My journey

My Journey

It’s the last day of the year, so a very Happy New Year to all of you. It is also exactly 2 months since my journey in South America started – and it has been two fantastic months.

For those of you waiting for my blog updates, I am sorry for the delay. First, it does take time to write posts and preparing the photos, but the main problem is the Internet. I have access to wifi almost everywhere, but it does not mean I have a network connection. It is really unstable. One moment it works fine. The next I am disconnected. Without the internet, I can’t work on my blog, so to avoid having to do it over and over again, I gave up for a while.

I am currently in Bariloche, where I after nearly eight weeks going from one place to the next are taking a break for 3 weeks. I’m still in Patagonia, but now at in the north and it is very different from the south. When I arrived here, it also changed to summer in South America. Here the summer starts on the longest day of the year – Dec. 21st. and I can now also enjoy being back with higher temperatures.

I have not seen a lot of the area yet, as I have taken a much needed break from excursions. In the last several weeks, I have spent numerous days on tours and sightseeing, but it has been great. I have met so many sweet and lovely people and seen so much stunning scenery – and some different from what I have seen before. Trees, flowers, bushes, mountains, glaciers, waterfalls, lakes and volcanoes. So many birds and different animals like condor, guanacos, whales, penguins, orcas (killer whales), sea lions, seals, and my new favorite – Elephant seal. The favorite story will come in a blog later. I have seen a good deal more of flowers, birds and animals where I don’t remember the names but I need to see a Puma (Cougar or Mountain Lion). As it is nocturnal, and I am not really, I will probably have to do with a picture.

So far I have been all the places I planned and booked from home. In the future, I have nothing booked, so now a new kind of travel starts. A more spontaneous and with at a slower pace. The goal is the same – to continue to the north of both Argentina and Chile and probably finish in Bolivia. I still have no return ticket, so exactly where I finish will probably depend on my ticket home.

Min largest challenge has been to get cash – especially i Argentina. It is off course possible but it requires a little more than usually and it is very expensive.

Guanacos

My Accommodation

I have stayed in Hotels, a Resort, AirB&B, Hostels, Bed&Breakfast, a Ferry and right now, I live in a small studio apartment. It has been a fine blend, and as expected; the comfort is not huge in hostels. However, it is where you meet with other travelers. My AirB&B apartment in Buenos Aires was the absolute best surprise. The worst comfort was definitely the cabin on  the ferry (except though the two nights where I slept in an overnight bus) It was an old ferry from 1978 so really no real comfort. At the time, I think the cabins were build more for truckdrivers than tourists. On the other hand, just afterwards I was very pleasantly surprised by my room in Puerto Varas, as it was far better than expected and just what I needed after the cabin on the ferry.

My Transportation

I  have been traveling by plane, bus, ferry and catamaran boats. The last on my trip through the mountains and lakes from Chile to Bariloche. As mentioned above, I don’t think it is comfortable to sleep in a bus. but it’s ok for one night and I have not been on the last nightbus. Domestic flights in Argentina are expensive and are often going through Buenos Aires, so I prefer the bus, where I at least during daylight can see something – that is of course, unless it rains, as it did on my trip to Buenos Aires.

My Excursions

My trips have largely been in mini buses with a total 4 to 24 people, but I have also gone by local buses, metro, bike, trains, 4X4 and boats of various types. All trips have been good and with very knowledgeable guides. Sometimes the tours have been exceptionally good for different reasons. It may be what I have experienced, it can be the guide but it is often the people you are with, that makes it special

My journey has been almost like the first day. I have only had positive experiences and met so many really sweet and lovely people from all over the world. Sometimes it is just clicking from the beginning, and you really do not want to say goodbye to these people again, sometimes it goes a little slower.

Somewhat surprisingly, I have not met a single person from my own country. In Patagonia there were a lot of tourists from Germany, Spain, Switzerland, France and some from the United States. I have met a young couple that were almost done with a trip around the world – on BIKE 🚲. An elderly man from Poland, that had been around the world 14 times and visited all countries in the world. I also met a German/French couple that like me, had retired earlier this year and were now on a 9 month trip covering both South and North America.

There have been a lot of locals from Argentina on many tours and I have also met people from Mexico, Costa Rica, Uruguay, UK, Australia, Korea, Brazil and of course Chile.

I am convinced that there are many times where it has been a great advantage to be ME. The combination of having my age and being alone has certainly given me some benefits, that I probably would not have received 10 or 20 years ago. I receive them gratefully and are enjoying it.

