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The South American Odyssey
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The South American Odyssey

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  • The Craze for TravellingThe South American OdysseyThe Craze for Travelling
    2
    222Turkey Tail Mushrooms

    Streams and crossings

    7 de enero de 2018, Chile ⋅ ⛅ 13 °C

    The trail continued across the plains. Some of the places, it was totally gone due to the heavy rains. The streams feeding the main river were overflowing and at some places we had to throw in logs and stones to make bridges across them. There were a lot of stones that had lichens dried and fossilized on them. They looked very colorful amd almost like the sea corals. Igor showed us the Turkey Tail Mushrooms on the way.Leer más

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    2Along the Rio Amarillo

    Along the river Amarillo

    7 de enero de 2018, Chile ⋅ ⛅ 14 °C

    The trail continued across the wet marshlands and we had to find ways to jump around over the streams, across fallen trees to make it to the original trail. Finally, the trail reached the Rio Amarillo and then turned suddenly into the forest and upwards. All the while we had lovely views of the Michinmahuida glacier.Leer más

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    End of trail. River below.

    End of the trek

    7 de enero de 2018, Chile ⋅ ⛅ 14 °C

    Inside the forest, the trail passed some very heavy undergrowth. It was totally covered with moss and lichens and there were ferns and bushes everywhere. Everything was wet due to the heavy rains from the previous days. Even this day, it had been a light drizzle on and off. Many places, we had to almost slide down on the mud path to reach the different levels of the trail. At some places, there were roots of the trees for this and at other places, there were wooden ladders totally covered in slippery moss. At one of the mud slides, I slipped and twisted my knee and at another place, Melinda too slipped and hurt her knee 😁
    Both of us had slight pain in the knee but it wasn't bad enough to stop us walking further.
    After walking about 15 min inside the forest, the trail ended abruptly. The trail had been washed away completely by the river in one of the previous days. We tried to cross over via alternate paths inside the forest but the jungle was too thick and we had to give up after about 10 min. We turned back to find a nice place to sit and have our food. On the way back, one of the ladders slid down for almost about 2 mts while I was at the bottom rung and Igor on the top rung. Luckily, neither of us lost our balance and were fine and the rest of the group was ahead of us so they didn't have to climb/jump down 3 mts.    Leer más

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    Estrellas

    Back at the starting point

    7 de enero de 2018, Chile ⋅ ⛅ 14 °C

    We reached the starting point of the trail by around 3:45 pm. The van wasn't there since we had planned to be back by 6 pm. There was no mobile signal anywhere nearby too. But, the park had a landline that they use. Igor tried calling the office to send the van but couldn't get through. There was a van going back to Chaiten so we were able to send the message back via them. We knew it would take them at least an hour to get to us and it was nice and sunny by now. We all spread our perpetually wet clothes on the lawns and lied down to sleep and relax while we waited. Finally, we could dry our jackets etc after almost 3 days.Leer más

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    Amarillo hot springs

    7 de enero de 2018, Chile ⋅ ⛅ 14 °C

    The van finally came to pick us up around 5:15 pm. The Amarillo hot springs were quite near this place (about 10 kms away) and we still had time till its closure at 8:30 pm so asked Igor if we could go there. The van driver wanted 5000 CLP per person for the drop but we negotiated with Igor that we had not been able to make it to the end of the trek so he should include this in the trek price. He agreed and we went to the Amarillo hot springs. None of us had our swimming suits so Hristo and Maria dropped out, but Melinda and I wanted to go there since both had paining knees and the hot springs would be beneficial for it. We were fine using our undergarments instead of the swimming costumes. The 2 of us were dropped off there while the rest went back to Chaiten. We enjoyed a lovely dip in the hot waters for almost 2 hours. Igor was there with the van when we came out. The way back was extremely beautiful. For the 1st time, we were able to see the surroundings without the clouds covering everything up.Leer más

