2009
12.15
I didn’t last long in Buenos Aires. Just enough to meet my old friend/colleague Bjoern for a good catch-up who’s also starting his American adventure but on his motorbike. I did like the city but the hot weather and the beaches of Uruguay being so close…well, what would you do? And Punta del Diablo is a really nice spot, relaxed, traditional, with not too many gringos at this time of the year. I took a few shots the first day but the second one was too good not to go to the beach.
So this is the end of it. When I bought this ticket this day was like a vague date somewhere light years away and now here go, time to catch my flight!
Adios America Latina, asta pronto Europa! traduci >>
2009
12.15
Yes! I finally reached Puerto Natales! What a never ending journey though! Fortunately the bus driver was a smoker like me and allowed me to have a cigarette with him every now and then in the front cabin. I managed to see Torres del Paine, Perito Moreno (the day after) and got to Ushuaia 12 hours before my flight. Perfect! A bit hectic but it was all right. I now have five pages of my passport with Chilean and Argentinean stamps. So here’s the result: traduci >>
2009
12.14
From Esquel I wanted to go across Chile again through Palena but it wasn’t possible for some reason. As one guy at the ticket office put it, the bus simply didn’t go there. Full stop. Ok, thank you very much. And now what? I asked about 10 people from 10 different transport companies and I finally found an alternative passage via La Balsa stopping one night in Futaleufú, Chile. I had to wait about 5 hours at the bus station but fortunately they had a travel agency there so I was able to book a flight from Ushuaya to Buenos Aires leaving in about a week time. Once reached Futaleufú I ended up in a hostel with Patrick and Claudia, a couple from Zurich with whom I was also sharing part of my itinerary, and Patricia from Lisbon. The day after we took the 6am mini-bus to Villa Santa Lucia and we got there in about two hours. We were left in front of another mini-bus but the driver was going to come back from another service sometimes in the afternoon. Ole’! And now what? We were all facing the same problems along this route: lack of cash machines and random public transports. We tried with some hitchhiking but no one had room available for 3 people plus luggage. So we waited along the road playing with an hyperactive dog, with loving horses, photographing cars and trucks and having coffees at a lady’s house which also functioned as the only café in town at the time. Finally our bus driver came back so we could travel a bit further, up to La Junta. Not much but I was getting closer. I wanted to see the national park of Torres del Paine (Chile) and glacier Perito Moreno (Argentina) before catching or missing my flight from Ushuaya. We got there in a couple of hours. There was supposed to be a cash machine at the petrol station but guess…it didn’t work! I had no pesos left and I thought “and now what?” Fortunately I had some dollars left somewhere in my bag and I bought some swiss chocolate (Patrick and Claudia were happy) with 2 bills of 20 and got change in pesos. So now, in order, my priorities in life are: oxygen, water, food, love and dollars. The day after I said goodbye to Patrick and Claudia and got to Coyhaique from where I had heard you could get better connections to southern Chile. I got a 24-hour bus which crossed over to Argentina, went all the way down to Rio Gallegos then passed the border with Chile again to Punta Arenas and Puerto Natales. I really wished I had more time to spend on the Carretera Austral though. I liked the slow paced atmosphere of the villages and their people, the gravel roads and the stunning sceneries around. It’s probably because of the limits of infrastructures and transport services that makes traveling on this road so much fun. traduci >>
2009
12.14
My next pin on the map was on Bariloche, my first step into Argentina. I was going to start my “slalom” all the way down to Ushuaya as all my destinations were close to the border Chile-Argentina. I got there after an 8-hour journey on a bus from Puerto Montt and, in my opinion, unless you’ve never been on the Alps or you’re not up for some trekking, rafting or shopping, there’s not much point of visiting this place. Here are a couple of shots including the one of the monument of not-so-popular Juan A. Roca
The day after I left for El Bolson. Many shops around town have signs also in hebrew and the girls at the Tourist Office have name tags also in hebrew. I had only two hours before my next bus to Esquel so, instead of taking hebrew lessons I decided to walk up to a mirador (view point) and to get lost in the woods on the way back but I still managed to get my bus.
