’ chili, relaxing, listening to music, watching movies... when in Rome! Our next stop is Puerto Montt, where we hope to rent a car and spend a couple weeks exploring Patagonia! Until then, keep eating your beans! ~Mandrew Photos To open Valparaiso photos in another window, click here.
As we made our way south from Atacama, we decided to take a bus break and spend a night in La Serena. Flipping through our Lonely Planet for things to do around there, we were excited to learn that the nearby Elqui Valley is famous as a hot spot for paranormal activity, with numerous reported UFO sightings and a population of crystal-power practitioners. The valley also boasts production of some of the best pisco (a liquor made from distilled grapes) in Chile. Hoping to get in on the action, we threw on our tinfoil helmets and caught the next bus to Pisco Elqui. Although we didn't end up meeting any obvious extraterrestrials (we weren't sure about a few of the locals), we did see some excellent starry night skies while relaxing in our hostel's garden. We also gained some insight into how pisco is made by taking a tour of the distillery just outside of town. This is what I learned from the hour long tour: pisco has something to do with grapes, and it's painfully boring to sit through a tour when you can't understand what the tour guide is saying. Although our spanish isn't terrible, we have a hard time making out the Chilean accent, especially when people (such as our mile-a-minute tour guide) speak too quickly. Despite our powerful desire to sneak away and run, we stuck it out until the end and scored a few tiny free samples. When you haven't had a paying job in almost a year, your perception of the value of time becomes very skewed. Pisco Elqui itself is a nice and quaint town, a good place to be chili and enjoy the surrounding dry and hilly landscape. There's something about sitting in the eerie silence while watching the first few stars appear above the neighbouring mountains that makes you feel like there may indeed be something out there... though the bottles of pisco nectar (like a very sweet wine) may have had something to do with it. After a couple nights of failed alien-spotting, we were ready to get back on the road and continue south to Santiago and beyond! If someones bein' mean, Hit them with a bean- flavoured fart. ~Mandrew To view the above photos in a new window, click here.
Have you ever really looked at a map of Chile? Really looked at it? The country is long and skinny, bounded by the Pacific Ocean on the west and the Andes mountains (the world’s longest mountain range) on the east with not too much between them. It stretches 4600 km north to south from the driest place in the world to the most southern city in the world, and is only 150 km wide on average (about twice the length of the Panama canal). This crazy geometry makes it impossible to look at a map of Chile on a single page, a bit frustrating when trying to plan our travels using our Lonely Planet. We entered Chile from Bolivia after our salt flats tour and found ourselves in the tourisy town of San Pedro de Atacama, the driest place in the world (it rained for the first time in 5 years just last week). Immediately we noticed a difference in the culture - the streets were clean, people were very friendly and happy looking, things were much more expensive, there were plenty of good food options available, drivers stopped at red lights and stop signs, and as tourists we didn't stand out quite as much as we did in Bolivia where streets were littered with garbage, people were friendly enough but also maybe, understandably, a little resentful toward travellers, everything was overly affordable, food lacked flavor of any kind and consisted mainly of stale bread and eggs, and driving or walking on any road was a significant risk to your life. Don’t get me wrong; I loved Bolivia for many reasons, but it was not a place that I would recommend travelling to with young children or if you have any kind of personal standards for cleanliness or health. After checking out San Pedro for an afternoon we decided to spend the next day exploring the famous national park Valle de la Luna. Although there were many tours offered in town, since it was so close by we decided to rent bicycles and check it out at our own pace. We grabbed some groceries for a picnic lunch and rode out of town and into an incredibly unique landscape that’s perfectly described by its name “Valley of the Moon”. We stopped at a number of recommended locations along the park road and did a few short hikes. I found the area to be very geologically interesting! Layers of weathered gypsum and caves formed by water and wind erosion. The surrounding hills looked like they had been painted: sandstones and siltstones, reds and yellows, boulders and sand dunes. The air was so dry that both of us had bleeding noses by the end of the day (that as of a month later still haven’t fully healed) but it was worth it to explore the alien landscape. Our legs were very sore the next day but we got some rest on the bus while we made our way south. Turns out, you can even be chili on the moon, ~Chelsea To open the above photo slideshow in another window, click here.
