TO PATAGONIA BY CARGO ... A LIFETIME EXPERIENCE

... here I am ... I am in PATAGONIA ... more exactly in PUERTO NATALES ... and only writing about it makes ma happy ... I don´t know what is wrong with me ... :o ... but the more my age is growing ... the more I feel that I want to do simple things like when I was a kid ... anyways ... that is probably a topic for a chat with my concellour ... ehehe ... here I am in this internet cafe ... because I want to share with my friends ... the stunning trip I had with the ship in the last 3 days ... too many things to write about ... and really not much time here ... my new friends are already calling me ... we need to go to TORRES DEL PAINE NATIONAL PARK ... mmm ... OK ... but I have to share this with whoever is checking this blog ... the CARGO was really cool ... equipped to have passenger ... and the view has been devine since the begin of the trip ... here 2 volcanos in the background of an other ship ...... here with some of my new friends ... so glad I did this trip ... and I had the chance to meet such col people here Gui, Murielle, myself, Jeff and Laura ... ... mmm ... and because not everything goes as we plan ... I managed to sprain my left ankle ... the way it went it really silly ... I seat for hal hour in a stupid position and when idid step up ... I had a dead leg ... so without realizing it I did put all my weight to the left leg ... and there you go ... and top of that ... because of the pain and my bllod pressure I did also faint ... funny ... ehehe ... fortunately ... I did faint onboard and not offboard ... :o ... ... and here one of the sweetest pictures of the trip ... Jeff and Luara trying to rest in the storm ...... but of course the swollen ankle did stop me ... here is yesterday, Wednesday, when using a technical stop of the ship ... we went to vist the small villae of PUERTO EDEN ... really interesting ... to see how people is living here ...... and here one of the highlights of the trip ... the visit to the GLACIER PIO XI ... absolutely stunning ... never seen anything like this ...... the girl in the picture is KIM ... she did help me so much with my ankle ... because I am a lucky guy ... she is a doctor working in the ER ... ehehe ... yep ... a lucky guy ... :D ... here some other spectacular scenery we have seen ... mmm ... honestly for most of the trip we found clouds, fog and rain ... but as my hawaiia friends are used to say ... NO RAIN ... NO RAINBOW .... so here it is ... also a rainbow ... a PATAGONIA RAINBOW ...... and here last nite ... party time ... really cool ... such a great community in only 3 days on the ship ... mmm ... really nice ... and of course ... everybody was trying to warm up for the Patagonia hiking ...... ehehe ... really funny ... :o ... and today ... finally ... we had an incredible blue sky ... and here some more pictures ... stunning isn´t it ...... and this is one of the most narrow narrows we did pass during our 3 days navigations ... I think it is called the WHITE NARROW ... really amazing ... you can almost touch the walls of the mountains ...... but now I have really to go ... ciao ... hope to share with you soon more stories ... and pictures ... lots of love to everybody ... :D ...

A CARGO TO PATAGONIA

... so here I am in Puerto Montt (point 1 in the map) ... and in less than 4 hours I will board into a trip that at the moment sounds like a small dream to me ... a cargo ship to Puerto Natales (9 in the map) ... Southern Patagonia ... OK ... the story goes that this ship was used to be a cargo until few years back ... and now it is used a mixed transportation ... cargo and passengers ... the trip will be something like 3 nights ... and almost 4 days ... we should get to Puerto Natalas on Friday ... I can't wait ... apparently we will pass thru fjords ... canals where barely the boat will go thru ... we will see glaciers ... mountains ... but we will go also to the open Pacific Ocean ... and there the trip from a dream can really become a small nightmare ... apparently we can easily find waves of 6 meter (i.e. 18 feet) ... ehehehe ... let's see ... :D ... mmm ... I almost forgot ... if you are curious ... you can check the website of the ferry company ... http://www.navimag.com/english.asp. And Puerto Natales and that will be just the begin of a complete new experience for me ... something I am dreaming about it since days ... Torres del Paine ... Perito Moreno ... Magallanes ... Tierra del Fuego ... Fin del Mundo ... Cape Horn ... Ushuaia ... I heard forever about these places from my buddy Ronen ... and now I am finally going there ... mmm ... and of course for few days ... no blog entries I guess ... sorry ... :D