I got to Esquel around midnight. I had booked a room at the Hotel Argentino which you access from the bar which is open till 6am. The whole place could be a set for a Tarantino’s movie. Wooden floor, pool tables, smokey bar tenders and 4 customers. My room was old and dirty but – as the host put it when I asked for a discount – that was the worst but cheapest hotel in town. So I took it. traduci >>
2009
12.13
After “Valpo” it was time to either catch the boat from Puerto Montt to Puerto Natales or visit Chiloé. I went for option two as I was also interested in the Carretera Australe so after a 13-hour journey I got to Puerto Natales where you have connections with the island. So I went to Ancud, Castro and Dalcahue. Very Scottish-like looking, very nice. Here are the pics. I hope you like boats! traduci >>
2009
12.05
This is a quick update from Puerto Natales, Chile. I’ve been rushing down here through half of the Carretera Australe. It’s a beautiful journey but unfortunately transports along that route are just too slow for my schedule and I had to cross again to Argentina to speed up the transfer to southern Chile, where I am now.
So, after passing the Bolivia-Chile border we stopped in San Pedro de Atacama. After some chill out, sandboarding and BBQs I started the descent towards Valparaiso with Michele. We stopped briefly first in Bahia Inglesa
and then Santiago before reaching Valparaiso and the long awaited re-union with my old friend and ex work colleague Claudio. He took me for a walk up and down the cerros (hills) where you have innumerable stairs, graffiti and tin-covered colorful houses
We also visited the old prison that was closed about 15 years ago. There used to be up to 3 times the supposed number of inmates, about 1500 and there are plans to refurbish the building to host various workshops but now this is what it looks like:
I’m on my way to Ushuaia in the morning after about 4 border crossing Chile-Argentina to visit among other places, Chiloe’ Island, Bariloche, Glacier Perito Moreno and the National Park Torres del Paine. I hope to be able to upload the images from Buenos Aires in a few days time. Asta pronto!! traduci >>
2009
11.25
Uyuni is a remote town relatively close to the border with Chile and I got there on a bus through a difficult alternative journey off-road cause the main passage from Potosi’ was blocked by road workers who hadn’t been payed. I stopped here one night to catch up with Michele, another photographer from Verona, Italy that i met earlier in Potosí who drives trains as a second job back home. We were both going to San Pedro de Atacama, Chile, so we booked a crossing tour together on an old Land Cruiser with a driver/cook/guide – who didn’t speak or cook much but did drive at least – and another 4 passengers: Benoit, a French engineer who lives in Buenos Aires, “Crazy Bear” Rich and Fotina from Australia and Sonia from Switzerland who was still recovering from the dengue fever she had contracted earlier in the jungle. This three-day long passage goes across the Salar and touches 5000m of altitude. The scenery is stunning.
In summary, here are the pictures of the Train Graveyard (Michele enjoyed it more obviously), the Isla Incawasi where you can find millennial cacti, various lagoons, rocks, birds and one of the final stops, the geysers, where we managed to get just before a group of 20 or more crazy Israelis who kept us awake with fireworks the night before. traduci >>
2009
11.08
Bolivia didn’t start too well as I got the flu. My first stop was at Copacabana on the Lake Titicaca where I managed at least to have one of its famous trouts even though I couldn’t taste anything. I spent the following two days in bed basically but in La Paz this time. When I started to get better it was time to go to Potosí and here I am now. At 4090m above sea level, this is considered to be the highest city in the world. I planned to visit the mines here, located beneath the 4,824 meters-high Cerro Rico (Rich Mountain), accessible with local tour guides normally ex-miners themselves. I got to town in the morning after a 10 hours bus journey from La Paz and I had to join the last tour of the week in the afternoon. I thought that the Lares trek and climbing the Wayna Picchu was hard but this one was a killer. We had to walk fast and duck and squeeze though passages while breathing mineral dust – including arsenic apparently.
It was Saturday afternoon and unfortunately we missed lots of miners and as a consequence, photo opportunities for me but anyway, here’s the outcome. I took some videos too which probably give a better idea of what it’s like “down there” but my connection at the moment doesn’t allow big files uploads. The spooky figure is a representation of the Devil which the miners worship to help avoid fatalities and bring minerals. Last year 45 people died in here. traduci >>
