Fotky z Jizni Ameriky - Photos from Southern America
Thursday, 19 January, 2006, 10:34 AM - Southern America
Je to tady, jupi. Jak jsme slibovali, lec nemeli moc casu, vybrali jsme asi 500 fotek z Jizni Ameriky a soupli na nas web. Jsou rozdelene do ctyrech casti podle zemi, ktere jsme navstivili. Prejeme prijemne prohlizeni.
Fotky: Peru, Bolivie, Chile a Argentina
I know, it took some time, but it was quite hard to select a representative subset of photos from over 2.500 which we took there (I don't count photos of Jiri&Hana). Finally, we put them on our web so we wish you happy browsing - there are around 500 photos in total sorted into four folders according to countries we visited.
Photos: Peru, Bolivia, Chile and Argentina
Tierra del Fuego
Tuesday, 17 January, 2006, 03:30 PM - Southern America
Kdyz jsme v nedeli odpoledne meli cas pred odletem do Buenos Aires, rikal jsem si, ze se na psani deniku vyprdnu a napisu posledni kapitolu z Jizni Ameriky hnedle, co budem doma. Uplynul mesic a konecne se ke psani dostavam.
Do Torres del Paine jsme prileteli z El Calafate pres Rio Gallegos do Ushuaia. Byl to pro nas teplotni sok, protoze zde dole to vypadalo spis na nas zacatek zimy, teploty kolem peti stupnu, nez na prijemne leto v El Calafate.
Taxikar nas zavezl ke smluvenemu hostelu, kde nas privitala babka s pullitrama na ocich. To by nevadilo, ale podle vseho mela jeste spatnou pamet nebo spatne slysela a nechtela nam nechat mistnosti za domluvenou cenu. Nemit v sobe jedno pivo, asi by ji to prominul, ale alkohol mi dodal kuraz, tak po chvilce durazne spaneslke konverzace z baby vypadlo ubytovani za puvodni cenu.
Jak jsme takhle na jihu, tma tu je hodne pozde, jestli se nepletu nekdy kolem jedenacte hodiny, coz cloveku da spoustu casu na brouzdani po meste. Rano jsme vyrazili brzy, abychom si zajistili vylet na Magallenovy tucnaky. Jezdilo se sice uz od rana, ale more bylo rozbourene, tak nam doporucovali pockat do odpoledne. Proto jsme si dopoledne vyslapli do muzea o vyvoji kultury v tomto regionu od samych pocatku osidleni lidmi po minule stoleti. Docela zajimava expozice, nejvic me asi dostalo, ze zde zili lide, kteri chodili nazi.
Odpoledne jsme nasedli na fesny zanovni katamaran a vyrazili vstrict faune v Magallansovu kanalu. Nejdrive jsme se zastavili u kolonie lvounu a kormoranu, pekny pohled, ale touhle dobou uz vitr zacal docela foukat a nas katamaran houpat. Pote jsme vyrazili na tucnaky, dalsi hodina na kanalu po vetru smerem k Enstancii Haberton, prvni farme tady dole na jihu. Tu zalozil jeden Anglican na zacatku minuleho stoleti a romanticky ji pojmenoval po vesnici, z ktere pochazel.
Tucnaci byli uzasni, byli zvykli na turisty, tak se pred nama producirovali a honili a navzajem plasili svym pohybem. Asi po pul hodine pozorovani a foceni a rozmrzani vevnitr a foceni a dalsimu rozmrzani jsme vyrazili uz zpet to Ushuaya, ale tentokrate proti vetru, coz bylo znat na vlnach. Kapitan byl fakt frajet na vubec se s tim nemazal, vlna nevlna, nahoru a dolu. Slabsi jedinci zacli zelenat a nejslabsi i odbihat. Cisnice rozdala pytlika, ale i sama vypadala, ze by si nejmin jeden mela nechat, Romca a Hanka si o nej rekly samy, Jirka ho dostal se slovy, kdyz jeden zacne, ostatni se chyti a ja si to uzival u sloupu fascinovanej vlnama. Bylo neskutecny pozorovat jak najednou katamaran pro dveste lidi byl prtavej. Nicmene, zpatky jsme se vsichni vratili v poradku, jen nekteri byli casteji na zdravem vzduchu.
Dalsi den jsme si vyhradili na prozkoumani narodniho parku Torres del Paine, ktery nam tak trochu pripadal jako rip-off pro turisty, ale sam o sobe byl peknej. Chodili jsme po vyznacenych cestach a podle tabuli to tam vypadalo, ze ochranu prirody berou jeste vice vazne jak v Los Glaciares.
Posledni den dole na jihu jsme si nechali na nakupovani suvenyru, brouzdani po internetu, dopisovani deniku a navstev kavaren. Vecer jsme dojeli na letiste, kde jsme dle vseho vypadali podezrele, tak nam (resp. holkam) zkontrolovali batozinu a potom uz odfrceli do Buenos Aires.
To uz je pomalu konec naseho putovani po Jizni Americe, protoze nas pouze cekal prejezd na mezinarodni letiste a odlet do Evropy. Musim rict, ze vylet to byl paradni. Cloveku to da opravdu hodne. Hlavne v Peru a Bolivii jsme si uvedomili, ze to nase pachteni zblbli konzumnim zivotem je nicerny oproti tomu, jak lidi ziji tam. Cestovani po vlastni ose ma sve vyhody a nevyhody. Osobne bych ho doporucil kazdemu, protoze clovek se dostane blize k mistnim lidem a muze planovat podle chuti a nalady. Nebezpecne to vubec neni tak, jak Vam rikaji vsichni kamaradi.
It was a month since we are back in Europe and I have to admit I didn't think that it would take me such a long time to write the last chapter about our travelling through Southern America.
We came to Fierra del Fuego from El Calafate via Rio Gallegos to a town called Ushuaia. It's the southest town in Southern America if we don't count a small settlement on Chilean side of Magellan channel. It was a little bit drastic change of climate for us as it flet more like British winter than a nice summer we experienced in El Calafate.
We planned to visit a colony of penguins on the first day so we woke up quite early to secure a tour. As the sea was quite rough, we were recommended to wait till afternoon when the sea was supposed to get calmer. Since we had a morning free, we could visit a museum about people living on the island since very beginning till today. I was quite shocked that it was inhabited by people who didn't dress at all, just slippers for winter, knowing how cold it is now during their summer.
We returned to a harbour for our tour to penguins and boarded quite big and posh catamaran. The sea was quite calm probably thanks to a fact that we were still in a harbour ;-) We first stopped at a colony of sea lions and cormorans and then were heading towards Estancia Haberton which could sound a little bit familiar to you. It was established by English priest who originaly came from a small village of Haberton down in Essex (I think it's Essex).
Penguins were beautiful, full of life as it was their main breeding season. We repeatedly got out, took pictures and get in to de-freeze for about half en hour before we started heading back. It's quite strange that penguins live close to sea lions who are their predators, but we were told that the channel is so rich in food that sea lions don't bother to come.
Fun started on way back as we were heading against wind and our captains did seem to enjoy going full speed. Some people changed green, some went straight to a toilet and a waitress distributed sick bags. Within ten minutes, I bet, many people would give anything to be back at the harbour. Luckily, a distance from the harbour wasn't great so we got there in an hour.
We planned to do some trekking in a national park Tierra del Fuego on the next day. Weather deteriorated a little bit and the park itself look a little bit as a rip-off for tourists, but a scenery was quite nice. We even saw a demonstration of Argentinian sovereignty - a small missile launcher boat cruising a bay of Tierra del Fuego.
The last day, Sunday, was a relaxing day to catch up with e-mails and news, to spend some time in coffee shops and just doing nothing we flew to Buenos Aires.
I have to say that it was a great experience to travel in Southern America. Since we were travelling independently, we were quite close to local people which I hope helped to understand us how they live. From sightseeing/nature point of view, it's a continent with enormous number of places to visit. It's hard to say Good Bye, but hey, we'll come straight into skiing season.
