El Condor FINALLY pasa

We leave behind Torres del Paine by bus.
As we reach the border with Argentina at Cerro Castillo we stop over for few minutes.
Just to rub it in we are actually met by 35 BMW travelling in the area and enjoying themselves!

With the exception of the 10 kms between the 2 borders the whole road to Calafate is all asphalt.
Even though the distance as the bird flies between TDP and El Calafate is only 100Kms, it takes us over 8 hrs to get there.

Our first excursion is at the Estancia Cristina.
In 1914 a brave British family settled in the northwest part of the Lago Argentino, near the Upsala Glacier.
Due to the extreme weather conditions and lack of any sort of infostructure their daughter (Cristina) died of pneumonia few years later.
Over the years this excursion has been organised via boat.
However in 2008 the glacier Upsala broke down and a huge amount of icebergs covered part of the lake making it impossible to navigate.

Instead it is still possible to cover the distance by foot with a 2.5 hrs boat trip + 6 hrs hike.

As there are no trails in the area it is quite essential to have a guide to show you where to go.

The place is 100% nature with wild horses and pumas wandering around.

As we are looking around the beautiful sceneries nothing can prepare us for what is about to happen next.
Few condors appear at the horizon and one makes a dive just above our heads.

To hear the sound (like a glider) this huge bird makes while its flying is an amazing experience.
The Condor leaves as quickly as it comes, also because it can fly at a speed of 100kms p/h.

 The strong emotions however are not over yet.
As we reach the mirador a spectacular view of the glacier Upsala welcomes us.

To top up a wonderful day, for dinner we rewarded ourselves with a speciality of the area: patagonic lamb.

If this was only an appetizer we wonder what we are going to see tomorrow at the Perito Moreno glacier......

Torres del Paine

In the following 4 days we paid visit to our friend Lucas at the Tyndall hotel many times.

Unlike the people working at the Rio Serrano who were rather cold and unhelpfull, Lucas gave us plenty of ideas on how to spend our days at the National park.
Amongs other things he cut us a deal with Don Segundo to take us where we wanted when we wanted.
This was quite essential as there is no public transports in the park and without bike we had to rely on the fenomenally expensive rates of the Rio Serrano drivers (£120 for a 40 min drive!!!!!)
Lucas also organised the bus to El Calafate, told us the best trekking routes and pointed us in the right direction to hire fishing equipment.
If you are reading this, Thank you Lucas!

On day 1 we were blessed with blue sky, bright sun and no wind, a very unusual condition in the park.
Don Segundo took us to the Catamaran at lake Pehoe.
As there was no wind we were able to take this picture with a mirror effect!

For people with no budget limit and who love nature we would probably recommend  to stay at the hotel Pehoe.

This is the setting that you get:

Elena is obviously thinking "next time we come at Torres del Paine we are going to stay here......"

The journey on the catamaran is only 30 minutes long and it takes you to the other side of the lake where the trecking to the french valley begins.

In the 25 kms hike in the French Valley between the 2 mountains you never lose sight of the horns (on the left) and the snowy peaks on the right.

This is only the central part of the much longer circuit called "THE W".

The W is 92 kms long and very simply is the walk that takes you on the left of the horns, in the middle valley, and on the right where the glacier Gray is.

Brave hikers cover the distance in 4/5 days sleeping in tents and carrying heavy loads on their shoulders.

The trail is very well marked with beautul flowers blooming along the way.

Once you reach el Mirador in the middle of the french valley the views are spectacular.

Big blocks of ice are detaching from the glaciers above us making a rather frightening noise.

The melting water is filling roaring torrents that luckily can be easily crossed with bridges.

We cannot praise the chilean authorities enough on how well kept this park is.

In 8 hrs walk we could not see a single piece of paper or any rubbish left on the trail.

When we finally made it back at the Catamaran we were glad that an hot shower and a nice warm meal was waiting for us at the hotel.

If you are interested in walking the W there are basically 4 ways of doing it:

1) The hard way = in a tent

2) The middle way = sleeping at the well equipped "rifugi" in the middle of the park (They cost $45 per person and you need to book well in advance)

3) The soft way = base yourself in one of the hotels in the park and pick and choose a different trail every day.

4) The crazy way = Base yourself in Puerto Natales and drive backward and forward every day

Another excellent trail that we would recommend is the one that takes you to the mirador on Lago Gray.

The lake is dotted with blue icebergs detaching from the glacier Grey and floating close to the shore.

If you head to the Mirador the wind can be fierce.

