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Posted on January 23, 2012 by jason
It was a quick and exhausting week. I was called back into the old lab for a proverbial ‘laying on of hands’ – I’m sort of known for it. Start with something that doesn’t quite work right and then make it sing. This might shed some light on the vintage VW thing.
But, my big travel week back to the U.S. started with a fizzle. My flight from Puerto Montt was delayed, which resulted in missing my connection and being stranded in Santiago for 24 hours. I even had to get my exit papers nullified (NULO!) and try again the next day. Once I entered the U.S., my flight to SFO was canceled, I was re-routed through Chicago, only to have that change. Fifty hours after leaving, I finally made it to San Francisco via JFK.
Even though I was in a bit of a daze, my first thoughts on coming back to the Bay Area after 2.5 years were that nothing had changed. Things looked about the same. When I walked into my old office building, it was pretty much as it was when I left. When I went to lunch at the bagel place down the street, the same people worked there and they even remembered my order. I met some friends for dinner and everyone seemed about the same. I may have discovered some sort of time warp.
Still, everything was very different from what I now call home. My morning sunrise over the lake and volcano was replaced with a view of a Honda dealership. A leisurely walk to dinner down the shore was replaced with piss-stained sidewalks and vagrants. One thing that continuously stood out was just how convenient life is in the U.S. – my nearest intersection had at least four fast food restaurants and two gas stations. I suppose convenience is often better than inconvenience.
Overall, it was a good trip. I had success at the office and, of course, I also managed to squeeze in some time to see some friends.
Still, nowadays, the best part of any solo trip is the end: coming back home.
Posted on January 10, 2012 by jason
Aside from the beaches, the most popular spot in Niebla seems to be the open-air food market. This is the Chilean version of a biergarten.
Beer, corny entertainment, beer, meat, beer… you get the idea.
Since we’ve been spending a lot of time in the bus, we sprang for a cabana and stretched out in this tiny little town. For some reason, $40USD seems to be the sweet spot for cabanas.
We went back to the food market and tried one of everything.
Pulmay, humitas, pastel de choclo, cazuelo, empenadas de mariscos, papas rellenas, sopaipillas, and of course, beer & doughnuts.
Posted on January 4, 2012 by jason
We had planned on skipping the hyped Termas Geometricas simply because of the cost. We had already done plenty of soaking in hot springs and it just seemed like a bit much. Besides, I’m cheap.
But, today we were handed a half-price coupon and we made a bee-line back to Coñaripe and up the mountain to Las Termas.
Somehow, we were charged even less than we were expecting with our discount card. We happily strode in and spent the entire afternoon soaking it in.
It turns out that it’s one of the best hot springs in the world. Photos can’t do the place justice. It’s spectacular.
Posted on January 3, 2012 by jason
We camped and soaked at the Termas de Coñaripe. It was fine, but overpriced and the hot springs aren’t all that great. At least they had llamas.
While there, I discovered an oil leak and was just a little disappointed when I saw it was coming from the push rod tubes. I’m not planning on dropping the engine again any time soon. I pulled off the pristine little cover plate to discover that all four push rod tubes were dented flat across the bottom and one of them had split with a tiny hole it. All four flattened? Behind a cover plate? Someone please explain this one to me.
I gently rotated the tube with the hole 90 degrees using vice-grips, cleaned it up with some carb-cleaner, globbed on some high-temp RTV, and called it good. I’m not even going to look at it for a week. Then, I noticed that 3 of the 4 new CV boots had come off. As far as I can tell, the clamps that are included with the new boots are completely worthless. I shoved the boots back on and strapped them in place with advanced zip-tie technology. Done.
We visited Coñaripe a bit farther down the road and stocked up on supplies. We thought we’d stay here a while, but a quick trip to the beach was all it took to change our minds. The beachfront is nice enough, but the giant black fly-like biting insects have a taste for the gringos here. They say they are only around for one month, but this is it.
It all worked out in the end. We drove the north side of Lago Calafquén until we lucked out and found an amazing place to camp at Centro Eco-Vacacional Camping Calafquén. REALLY nice. You might have to be members here, but they let us in anyway. It was pricy at 15,000 pesos, but we pulled into a beautiful spot in front of the lake and enjoyed every minute of it.
Posted on January 2, 2012 by jason
From San Martin, you can skirt the top of Lago Lacar on a good dirt road and end up at the little used border crossing at Paso Hua Hum. Funny, but the Andean passes are now down to 700 m.