Nacional Parque Los Glaciares
Sunday, 18 December, 2005, 06:43 PM - Southern America
Narodni park Los Glaciares se z turistickeho hlediska sklada ze dvou casti: jizni, ktera je hlavne o nadhrernem a masivnim ledovci Perito Moreno a serverni, ktera je o chozeni kolem masivu Fitz Roy a Cerros. Jako vychozi bod pro obe dve oblasti slouzi mestecko El Calafate na pobrezi nejvetsiho argentinskeho jezera - Lago Argentino. My jsme se rozhodli nejdrive jet na tri dny na trek kolem Fitz Roy masivu a pote na den na organizovanou turu kolem ledovce Perito Moreno.
Den 1. Vstavame celkem brzy kolem sedme hodiny a jdeme na autobus do El Chaltenu, peti hodin natrasani po prasnych cestach. V El Chaltenu jeste zarizujeme pres telefon ubytovani v Ushuaie, kde budeme za ctyri dny a pote jiz vyrazime na vlastni trek. Priroda i pocasi nam preje, louky jsou nadherne porostle u nas bychom rekli alpskou kvetenou, zde se ji rika patagonskou. Slunicko hreje, vetru nemuzem rikat jinak nez bezvetri po zkusenostech v Torres del Paine.
Asi po dvou hodinach dochazime na prvni vyhlidkovy bod na Fitz Roy, kde potkavame skupinky jednodennich batuzkaru. Bohuzel samotny vrsek hory je v mracich, ale i tak fotime jak o zivot. Po chvilce pokracujeme v ceste smerem na Lagunu Capri, pekny jezero s nadhernym pozadi Fitz Roye a od tud smerem do naseho prvniho kempu - Campamento Poincenot - pojmenovane po Francouzi, ktery zde nestastne utonul, kdyz prekracoval reku Fitz Roy. Cestou prochazime pres plan s mnoha malymy jezirky, ktere Romce pripominaji Ameriku a jsem z nich uplne vedle, proste parada. Do kempu dochazime kolem seste, stavime stan, varime a cucime na Fitz Roy (tohle nam vydrzi jeste cely pristi den).
Po veceri mame dostatek casu, tak vyrazime na lagunu Suica, ktera je primo pod Fitz Royem, kam dochazime tesne po zapadu slunce. Pocasi nam konecne dopralo plny pohled na horu, poprve bez vrcholu v mracich. Je to docela uchvatny pohled, ale neni to jenom Fitz Roy, ostatni hory jsou taky nadherne, zdalky jsou videt paradni lezecke linie treba na Poincenotu. Zpatky se vracime tesne pred tmou, kolem jedenacte vecer.
Musim se priznat, v Torres me pripadalo, ze nemame moc jidla, tak ho tentokrate Romca nakoupila o dost vic, hlavne buchty a kafe atd. Tak vecer jeste varime vodu a bufetime.
Den 2. Rano slysime vstavat lidi na vychod slunce pod Fitz Royem, je to hodina a pul chuze k dalsi lagune a uz jsme tak nejak utahani, tak vylezame az za hodinu se spacakama a karimatkama a pozorujeme vychod z pred stanu. Kemp ma uplne paradni lokaci, vidime cely masiv pred sebou jak se zbarvuje do cervena a pote postupne do zlata. Asi by bylo pekny byt nahore u laguny, ale i zespodu to vypada fantasticky ;-)
Jeste dospavame ve stanu a kolem jedenacte vyrazime na zminenou lagunu - Laguna de Los Tres (bohuzel nevime kterych). Tam jsme za hodinu a obdivujeme FItz Roy zblizka a lagunu zamrzlou pod nim. Po chvilce mi to neda a rikam Romce, ze napravo vede snehem a suti na vrchol Cerro Madsen, odkus jsou nadherne vyhledy. Jsou tam stopy ve snehu a Romce to taky neda, takze vyrazime po snehu nahoru. Po hodine prichazime na tak trochu exponovany hrebinek, ktery je dost strmy a rozpraskany, tak ho prohlasujeme nasim vrcholem. Vyhledy jsou opet paradni, pocasi preje, je plechovo, v hloubce pod nami laguna a nicim nezastineny pohled na okolni hory.
Do kempu se vracime kolem ctvrte, kde potkavame Jirku s Hankou, kteri si mezi nasim lezenim vyslapli k ledovci Piedras Blancas. Balime stany a jdeme pres tri laguny - Madre, Hija a Nieta do druheho udoli. Cesta a pocasi nemohly byt lepsi, jen Hanka to trochu s uzivanim slunicka presvihla a vecer je cervena jako prasat.. Asi po hodine a pul se nam otevira pohled do druheho udoli, kde na konci vidime Cerro Torre. Tak nevim, ktera hora je hezci, Torre je fantasticka ostra spicka, ktera dve sve mensi sestry.
V kempu jsme kolem sedme a opet stavime a varime. Jak jsem jiz psal, tenhle trek je vyziraci. K veceri mame Bolonske vrtule s mistnim parmesanem a shodujem se s Romcou, ze je to chutnejsi nez co nam nekdy prinesou v restikach. Ono to asi bude kucharem ;-) Protoze mame jeste trochu cas, vyrazime na konec moreny k lagune Torres, kde mame nicim neruseny pohled na Torres.
Den 3. Rano vstavam kolem pate a divam se ze stanu, jupi, je bez mraku, bude paradni vychod slunce. Oblikam se a mazu si to k lagune, v pulce cesty se podivam nad sebe a ejhle, je uplne zatazeno. Tu vysokou oblacnost jsem nejak jeste rozespaly nevidel. Nevadi, kdyz uz jsem oblecenej jako pumpa, tak alespon dochazim k lagune a fotim Torres. Prekvapive vypadaji docela dramaticky, jen vrsek nejvyssi je obalen mrakem.
Melo me to napadnout, ze to neni na foceni, kdyz jsem rano nevidel vstavat naseho znameho Kanadana, s kterym se potkavame uz od zacatku Torres del Paine. Ale na druhou stranu to bylo docela dobry.
Romca mi dneska dela prekvapeni, nechava me dospat a sama pripravuje snidani. Hrnce triskaji, houska se kraji, cibule voni a je to cockovka s opecenejma houskama. No neozenil jsem se ja dobre, uz jen, aby se Romca naucila varit pivo ;-)
Kolem desate vyrazime na vyhlidkovu Maestri, asi hodinu cesty na hranici ledovce. Cestou jdeme pres stare refugia k hrane, od ktere je paradni pohled na hranu ledovce. Pote se jiz vracime zpet do kempu, balime a vyrazime smer El Chalten. Asi dva kilometry pred koncem cesty Romcu naladuju na navstevu cukrarny, Romca pridava a po chvili zase zvolnuje, protoze preci jenom trosku prepalila. Do cukrarny dochazime a cpem se kolacema a poradnym kafem, to tady casto nebyva. Pote uz jen odjezd do El Calafate, kde jsme kolem desate, vyzvedavame si jizdenky a letenky dolu do Ushuaie a jdem utapany do hostelu.
Den 4. Tenhle den by se mel vlastne jmenovat Den 1, protoze jedem na samostatny vylet do jizni casti parku na Perito Moreno. Zde je jiz trochu znat, ze je blizko a hodne turisticky vyhledavany, trochu citime īZahlen Sie Bitteī na kazdem kroku, ale ledovec je fantasticky.
Ledovec sestupuje dolu do jezera Lago Argentino a ted je v takovem stavu, kdy prehradil jedno jeho rameno. Naposledy se to stalo v 1988 a pote loni po dlouhe dobe. V soucasne dobe je rozdil hladin 5 metru, pricemz v roce 2004 pri rozdilu 9 metru se hraz ledu protrhla za fantasticke buraceni.
Nejdrive chodime asi hodinu kolem jeho jizni hrany a pote prichazime do soustavy vyhlidek, kde travime dalsi dve hodiny a pote nas autobus odvazi k lodi, ktera jezdi v blizkosti severni hrany. Teprve z lodi je videt, jaka je to masa ledu, ledovec dosahuje v prumeru 50 az 60 metru nad vodou, dvojnasobek pod vodou, pokud neklouze o dno.
Vecer prijizdime utahani do El Calafate, kde hladove vyhlizime restiku. Teprve ted zjistujeme, ze zde frci Tenedor Libre, neboli snez, co muzes. Uplne super, griluji od hoveziho pres prase k jehneti, ktery je nejlepsi. Taky nas prekvapili jelitama, je tu dost znat vliv nemecke kuchyne, ktera je podobna te nasi. Nema cenu komentovat vysledek, cloveku to neda, tak jsme se sotva odvalili do hostelu.
