Good Morning,
I have just completed four nights on the ferry Evangelista as part of the elite who were in AAA class which meant a cabin of your own with en suite and our own dining room well away from the rest of the humble people, but with the disadvantage of it only having three tables so the inevitable boring person was hard to avoid. This person was from a country near to ours and he knows pretty much everything there is to know, but he peaked too soon by overindulging on the dining room wine and then compounding that with more than a few whiskeys in the bar on the second night. When we got to the rough seas he didn’t make it to the last two meals which was much appreciated by our table.
I boarded the boat which is about 120m long and has about 80 passengers, at Puerto Natales, the scene of my last correspondence, and had my moment of fame when at about 9.30pm I presented myself to the office along with my printout ticket and was greeted with “Ah, Mister John, we have been very worried you were lost”. I had made strenuous efforts at the travel agents who handle the bookings for the boat to find out what the timetable for boarding was, and walked away with the information that one went to the office at 9, or after and things would be dealt with. So I had a leisurely meal (gluten free and organic) and a yarn with someone just off the boat and then set out to find it. Apparently I was supposed to have been at the office at 7 and as a result I had to almost carry my own luggage aboard but apart from that I don’t think any real harm was done. The guy who made me feel famous put the wrong room on my boarding ticket and because of that it was suggested I should be in with a couple of guys next door who I think may be very good friends. Both parties to this suggestion were not impressed.
Prior to becoming a cruiser I had 3 nights in the Torres del Paine, or Payne, national park which is a place of astounding mountains, beautiful turquoise lakes when the sun is shining and hundreds of keen trekkers all with the right gear and large backpacks. Also bus loads of oldish Germans and Americans who still have the right gear but no backpacks. I wasn’t quite properly equipped, lacking the right sort of pack and all the things to hang off it and I didn’t have the trekking pants. But I did have my old tracksuit pants so I thought from a distance I would be ok. My first day out on a day walk I discovered these pants had suffered from thread fatigue and the crotch was well ventilated. Whenever I went past someone I sort of shuffled and back to my room I had fun using the dinky little sewing kit which was the first one I had on the trip. The old bale stitch worked as well as ever. The place I stayed at was on a little island in Lake Pehoe and had fantastic views of the major sights of the park. Like all accommodation and services in this park the hotel was vastly overpriced but it was either that or a tent, and camping in a cold and windy place held no allure. On the walks I did, most of the time, there was nobody else in sight and when the sun was shining it was exhilarating because of the scenery. When the sun ran away and the wind got colder and stronger it got a little sinister. Some years ago 42 Chilean army people died in an unseasonal snow storm while trekking. One day I went to another lake, Lago Grey, it is very grey, and did a boat trip up the lake to the glacier that feeds the lake. Luckily it was a bit different from the last glacier and the boat ride was much more tempestuous which livened things up a bit. We left at 8am and at 9.30 the crew started handing out pisco sours. These are the local cocktail and can be very fierce. I heard one elderly American lady telling her friend that she thought they weren’t very strong and she needed two. I agreed and followed. The group result was an initial increase in noise and frivolity, followed by a lot of sleeping on the way back.
On my last morning I went for a short walk to a spot named Mirador Condor on the map. I thought it would be somewhere by a lake where you might see a condor or two. After about 40 minutes of constant and steep uphill stuff I had one of many stops to look at the view, and suddenly understood what the name really meant. That was: a view that a condor might have. I ended up on a rocky outcrop way above the where I started, leaned into the wind and took a few photos, and started back down the path on the other side. It was not only steeper than the one I came up on, but also made of loose crumbly stuff which made one imagine ones feet shooting out, a moment of horizontal rest, and then smacking onto the rocks. So I went very slowly with little steps and no one saw me I hope. When I got back to the hotel the staff were all outside looking at something and told me to get my camera out. There was a fox having a kip on a path and it was not happy when woken. Apparently it likes the rubbish tins. It was quite big and very handsome and I did get a photo before it was sent away. I then had a couple of hours to pass before catching the next bus but that was easily spent “watching” the end of the second cricket test, Aust v SA, on Cricinfo’s live written commentary.
