Mendoza

After a morning bus ride through the Andes from Valparaiso I arrived in Mendoza, Argentina. Mendoza is a beautiful tree lined city that is famous for its wine and parrilla. Mendoza is dry and hot but irrigation from the surrounding mountains keeps the city leafy and green.






We went on a popular biking wine tour that leaves you jubilant, inebriated, and exhausted.




For about 20 pesos ($5 USD) you get a flight of wines a brief tour of the facilities, plus a seat in the shade atop a gorgeous vineyeard.

Valparaiso

After a quick bus ride from Santiago we arrived in Valparaiso. Valparaiso is a gorgeous city built above a harbor and features whimsical winding streets lined with multi colored homes. Pablo Neruda had a home in Valparaiso which we visited. Its worth a visit and is filled with a unique collection of art and furniture collected by Neruda during his travels.




Ascendors were built to help citizens climb the steep cliffs from the city center back to their homes in the hills. They are sprinkled throughout and are still operational.


Getting lost in a random alley above the city.


We took a day trip from Valparaiso to Vina Del Mar. Vina Del Mar is a crappy tourist town filled with casinos and condominiums. Don´t bother going. We continued on up the coast past Vina to the town of Con-Con were we enjoyed a meal with friends from the hostel.

Pucon

After leaving Chiloe and passing through Puerto Varas we decided to spend some time in Pucon, Chile. Pucon sits between two National Parks and is at the foot of the Villarica Volcano. Villarica is a snow capped volcano where tourists can climb and look in the caldera. We were pretty excited to climb the volcano until we learned that due to the earthquake the Volcano would be closed.

The town of Pucon.

So instead we went to the Cani reserve. Cani is a privately owned nature reserve that was purchased by environmentalists in Pucon to preserve an area of land that was going to be logged. At Cani we got a chance to climb to an elevation high enough to view three surrounding volcanoes and see the "Monkey Puzzle Tree".



Monkey Puzzle Trees at Cani.

Due to geothermal activity created by the volcano, Pucon has a number of thermal pools. We visited one, Therma Pozones, at night and had a great time. But on the van ride back Alexi´s digital camera was stolen by a family sitting behind us.

We also had our first encounter with bed bugs in Pucon. The hostel where we were staying was great, it seemed cleaned and the owners were really friendly and helpful. However, they failed to tell us that the room we were staying in had bed bugs. It became apparent that they knew about the bed bugs because after a few days, unprompted by us, they had the exterminator visit our room.


We stayed in Pucon much longer than anticipated due to uncertainty about how to proceed through areas in Chile that had been affected by the earthquake. So we ended up wandering around town a lot. In Pucon there were an alarming number of stray dogs, and number of which took a liking to us. We took them to the beach and played fetch, etc. We ended up accumulating a roving pack of dogs that would follow us everywhere and patiently wait outside whatever store or restaurant we were at. It was pretty strange walking down the sidewalk with 6 dogs following our every move.

Chiloe

After finishing up a fantastic few days in Bariloche we headed off across the Chilean border and to the coast. Our destination was Chiloe, a quaint island off the coast of Chile that feels far less modern and far more enchanting than the mainland. Chiloe only has a few large towns and is mostly covered by farmlands and parks on the interior and small fishing villages lining the coast.

After taking a bus and ferry to reach the island we headed to meet up with my friend Daniel from college was staying nearby with his siblings and we wanted to go to the national park together to do some hiking. Our plans were interupted however when an enormous earthquake hit central Chile around 4:30am. We were over 600km from the epicenter but the quake was strong enough to wake me up. The next day I forgot about the earthquake and it took a few hours for me to realize that the reason why the power was out was due to the quake. Chiloe was unaffected by the earthquake besides the power outage however much of central Chile suffered major damage.

Ducks being sold at a Ferria


The day after the eaerthquake, despite fears of a tsunami we went to the pacific coast to enjoy the beach.

Bariloche

A few hours north of El Bolson is Bariloche, a heavily touristed city touting superb hiking, fishing, lakes, and chocolate. In Bariloche I biked the circuito chico and hiked to Cerro Otto for a great view of Lago Nahuel Huapi. Bariloche has plenty of adventure and hiking and is worth a visit if you have the time and can stand the hoards of tourists during high season. It really is beautiful no matter the season.


The Cerro Campanario overlook was said to be one of the seven greatest views in the world by National Geographic Magazine. The photo above was taken at the overlook.


This is the view from our hostel balcony overlooking Bariloche and the lake.

In Bariloche we went fly fishing on the Rio Limay with Gia and Jon. We had great weather and fun guides. The trip was expensive but included two boats, all the proper equipment, and two guides.


Alexi with one of his prize catches.


Showing off the technique.


We were served lunch on a river bank including a few whole chickens, salami, cheese, wine, and beer.


I only caught a very small Rainbow Trout but had an amazing time. A few months later around March and April anglers fly down from all over the world to fish in the Rio Limay and surrounding lakes. I think I could easily get hooked on fly fishing in the future.


The fly fishing crew (Alexi, Gia, Eduardo, Sebastian, Jon, Carlito)