Crossing the Andes

The best steak in the world?

I am now in Bariloche, a beautiful town on the Argentinian side of the Andes with the most incredible scenery, made highly visible by the hostel 1004 where I am staying which is a 10th floor appartment turned hostel. My first two weeks in South America have been absolutely great, featuring some wicked things from climbing a live volcano to a crazy Chilean rock festival!

From Santiago, I headed up to Valparaiso for a couple of days, which is an incredibly picturesque town set on hills which roll down into the Pacific Ocean. The town is made up of colourful old houses, and some incredible steep paths which can be avoided by taking the vertiginous ascensors! It really feels like a classic South American town whereas I guess Santiago and other places I have been feel a lot more modern. Apart from boat trips, army ships and lots of seafood, Pablo Neruda, a famous Chilean poet, had an amazing house there and near my hostel there was an intriguing prison which has been converted into a museum/community area. Walking around the place you can't help but think of what must have gone on there back doing the day of military rule.

Back in Santiago, I met up with some Chileans who a group of us had met when we first arrived. I have to say that I have found the Chilean people to be incredibly friendly. Whether it was in a bar, a restaurant, random people in hostels or on the street, I found it to be one of the friendliest countries I have ever been to. Wherever I went, local young people were happy to invite me out, to a birthday, to a club, for a parrillada (basically an incredible meat feast!). In Santiago I was taken to one club, the Kama Su, supposedly the hangout for celebrities and the local beautiful people, which was literally on fire - I can´t really remember any other clubs with so many people dancing and all with so much energy. It was mad!

The Cumbre del Rock Chileño was on while I was in Santiago, so I headed there with some people I had met at the hostel and out in Santiago. About 37 Chilean bands played, so I certainly got to hear some local music... Things started off a bit crazily, as people from the stands started jumping over this massive fence to get onto the pitch (it was in a stadium). Security wasn´t very impressed, and before long you had the riot police running in to stop the flow, while some of the people who weren´t good fence climbers were stretchered off. It was a bit of a shocking start to the day, but after that the music really took centre place. People were shouting about Pinochet and the whole stadium would be jumping when the bands would cry out "whoever doesn´t jump is Pinochet". I would recommend the Jaivas, my favorite group out of the lot.

Pucon, a 10 hour bus ride south, is a beautiful little holiday town set right next to a volcano and a lake. People can only build wooden buildings there, so it has loads of character and some stunning views. On a clear night you could look up to the volcano and see the red glow of lava around the top of the crater. I was hoping it would be a bit more relaxing than Santiago, and I did get some beach time and some time in the natural hot springs but it was generally pretty intense with some full on activities and some fun bars. The highlight had to be the climb to the top of the Volcan Villarica! It is a 5 hour mission to get to the top, walking through the snow which ensures your feet are frozen through to the bone! The views are spectacular, and the feeling of walking up through the clouds, being above the cloud line, and then of looking into this smoking crater were quite something. Unfortunately we couldn´t see any lava inside but sometimes people get lucky. Apparently last year the stuff was spurting out quite dangerously so peoples' coats would get burnt from lava rain and the ground would shake and rumble!

An interesting thing in Pucon was staying at the Hostel Limay, a hostel which is basically full of Israelis! Me and the Irish girl I met on the bus to Pucon were the only non-Israeli people in this place for some of the days we were there. To me, it does seem incredible that a group of people from a given country would go and all stay at the same place on their travels. I couldn´t imagine staying in a hostel with only English people but I guess it is interesting exposure to Israeli culture, and luckily the guy running the show was Chilean so we got to hang out with some local Chileans there. Another fun day involved renting a car and driving around some Chilean roads... They are really very tame, nothing like the madness of driving in Valencia, and we got to see the area around Valdivia and Niebla which was pretty nice.

Ultimately, Chile is not that cheap a place, and especially not when compared to Argentina which still hasn´t completely recovered from the financial crisis of 2002. I definitely would like to head back to Chile in the future though, hopefully with some more cash as there is so much to see there.

In any case, crossing the border meant the first night I could have an all you can eat meal of the finest steak I have ever eaten for about 4 pounds. The meat here really is incredible, different from anything I have ever tasted back home. San Martin de Los Andes is a beautiful little town which feels like something out of the Alps, and has a nice little lake beach full of people drinking mate, the traditional Argentinian drink. The only problem is that everyone from Buenos Aires is on holiday now so it was slightly overcrowded, not to mention the major hassle of getting accomodation. So this leads me to Bariloche which is a bigger town but with a more stunning landscape. Today, Tomaraya who is doing a round the world trip in the opposite direction will be getting here, so it will be fun to meet up with someone from home for a couple of days!

Valparaiso

Getting some tap water

Valparaiso and an ascensor

A variety of fishing boats...

Chilean navy men

Local outrage

You just cross your fingers that its safe!

The Yoyo hostel

The old prison

Prison life

A local rock band practice in the old prison

Pablo Neruda's giant shoes!

Bella Vista in Santiago

El Cumbre del Rock Chileño

Jumping the fence

Stretchered off!

Getting things under control!

The music takes centre stage...

The stadium fills up...

How about a really warm cup of coke to quench your first?

Israelis chilling at the Hostel Limay

Sunset in Pucon

The view from my window

The hot springs

Waterfall

Cowboy

View from the Volcano

Above the clouds

The summit

Cracks in the ground

To the centre of the Earth!

Volcano explorer!

Rivers of lava

Sliding back down

Beach in Niebla

Niebla views

Valdivia university

Sea lion on the pier

A strange but tasty cortado doble

San Martin de los Andes lake

Drinking mate at the beach

More mate...

A bit of amusement for the family

Lago Espejo

More Lago Espejo

Scenery near Bariloche

View from the hostel

Link to previous post:

A New Continent for the New Year!