Posted on February 23, 2023 in Travel
Volcán Chaitén, Parque Nacional Pumalín Douglas Tompkins
We arrived in Chaitén in the afternoon after several hours on the ferry from Quellón. Fed ourselves, got some groceries and checked into a cabin nestled in the snow-capped mountains thirty minutes down the road. We had a great little cabin tucked into the woods a little and beside a big river. There was another building nearby with a kitchen, BBQ and lounge area. The place was very nice except for the fruit flies on the windows and filth in cracks in the counter in the kitchen building.
In the morning we drove to the other side of Chaitén to hike up a Volcán Chaitén. Surprisingly, there was no booth or kiosk where anyone could charge us money. We were hiking in what is now known as Parque Nacional Pumalín Douglas Tompkins or Pumalín Park. Like other areas in Chile, it was created by a wealthy American businessman buying up land for the purpose of conservation and giving it back to local environmental NGO's and/or the state. Douglas Tompkins was the founder of The North Face and other clothing companies. I presume that is why the entrance to this park is without a fee. This trail was a doozie. Up, up and up. One stair after another. The higher we got the more giant flies came out. By the time we were at the top, we were being swarmed by flies that resembled Horse Flies, but with different colouring. The top was beautiful with a colourful smoking crater, and incredible views. We very quickly shot some photos and hammered back down where there were less flies.
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Hanging Glacier in Parque Nacional Pumalín Douglas Tompkins
Later on the same day, we figured Volcán Chaitén was not enough hiking for one day so we entered another section of the park and hiked a trail to a viewpoint of the hanging glacier that is the main attraction in the park. This hike was also challenging. Up up and up. Luckily some of it was on the road I guess. The view of the glacier was far, but it was still good. If I had to choose one trail, it would have been Volcán Chaitén instead of this one. If we had started this area first thing in the morning then a longer more strenuous trail would be an option that gets you close to the glacier.
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Booze Time
Back to the cabin to relax with some beer and wine! But this is where the money fun starts! The manager of the place does not speak English, and we do not speak Spanish, but he managed to get across, via the assistance of other guests that we need to pay for the place and they do not take credit cards. Cash only! Who carries this much cash? The place is expensive and we're here for two nights. Ok, we'll go into town and find a bank machine, only another guest says it does not work. The manager gives us account numbers to deposit funds into, but we're Canadian, we don't do that. It would be highly unusual to do that in Canada and it's expensive to wire money. Not only that, Chile is not on a list of countries we can even do that for from our banks. We checked. Obviously, we didn't check from here. We had to go into town to A. Try the bank machine anyway, or B. use the internet to figure shit out since there is no Wifi or cellular service at these cabins. Not only was the bank machine out of service (probably), it was in a locked compound where the closed bank branch is. Could we come back there in the morning? Not without missing our ferry back to civilization! It does not run every day, so we're not missing it. After consulting with family back home we found a website where you can use your credit card to transfer money internationally, and so we did that. Booking.com hid the "cash only" way down low in the booking information. We even had a sheet printed that listed every accommodation we had and how we were to pay, breakfast or not and so forth. We thought we prepared, but better than getting the truck stuck in the sand in the desert. Time to drink, sleep and check the hell outta here and hop on that ferry to Puerto Montt.
Assorted Photos from Chaitén
After one night in Puerto Montt we hit the road for two nights Valdivia, which is known for beer. before we arrive we make a detour to Corral to check out the town and some old forts. the trip to and from is more interesting than the forts. We drive for an hour on a very narrow dirt road, and got lucky to be passing some wetland areas full of more birds to photograph!
Eventually, we make our way to Corral, low on fuel and lo and behold, another ferry presents itself, which means a way outta here that does not involve that damn dirt road for another hour! We check out the forts quickly and hammer down to the docking ferry so we can load. We actually have to wait for another as this one filled up before we got on it, but that's ok, as there seem to be a few going back and forth. We make it to the other side and get off the ferry, and it's all paved roads to Valdivia where we check into a nice little apartment with a kitchen and some room to breathe.
We do some wandering around. There is a nice waterfront boardwalk here with ice cream and things for sale. I can't remember what we did this evening. The next day we take a drive to the coast to check out a trail, which is closed, but luckily near a beach so we wander down there and photograph some oystercatchers while we walk. Back in Valdivia, we check out the local beer establishment across the street from our accommodations. Cheers!
Valdivia, Beer, Birds
Helicopters from Spain here to fight the fires.
After a couple of nights in Valdivia we hit the road to Nahuelbuta National Park on our way to Concepción. We encounter one fire burning on the side of the road on our way. After an hour or so of narrow gravel roads, we arrive at the park to find it closed due to the high fire risk or the fires in the area. Probably both, but we can't tell. We leave there and as we descend off the other side of the mountain that makes up the park we see more fires on the horizon and a valley below full of smoke. We continue down on our way to the city. A short time later on the main highway to Concepción we pass an area that had just been burned and was still smoking and on fire in some areas. It was a good half an hour at highway speeds of driving through this charred scene from an apocalypse. Buildings, fences, trees, fields, power poles and well, everything. Burnt to a crisp. The city is in smoke. We check into our accommodation in an old hotel downtown. We try to visit an urban park but that's closed too, due to the fire risk. That's ok, we still get to explore the city and eat some ice cream.
The next day leaving the city on our way to our last stop on this vacation, Valparaíso, we drive through another apocalypse scene of chard everything and more fire. Our drive to Valparaíso is some 6.6 hours and is in smoke the entire time.
Mural by Un Kolor Distinto
Valparaíso, the city of art and stairs. So many stairs! We are staying at the WineBox. A boutique hotel in the hills above downtown. The hotel was built out of shipping containers and looks like an art piece on the hill. Inside the rooms are murals on the walls by famous area artists. Our room had works by Un Kolor Distinto, famous for making murals on the tallest buildings in the city.
We had a "free" walking tour while visiting. our guide took us to lots of areas we would have never found on our own, and once complete we managed our own walk for several more km. We found the dystopian waterfront boardwalk too. It was a depressing place smelling of urine.
We found out a famous mountain bike race was going to be held in the city on Sunday. The Red Bull Valparaíso Cerro Abajo https://www.redbull.com/es-es/.... It was very unfortunate Sunday is our travel day back home. I wish I had known and we could have made our trip schedule around it. Anyway, Valparaíso is amazing, weird, and unique. Definitely worthy of a visit.
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Winebox
The next day we did a short drive over to Viña del Mar to see the beaches and sand dunes in the middle of the city. We spent some time in the dunes before chilling on a nearby beach. There is nothing super special about this city. It was a bit generic with towering hotels and condos for what seemed like white Americans.
Campo Dunar Punta Concon
After checking out of the Winebox we drove to Santiago for a day of exploring before we catch our overnight flight to Houston for the start of our journey home. Santiago had a ton of old architecture and some very cool urban parks we checked out. It was just a city with nothing exceptional happening so I won't bore you with the place. It was a good tiring and interesting walk around before our long ass flight.
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Santiago