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    Bernardo and Jose

    Sunset at Chaiten

    7 de enero de 2018, Chile ⋅ ⛅ 14 °C

    We were dropped back at Chaiten at around 9 pm. For the 1st time we saw the surrounding hills and views. The sky had cleared and the sun was setting. The village looked so different tgan what we had been used to till now. We walked back to our cabaña just as Hristo and Maria came back from their dinner. Inside the compound of our hotel, we met Bernardino and Jose again. This was the father and son pair that had trekked with us in the morning and we had become friends. They had not got off at the Amarillo springs to come back to Chaitén to find a place to stay and had eventually decided to stay at the same place as we were. Melinda invited them to come to dinner with us and we went to the only pizza place (the only open place) in town. We had our dinner over some nice conversation and came back to the hotel to sleep around 11 pm.Leer más

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  • The Craze for TravellingThe South American OdysseyThe Craze for Travelling
    Waiting along the promenade in the beautiful sunny weather
    Waiting along the promenade in the beautiful sunny weatherChaiten churchChaiten's receded beachEntrance to the Chaiten Mirador

    Stuck in Chaiten

    8 de enero de 2018, Chile ⋅ ☀️ 18 °C

    The plan had been to get up early and catch the 8 am bus to Futaleufu as that was the only open way South. The main route was closed due to the landslide so we would need to go to Futaleufu and then take the buses south or to take the evening ferry and reach directly at Puerto Balmaceda and then take the bus to La Junta.
    The issue was that there is a que to the places in the bus. The previous evening when Hristo and Maria had gone to Chaitur to enquire about it, Nicklas had mentioned no queues. He had told, just show up at 7:30 am and you should be fine. While Igor and Bernardo both had mentioned that there is a que system to the places on the bus.
    We reached there at Chaitur (the bus stop of the village) at 8 am but were told there was no place for us. There were 29 workers that would be picked up a bit further South to work on the landslide, the 2nd priority was the locals traveling South and then the foreigners. There were a total of 44 seats in the bus so considering the number of people in front of us in the que, we wouldn't get the tickets to the 8 am bus. We were very pissed with Nicklas and we were more than sure he was doing this since we had not taken tours with him. He even suggested taking a tour with him for the day while we waited for the 5 pm bus.
    We would have to waste one whole day without a plan here and we had already checked out as well so we were extremely pissed with Nicklas.
    We decided to keep the bags at Chaitur and go to our friends from the Patagonian Ruta 7 and take their free city tour. When we reached there only Alejandro was there and he told us that the free tour was in Spanish only and that Igor could accompany for the English translation but he was sleeping in late and would be in town by 10 am only. This was fine with us since we could then have our breakfast in the meantime.
    We had our food and went back to their office by 10, but Igor was still not in. So we decided to wait for a while outside in the beautiful sunny weather. Around 10:30 am Igor came and saw us. He had cycled down 20 kms from El Amarillo. We told him we wanted to do the free tour. He called up the local guides to arrange the tour for us but he informed that he would not be able to join us since he had a lot of pending work which he needed to finish before the day. He went to the office and we didn't hear from him for another 10 min after which Melinda went to check the status and was told that he was stuck with work and he couldn't arrange any local guide. He promised to come in 5 min to show us the path we could take for the tour. We waited for a few minutes and then we decided to go on our own. I had all the points around the place marked on Maps.me and we decided to follow them.
    We walked towards the Chaiten mirador. A place on the hill nearby with views of the village.    Leer más

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    Chaiten Mirador

    8 de enero de 2018, Chile ⋅ ☀️ 17 °C

    Almost near the end of the climb up the mirador path is the Lady of Lourdes grotto and at the top is a wooden statue of Christ. The view of the village below were beautiful. We stayed there for a while before going down the same path to go to the hidden lagoon near the village. Igor had mentioned it to be part of the free tour and we were able to find it on Maps.me.Leer más

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  • The Craze for TravellingThe South American OdysseyThe Craze for Travelling
    Lake at the end of the wooden planks