Rano pohodove vstavame a mirime na autobus do Rio Gallegos a od tud letadlem do Ushuaie, nejjiznejsi mista naseho putovani.
This time a little bit unusually, we came to El Calafate around lunch time so we had enought time to look for an accommodation, tours, food, etc. We were sorted around 8 pm and I was lazy to go to a restaurant so we stayed at our hostel eating up food for our next trek.
Day 1. We wake up quite early to catch a bus to El Chalten which is a starting point of our trek around Fitz Roy. It's another four hours in a bus on dirty roads where first three hours are quite boring, but the last one definitely compensates it with magnificient views of many peaks in northern region of Los Glaciares nacional park. El Chalten is a small town which was created as an army base in order to populate the area. In these days, it serves as a tourist base mainly and is full of hotels and restaurants.
We started walking towards the end of the village where our trail properly began. If I compare this park with Torres del Paine in Chile, I have to say that it feels as if Argentinians took care more seriously. First, we got ten minutes talk about coserving nature and walking in the park, then we saw that all main roads are well signed and lastly campsites were clean and in nice positions, but back to our trek first.
After two hours, we reached the first look-out for Fitz Roy - the ending point of one day hikes from El Chalten. We could admire a greatness of the peak surrounded by its neighbours only the top of the mountain was hidden in a cloud. It seemed that the top was actually generating the cloud, but from where? We continued for another hour or so to a beautiful lagoon Capri with a background of Fitz Roy. Only a fool would take a bad photo in these surroundings. After a short break, we continued to our campsite - Campamento Poincenot where we got in two hours. This campsite was named after a French guy who accidentaly drowned in Rio Fitz Roy. The campsite is on a great spot overlooking Fitz and its smaller brothers. It was such a romantic place, cooking our evening meal while observing the mountain.
Since we had enought time after the meal, we took a path towards lagoon Suica which is directly below Fitz Roy or you could say that the mountains rises from waters of the lagoon. It was just before a sunset so we could observe how tops of the mountains were slowly changing colors from yellow to red and to grey.
Day 2. By this date, we are already a bit tired from travelling so we don't walk up for a sunrise, but get out of our tent and observe the sunrise infont of the tent instead. Morning is great, clear sky, everything in pink color. When its finished, we go back to our tent to sleep for another couple of hours.
We don't need to hurry today since we planned to walk to four hours only. First, we go up to lagoon Los Tres, which is the most popular place for observing Fitz Roy. It's 300 metres uphill so we swet a lot, but get there quite quickly in one and half hours. When we get there, we see footprints going sideway to a peak on the right side of the lagoon. It look quite manageable so I ask Romana if she wants to go up and am surprised as Romana is keen to go up. We walk for an hour in snow and rock where we get to a nice position well above the lagoon with a great view of Fitz Roy. It seems to be another twenty minutes to the top, but the rock is dangerously loose so we call it the summit. On way down, it's great fun to run down a snow slope with legs half-burried in bloody cold snow.
We get to the campsite around 4 pm, pack all stuff and get walking towards our next campsite below Los Torres - very photogenic sharp peaks in a shape of needles. Path goes around three lagoons called Madre, Hija and Nieta (Mother, Daughter and Grand-daughter) and we observe dissapearing Fitz Roy. It's really great day, full of sun, what probably did not realise Hana as she is red like a roasted piglet :-)
When we get to the campsite, we still have some time left after our standard routine so we walk to a lagoon to watch Las Torres. It's really great feeling as it's getting dark and everything is getting still and quiet.
Day 3. Excited by a nice weather so far, I wake up 5 am, get dressed and walk towards the lagoon to watch a sunrise. When I'm half way there, I look up to see that it's cloudy. Why I didn't spot it earier?!?!? Nevermind, I keep walking to find out that I'm not on my own. When I get back, Romana wants to make me a surprise and starts to cook a breakfast, what a treat.
As distances are not great here, we first walk to a viewpoint Maestri over a glaciar and then lazily pack our stuff. After a lunch, we start heading back to El Chalten. It's hard to say Good Bye to this part of the park as it's a really gorgeous spot on the planet. We get to El Chalten quite early so we spend some time in a coffee shop trying different cakes and mainly enjoying real coffee which is called in Latin America cafe cafe. We get back to El Calafate around 10 pm, just in time to get a shower and go to a bed.
Day 4. This time fresh and ready, we go on an organised tour to the glacier Perito Moreno. It's probably the only glaciar which is advanceing. We are lucky as this glaciar cuts a lagoon of Perito Moreno into two separates lakes time to time, what happend now, water raises in one lake and creates a pressure on the glaciar which escalates in a great blocks of ice falling into waters of the other lake.
We were petrified by simply observing the glaciar and waiting for big block to fall. After two hours of observing, we had enought and went for a cruise on a small boat to an edge of the glaciar. I have to say that the glaciar looks rather big, big it's hard to judge the height until you get close. Glaciar's face is actually 50 metres tall above water and another 100 metres below - it's enormous.
After this ride, we were tired so we happily boarded our bus and went back to El Calafate.
Adios Chile
Friday, 16 December, 2005, 02:33 PM - Southern America
Tak sotva jsme si zvykli, ze se tu vsechno plati v tisicich pesos, a naucili jsme se ty veliky cislovky, co na nas vzdycky vypalili, odjizdime.
Musim rict, ze vetsi kontrast nez mezi Bolivii a Chile jsem jeste nezazila. Bylo to tu jako v evrope, draho jako v Cechach, cisto jak v Rakousku (vetsinou) a nadherna priroda, neskutecne krasna. Nikdy nezapomenu na vychod slunce v Torres del Paine, laguny obrostle araucaliemi v Huerquehue, skoda ze jsme nemeli vic casu. A voda v narodnich parcich se tu da pit primo z jezer, ci potoku bez nejake dalsi upravy, bajecny pocit. Clovek tak nejak zpohodlni, kdyz se nemusi tolik bat, ze ho okradou, ze neni problem vsude platit kartou a sluzby turistum tu funguji.
Takze sbohem Chile, vyrazime do Argentiny. Z Puerta Natales peti hodinova cesta autobusem do El Calafate, odkud chceme vyrazit na Fitz Roy (Narodni Park Los Glaciares) a na ledovec Perito Moreno a potom dal na jih do Ushuai.
When we planned our trip to South Amerika we wanted to spend about five weeks in Chile, but we liked Peru and Bolivia so much that we ran short of time - a little bit and spend in Chile only 16 days, which is realy shame, because itīs a country of such a natural beauty. I can recommend it to everybody who likes treking, mountaineering or any other outdoor activity. Itīs the most developped country we so far visited in SA, I mean turist services, transport, european style shops, pubs, coffees and on top od that almost everybody speaks English. Itīs not an advertisment, itīs true :o)
So adios Chile we have to carry on to Argentina taking five hours bus from Puerto Natales to El Calafate. We plan to visit Glaciar Perito Moreno and National Park Los Glaciares - where we will be treking around Fitz Roy and Cerro Torre - I bet Lukas would not be able to resist looking for climbing routs. Finaly we will go south to Ushuaia to Tierra del Fuego.
Parque Nacional Torres del Paine
Thursday, 15 December, 2005, 02:16 PM - Southern America
Den 1. Vyrazime do parku Torres del Paine autobusem plnym dalsich natesenych turistu. Nemuzu se ubranit dojmu, ze si z toho tady delaji dobry byznys a drbou turisty jak muzou, nektere ceny se od predlonska zvedly na dvojnasobek, hlavne vstup do parku a plavba lodi - jenze co muzeme delat, voda je moc studena na to abychom to preplavali a usetrili petistovku :o) Velky okruh je zavreny, tak pujdeme klasicky trek co se jmenuje W, protoze uplne stejne vypada na mape.