But the view is certainly worth the effort.

Some people might disagree with us but we noticed that in TDP national park some of the best view points are not actually from the W trail.

Our hotel is nicely sitting on the Rio Serrano where expert fishermen can catch trouts or salmons weighting up to 30 kgs!!!!

We rented the equipment from the "torres del paine cabanas" nearby for an excellent price ($10 p/h) but unfortunately had no luck.

Even the wild horses realised that we were no threat to animals so they came to drink in the clear water next to us.

We were finally put to shame by this gentleman who in no time caught a huge trout.....he said it was small for his standards!!

We truly enjoyed our 4 days at TDP which was certainly one of the highlights of our trip.

Going to Patagonia (Without bike)

During our 20 hrs stop over in Santiago we found the time to pay a visit to BMW, as they were not answering the phone, to see how they were doing.
The answer unfortunately was "not too well".
As we got there we were informed that the part had not still arrived and most importantly they had not chased anyone to establish why there was a 3 days delay.
Eventually they caved in under our pressure and made a phone call.
The excuse (this time) was a strike at the Chilian Customs.
We also found out by chance that the guy looking after our bike was about to leave BMW the following day.
We got the name and contact details of his boss, asking him to be kept updated regularly.

We left BMW thinking that our strategy to book flights instead of relying on the bike being ready was the right one.
At this point we had completely lost trust in BMW to deliver on any promises they would make.

We landed at Punta Arenas at 1am and after a 6 hrs sleep we boarded our bus to Puerto Natales.
The road to PN is all asphalt with no much to look at in between.

Puerto Natales is a little village sitting on a fjiord.

Clearly, given the great number of hotels and hostals it is catering for a huge amount of tourists.

There is no much to see except of course the fjiord.

We only have time to grab a quick lunch and take few pictures as our 2nd bus of the day is leaving in less than 2 hrs.

The first 70 kms of road up to Cerro Castillo is all asphalt.

At Cerro Castillo if you turn right you have 10 kms of gravel road that will take you to the argentinian border.

and if you turn left you have the road to Torres del Paine National park.

Asphalt does not last long at this side either.

After 10 kms you meet the fork towards "aministraciones", one of the entrances of the park, which is actually where our hotel is.

The bus however goes straight all the way to "Laguna Amarga", the other main entrance of the park.

In Laguna Amarga we take a quick picture of the towers that give the park its name and we jump on a new bus.

The road accross the park is spectacular and I am running from one side to the other side of the empty bus to catch a glimpse of the mountains and lakes around.

We make another stop over on lake Pehoe where you can catch a boat to take you at the other side.

Instead we jump on the 4th bus of the day heading to Administrationes.

In the meantime we have met Lucas, a nice chap that works at the Tyndall hotel, next door to the hotel Rio Serrano where we are heading to.

He tells us that there is no connection between Administrationes and the hotels, but luckily his hotel has organised a pick up for him to cover the 7 kms distance.

Don Segundo, the pick up driver, agrees to take us as well for a small contribution.

We finally arrive to our destination, 5 buses and 12 hrs later.

This is when you truly miss the freedom of movements that a motorcycle gives you.

Rapa Nui (Easter Island)

It takes around 5 hrs to fly to Rapa Nui (Easter Island) from Santiago.

We have to say that the planes used by LAN are very modern and comfortable with excellent food and entertainment on board which means we almost didn’t notice the time was passing by.

Pic 1: Elena at Rapa Nui Airport
Rapa Nui was annexed to Chile in 1888 however the name “Easter Island” was given by the Dutch that re-discovered the island in 1722.

I say re-discovered because the Island was actually discovered and colonised by the Polynesians over 1500 years ago.

For this reason from now on we will call it with its original name: Rapa Nui.
The Island is fairly small and you can visit it entirely in 3 days on a push bike.

There is only 1 road which goes all around the perimeter of the island (40 kms in total) on a loop.

Pic 2 Section of the loop road
All inhabitants (5000 of them) live in one town called Hanga Roa. There are no other buildings in the Island.

Pic 3 Hanga Roa City Centre

This place is probably the closest thing to paradise you can find on Earth.

The temperature is mild all year around. There is no crime on the island and certainly no stress, traffic or “road rage”.

Even the cemetery looks nice in Rapa Nui........

Pic 4 Hanga Roa Cemetery
The island is very well kept with colourful flowers everywhere. This is probably why women tend to wear flowers on their ears or like necklaces.