After spending over a month in the jungle in Villa Tunari, we decided we were in need of a few days of civilization. A couple bumpy bus rides later we found ourselves in Sucre, a beautiful, clean and relatively quiet city (such a nice change after nasty La Paz) with a bunch of history we weren’t really interested in. Our main achievements in Sucre were eating some good food (so nice to have options again!), loitering at a number of cafés to catch up on our blogging, and finding a laundromat with hot water so we could sterilize our mold encrusted jungle clothes. Sucre treated us nicely, but just the same we were soon ready to get back on the road and make our way down to Uyuni to check out the much-anticipated salt flats. By far the most visited tourist attraction in Bolivia, the salar de Uyuni is salty, flat and incredibly huge, covering over ten thousand square kilometers. We caught an overnight bus to Uyuni and sought out a tour – booking ahead is for chumps. There are a ridiculous number of companies that offer identical tour packages for the salt flats, making it a complete crapshoot when deciding which to go with. After speaking with a few different agents and hearing the exact same description but with wildly varying prices, we decided to go with the second-cheapest and most racially-appealing option, World White Tours. The next morning we met our driver Pepe (who we were ensured was not a drunk) and the rest of our group, consisting of Luiz and Renata from Brazil, Casey from the U S of A and Gabriella from Israel (and a bunch of other places) and headed out of town. Our first stop just outside of town was the "train graveyard" where a bunch of old trains have been left to rot. I’m not sure why they’ve been left there, but it’s a cool place to take some pictures with rusty, graffiti-covered trains. Somewhere in the mix was the very first locomotive in Bolivia… kinda cool, I guess. The real highlight of the first day was, of course, the giant frickin’ salt flat. It’s really, really big! Once we’d driven far enough onto it, it was pretty unreal – nothing but flat, white, salty crust almost as far as you could see. If you’re lucky enough to visit during the wetter season the salar becomes a massive mirror, causing the sky to blend in with the ground making for an incredibly confusing horizon. It was in a dry mood for us, with the exposed salty crust forming hexagonal crystals into the distance. There was the odd spot where the crust had broken and the salty brine was visible underneath. To me it felt a lot like driving on a huge, frozen Lake Superior – the chilly air was about right, too! We stopped for lunch at Incahuasi Island, a lump of land covered in thousands of fuzzy cacti, where we made an attempt at some funky perspective photos (all the cool kids were doing it). Finally, after a long day of salty driving, we left the salt flats and pulled up to our cozy little salt hotel (yes, a hotel made of salt) where we were treated to a salty dinner and then rested our salty heads.
Imagine a volunteering gig where your only job is to spend your days hanging out with a couple good friends while walking a cute and cuddly dog through the Bolivian jungle. "Sounds great, sign me up!" you say? Not so fast... replace that cuddly dog with Balu, a fully-grown male Andean bear with a serious addiction to coca leaves and backpacks. Next, swap those good friends with a couple dudes you've just met, neither of which are in any way qualified to be working with a bear. Finally, factor in Balu's cunning and constant desire to catch you and engage in a very one-sided wrestling match. Still sound like fun? Glad to see that great minds think alike! Before you slip into your rubber boots and plunge headfirst into the jungle, check out the following survival tips: Check your common sense at the door You and your two newly met teammates are about to release a three-hundred pound bear from his reinforced steel and brick enclosure with nothing but a ten meter rope and a backpack full of peanuts, fruit, and a quadruple-sealed bag of coca leaves (only to be used in SERIOUS emergencies) to keep him under control. Such a feat requires either nerves of steel or, more likely, blissful ignorance. Take things one day at a time, and keep in mind that in his eight years at Comunidad Inti Wara Yassi, a wildlife refuge in Bolivia, Balu's never injured a volunteer to the point of needing stitches (the same can’t be said for a few unlucky coca-fueled construction workers). Don't get caught Balu is quite playful, and one of his favourite games is trying to catch his volunteers (just to play, don't worry...?). He's also smarter than he looks, and will try to catch you off guard with a surprise sprint forward, a quick run back, or, on his more devious days, a surprise sprint forward followed by a quick run back (a combo which can catch even the most careful of volunteers off guard). Whether Balu's simply feeling playful or, god forbid, angry or frustrated, and despite everyone's insistence that he won't do any serious harm, you DO NOT want to get caught. Although Balu's likely to catch you at least once over the course of your month-long volunteering gig, do your best to avoid this, as it's pants-shittingly terrifying and will likely leave your favourite jungle wardrobe torn to shreds.
