We have just broken the number-of-hours-spent-in-a-bus record : 29h ! 1 day and a quarter to go through half the Chile, from Arica (where we joined the Lauca park) in the north down to Santiago, in the center of Chile. 29 hours, enough time to do a lot of things : 4 hiking stages, 19 football matches or a complete "24h chrono" season including a few hours to eat something and to have a drink. And what about us, inside the bus ? A few passengers get in a semi-hibernation et we haven't seen them doing something else but sleeping, other ones are faithful to the TV programs broadcasted in the hanging screen until late in the night. To me : 3 food trays, sleeping for 10 hours, "the treasure island" by RL Stevenson, 5 Assimil lessons of Spanish, 1 customs control, 2 "pee" breaks, some pocket PC games, some music, a few hysterics with Ben... Finally, it wasn't so long. And now ? Tomorrow, we're leaving for Punta Arenas in Patagonia but by plane this time. In two days we'll have crossed the Chile and more than 4000km from north to south.
Chile-Argentina 2006
Friday 4 August 2006
From Arica (north) to Santiago (center of Chile) : a 29h bus trip
By dorian on Friday 4 August 2006, 10:36
Tuesday 1 August 2006
trekking around Putre
By dorian on Tuesday 1 August 2006, 10:36
We enjoy the day walking around Putre. A day trekking in the middle of the cactus and the low-vegetationed mounts. Some vegetables and fruits we bought at the local grocery take part of our lunch.
I make use of this entry to say a few words about my duo with Benoit we are. I believe we are in harmony since the beginning of the trip and it's a great pleasure to share it with him. I was looking forward to starting this journey and now, here we are, in Chile. We double up a lot, we burst into laughter, the genuine laugh, the one which hurts the ribs. But, out of the context, these jokes or wordgames are meaningless. Travelling good-homoured helps us to live "locked" in a bus for hours and hours or to endure the cold. When we can associate other people to these gales of laughter, we never hesitate ! People we'll probably never meet again but who we are really happy to share a small part of our live with. Those short times get our trip different from another one. These anecdotes we like to tell when we are back and which we'll think of with a dash of nostalgia.
Monday 31 July 2006
"retininan burn" in the Lauca park
By dorian on Monday 31 July 2006, 10:36
An 11h bus trip to leave San Pedro to arrive at Arica, last big city before the Peruvian border. 8 o'clock in the morning, we get off and we look for a public transportation to go to Putre and it took us about one hour to find it, sent from a counter to another one, from the international terminal to the local one, we get the sesame in the bus which drives to La Paz in Bolivia, it will drop us off at the Putre bifurcation, 5km away from the village. The problems are not finished : instead of the 3h ride, it will take 7, the bus had a leak of oil and we had to stop several times. At 5 PM, it drops us off at the expected place. One hour later, we arrive at Putre, a picturesque, laid-back village where the tourists are not numerous despite the proximity of the Lauca park. We drop our backpacks in the first hostal we find and we go out to book a journey to the park for the next day.
We leave the village at 8 o'clock sitting in a minivan to go to the Lauca park. After a few kilometers, the local titan is named Parinacota, a 6342m volcano, precisely. A perfect half snow white, half volcanic black cone and its faithful lieutenant the Pomerape volcano.
The park protects a few endemic species of wild birds, the bofedal, swampy alluvial grasslands and an essential ecosystem for a variety of animals as well : vicuñas, lamas, big-eared mice, viscachas - a wild rabbit-like animal, and an incalculable number of birds. The first stop allows us to walk alongside the bofedal in order to meet its inhabitants.
Later, the retinian burn is called Chungara lake. The records fans declare it highest lake in the world, 4500m high. As in my previous message, a couple of pictures is better than a long speech.
About the feelings, smiles "screwed" in the face, we walk back and forth searching for the ultimate picture ; the one we must share while we go home or on the Internet. But sorry, you'll have to come here to figure out how the scenery is beautiful, these pictures are only an invitation to travel.
In the afternoon, a short trek lead us from the Cotacotani lagoon to the Parinacota village through these atypic landscapes.
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