Pedro hooked me up well here. I’m writing from his family’s vacation home in Quila Quina, near San Martin de Los Andes. It is a tiny town with only about twenty year round residents. Many are Mapuche with their land protected due to it being in Lanin National Park. The area is perfect for short walks and swims in chilly, but refreshing, 600m deep Lago Lacar. Continue reading Quila Quina
Category Archives: Travel
My world travels
Caretera Austral Travel Tips
While I was traveling along the Caretera Austral I met Dr. Arturo, a Cohaique based physician, who jotted down notes in my journal on things to do along the way. I found them as informative as any guide book and thought I would share them. Continue reading Caretera Austral Travel Tips
First three weeks of Patagonia
Gary sums up leg 1 of the trip:
Expedition 2012: Patagonia, Land of Extremes Patagonia is the place of legends: the towering, iconic mountains, raging rivers, deep blue glaciers, wild winds, and miles of open, expansive wilderness. There’s a reason the company Patagonia took its name from this corner of the earth. A trip to Patagonia is a dream for most climbers and trekkers, as it was for me. So when the opportunity to go climbing with a couple of friends came up, I jumped on it.
Read the full post at his blog:
Expedition 2012: Patagonia, Land of Extremes
Sailing Patagonia
Navigating thousand meter high granite walled channels barely wider than the yacht; five meter swells, waves crashing over the cabin, crossing the Golfo de Penas; rounding the notorious Cabo Raper in dense fog and rain by radar; to days of gentle winds, gazing at glaciated volcanoes. Continue reading Sailing Patagonia
Sailing on from Tortel.
‘Quien se apura en la Patagonia pierde el tiempo,’ locals say (‘Those who hurry in Patagonia lose time’). We’ll likely be here another week, waiting for the high system to move in and shift our winds around from the South.
Candelaria Mancilla, Raw Patagonia
El Chalten is a tough place to leave. It is an easy to settle into, close knit, climber community, in a spectacular mountain scene; and it is also surrounded by ice sheet to the west and desert to the east. There is always a day bus to a flight out of Calafate, or one of the monotonous long distance sorts that take you through the night up barren Ruta 40, the highway travelers pride themselves in completing for the sake of completing and little other sightseeing reason. I chose to let the views guide me. Continue reading Candelaria Mancilla, Raw Patagonia
Sailing preparation
Two carts. First time at this, but I think that should handle it for two to make the sail from Caleta Tortel to Puerto Monte. Back online in a few weeks.
Tortel
The guidebook says “Coleta Tortel is one of those places that simply has to be seen to be believed”. And, it certainly is surreal. The town didn’t have a road to it until 2003 and is built on the slopes of a steep fjord. There are no roads within town, only cedar walkways, miles of them. See the Photo Archive.
Carmela Mancilla
These three days are worthy of a full blog post (coming soon): trekking out to Glaciar O’Higgins, staying on a ranch where I was told only twenty a year pass through, in a natural landscape that was right up there with any I’ve seen. Inspiring to experience the traditional subsistence ranching the father and son carry on. The true Patagonia.
Entering Chile
If you are going to cross a border, you might as well make it interesting. Argentina / Chile, no phone or computer, only a paper record of who comes and goes. Carried the way too heavy pack for five hours through forest and pass from Lago Desierto to the two home “town” of Candelaria Mancilla.