Some things to keep in mind in order to avoid Balu's rib-crushing bear hug: 1) Keep your distance. Although Balu can outrun you with enough motivation, he’s rather lazy and a bit overweight, and so will only try to catch you if it won't leave him out of breath. Maintain a reasonable distance and you should be safe. My job for the month at Comunidad Inti Wara Yassi (CIWY) was to walk with Tigre (with her because she leads) in the jungle every day. Before starting my first day I was told that Tigre doesn't take trails, is very energetic, hunts and typically gets her handlers lost in the jungle overnight at least once during their stay. I was also warned how violent she can be. On the day that we arrived, the girl who was currently training to walk with Tigre was attacked pretty badly (stitches on her arms and possibly other places, I didn't really want to know more). Alarm bells started ringing in my head but something inside me told me this is something I had to do. Walking alone in the jungle with a wild cat has been a fantasy of mine for about for as long as I can remember, and only now have I realized that it is something I will really be able to do! I wish someone had told me how gentle and patient Tigre can be, because this is the Tigre I soon got to know and love. From the moment we arrived at CIWY all I heard were horror stories about how violent she is and how other volunteers had gotten lost in the jungle overnight because of her. Still, it wasn't until I began to work with her that my subconscious fears began to surface to the point that I nearly gave up. I had imagined a much more relaxed experience. Naive, I now know.
We first read about Comunidad Inti Wara Yassi (CIWY) in a guest book at cozy coffee shop in Copacabana about a week before we decided to go there. We were on the lookout for some sort of volunteer gig, but weren't terribly inspired by the various organic farming options we'd found online. Although it wasn't something we'd really considered, we jumped at the idea of working with jungle animals! Looking into the organization further we were touched by the story of how a Bolivian couple in the late 1980's, in the hopes of making a difference in Bolivia, established a school of alternative education outside of La Paz for the many children of miners who had relocated to the area. After being exposed to the lush surrounding rainforest and its ruthless destruction, the children vowed to protect the fragile rainforest and its animals through a campaign of education and awareness. During a later field trip to Rurrenabaque, the project took an important shift after the kids pooled together their meagre funds to purchase and rescue a spider monkey from its local owners who were forcing it to drink alcohol and dance for their amusement. Over the next few years, a number of other animals were adopted and rescued, despite the constant struggle to figure out what to do with them. Finally, Parque Machia, the first wildlife refuge in Bolivia, was established. For nearly 20 years now, professionals and volunteers from all over the world have been supporting this cause through the raising of funds and the donating of time. The organization now manages three parks in Bolivia where upwards of 500 animals of over 30 different species (including bears, cats, birds, monkeys, coatis, and foxes) are cared for. A few days after reading the guest book in Copacabana we saw a poster for CIWY at our hostel in La Paz, and soon after ran into a guy who knew a guy who had volunteered with them and spent a month walking a puma. By then the seed of the idea had sprouted and taken root, and we found ourselves packing our bags. After a long day of bussing through Cochabamba and beyond, we arrived in Villa Tunari late in the evening and crawled to the closest hostel to hide from the torrential downpour that welcomed us. In the morning we walked across the bridge looking for the CIWY office, only to walk right past it. It was not marked well and looked more like an abandoned concrete structure with graffiti all over it.
We were quick to forgive the outer appearance of the office after being hailed by other volunteers watching from the cafe. On the inside, the place was humming with activity: volunteers chopping food for the monkeys, hauling hay and trees for the cats and bear, unloading endless truckloads of bananas, and disposing of bucketfuls of animal waste. Everyone looked very enthusiastic! |