Po tri a pul hodinove ceste busem v poledne nastupujeme na katamaran a plujeme pres Lago Pehoe k Hosterii Paine Grande, moc se nam nelibi ten obrovsky hotel do krajiny vubec nezapada. Moc se teda nezdrzujeme naha zujeme batohy na zada a vyrazime k Refugiu Grey, ktere lezi na brehu Lago Grey a kousek od ledovce Grey. Je to zvlastni jak tady v nadmorske vysce kolem 300 m jsou vsude kolem zasnezene vrsky a na loukach alpska kvetena a to jeste dneska mame dojit k ledovci, v alpach by to byly hory nejmin 4 tisicovky. Z lodi jsme pekne vymrzli, legracni je jak proti nam svrchu schazeji polosvleceni turiste a dokonce jedn v kratasech a zabkach, snad se taky zahrejeme, ale fouka dost ledovy vitr.
Mijime lagunu Los Patos (kaceny tam zadny nejsou) a prichazime k Lago Grey - sedomlecne jezero se spoustou ledovych ker - a z vrsku vidime i ledovec. Pak je to jeste pekny kus k Refugiu Grey, kde konecne zakempovavame a uz jen na lehko vyrazime k vyhlidce na ledovec. Meli jsme pekny vyhled ze skaly a dokonce prijela i vyhlidkova lod a krouzila u steny ledovce, to si clovek teprve uvedomi, jak jsou ty steny ledovce a i kry v jezere obrovske.
Den 2. Rozespali se strachame ze stanu, kdyz tu koukame, ze nekdo lozi v krovi za kempem. Si tak v duchu rikam, ze ty lidi jsou hrozny, zachody padesat metru a oni musi zaneradovat okoli. Jenze za chvili prisel Lukas a povida, ze to v krovi je Hanka a hleda botu, kterou ji v noci odtahla liska zlodejka - no vy byste mu to verili, ja mu na to teda neskocila, ale byla to pravda. Pak uz jsme se na to teda vrhli vsichni a hledali nejmin dve hodiny, prohledali pul lesa a nasli asi pet bot, kazdou jinou, jen tu Hancinu ne. Nakonec ji nahodou objevil Jirka na cesticce k jezeru, kdyz jsme uz skoro propadali trudomyslnosti. Tak jsme ten nas cely ulovek vzali a zanesli ho do refugia, koukali na nas jak opareni, tolik bot tu asi jeste nikdo nenasel. Jsme jasni sampioni ve sbirani pohorek a tenisek po lese.
Opozdene jsme se nasnidali, vsechno sbalili a vyrazili stejnou cestou zpet k refugiu Paine Grande odkud jsme si to namirili ke kempu Italiano, kam jsme dosli asi za 6 hodin i s prestavkama na jidlo a prechodem dvou mostu, jednim normalnim a jednim deeesne houpavym. Cestou jsme videli dva obrovske condory, o kterych jsme si mysleli, ze to jsou supi neb nad nami krouzili. K veceri byla kase s parkem.
Den 3. Vyrazime na prostredek W podel Vale de la Frances ke kempu Britanico, jdeme jenom nalehko s vodou a susenkami, takze cesta rychle ubiha i pres silny vitr, u nas bychom rekli vitr severak, tady to bude asi jizak. Poryvy vetru s nami smykaly ze strany na stranu (to je veta jak z diktatu, snad v ni nema pravopisnou hrubku). Na vyhlidkovem miste sice bylo videt zpet do udoli, ale nikam jinam, majestatne vrsky Cuernos se nam po chvili schovali v mracich a zacalo huste snezit, jupii vanoce.
Zpatky v kempu jsme to vsechno sbalili nahodili na zada a pohodovou cestou pres plaz dosli do refuia a kempu Los Cuernes. V kempu mezi stanama jsme videli lisku asi tak ze dvou metru, chvili na nas koukala a pak zmizela v lese. Vecer si urcite privazeme boty. Postavili jsme stan a sli se zahrat do refugia, kde jsme se prihlasili na veceri, jenze jsme museli 2 hodiny cekat, nez zacnou servirovat, to byla muka. Vecere byla docela dobra, ale chtelo by to vetsi porce, neb Luky prohlasil, ze by jeste neco maleho slupnul. V refugiu tekly teple sprchy, to bylo labuzo, zase se po dvou dnech poradne zkultivovat.
Den 4. S plnou polni pokracujeme dal smer hosteria Torres, ze se u laguny odklonime primo na refugio Chilleno. Mraky se tak divne honily, chvili bylo nadherne teplo, chvili fucelo, chvili mrholilo. Pry se tu klidne prostridaji ctyri rocni obdobi v jednom dni, tak tomu verim. Kdyz se cesta prehoupla pres hranu a my uvideli refugio, Luky mi slibil strudl, coz me samozrejme motivovalo, takze jsme tam dorazili v rekordnim case, ale ti mrzaci meli jenom susenky, tak jsme jen proficeli kolem, nas cil byl kemp Las Torres nahore v udoli.
Tam jsme dorazili kolem pate a utaborili se. Vedle nas za potuckem se rozlozila parta izraelcu. Ja proti nim nikdy nic nemela a vubec jsem nechapala, proc jsme se na nasich cestach setkavali s lidmi, kteri je nemaji radi. Ale ted si rikam, jestli na tom skutecne neco neni, tihle byli hrozne hlucni, a kdyz jeden vylezl ven ze stanu v gumovych rukavicich a zacal myt jarem nadobi v potucku, ze ktereho jsme vsichni brali pitnou vodu, to jsme teda nestacili zirat.
Jeste nebylo ani sedm hodin a my byli po jidle. Nechtelo se nam jit tak brzo spat, proto jsme se rozhodli, ze si vybehneme nahoru k Torres na vyhlidku (45min). Nejdriv se nam otevrela vyhlidka na zasnezene hory na konci udoli. Moc jsme nespechali a nesli po ceste, misto toho jsme boldrovali velke balvany a tak se dostali az na vrchol, ted k lagune. Torres byly chvili videt, ale pak zmizeli v mracich. Zato laguna pod nima byla jak z Kapitana Nema. Vypadalo to uplne neskutecne, ze se kazdou chvili otevrou skaly a z prurvy vyjede Nemova ponorka, hladina laguny byla mlecne zelena. Chvili jsme pod previsem cekali, jestli se vrsky Torres opet neobjevi, ale zacalo jen husteji snezit. Zhopskali jsme zpet do kempu, sbastili posledni kousky cokolady a sli konecne spat.
Den 5. Budicek v 4:15, nejdriv jsem nevedela, co se deje, proc Luky leze ven a proc kolem sajnuji celovky. Pak mi to doslo, vsichni lezeme nahoru na vyhlidku k Torres na vychod slunce. Teda bylo tezky se k tomu premluvit a opustit vyhraty spacak, ale stalo to za to. Pomalu jsme stoupali na vyhlidku (teda ja superpomalu) a smerem dolu v udoli byly videt ranni cervanky olemovane zarivou zlatou barvou od prvnich slunecnich paprsku a tmave hory ramujici jezero tmave fialove barvy. Horni cast udoli odkryvala zasnezene hory lehce naruzovele barvy. Veze Torres se majestatne tycily nad tim vsim a mely nepopsatelne nadhernou barvu, dokonce je zacalo pomalu od vrsku osvetlovat slunce a zbarvovat je do zlatoruzova.
Tesila jsem se az vykoukne slunicko a vsechny nas rozehreje, ale to se bohuzel nestalo, protoze prisly mraky a bylo po zazraku. Luky jeste udelala par fotek a sesli jsme dolu do kempu na horkou polivku a zalezli si jeste chvili do spacaku, abychom rozmrzli. Na zpatecni ceste jsme potkavali stale ty same lidi, co uz jsme predtim videli na refugiich, dokonce jsme potkali jednu kanadanku, co s nami byla v hostelu v Puerto Montt a na Chiloe a jela dolu lodi. K zastavce autobusu jsme sli kolem hosterie Torres, opravdu impozantni dilo, jak tohle mohli povolit postavit, tomu nerozumim. Autobus odjizdel ve tri odpoledne a v Puertu Natales jsme byli kolem 5. Nasli jsme lepsi (teplejsi) hostel a zasli na bajecnou veceri, na co jineho u more nez na rybu. Rano odjizdime do Argentiny a pujdeme se podivat na Fitz Roy.