    The hidden lake

    8 de enero de 2018, Chile ⋅ ☀️ 17 °C

    We walked up to the starting point of the trail marked on Maps.me for the hidden lagoon but it had boards marking it as private property and the gate was closed. We were not sure if it was ok to go in or not. While we were contemplating what to do, an old lady came by. We asked if we could go in, to which she said it should be fine and she herself went in and started collecting tree branches etc from inside the compound. Emboldened, we all went in and started following the path on the map. After a few meters we came across a guy who told us that it was private property and that we weren't allowed. I was in front at that time and reached him 1st. He seemed very drunk so my guess was that he was a squatter on the property. I just told him I don't speak Spanish and continued walking in and signalled to the others to follow. We all went by and continued. The path was thick with foliage. It was extremely dense at some places and the trail was quite wet and slippery in some places due to the rains from the previous days. After walking for about 30 min, we reached the lake. It truly was a hidden lake. The last 10 mts was wooden planks half submerged in water. I didn't want to wet my shoes since they had started leaking from the toes. Hristo went and had a look though. After this we all turned back and went to the village again. It was already 1 pm and we wanted to have lunch before taking the bus.Leer más

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  • The Craze for TravellingThe South American OdysseyThe Craze for Travelling
    Puerto CárdenasStunning views of the glaciers and mountains at Lago Yelcho

    Off from Chaitén finally

    8 de enero de 2018, Chile ⋅ ⛅ 19 °C

    We came back to the village and had our lunch. After that I stayed back to sleep for a while on the grass along the promenade while Hristo, Maria and Melinda went to the sea shore to see the beach.
    At 4:40 pm, I started walking towards Chaitur to catch the 5 pm bus. I couldn't see Hristo or Maria anywhere near the shore. Melinda reached back around 4:50 pm and told that she had seen Hristo and Maria going to sleep on the beach. We both walkers to Chaitur and were told by Nicklas to wait for a while and that there were other locals that need to be given priority. We didn't listen to him and just took our bags and dumped them into the bus. We were putting Hristo and Maria's bags in when they reached exactly at 5 pm. They had put an alarm for 4:40 pm bit had miscalculated the time it would take to reach back. We just went into the bus and sat there. It was almost full with only 7-8 places left. Nicklas, not wanting to face us, sent the bus driver to talk to us to get us off the bus. Maria was so pissed with this whole thing that she told the driver that we were not getting off the bus for anything and he could go and call the carabineros if he wanted. The poor guy was shocked and said it was fine, we could sit and he'll see what could be done.
    Eventually, the bus left at around 5:20 pm, with all of us on board 😁
    We reached Puerto Cárdenas at around 6:15 pm. From here, the Chilean navy had arranged for boats to go across the Lake Yelcho where a connecting bus would take us to Futaleufu.
    The boats were very small and by the time our turn came, they were all full. The 4 of us and some other passengers waited there for the boats to come back. The day was very beautiful and sunny and we could see the glaciers and the mountains till far away. The views were amazing.    Leer más

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    Navy search and rescue unit

    Puerto Cárdenas

    8 de enero de 2018, Chile ⋅ ⛅ 19 °C

    While we were waiting for the boats to come back, the chief of the rescue unit told us that they were trying to arrange for a fisherman to drop us on the other side but that the boat was much slower than the navy boats so the bus may not be there by the time we reach. He asked if any of the remaining passengers had any means of transport to Futaleufu. One of the local Chileans had a pickup but the rest of us would have to figure out something. The Chilean with the pickup knew a little bit of English and told us not to worry and that he could arrange for at least 2 of us to be dropped off about 4 kms from the port on the other side, where they had a few cabañas while 2 of us could walk. At least we would have a place to stay for the night and the ones walking wouldn't have to carry our big bags.Leer más

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    Reaching Futaleufú

    8 de enero de 2018, Chile ⋅ ⛅ 19 °C

    We were the 1st ones waiting when the fishermen's boat was arranged. We sat in the boat with our luggage and then we were off. The views were very beautiful on the way, but the main thing was we were off and not stuck at the place.
    On the way, we saw the navy boat go back to the port and within 20-30 min, they crossed us. That boat was really much faster than ours.    Leer más