I HAVE A NEW FAMILY

... I guess these are the things you never expect will happen ... but sometimes they really happen ... and after that you feel really in love with the people ... OK ... let's start from the begin ... this is story about my visit to Quenchi, Chiloe region ... the reason why I went to visit this tiny little village is because I read it has the biggest tide in the region ... somethig like 7 meters ... I had a kind of hard time to find a bed to sleep ... here there are really no spring and fall ... only invierno (winter) and verano (summer) ... and now it is more invierno than verano ... so not all the places are open yet ... anyways after a fast tour of the village I ended up to sleep in a private house ... really nice and welcoming people ... I took some pics of the funny low tide ...... and I headed to the only restaurant on the costanera (i.e. waterfront) ... EL CHEJO ...... when I got in I was the only customer so Elsa, the owner, spent sometime chit chatting with me ... and without realizing it ... I was invited in the kitchen ... where I met Marylin, Don Pedro, Jose ... we continue to chit chat and drink some beer together ... and once my caldito de mariscos (i.e. seafood soup) was ready ... I was invited to eat there ... incredible experience ... suddendly I felt like eating at home ... here a self portrait ... from the left ... Don Pedro ... la Senora Elsa ... Jose ... Marylin (Jose and Marylin were there just helping to clean the seafood) and myself ...... again ... difficult to describe such an incredible experience ... I really felt like at home ... never been in a restaurant like this ... I felt simply blessed by such hospitality ... they fed me like a son ... and after the soup I had the chance to taste evary type of local food ... at the end I was soooo full ... I had serious problems to stand up ... basically ... I got into the restaurant around 8PM and I left it around midnite ... and I left ... only because I was afraid that the nice family who was hosting me was going to go to sleep and lock the door ... fortunately I got there on time ... and I slept like a baby ... I woke up at 11AM ... and the first thought that I had ... was to go back as soon as possible to my new family ... and I did it ... this time ... Don Chejo and Don Pedro were in the kitchen ... when Don Pedro saw me ... he did hug me like an abuelo (i.e. grandpa) hugs a grandson ... I was grabben into the kitchen again ... and there I spent an other 4 wonderful hours before my bus left ... so I had to see Don Chejo cooking Chentoia (i.e. grab if I understood correctly) ... and filling enpanadas with it ...... and again ... Don Pedro in one of his tasks in the restaurant ... Panadero (i.e. baker) ... and believe me ... there is nothing like eat a fresh baked bread ... cooked by your new grandpa ... ... when the customers were not a lot ... we had some serious fun ... here is Don Chejo playing with my mochila (i.e. backpack) ...... unfortunately ... I had to leave around 4PM ... because I had the last bus leaving ... so while I was waiting for it ... I took some pictures of the tiny harbor with high tide ...... and while I was chit chating with Eric (a guy who just stepped out of the restaurant) ... and I basically missed the last bus leaving the town ... I saw it leaving from the other part of the town ... but I guess it was my lucky day ... so Eric ... who is living in santa Monica, CA ... had a rental car ... so we run to the car ... we put my backpack into the car ... wer did follow the bus ... and after 5 minutes we caught it ... he basically stop in front of it ... and the bus driver got me in ... ehehehe ... the G-D of the backpackers really exists ... and I got safe and sound to Puerto Montt where I am now ... but I think I will never forget this experience ... I basically went to this restaurant to have a fast dinner and I found a new family ... so incredible ... yep ... I am really happy today ... :O

CHEWING A PIECE OF BREAD

... if you will have the chance to visit Chile ... don't miss CHILOE ... it is a set of Islands just north of Patagonia ... and I am personally enjoying it a lot ... it is a strange feeling ... seems like everything get stucked in time and where there is the perfect combination of ... sea ... mountains ... small and colorful villages ... nice people ... good food ... and something really unique I have never seen anywhere else ... mmm ... I forgot ... also mild weather ... but in this I guess I just got lucky ... because everybody agree that this little area is the raniest in the entire Chile ... a kind of Seattle, WA of Chile ... OK ... I am Xing my fingers the good weather will keep up for an other couple of days ... OK ... let´s start with the people ... ehehe ... this is a mom driving her kids to the kindergarten ...

... and the food ... mmmmm ... this is the land of the sea food ... here they call them moriscos ... this is a caldo de moriscos y una cerveza ... ehehe ... knowing few words in Spanish makes the difference sometimes ...

... where certain scenes seems from centuries ago ...

... and where the curches are part of the UNESCO heritage of the humanity ... because they are all built in wood ... incredible to see and to believe ... they really exist ... and so big ...