Torres del Paine was our next stop travelling south in Chile. We flew from Puerto Montt to Punta Arenas (a district town) and took a bus to Puerto Natales which is a starting point for Torres. It was a shock for us as it was snowing down there. When we asked people if it's normal, we got an answer: īNo way, snowing in December?!?!?ī which was quite funny for us living on northern hemisphere. When we got to Puerto Natales, we bought all supplies needed for five days of trekking and a bus for getting there (even though it's the starting point, it's another three hours by a bus to the park).
Day 1. We woke up just before 7 am after a bloody cold night (it was 8 degrees of Celsius in our room), have a quick breakfast and are waiting for the bus which comes full of excited trekkers. After two hours of travelling, we can already see towers of the park, the main atraction and everybody on the bus gets excited and cameras are flashing. After another hour and half, we are finally out of the bus, in the centre of the park, in a place called Pudeto waiting for a catamaran to cross lake Pehoe where our trek starts - Hosteria Paine Grande. As the weather is fine, we get fantastic views of Cuernos del Paine, beautiful towers in the centre of the park, from the catamaran.
Our day should be quite short today as we have to trek for four hours only to get to a campsite close to a glaciar Grey. Having all food on our backs, it goes slower than we expected, but views are magnificient. What makes this park really great are not just towers, but also lakes and meadows full of alpine (patagonian) flowers. After two hours, we get a first sight of the glaciar which goes down a valley like a snake, after another two hours, we are at the campsite pitching our tents. Since we are quite south, it gets dark usually 10.30 pm or later so we go to explore the glaciar, it's really huge. Completely knackered, we get back, cook and go to sleeping bags.
Day 2. Hello from Ushuaia, our last stop before we fly home. We have a spare time so I will continue. Our plan for the second day is to return back to Hosteria Paine Grande and continue to Campamento Italiano. Returning back isn't much easier as we have to climb up to a saddle first and descend afterwards. Wind is picking up in our direction so we are happy that we didn't start one day later, but the view are magnificient. We can see the whole Lago Grey which has a gorgeous greenish color that contrast with blue and white pieces of the glaciar floating down the lake.
We get confortably back to the hosteria in three and half hours and continue almost immediately to the Campamento Italiano. As we are walking around Paine Grande mountain (the highest mountain of the park - around 3400 m), Cuernos del Paine appeear. These mountains have very fotogenic shapes and a rock has two different colors - bottoms and tops are dark red while the middle is white. It took us another three hours to get to the campsite which is situated on a river bank in a small grove. As we are tired, we cook and fall asleep soon after.
Day 3. After a breakfast, we leave everything in our tent and go to explore Valle del Frances heading up to Campamiento Britanico. I wonder what French think about a valley named after them where is a British camp ;-) We reach the camp within hour and continue to a viewpoint above it. Weather is not great from the beginning, but it allows us to see Cuernos from a close range at least. As we are descending down, it starts snowing and it finally feels like Christmas.
Back in our campsite, we pack everything and are heading towards our next campsite - Los Cuernos campsite and refugio. If I understand well, a path which we go was created by park wardens and we can see that they took time to plan it. First, we go over series of viepoints and then descend down to a beach on Lago Nordenskjold - ideal place for taking pictures. The campsite is quite strange as there are not good places to pitch tents. It's always a slope behind a bush or on roots below trees, but the refugio is quite nice and we can use hot showers and their warm bar area. After three hours, it's quite hard to go back to our tents.
Day 4. This should be our longest and the most difficult day where we will go from the lake to Campamento Los Torres high up in Valle Ascencio close to Torres del Paine. The first two hour are pleasant as the weather improves too. I forgot to mention that two previous days were very windy and cold with a little of sun. As we are ascending up towards the valley, meadows around us are just beatiful, full of flowers, we can see Condors flying above us and Ibis birds time to time. It's easy to understand why this place is so popular.
After another hour of walking, we enter the valley and can see immediately the whole valley with snow peaks at its end. I look forward the next refugio in hope to have a good coffee and cake. Well, they don't do the cakes neither good coffee unless you are a Nescafe fan. Never mind, we continue for another hour to our next camp - Campamento Las Torres which is situated bellow Torres in a nice sheltered grove.
Since we arrived quite early, we have a plenty of time to cook and even go up to the Torres where we get just before they hide in clouds, but it's such a great view since they rise directly from a lagoon below them.
Day 5. This night was easily the coldest night of our whole journey, but even though, it was hard to wake up 4.30 am to see a sunrise at the Torres. Luckily, steep ascent warmed us up ;-) What a great experience. It was partly cloudy so everything was very colorful from shades of blue to shades of red. When the sun hit the Torres, the light had such and intensity that we could easily observe an edge of the sunrise moving downwards. After half an hour, it was gone and we frozen like .... so descended down and had a nap for another hour of so.
As this was our last day in the park, we started descending down the valley to Hosteria Las Torres and finished our trek by 2 pm at an administration office where a bus shuttled us back to Puerto Natales.
I have to say that Torres del Paine is a really great place, not only for its dintinctive tower, but for its meadows and wildlife too. I have to confess that I probably liked a little bit more Fitz Roy area, but it could have been because it was warm and sunny all time. One more thing, Torres is very touristy and therefore be prepared to be stripped off your money and quite a lot, like 50 pound per head for transport, fees and campsite only, not food or anything else. I know it's not much in Britain, but down here, it's quite a lot.
Puerto Montt & Chiloe
Monday, 5 December, 2005, 01:46 AM - Southern America
Ve ctvrtek v noci jsme dorazili do Puerto Montt, nastesti jsme meli zamluveny hostel a jeli taxikem, ale stejne jsme se necitili dobre, kdyz taxikar zastavil v dost strasidelne ctvrti s baraky jak z hororu, nastesti ze vnitrku to vypadalo o moc ultulneji.
Druhy den jsme courali po Puerto Montt a zarizovali potrebne veci, treba vylet na Chiloe, transport do Punta Arenas. Lukas, co chvili odbihal na toaletu, neb ho konecne postihl cestovatelsky prujem, za pulden uz mel obsancovany vsechny zachody v centru. Do Punta Arenas jsme nakonec sehnali docela rozumnou letenku, protoze autobusem se tam jede 36 hodin, jen tak nezavazne jsme se zeptali na spojeni z Ushuai do Buenos Aires a odpoved nas teda dostala. My si mysleli jak je to v pohode a oni meli uz jen poslednich 7 mist na vecerni let 18 prosince (19. letime z BA domu) tak jsme to po chvili rozhodovani radsi koupili. Takze sorry Buenos Aires, misto poznavani mesta stravime noc a dopoledne na letisti.
Luky se rozhodl vratit do hostelu a my se sli projit podel more na rybi trh, teda vonelo to tam bajecne, byly tam restaurace primo vedle a vsichni nas lakali, skoda ze jsme byli najedeni. Ale byla toho spousta na koukani i tak, kramek se susenym ovocem - jsme si mysleli - a ony to byly vnitrky musli navlecene na snurce a jima oveseny kramek. Cerstve ryby, ze by je clovek neunesl, musle jak chlapska ruka.
Luky se mezi tim prohrabal moji igelitkou s praskama a vybral si neco na prujem, coz zabralo, takze sedel na internetu a liboval si, jen byl hrozne zklamany, ze musi drzet dietu.
Druhy den (sobota 3/12) vyrazime na Chiloe, po dlouhe dobe se nam pruvodce zamlouva, mluvi dobre anglicky a k veci, jen kdyz jsme se ho zeptali na Pinocheta tak mlzil, ale to se da pochopit. Chiloe je po Tierra del Fuego (Ohnova Zeme) druhy nejvetsi ostrov Jizni Ameriky, zije na nem 160 tis. obyvatel a jsou dost odlisni od zbytku Cile, neb byli dlouho v izolaci, kvuli vecne rozbourenemu mori. Jo a jsou to vyhlaseni namornici, desni drici, zoceleni drsnym pocasim.
Pry uz se uvazuje o stavbe mostu, ktery spoji pevninu s ostrovem, ale my se tam samozrejme dostali trajektem, ze ktereho bylo co pozorovat - delfiny, lachtany, tucnaky - vsechno se to prohanelo ve vlnach. Nejdriv jsme zajeli do mestecka Caulin, kde na plazi sbirali rasy, ktere se pak v obrovskych pytlich vyvazi do Japonska, nebot obsahuji nejakou cennou chemikalii (pry se pridava i do piva). Teda muzu rici, ze jejich pracovni tempo bylo strhujici, vetsina byla oprena o vidle a lopaty, bavili se a smali a dva chlapi jen tak mezi reci hazeli ty rasy na vuz tazeny volem.