When in Puerto Natales before going to the park I had a very modern moment. I turned on my computer to check emails before wandering out to find a restaurant for my evening meal. There was an email from the wife of Kay’s cousin who lives in Colorado. Kay had sent her a copy of my last email and she in turn had given it to a women she knows who had been to Patagonia. This person said to cousin’s wife to tell me about a restaurant in Puerto Natales called Afrigonia which she said was very good. I thought it sounded as good an idea as any, so went there and had a lovely meal right up to the best standards we would expect and about the same price as home, which is a bit expensive by local standards. That wouldn’t have happened 37 years ago, and not only because of the nonexistence of email.
On the ferry there was not a lot to do. There was a sort of lounge bar and an upper deck you can walk around. Apart from those and eating that was it. Food was all right, there was plenty of it and in our select dining room we got as much wine as we wanted. Luckily at my table there was a person who drank faster than me so I never had to be the one to ask for the second glass. Of the three tables one was occupied by French, the second was a joint Aust/Dutch operation all of whom had definite opinions about the food, and the third was Swiss and NZ. The two guys who seemed best of friends were not told about the special dining room and slummed with everyone else until the last breakfast when they turned up and caused great discomfort by sitting at the French table. Of the Swiss couple one was very petite and correct and her partner was a bit rough and ready (the fast wine drinker) and had very similar attitudes to me. She was a good sort. The weather was a mixture of wet and ok, but that didn’t matter as long as I could get my twenty laps of the deck done. We did some more glacier stuff which I found out about when lots of banging on the hull woke me up – there were a great many little icebergs in our way. We had about twelve hours of open water, all the rest in passages. The ocean bit was uncomfortable and resulted in a 40% reduction of attendance at the meal that evening. I ate about half of my meal, didn’t chance any wine and spent a lot of time looking at the horizon. Unsurprisingly it was very windy for the whole trip and equally unsurprisingly we didn’t see any of the promised whales. But there were thousands of islands and continuous birds around us. All in all it was one of things that is interesting and good to have done but I wouldn’t rush to repeat it.
We arrived at Puerto Montt early this morning and had breakfast before getting off and I am now in Puerto Varas which is a nice little place of about 25,000 and it was only a half hour bus ride to get here. For the rest of the trip I now have everything booked but the unknown is what Aerolineas Argentinas will actually do as against what is on the tickets of the three flights ahead of me. I know the airport for the next one is closed but they haven’t been in touch to tell me that. I suspect a ninety minute flight is going to turn into a five hour bus trip and two flights that will take up the rest of the day. It’s all part of the joys – the Dutch couple in our dining room just discovered last night that their bus trip today that was supposed to be five hours will either take fifteen hours or be cancelled. And just to show how travel things can go from all fine to nonsense and back again here is what happened this morning:
I leave the boat at 8am and head down the road to where the bus terminal is supposed to be.
It is there – sometimes towns take pity on taxi drivers and put a new terminal miles from the centre.
A minibus to Puerto Varas is available and ready to go as I walk in so I am off, feeling very smug with the progress
As we enter Puerto V. I follow the streets on my Lonely Planet map and hop out at the dead right place. More smugness.
I walk up hill, including some steep steps, for the hotel I booked a couple of days ago. But it is not there. I recheck the map. It starts raining. I go in to a flash hotel and tell them I am lost and they kindly find out where the place I want is. It’s 4 ks away and very definitely not where the map says. Complete undoing of smug feeling and the perception that perhaps I should have got a more up to date book.
I start to walk to the new address along the waterfront, using my dinky umbrella, and about ten minutes later stop and have a discussion with myself as to why the hell am I going 4 ks away from where I want to be. And we agree it’s a dumb idea so I go into a very smart hotel nearby and ask the price of a room, have a small bargain, and now I am paying a little more than the original place, and sitting looking at the sea while I do this. OK again.
Stay tuned in for the next and last episode and all will be revealed about AeroA.
Dennis.
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