... and where the tide is at least 5 meters ... and where you need to mind where you leave your boat after fishing ... if you want to work the day after ...

... and where people is building their boats in their frontyards ... simply amazing ... I always dream to do something like this ... but my dad garage was too small ... ehehe ...

... but there is also a lot of poor people ... this is the house of a fisherman ... not sure if you can see ... but behind the window there is a little girl ... chewing a piece of bread ...... I am sure she will leave this village as soon as she will be grown up ... sometimes it is tough to live in a touristic paradise ... really tough ...

SEA LIONS in the FISH MARKET

... finally I slept for almost 8 hours in a bed ... not the warmest ever ... but a good one ... and even if it is just 8AM ... I am the last one to have breakfast in the hostel ... everybody already left and went hiking or sightseeing ... I am here in Castro ... in the main island of Chiloe ... so far I didn't see much because I just got here at midnight ... but the day spent in Valdivia yesterday was really unique ... I guess the main attraction of the city is the fish market ... and the attraction are not the fishes ... but the sea lions ... ok ... before anybody will missunderstand ... they don't sell sea lion meat ... :o ... what is peculiar ... and I think unique ... is that a colony of 32 sea lions (each of them has a name ... and apparently they answer to their names) ... is living in the canal just in front of the market ... and they have found here their paradise ...

... all this doesn't make the market the cleanest ever ... but honestly ... better they give the left overs to the sea lions than to the restaurants ...

... what else ... mmm ... Valdivia is much better when the sun is shining ... than when it is raining ... it is a nice little town ... I also bought an extra hiking shirt and a couple of wool gloves ... because I realized that if I am already this cold here ... I can't really immagine how I will feel when I will go to Cape Horn ... if I won't freeze my legs before I will get there ... ehehehe ... anyways ... here an other couple of pictures of Valdivia ...

... after all this I took a wonderful 7 hours ride with the bus & ferry to Castro where I am now ... and thinking about it ... I have to go now ... I want to visit this place ... from what I read ... seems to be really interesting ... ciao ... :D

VALDIVIA, Chile

... of course I don't really have a detailed plan for my trip ... but I have a loose plan ... or at least I had a loose plan ... things are getting really funny here ... and even my loose plan ... is useless ... so ... last nite I had to change my initial idea to take the train to Temuco ... and I got a bus to Valdivia ... here it is raining ... which is not unusual here ... so I found a shelter in this internet cafe`... but most important ... I didn't find a place to sleep here in Valdivia ... :O ... apparently there is a national university sport competition going on here ... and the hostels are packed ... no place for me ...... so I decided not to get too stressed looking ... and to change my plans ... I left my backpack at the bus station ... I am visiting the town (very small indeed) today and I will take a bus tonite to Castro ... in the Chiloe island ... and I will get there around 3AM ... and hopefully I wil find a place to sleep ... ehehe ... I will think about it later ... for now I am enjoying the town ... really nice ... here some pics ...
... OK ... now the rain is over ... I have to go ... :D

FINALLY ... BACKPACKING

... closed my last work related items ... mmm ... actually not really closed ... the hard drive of my laptop didn't like the Buenos Aires air ... and seems to have serious problems ... fortunately it did decide to crash ... just 5 minutes after I did finish the workshop with my customer ... lucky me ... anyways ... closed all the work related stuff ... I flew back to Santiago, Chile ... here the last pieces of Argentina I captured ... this the the Buenos Aires international terminal ...... this is the gate ... closing ... ehehe ... bye bye ARGENTINA ... ... and this is the Cordillera somewhere between Argentina and Chile ...... once in Santiago, Chile ... I packed all my stuff ... and then ... my friends Elena & Roberto ... did really saved the first days of my backpacking trip ... my plan was to go directly to the train station and to go south to Temuco ... the Lonely Planet was saying there was a daily train @ 10.30PM ... but at the last minute ... we decided to X-Check ... and to give a call to the train station and ... we found out that the train was running only starting from December 1st ... ehehehe ... so I had to change plan ... go for the bus ... and for a new destination ... Valdivia ... and again ... they drove me all the way to the Bus Station ... really nice to have friends ... as such a good friends like them ... really a blessing ... got there just on time ... this is the terminal ... while I am boarding on the bus ... with other backpaking fellows met there ...
... 10 hours ride ... to Valdivia, Chile ... the backpacking trip has started ... :D