Dal jsme pokracovali do mesta Acud, ktere bylo hlavni zastavka pro lode na doplneni potravin a vody po obepluti Mysu Horn, s otevrenim Panamskeho Pruplavu ztratilo na vyznamu. Tam nam pruvodce vysvetlil jak vypadaji typicke domky, ktere jsou pobite drevenymi taskami, ze odolneho dreva, ktere vydrzi 100 let odolavat drsnym povetrnostnim vlivum a pak se pry otoci z druhe strany a vydrzi dalsi stoleti.
V hlavnim meste Castru, jsme zasli na obed. Vetsina z nas si dala Curanto, mistni specialita, varene musle, kureci, veprove a klobasa s vybornym sosem. Teda me to prisla dost divna kombinace a bylo mi po tom trochu divne. Nas pruvodce nam vypravel o Cilanech, jak nesportuji, jedi maso a desne soli, ze si zadelavaji na infarkt a pak si objednal hovezi steak s hranolkama a desne si to osolil. Po obede jsme prohlizeli mistni architekturu, domky a kostely. Nejvic se mi libili rybarske domky na kulech, hned u zalivu, ruzne barevne - pry parkuji lod primo pod domem a lezou zebrikem rovnou domu.
Cestou zpet desne lilo a my vsichni vytuhli, v hostalu bylo teplicko a pani domaci ho cely vyzdobila vanocne, dokonce i stromek se objevil v hale - ze by vanoce.
We arrived to Puerto Monnt on Thursday night directly from Pucon. As it was late in night, we took a taxi and when we got to our accommodation, we were a little bit afraid from a neibourghood. Our house lady was a nice teacher of Spanish fluent in English and the house felt good.
Friday, we reserved for organising our transport to Puerto Natales, a tour to Chiloe island and just relaxing after a trek in Huequewey. I don't know if it was a sausage I ate or something else, but I got finally dierheia to its full extent. Well, if anybody wants to know where are toilets in Puerto Montt, I can tell you.
First, we bought airplane tickets to Punta Arenas from where we travel to Puerto Natales and then looked for a touron Chiloe. We also looked for flights from Ushuaia to Buenos Aires to discover that almost everything is sold, but secured 4 seats for Sunday night, just half day before we fly to Europe. Well, we'll visit Buenos Aires another time.
This was all I did on Friday as I didn't have more power to run from a toilet to toilet and went back to our hostel. Romana, Hana and Jiri went to a fish market and wondered around till late night.
Saturday was reserved for the tour to the Chiloe island. It was quite nice, just the weather was poor so we stuck mainly to our bus. Chiloe is the second biggest island in Southern America, the first is Tierra del Fuego and was always separated from the mainland. It means that people are different too, live mainly from sea and don't really mix with people from mainland.
Since we were on a traditional turistic tour, we saw main town Castro with its church, had a typical lunch (quite good, Romana said as I sticked to a chicken soup) and walked around beaches and ports too. We came back completely tired.
Sunday was very relaxing since we had a long breakfast with our house lady where she talked a lot about Chile and went to an airport straight afterwards.
Parque Nacional de Huerquehue
Sunday, 4 December, 2005, 02:07 AM - Southern America
Ze Santiaga jsme prijeli nocnim autobusem do Puconu v jezerni oblasti nebo tez nekdy oblasti nazyvane Araucanie podle stromu, co zde rostou. Nas plan bylo nakoupit zasoby jidla, plynovou bombu a vyrazit do narodniho parku Huerquehue, ktery je znamy jednak spoustou malych jezer a pote Araucaniema, ktere kolem techto jezer rostou. Araucanie jsou tuze pekny stromy, ktery Anglicani nazyvaji 'hadanka pro opice', protoze maji zvlastne pichlave listy, s kteryma si udajne opice neporadi.
Den 1. Po prijezdu zjistujeme, ze autobus do parku odjizdi za pul hodinu a dalsi az zitra. Ma spanelstina nebo zenstina selhala, tak trochu plasim a shanim plynovou bombu, marne. Jirka zatim jde znovu na nadrazi a dle vseho spanelstina funguje nebo vymenili zenskou, jeste jede dalsi autobus v jednu hodinu. Odchazime do mesta a nakupujem jidlo a po dvou hodinach hledani i bombu a jen tak lelkujem. Pucon je tuze pekny mestecko na kraji jezera Villarica s doutnajicim vulkanem Villarica v pozadi. Kvuli nemu zde maji u informaci semafor, zelena - dobry, zluta - budte na pozoru, cervena - utikejte, co sily staci. Mestecko je architekonicky blizko nemeckym Alpam a taky lahudkama v obchodaku, proste super, maji tady uplne stejnou uzeninu, co u nas.
V jednu hodinu skutecne odjizdime a kolem druhe jsme v parku. Po zaregistrovani a instuktazi u mapy vyrazime podel prvniho jezera k zacatku stezky. Po chvilce nas berou kamaradi Izraelci na korbu jeepu k Romcine radosti, ze prej to bude tuze bozi zazitek, ale uz po par metrech menime vsichni nazor jak skaceme nahoru a dolu jako joja. Trochu vytresani vylezame a zaciname stoupat smerem k altiplatu a k jezerum. Priroda vsude kolem je uplne paradni, ale dost nam pripomina Evropu. Asi po hodine a pul prichazime k prvnimu kuk bodu, kde vidime jezero pod nami a vulkan Villaricu v mracich, po dalsi hodine jsme na zacatku altiplata, jupi a valime bulvy na jezero Chico, uplne paradni jak ostatne dalsi dve jezera na ceste - Toro a Verde. Od jezer vyrazime pres sedlo do kempu Renahue, ale cesta se dramaticky meni v opici drahu, protoze ji letos jeste neprorezavali. Jeste, ze vsude jsou araucanie, ktery kompenzujou nasi unavu. Po hodine prolezani vychazime na paseku a vidime kemp dole pod sebou, bratru 250 vyskovych metru. Po dalsi hodine plazeni a prelezani jsme v kempu totalne mrtvy. Nikdo nema problemy s usinanim, spise druhy den se stavanim.
Den 2. Rano si davame opravdu na cas a vyrazime kolem jedenacte smer sedlo Las Mellizas a laguna Pehuen. Je videt, ze tady cesta taky ceka na motorovou pilu, ale je to super, mame vice energie, tak si pripadame jak v serialech o extremnim prezivani v prirode, jen nam chybi maceta :-) Po brodeni a prelezani se za dve hodiny dostavame na paradni planinu a obdivujem zasnezene hory kolem nas, holt je tu jeste jaro. Po dalsim prodirani se dostavame k lagune Pehuen, bomba, v jeji hladine se zrcadli blizka zasnezene hora. Po prodirani zpet prudce sestupujeme do udoli pod nama, kde se vydavame opacnym smerem k naseme predeslemu taboristi (dneska to je takove kolecko) a po chvilce nachazime stopy lidi z kempu, s kterymi jsme rano mluvili. Cesta je trochu hur znacena, tak jejich stopy v hline prijdou vhod, se snad ze me stane stopar. Musime opet prekonat sedlo (Paso Renahue), ale tentokrate je cesta mnohem pohodlnejsi a kolem sedme dochazime do naseho predesleho taboriste.
Dnesni den byl opravdu zalesackej, ale zitra budem muset zpet do prdaku nad nama a jeste ke vsemu chceme vychazet brzy, abychom stihli autobus z parku.
Den 3. Budicek v sedm hodin, vsechno je oroseny, venku kosa, ale nad nama slunicko. Vcera nam dosla bomba. Nejdrive jsme meli v Puconu radost, jak levne jsme ji koupili, ale podle vseho uz byla pouzita, tak louskame housky se syrem a zapijime to ledovou vodou. A pote uz kolem osme hodiny stoupame do prdaku na nama, kde nas po chvili rozehriva slunicko. Jsou nadherne vyhledy hor kolem nas. Uz se zelenaji, ale kuloary jsou jeste zasypane snehem, tam by se extremni lyzari vyradili nebyt to v parku. Kolem jezer prochazime jeste sami, protoze prvni turisti si to teprve tlaci nahoru.