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    Temporary port of La Cabaña at Lago Yelcho
    Temporary port of La Cabaña at Lago YelchoHaving dinner

    Futaleufú

    8 de enero de 2018, Chile ⋅ ⛅ 19 °C

    We reached the other end of the Lago Yelcho at La Cabañas at around 9:15 pm. Tge people in the navy boat had reached 15 min before us. The connecting bus had still been there. They had even requested the bus driver to wait for us as we were just behind them but he had left just 10 min before we arrived.
    So, with nothing to takes us the 60 kms, we were totally dependent on the Chilean person who had someone coming to pick them. They had an SUV for 5 people and luggage while we were 9 of us with our one big bag and one small bag each. The brother's friend who had come to pick up the Chilean guy and his friends agreed to fit us all in the vehicle. We managed to squeeze ourselves and our bags in every open space with people sitting on each other and bags and things under and besides every place available. It took us about an hour to reach there. On the way, Melinda had a claustrophobic panic again like she had in India so we had to stop for a while for her to catch her breath. Eventually, we reached Futaleufú by 10:30 pm. The fantastic people dropped us at the main square and told us some options where we could find a place to stay. Melinda and I waited at the main square while Hristo and Maria went around to find a place to stay. It took them almost 40 min before they returned after having checked about 15 places. Finally, they had found a guest house with 2 rooms in an old lady's place. We carried our bags there and then immediately went out to find a place to eat. Most restaurants were closed at this hour but we found one that was open and taking the last order of the day. We ate there and went back to our place (Hostel Cañete) by around midnight.    Leer más

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    Hostel Cañete in Futaleufú
    Hostel Cañete in Futaleufú

    Morning at Futaleufu

    9 de enero de 2018, Chile ⋅ ⛅ 19 °C

    We woke up a bit late and had breakfast at the hostel only. By the time we finished our breakfast, it was about 12 pm. We didn't have anything planned for Futaleufu since it had been off the original track. We just happened to be there due to the road closure. We checked out and left our bags at the hostel. We went to the tourist information center to find the bus stop and the connections to Coyhaique. There, we found that there was only 1 bus to Coyhaique every day and it left Futaleufu at 7 am everyday. Basically, that meant that we were stuck here for one more day. We found out about the various activities we could do there and then Maria went back to the hostel to extend our stay by a day and Melinda and I went to the bus stop to book our tickets for the next morning.
    On the way, to the bus stop, we saw a small outdoor equipment shop. We decided to do a quick check to see if we could find the micro filter water bottle. We didn't find it, but they had waterproof trekking shoes exactly my size and in colors I liked so I bought them immediately. After that, we went to the bus stop and booked tickets for the next morning.
    We returned back to the main square where we had decided to meet.    Leer más

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    Where do we go??

    9 de enero de 2018, Chile ⋅ ⛅ 24 °C

    We had figured that in the half day we had remaining, we could do 2 different treks in this area. We decided to go to the Laguna Espejo just at the outskirts of the village about 20 min walk away and then do the Piedra de Aguila (Rock of the Eagle) trek after that.
    We decided to pick up some stuff to wat before we started on our treks. There, we met Bernardo and Jose again. They had arrived by the morning bus from Chaiten (the one we couldn't find place on, the day before). They had arrived by the afternoon and had gone to the Laguna Espejo. They suggested we do that later since the sunset from the viewpoint nearby was quite spectacular. We took their advice and switched our plans. We also found out that they were staying in a cabaña just 15 mts away from ours. They had come to the shop for the same reason, to biy some food items before they went rafting in the afternoon. We thanked them and started to plan the Piedra de Aguila trek.
    The starting of the trek was 4 kms outside of the village so we wanted to find out if there was a faster way to reach there. We went back to the tourist information office and found that we could rent bicycles for half a day and park them at the base of mountain and then do the 1 hour trek. They also told us where all we could rent the bicycles.    Leer más

