Chile

The reason to come to the frontier town of Chile Chico is to go walkies in Jeinimeni National Reserve which is very little visited. We drove 30km along the Argentinian border on a dirt road and arrived at the packed car park The only other sign of life was this beautifully posing duo It was a 4.5 mile circular walk which sounds fine, but involved climbing 1371 feet and a slippy scramble back down - hubby loved this obviously.. As these photos show, it was a very special, beautiful and unforgettable hike Obviously one or two cold beers were then needed but as we are often finding in Chile, a well situated bar in the sunshine next to a great view doesn’t seem to be an infrastructure priority. Fortunately every town/village has at least 10 supermarkets so we are now back in our lovely cabin with the necessary refreshments

Not quite as much excitement today but definitely varied. We started with a trip to the supermarket (woohoo) to get picnic supplies and then drove to Villa Cerro Castillo along a beautiful road towards the mountains. Our instructions said we should visit the Schoolhouse museum so we got our ‘I’m a tourist’ badge by following a guide up a hill to see 3000 year old rock paintings of hands The view of the mountains was pretty good too Our ferry to Chile Chico left at 8pm so we meandered around the area and found a waterfall, as you do The ferry port at Puerto Ibáñez wasn’t exactly a hive of raucous activity Ferry time.. Proper Patagonian wind blasting on the deck for 2 hours

We got up at 5am to head out to a huge farm on the Argentinian border. It is owned by Alejandro, a conservationist rancher who takes visitors to the top of a ridge early in the morning to watch condors taking off from their roosting sites. We were expecting it to be cold and windy but there wasn’t a cloud in the sky and the condors seemed to be happy basking on the rocks rather than showing off their gliding skills. We spent a very happy 4 hours sitting on top of the ridge looking at stunning wilderness getting hotter and hotter in inappropriate clothing  We saw an  Andean hummingbird, 2 eagles, swallows, finches, a Gaucho on horseback and numerous horse flies but no sign of a condor in flight. And then finally they arrived, 8 condors flying over and around,  we could hear the wind in their wings - an utterly magical experience Vertigoed hubby had to keep his eyes closed as we drove down off the ridge and went to an open area which was a meeting place for Stone Age people. Lunch was an

We drove 192 km back down south through spectacular scenery in an increasingly filthy tank It was a beautiful sunny day so a bit of a shame to be sitting in a car for 4 hours instead of walking, but this country is so huge that long drives are inevitable and the views are simply stunning Empanada picnic lunch was yum Tonight’s hotel is in Coyhaique, a bustling town that our holiday information describes as the ‘Bracknell of Patagonia’.  It’s certainly a curious place in the middle of nowhere with a frontier feel, full of backpackers, tourists, locals and of course dogs The food is not exactly gourmet - meat with chips or chips with meat But we found a bar in the sunshine to watch the world go by whilst drinking great beer 

This stunning park is famous for its ‘Ventisquero Colgante’ or hanging glacier, which isn’t actually hanging anymore thanks to global warming.  To get there we had to walk up 3.3 km through a forest, starting with a hanging bridge over a violent river - vertigoed hubby not exactly happy about this The walk was steep and a bit knackering but definitely worth the effort  There was another easier walk along the river where you could get on a boat to view the glacier. It’s peak season here and there was a big queue so we had a picnic instead! Obviously a 5 mile walk was not enough exercise for the day, so we rented a kayak in the afternoon and ‘we’ paddled out into the fjord. I was ridiculously over excited when we were joined by a sea lion and 4 dolphins!

Today was spent exploring the Queulat National Park area starting with a walk in wellies up to a waterfall. It was rather like an Enid Blyton adventure, crossing the river in a rowing boat with a canine companion (Max) The area has temporate rainforest which looks like a spooky enchanted forest It was a bit of a scramble up the side of the waterfall and not ideal for hubby with vertigo, but so beautiful After a huge lunch (Chileans only do massive portions), we went for a boat trip around Queulat Sound   We stopped at an island in the middle with dolphins swimming past (I didn’t attempt to get a photo of them!) I’m wearing lots of layers in this photo, not just the effects of all the food honestly... We got soaked on the way back but spotted a penguin, presumably antisocial and geographically challenged, followed by a magical pod of dolphins, all a bit wow.

An early start with a 6.30 am taxi trip back to Santiago airport. It looked like most of Chile was flying somewhere so long queues for each stage of the process and a packed plane to Balmaceda, but fun people watching! It was cloudy in Santiago but the plane climbed above the clouds and the Andes photography improved from my last attempt (not difficult really) It was a two hour flight south with a spectacular view of mountainous nothingness as we descended We picked up the car/tank, had the spare tyre put in the boot just in case (risk averse strategy!), eventually worked out how to operate various incomprehensible levers, pedals and buttons, then set off into the great unknown It was a long drive (254km) and a long day, but very beautiful. We saw lots of touring cyclists labouring up hills into a strong wind with full panniers. I was slightly jealous but mostly relieved to be sitting in a comfortable air conditioned tank. Our lodge is on the edge of a fjord, beautifully peaceful and d