Dneska mame trochu vice casu nez prvni den, tak se fotime jezera ze vsech stran a posleze se i zastavujem na vodopadech, kde potkavame prvni turisty. Tak nevim, koukaj na nas, jaky kdybychom spadli z Marsu a my mame hrejivy pocit, ze jsme v parku byli na par dni a ne jako batuzkari rano tam, zbastit svacinu, vyfotit a odpoledne zpatky.
Taky si vsimam, ze nase tempo nejak pridava na gradech. To je tim, ze vsichni se snazime byt dole alespon hodinu pred odjezdem, at jeste stihnem zajit do horske chalupy a taky ze jo. Jidlo famozni a hlavne kolac, no ten je uplne super. Cela oblast je hodne ovlivnena nemeckymi pristehovalci, tak tu babca pece uplne stejne kolace, co bychom koupili na horskych chatach v Alpach.
S plnymy zaludky sprintujem na autobus z parku do Puconu, kde kupujeme primy autobus do Puero Montt, nasi pristi zastavky a poprve zkousime domluvit ubytovani a turu pres telefon. Ubytovani funguje na poctvrte, s turou mame smulu.
Our overnight bus was supposed to arrive to Pucon around 6 am, but we came just before 8. To be honest we did not mind as sleeping on the bench at the bus station is not very comfortable. After a little confusion we finaly bought our bus tickets to the Huerquehue National Park for 1pm and went to the centre to buy supplies. It looked more like Canadian town than Chilean. All houses were in style of cottages made from wood - even supermarket, everywhere it was very clean, a lake and Vilarica volcano with snowcap nearby and whatīs more outdoor shops on every corner. We had a little problem to buy gas cartridge, but thanks to Hanaīs briliant german we persuaded one guy in a ski-rental shop to sell us one.
The bus to the national park was really funny, because they stopped every 100 meters to drop off lokals. Finaly we arrived to the administration building, payed for entrance and for camping and our trek started.
Santiago & Valparaiso
Saturday, 3 December, 2005, 12:30 AM - Southern America
Kdyz jsme v San Pedru nastupovali do autobusu, byli jsme jak Alenka v risi divu. A to jsme koupili ten levnejsi autobus - pohodlne siroke sedacky se spoustou mista na nohy a operkama na nohy, u stropu visela sluchatka, uz jsme jen cekali, kdy nam udelaji nazorne skoleni o plovacich vestach pod sedadlem jako v letadle. Dokonce jsme dostali jidlo a vecer deky na prikriti. Trochu jsme vystrizliveli, kdyz jsme zjistili, ze sluchatka nefunguji a jedna sedacka je trochu mokra.
Po temer 24 hodinach nas autobus vypliv v 7 vecer na autobusaku v Santiagu, nemusim zduraznovat, ze jsme byli takovi lehce dezorientovani a utahani. Vydali jsme se hledat hostal, po prochazce hlavni tridou a namestim jsme nakonec zakotvili v barevnem hostalu Indiana. Ten hostal mel charakter, barvama a vselijakyma cetkama jen hyril a pani domaci byla taky sverazna. Treba na zachode byli vsechny decky prudce kvetovane a obsite krajkou.
V pokoji byla desna tma takze jsme spali jak berusky do pul devate a po snidani na barevnem dvorecku jsme se vydali k palaci Cousino, ktery postavila (1870-78) jedna z nejbohatsich rodin v Chile z nejlepsich veci dovezenych z evropy. Napriklad rucne malovane kachle z italie, brokatove tapety z francie atd. Mile nas prekvapil obrovsky kristalovy lustr z Cech a take brousene sklenice. Jeste jsme chvili pokoukali v zahrade a vyrazili k ke kostelu Todos Sacrimientos, ktery mel byt odezvou na parizsky Sacre Coer a opravdu ho z dalky pripominal. Jenze kdyz jsme prisli bliz pripominal spis valecny bunkr, on byl postaveny z betonu. Teda predni strana byla z piskovce, ale v takovem zvlastnim stavu polorozkladu. Vevnitr to vsak bylo uplne opacne, bily piskovec hladce opracovany, krasny jednoduchy a vzdusny kostel.
Pak jsme zamirili na namesti po nadherne tride s vodotrysky, vsude to vypadalo jako v jakemkoliv evropskem meste - mozna trochu cistsi. Kolem palace Moneda a ministerstva zahranici na namesti, kde jsme si dali odporny parek v rohliku (parek,nasekana rajcata,avokado a majolka - absolutne bez chuti, Luky si dal parek v rohliku s kyselim zelim, rajcatama a majolkou - kombinace opravdu pro odvazne zaludky). Museli jsme si spravit chut, tak jsme vyrazili na zmrzku a lizali ji pod obrovskym vanocnim stromkem na namesti - dost zvlastni pocit.
Dalsi bylo Muzeo de Arte Prekolumbiano - muzeum umeni z predkolumbijske doby. Stravili jsme tam spoustu casu, ale stejne to neni mozne vsechno zvladnout a vstrebat na jeden zatah, je tam spousta zajimavych a nadhernych veci, ale pak uz clovek proste prestane vnimat. Me teda sokovala mala soska chlapa, co kadil, ja teda nechapu, proc to musi nekdo modelovat, nebyla tam k tomu zadna vysvetlivka, ale asi ze to je ze zivota. Posledni v planu byla vyhlidka na Santiago z kopce Cerro Christobal, z vrchu od obrovske bile sochy panenky Marie, byli videt i zasnezene vrcholky hor obklopujicich mesto.
Druhy den rano jsme se rozloucili v barevnem hotylku, nechali si batohy na nadrazi a vyrazili busem do primorskeho Valparaisa. Tam jsme dorazili kolem poledne s Condor busem, Luky mel hlad, tak jsme objevili super cukrarnu/restauraci. Nebylo to tam super levny, ale meli byste videt ty dobroty, nase zaludky vyprahle po dvou mesicich ryzove diety v Peru a Bolivii zacali zoufale krucet. Vsak jsme se tam taky stavili cestou zpatky na kafe a zakusek.
Sli jsme okruzni trasu Valparaisem podle pruvodce, nejdriv starym drevenym vrzavym vytahem na kopec, tam nas to protahlo vsema ulickama a pruchodama a vyhlidkama na pristava a ocean. Pak jsme prosli namesti a stavili se v pristavu, podivali se na kostel, co mel mit podle pruvodce podlahu na sikmo, ale nam se zdala rovna. Valparaiso byl driv vyznamny pristav pro lode co obepluly mys Horn tu doplnovaly zasoby, jenze pak postavili Panamsky pruplav a byl konec. Ted je to takove barevne vyletni misto pro obyvatele hlavniho mesta a take tu sidli tusim parlament, asi aby byli na cerstvem vzduchu. Jezdi tu zelene svycarske tramvaje z padesatych let.
We arrived to Santiago by a luxurios bus completely brain-washed by the latest movies which we saw on the bus. At a bus terminal, I was lucky again and was caught by a guy who recommends anything and everything and got loads of leaflets with accommodation, tours and maps. There seemed to be a great, cheap hostel in the centre so we went there. It was true, it was nice, it was a sort of a penthouse on the main square except, it was full. Luckily, a receptionist was so kind and called to a few other hostels and got us a bed in a hippie hostal six blocks away where we got completely knackered around eight pm.
Next day was Sunday so everything was peace and quiet. We started our city tour at a Cousino family house, which was one of the wealthiest families in Chile during the last century. The family built its residence close to the centre with innovations which were not very known to Santiago before such as a steam lift, electricity, a pipe with a parfume, European marble and paintings and much more. I have to say, the house was very nicely decorated. Afterwards, we visited a church of Todos Sacrimientos which was vaguely designed on a basis of Paris' Sacre Coeur. From outside, it had a similar shape, but when we came closer, we discovered that all walls except the front one were made of rough concrete - very strange. Inside, however was the church excellent.