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    Futaleufú river

    Off for the Piedras de Aguila trek

    9 de enero de 2018, Chile ⋅ ⛅ 24 °C

    We found the places where they rented the bikes and compared the prices. One of them was offering half a day at 8000 CLP with helmets and a puncture repair kit with portable air pump while the other one was offering the same for 10000 CLP, so the choice was easy.
    We rented the bicycles around 3:15 pm and started the ride out of town. On the way, we stopped at a viewpoint of the Espolón river. It had a stunning deep emerald blue color.    Leer más

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    Starting of the trek

    Starting point of the trek

    9 de enero de 2018, Chile ⋅ ⛅ 24 °C

    We crossed the Espolón river and then a smaller stream before we reached the starting point of the trek. The bicycle ride had been very scenic and a lot of of fun with ups and downs, starting on asphalted road and then continuing on gravel. We reached the starting point at around 4 pm. We went to the stream nearby to fill our bottles before the trek. It was quite sunny and hot and the climb looked steep so we would need extra water. We were told that there was an entry fee of 1000 CLP per person since the trek was on a private property. There were boards at a few places saying that it was private property and that an entry should be be paid, but we couldn't find anyone anywhere. We decided to start anyways and pay if and when someone asked.Leer más

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    Piedras de Aguila formations
    Piedras de Aguila formations

    Piedras de Aguila trek

    9 de enero de 2018, Chile ⋅ ☀️ 33 °C

    Before starting the trek, we went to the river nearby and filled up our bottles. The climb up was quite a steep one with loose gravel road. The total trek distance is about 2.5 kms and the elevation difference is about 350 mts. The sun was out and it was quite hot in the clear. We tried walking under the shade wherever we could but there weren't that many tall trees there. This stretch was not possible to do on the biles so we had parked and locked them at the start of the walking way but a car with 4x4 managed to go almost all the way to the top (almost 2 kms). With each turn of the track, we went higher and the valley below came more and more into the view. It was a very scenic location with the stone formations on one side and a big open valley with beautiful emerald blue river flowing through.Leer más

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    1

    Reaching Piedra de Aguila

    9 de enero de 2018, Chile ⋅ 🌬 27 °C

    Despite the steep climb, we reached the Eagle stone formation within 20 min. The path then crosses the stones and goes beyond. There was a barrier which said No Passing but one thing we learnt in Chile was that these boards are there just like that and no one follows them. So, we too went in and sure enough, just about 200 mts from the barrier was a person sitting in a small hut and charging for the entrance. We paid 1000 CLP per person and went on towards the rocks. From here, we could see the beautiful blue color of the lake nearby.Leer más

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    At the Piedra de Aguila
    At the Piedra de AguilaThe girls busy taking pictures below the top2

    Viewpoint behind the rocks

    9 de enero de 2018, Chile ⋅ ☀️ 22 °C

    Just behind the Piedra de Aguila, there is another viewpoint with equally good views around. From here we could see the 2nd bigger lake further away from the 1st lake. The rock was now in the middle of the view giving a good perspective of its position in the landscape.Leer más

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    Back to Futaleufu

    9 de enero de 2018, Chile ⋅ ⛅ 26 °C

    From the viewpoint, we trekked back to the entry point where we stopped for a while since Melinda wanted to pet the horses grazing nearby. After a few minutes, we trekked down to the base of the hill where we picked up our bicycles and rode back to the town. We reached back around 7:30 pm and dropped off the bicycles at the shop since the rental time was almost over and then trekked to the Laguna Espejo on the outskirts of the village.Leer más

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    Laguna Espejo

    9 de enero de 2018, Chile ⋅ ⛅ 26 °C

    We walked to the lake outside the village in about 15 min. It was a lovely little lake with nice views of the hills around. We walked along the shore slowly enjoying the views. There were 2 street dogs playing around us and sometimes in the water. It was a slow relaxed time we spent there.
    Around 8 pm, we decided to go to the viewpoint nearby to watch the sunset over the lake as had been suggested by Bernardo in the afternoon. Before we started the walk, we went to a grocery store nearby and bought some cold aloe vera juices and drank them immediately as we were all feeling a bit dehydrated after the afternoon trek.    Leer más

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