When we arrived to check out of Argentina, we had to make some noise to get someone to come out of the aduana. Then, they had to start a generator so they could turn on the computers to check us out of the country. Not much traffic here.
The immigration guy on duty was working at our last border crossing at Paso Tromen where we told them we would only be visiting the country for a few minutes. He didn’t mention it, but he remembered us and asked where we’d been for the past few weeks. He seemed pleased we stayed.
Onward to Chile. Again, not much happening at this border. Everything was quick and efficient since we were the only people there. But, since the guys had nothing better to do, we got a very thorough inspection and they decided to confiscate lots of food items we thought were allowed.
We’ve learned to eat as much as we can before heading to the border – definitely all the fruits, vegetables, and meats. Honey is also disallowed, but Angela has been successfully smuggling our stash we collected on the palta farm. Apparently, cous cous is not allowed in this part of Chile either. Cous cous! I think we’ve been carrying it around since Peru, so no big loss.
Another 5 km to Lago Pirihueico and the road ends. Literally. The only way into Chile from here is aboard a ferry that runs once per day. It holds up to 24 vehicles and leaves at 4 pm. If you miss it, you will definitely get a peaceful night’s sleep.
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Also, it looks like I’m headed back to the U.S. in the new year. Soon – like Jan 12th-19th. I’m coming back to the California to work! The good news is that I’m working… the bad news is that… I’m working. Angela and Bode will stay in Chile and kick it lakeside while I’m away.
It’s a quick trip and I’m not sure how much free time I’ll have, but hope to meet up some folks when I’m back. Shoot me an email if you’re available.
Also, I saw this on a sign recently: un cigarrillo tarda 2 minutos de su vida, un whisky es de 4 minutos de su vida, un día de trabajo de unas 8 horas de tu vida!
Posted on January 1, 2012 by jason
The siete lagos trip was at the top of everyone’s list when it comes to visiting the Lakes District in Argentina. But, since last June, most of it has been covered in ash.
Volcan Puyehue erupted and spewed the fine gray powder everywhere. The volcano is in Chile, but thanks to the prevailing wind, Argentina got the worst of it. We decided to go see what we could see and turn around when things got bad.
Even though we didn’t even make it half way down the route, I think we may have actually visited more than 7 lakes. All them perfectly fine, but only a few worth visiting for more than a few minutes. Most of them don’t even have picnic sites, much less space to spread out and enjoy an afternoon on the lake.
We made it as far south as Lagos Faulkner and Villarino before we decided it was just ridiculous to continue on. There actually is (free!) camping on these lakes and we spotted one camper enduring it. A few die-hards were even going out fishing.
The roads were all open, and we were still 50 kms north of Angostura (the center and worst of it) but we just didn’t feel like dealing with it. Maybe on a day with less wind, things would be better.
We turned off the main road and drove around to the other side of Lago Melinquina to look for a place to camp that we hoped would be shielded from the wind and far enough out of the ash zone. No luck there, either.
By the time we made it back to San Martin, the winds had brought the ash all the way to town. Everyone was walking around wearing surgical masks. We stuck it out for the night and made plans to move on manana.
New plan: go back to Chile.
FYI – you can buy surgical masks at the local farmacia.
Posted on December 31, 2011 by jason
We ended up staying an extra day in Junin de los Andes because the main road south was blocked by protestors burning tires across a bridge. Always with the tire burning. There were a few police idly watching, so we knew things weren’t going to change very soon. I was a little surprised they would let these guys make a big fire in the middle of the highway, but everything’s a little different here.
We asked a few folks what the protest was about and they just shrugged and said ‘there’s always a protest’. Not very effective if no one knows what your protesting.
When we finally got out of town we headed to San Martin and turned up towards Lago Lolog. Two of our guidebooks said the camp site up here was free, but we arrived to find it was just more overpriced National Park camping. It looked nice, but I was a bit bummed because I was expecting a freebie. In general, the guide books are either lacking or inaccurate when it comes to camping. And, they just seem to copy each other. Time for the BodesWell guides? I think this is how Rick Steves got started.
We turned around and found plenty of boondocking options right on the lake, but we decided to keep looking.
We ended up at a campsite on Lago Lacar, just south of San Martin. It was packed for the weekend, but everyone left once it got dark and we had the windy shoreline to ourselves.
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Ever have trouble keeping track of what day it is? We do. Maybe you should check out the 2012 GoWesty Calendar. Red Beard is featured with a full-page spread. We don’t know which month, but we’re sure it’s a good one.
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