After lunch spent in a Chilean fastfood eating local super ultra turbo huge hotdog, ve visited a museum of an arte precolumbiano with loads of ceramic exhibits all over Central and Southern America. Since it was beautiful day, we went to a one of many hills in Santiago called San Cristobal from where were we watching the whole Santiago with Andes in background.
For Monday, we planned a visit to Valparaiso, once one of the most important ports in Southern America and a little bit chaotic town too. There are not many sights to see except hills which are chaotically covered by building and lifts. This chaos is actually very cute and make it's very pleasant to walk through narrow passages, passing colorful houses and exploring and using steep lifts. If I remember well, the hills with lifts are recognised by UNESCO as a heritage place and I understand why.
When we came back to Santiago, we had time to check e-mails and have a quick meal before we boarded the most luxurious bus so far to Pucon, our next destination.
San Pedro de Atacama
Saturday, 3 December, 2005, 12:05 AM - Southern America
Presne jeden mesic pred Vanocema jsme prijeli do San Pedra, nasi prvni zastavky v Chile. Byl to sok jak kulturni, tak i financni. Ze ceny byly v tisicich, na to si clovek zvykne, ale hlavne oproti Bolivii bylo vsechno ukrutne drahy skoro jako v Evrope. Na druhou stranu chilska mena vam umoznuje vybrat dveste tisic z bankomatu a klidne milion u prepazky :-)
Nejdrive jsme sehnali hostel a pote si koupili turu do Valle de la Luna neboli Mesicniho udoli. Tura zacinala ve ctyri odpoledne tak, abychom mohli pozorovat zapad slunce v udoli. Prvni zastavka byla na vyhlidce na Andy, z kterych jsme rano sjeli dolu a druha v Udoli mrtvych (Valle de Muerto). Ono tohle udoli se melo jmenovat Udoli Marsu, ktery svym povrchem pripomina, ale jeden spanelskej mnich to trochu pomotal a zkomolil na Muerto. Udoli bylo paradne zvrascene s obrovskou pisecnou dunou. Po chvilce smajdani nas nas ridic-pruvodce odvezl do hlavni atrakce vecera, Udoli Mesice, ktere svou nehostinnosti a reliefem prave pripomina Mesic.
Toto udoli je jedna z hlavnich atrakci oblasti a stoji rozhodne za videni, jen je skoda, ze vsechny agentury tam vali klienty ve stejny cas. Prvni zastavka byla na Trech Mariich, ktere jsou docela peknej kamennej utvar a po trose patrani opravdu z kamene postupne vystoupi tri zensky. Dalsi zastavka byla Amfiteatr, ktery je obrovska, tak dveste metru dlouha a sedmdesat vysoka obloukova zed. A posledni zastavkou je samozrejme obrovska duna, odkud lidi pozoruji zapad slunce.
Teda my si to alespon mysleli, ale po pul hodine sedeni a cekani nam poryvy vetru tak dokonale vpracovaly pisek vsude, ze jsme to uz meli chut vzdat, ale clovek si rika, bud tvrdej, tak jsme tam jeste chvilku sedeli, az nas vysvobodili tri Chilanky. Ty holciny sly a hrcly si hnedle vedle nas, skoro se nas dotykaly a zacaly tam desne rvat. Jsem si rikal, jinej kraj, jinej mrav, tak jsme se zvedly, ale ony zacly panikarit a ukazalo se proc tak rvou - ta duna pro ne byla tak vysoka, ze trpely zavratema, tak to me dostalo, ale coz, dovedli jsme je zdarne na cestu a konecne meli klid na pozorovani slunce.
Jeste nez jsme vyrazili na turu, odchytl nas borec v hostelu, jestli pry nechceme s nima grilovat, ze at mu jen dame penize a vsechno zaridi. No, trochu jsme meli skepsi, ale stejne bychom nespali, kdyz grilovali vedle naseho pokoje, ale klobouk dolu. Trochu jim dalo praci to rozjet, ale potom opravdu vseho, co kdo chtel. Nejvic me dostalo, jak delali maso. Kurata hazeli na gril po ctvrkach, ale pak vytahli dva solidni dvoukilove bloky hoveziho a houpli je tam take. Asi to nedelali poprve, bylo super - medium well done ;-)
Rano jsme si pujcili horska kola a vyrazili poznavat preincke a incke pamatky v nedalekem udoli. Uplne super, nekolikrat jsme museli brodit s kolama reku a kola sama o sobe byla v dobrem stavu, tak se mi hnedle zastesklo po Orlickych horach. Nejdrive jsme se na dve hodiny zastavili v Pucara de Quitor, pre-incke pevnosti mistnich Atacamenu, pote hodinu jezdili uzkym udolim (Dabelske udoli) a navecer se zastavili u Inckych ruin Catarpe na konci udoli. Pote jsme meli uz jen silu dojet zpatky, vratit kola a doskobrtat k autobusu do Santiaga, nasi pristi zastavce.
We came there 24 Nov and couldnīt stop wondering why all the prices are in thousands, why it is so clean and why it is so much different from Bolivia and so expensive :o)
We spend our afternoon by arranging our transport to Santiago, finding laundry service etc. At 4 oīclock we set out for a trip to Valle de la Luna for a sunset. First we visited Valle de la Muerte (deat valey) which was originaly called Mars Valey (Marte) because of resemblance with Mars landscape, but they couldnīt pronounce it correctly so its death valey and it{s realy spectacular - different formations from red soil made by wind and rain. I was just wondering when I see capitan Picard from Star Trek walking there.
Valle de la Luna (Moon Valey) reminds landscape of the moon - to be honest I am not sure about that as I havenīt seen any crater or a flag of USA (I am sure itīs on the Moon as I have seen it on TV). However I liked formation called Amphitheatre and Three Marias. We were waiting for the sunset on a big sand dune, but it was windy and soon we had sand everywhere even in our pockets. We changed our mind and moved on a big rock. More and more people were coming as sun was going down.
There was a party in our hostal when we came back even though it was quite chilly. Music, beer and barbecue helped us to forget about cold.
Next day there was a museum on the plan and bike trip around San Pedro. We spend more than hour in archeological museum, which exhibits excavations from all sites around San Pedro and Salar and describes different cultures from that area. After that we decided for an action and hired mountain bikes to explore Pucara de Quitor (pre inca fortress), Devils Gorge (valey of various formations, which probably hasnīt got an end - we didnīt find it) and Catarpe (Inca site on the hill). In between we had lots of fun especialy when crossing deep rivers etc. Despite of very hot weathere and hard saddle we enjoyed our trip.
Back in San Pedro we had a shower, dinner and took an overnight bus to Santiago de Chile (24 hours).
Adios Bolivia
Friday, 2 December, 2005, 10:14 PM - Southern America
Jak jsme psali v predeslem clanku, treti den cesty jsme posnidali u termalnich pramenu, Quintin nas nalifroval do jeepu a uz jsme si to uhaneli k hranicim s Chile. Tam na nas uz cekal Quintinuv protejsek, ktery okamzite zacal lifrovat nase batohy do dodavky a uz jsme jeli.
Odborne se tomu asi rika kulturni sok, ale bylo to silny. Na chilske strane po par kilometrech zacinali asfaltka, o ktere by se zdalo na Hradecku mnoha silnicarum, paradni hladka, vsude normalni evropska auta. V San Pedru samoska s nasima salamama a syrama, vsechno tak podivne fungovalo a to ted nemluvim o autobusu, kterym jsme jeli do Santiaga, vsechny nizkonakladove letecke spolecnosti by se stydely.
Na druhou stranu Chile ztratilo takovy ten pocit kompletne neznameho a jineho, ktery jsme meli v Peru a hlavne v Bolivii.
Our journey through Bolivia was going slowly to its end as we were having breakfast in a hot thermal pool close to a Chilean border. Quintin was a little bit in a rush so we were around 9.30 am at the border where was waiting his counterpart from an Chilean agency who gave us a lift to San Pedro de Atacama.
It's really strange feeling probably called a cultural shock. Firstly, we hit a perfect smoot road within a few miles. Secondly, many things in San Pedro were very similar to what we were used in Europe (food, services, coffee!!!) and also prices. Also buses here are many times superior to budget airline companies Europe.
On the other hand, we don't have a feeling of a completely unknown what we used to have in Peru and Bolivia. It's different.
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