There are some fairly steep roads in Patagonia, especially on the Carretera Austral. Some are bumpy, too, but probably not as much as these road signs suggested. I guess exaggeration can make things clear… Click the photo to see more!
Yes, we were ready to leave Chile. 3 months after we had bought our bikes in Santiago, we were ready to leave the country in which we had spent more or less half of the time of our South America trip. We tried to squeeze a couple of things in before leaving. It felt that we had not seen everything we should have. Well, the more time we spent talking to people the more places…
In one of the far ends of the Elqui valley, we ran into a little handicraft market. With all the weight of the backpacks on our shoulders, we were so sure that we wouldn’t buy anything at all. And so we browsed the many arty stalls, resisted finely crafted souvenirs, pottery, jewellery, woven dreamcatchers… and then we saw him. Nicely set up on the side of one of the stalls, in between Sponge Bob, Mario…
On the way north from Santiago we stopped by in the Elqui valley, an arid, almost desert-like, mountainous region, flown through by little but substantially nourishing streams. It’s famous for a couple of things: The enormous wineries that produce Pisco exclusively, a liquor used for Chile’s national drink, the “Pisco Sour”. The contrast of the arid mountains and the green valleys is beautiful and fascinating. The clear skies, ideal for astronomy and star gazing. It’s a…
While I’m a little stiff when it comes to meeting new people, especially the ones above my generation, Dorit is very upfront and warm-hearted with the older ones. And so we got to know Cecilia and Pablo on the campsite in Rio Puelo just before the New Year. We exchanged avocados, chocolate, bread and biscuits and shared a nice New Year’s meal together along with the other Pablo from Santiago (our trout hero) and everybody…