Firebush (Notro/Ciruello)

The Language

Something that does not go so well, is the progress with my Spanish. There are simply too many who speaks English very well and also, I have not been able to find the time or energy to work on it. On the other hand, I am very happy with what I can. It has been extremely helpful that I do understand a little, and I have not given up. First; it is my plan to have more time on the reminder of the trip, and secondly; I think I will be more challenged. It has until now been very touristed places, I have visited, where virtually everything revolves around tourism. I don’t expect it will be like that going forward, so I have to put myself back to school.

In Argentine they don’t really want to learn and speak english, and understanding Spanish would have saved me a lot of money. I have had very good guides, but as they are not enough, we are often charged extra for the tours to get a translation. In Chile on the other hand, it is a must that they speak English, if they want to work with tourists, and they speak it well. It is also necessary, because when they talk to each other, it is impossible to understand. It does not even sound Spanish. They speak really fast and they never pronounce the the words in full, so I don’t think it is in Chile, I will learn the language. I’ve spoken with a couple of German young men who are working in Chile, and in the beginning it had been really hard for them, although they both did speak spanish before they arrived. They constantly had to ask people to repeat and to speak slowly.

As mentioned all my tour guides have been really good at English and a few times they have had to translate to English just for me as everyone else were spanish speaking. I have also experienced having a guide all to myself. It was a special experience that I will write more about in my post from Torres Del Pines.

Insects

There has not been anyone in the period I have traveled. I got a couple of bites in the bird park in Iguazu, but that’s all. The only place I’ve been where there could be problems with Malaria, Dengue fever, etc. was in Iguazu, but I guess the problem is later in the season. I have also read that Puerto Varas in Chile has one month (January), where they are sorely plagued by small but harmless insects, but while I was there, there were no problems.

The practical issues

It is necessary to plan – With as little clothes as I have with me, I always need to think ahead and get them washed, so there is time enough to dry before I need to pack again. It helps that with one exception, I have never had under 4 nights in the same place, but I’ve enjoyed the last few days, where I could empty my suitcase and be able to get everything washed properly again. That has not happened since Buenos Aires, where I had a washing machine.

Everything is packed in bags, so it’s easy to pack the suitcase, and I only take out what I need. So far it is going OK with what I have, and it is probably because nothing is selected randomly. There were many things, I consciously chose not to take with me, so I don’t miss them, but there has been a few times where I’ve had to be creative. The main reason for that, is that I did not really bring any warm clothes, but figured; I could combine a bit to handle the cold and chilly days. It has worked ok, although I have needed the warm clothes for more days than expected. It was especially a challenge on the ferry, probably not least because we were the same people for 5 consecutive days. It worked out of course and in the future, I don´t expect I will need the warm clothes very much. By the way I have a confession. I did not manage to pack everything in a small carry on suitcase. When I first got everything together – especially cables, chargers, adapters, sunscreen, etc. I had to give up and use a slightly larger suitcase and it has been just fine. It is not heavier than I can carry it. However when there is help to get, I accept with a nice thank you or gracias.

The weather

I have not had fantastic weather if you think og +25C sun and beach. You don’t have that very often in South Patagonia but I have not been unlucky with the weather. I think it has been very typical for the season, and in Patagonia the weather changes all the time. I’ve had a few days with all-day rain☔, but apart from Rio is has only been one day at a time, which has been fine. I was lucky that the rainy days were also forecasted correct so I could plan my sightseeing around these days (no – the forecasts are not always correct here either)

For the experience itself, it does not mean anything that it is windy and cloudy, as longs it does not rain I am OK. It is primarily to get good pictures that I prefer sunshine☀. I was prepared for the chilly weather but it has been surprising how windy it has been – a few times it has been more like a storm, especially in the South and in Chile, where the sea is close.

Chileans actually don’t understand how The Pacific Ocean got its name. If there is anything it is not, it is peaceful. Well it is not the only thing the Europeans got wrong when they discovered the world. A little disappointing but there were no fire in Tierra del Fuego. (Land of Fire🔥)

Perito Moreno

Summary

It has as mentioned been some amazing weeks and I promise, I will write about each place. The posts are actually written, it is the rest that is lacking. I have no regrets that I pushed the trip through Patagonia and saw a lot in a short time. There is not much to do at these places, once you’ve seen what you planned for and I do not think I forgot any places. It is also expensive to stay in Patagonia, so even if I could do it over, I would probably repeat my program. At each place, I had one or two extra days, so there has been time to reflect and do nothing, but I am very happy now to have a little break. Around Bariloche and going north there are much more to see, and more places to go and I have received a lot of input about places I should visit. It applies to both Argentina and Chile, so I am happy that I can be flexible and I still have a week to decide where my next stop should be.

Once again, Happy New Year to all og you.

Thanks for reading the blog. The missing posts will be uploaded the next few weeks if all goes well.