The people of Rapa Nui make a huge effort in recycling rubbish. We saw special bins for glass, paper, tin etc.

They are also seriously engaged in all sort of cultural activity, from dancing to playing music.
Not to be missed the Kari Kari show, probably one of the best folk dance we have seen so far.

Pic 5 Kari Kari show
Knowing my exceptional dancing skills they asked me to go on stage to show some moves......

Pic 6 Paolo on stage showing the "chicken steps"
Sports are also key in their lives with surfing, swimming and playing football as core activities.

Pic 7 Rapa Nui footbal team in training session with Moai watching over them

Pic 8 Surfer in action at Hanga Roa beach

There is also a small cinema on the Island which is playing only 1 movie on Monday Wednesday and Friday :I am sure you have already guessed:  Rapa Nui, a movie produced by Kevin Kostner in the 90s showing the story of the last days before the fall of the Rapa Nui civilisation and the arrival of the colonizers.

We could not miss it, could we?
The place is so small and isolated that heavily relies on goods imported from Santiago. It is for this reason that everything is quite expensive on the Island.
A basic room on a 3 stars hotel will cost around $200 per night.
A bottle of water at the supermarket is $4. You get the thrust.

Anyone coming to visit the Island however is coming for one specific reason: to see the Moais.

Pic 9 Moai near Hanga Roa
There are around 860 Moais scattered around the Island. Most of them are not actually standing but instead either lying on ground or still partially entombed.

Pic 10: Unfinished Moais at the quarry
In actual fact the ones that are currently standing have been raised from the ground and restored from the 60s onwards.

So, the question is: what led the Rapa Nui people to spend so much effort, resources and energy in the contraction of these monoliths and why this 1500 years old civilisation was almost extinct at the time of the arrival of the western colonizers?

We are told that the original inhabitants of the Island were divided in various tribes. Each tribe had rich families and people with influence, money and power. These families would commission the contraction of the Moais as images of their deads. In order to do so they would need to feed all the workers.

Pic 11: Elena posing at Tongariki
The Moais had the function to protect the village as they were producing a positive energy called Mana.

For this reason all the Moais were aligned facing the village, generally giving shoulders to the sea.

Pic 12: the only moai with eyes
There are only 7 Moais facing the sea and they can be found at Ahu Akivi.

Pic 13: Paolo at ahu Akivi
As time went on, the Moais became bigger and heavier.
A small Moai was 2M tall, but the tallest was over 21M weighting up to 160 Tons.

Pic 14: The giant unfinished moai
All Moais were carved in a quarry called Rano Raraku on the east side of the Island, and once finished erected and transported to the village.

Pic 15: Elena at the quarry
There are various theories about how the Moais were transported (sometimes for kms), most likely rolled over using wood logs.

Another fascinating tradition was the “birdman ceremony”.
Every year at the time of the September Equinox the head of each tribe would meet at Orongo on the rim of the Ranu Kao Volcano.

Pic 16: Rim of the volcano

Pic 17: Posing at Orongo
Then they would elect their champion to compete in a dangerous race which involved climbing down the volcano, swimming for 4 kms in shark infested waters up to a small Island called Motu Nui where they would seek an egg of the Manutara bird.

Pic 18: Carving of the manutara and Motu Nio Island in the background
The winning tribe would enjoy for the whole year a special high statue which would often lead to dominate the other tribes.

Many archaeologists believe that the obsession for the construction of ever so big and numerous Moais led the Rapa Nui Inhabitants to deplete completely the Island from its precious forests.
Deforestation probably brought soil erosion. Beside that without wood they could no longer build boats to go fishing.
The lack of food and resources together with the resentment against the high casts probably led the Rapa Nui people to a period of war and destruction which decimated the population.
When the Colonizers arrived they found an Island with no trees, few inhabitants and hundreds of Moais crushed on the ground.

After visiting all the standing Moais in the island, the quarry, the caves and the Volcanoes we hired a quad and went to spend an afternoon at the Anakena beach.

Pic 19: A replacement for the broken BMW
With its 7 Moais watching over you, its white sand, lapis-lazuli colored waters and its palms under which the locals are roasting meet on the barbeque this is probably the best beach we have seen so far in our lives.

Pic 20: Anakena beach from distance

Pic 21: Palms at Anakena beach

Pic 22: Anakena, the desert beach in our dreams
There is no doubt in our minds that Rapa Nui is one of the highlights of this trip to South America.
We are glad that, in spite of all difficulties, we still ended up booking 5 days in this superb location.