Very soon after I discovered the amazing San Blas archipelago in Panama, I set my mind on crossing between this country and Colombia by boat. Sailing boat that is. It took a couple of years but this time I finally got a chance to do it. With some careful research and discussion with companies who offer this trip, the right boat was chosen. And I was to go for the 4th time to these amazing paradise called San Blas.
After almost two years I came back to Central America. Again Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Panama. Although was sweeping through the first two, this time I gave more attention to Panama. Concretely to the infamous Darien Gap. Yes it was time to tackle this remote region.
It was 6 in the morning and I couldn’t stop shivering from the cold while being stranded for a couple of hours at the Tucuman bus terminal. For the first time, since have bought it couple of months ago in La Paz, I pulled out from my backpack an alpaca sweater. And I survived already Altiplano and Patagonia without it. But now the double long sleeves, a jumper and anorak that I was already wearing, just didn’t do the job. At that point only thought I had in my mind, was about how the north of Argentina should be more than worth all the effort. And it absolutely was, as I found myself suddenly running out of time. Against my expectations.
Since my final destination of deep south was reached, have found myself again without a true travel plan, only with a direction. North. Yes, but of course I’m going back north. On the east side of the continent. So after spending three weeks of volunteering with 50 horses and numerous dogs in pampa near Buenos Aires, I had two options. Because had spent so much time in cold and windy parts, I wanted to get some beach time. And Uruguay was just across the river from Buenos Aires. With its miles and miles of sandy beaches. Perfect right? Only that I arrived there a day after a 2nd ever in the history tornado destroyed one town. And the majority of the country was pretty much flooded with closed roads due to the heavy torrential rain…
Since the beginning of this big travel, I have been saying that I’m going south. Was like my mantra. While being still up there on this continent, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, it was quite clear about where is the south. Until I got to Chile. First had to decide on what side of the continent I’m continuing going south, the western or eastern. And the roadtrip happened. But then I suddenly didn’t know how far to the south or where I am actually going. Was pretty much quite far down already. In Punta Arenas. So not many options left. Either Antarctica, Ushuaia or…Isla Navarino. And this is where, after a couple of days pondering about, I headed on the end. Say Isla what, where?
Soon after we crossed to Argentina we got slightly lost. For a while we were heading north instead toward the south. Oooops. Blame it on poor signalization. But no harm done, soon we were driving into the void. Known as Argentinian Patagonian pampa aka Wild Wild West (a playground for some famous historical characters like Billy The Kid, Sundance Kid etc). And the famous Ruta 40…
So after Pucon it was time for the big one. More than 3000km of roads through Patagonia all the way down south to Punta Arenas. There were four of us renting a car. We made a reservation on the internet with one company, but then changed our mind at the Puerto Montt airport as found a better offer. So we backtracked to Puerto Varas where we were picking up our Bronco…
The next stop after Santiago was Valparaiso. A very chaotic and bustling seaside city nearby the capital. For me a bit too claustrophobic and loud. Although I really liked its street art. And the views. And well for the first time tried also chorillana, a typical Chilean dish with lots of French fries, onion and all kind of meat. Some call it “a hangover food” but most of the time people would be eating it in the evening. So did I. With terremoto. Three days there were for me enough so before I knew it I was on the way to Pucon. ..
My original plan was to go from La Serena to Valparaiso. And so it was till the day of the departure. When a friend, who I met during travelling on Cuba, found out that he actually has time to host me in coming days and sent me a message. To come. Not to mention I was terribly confused with yet another Chilean phrase, that is that “venga a Santiago no mas” actually means “come”!
Although I first planned to reach Chile by September ’15, managed to come down here only in January ’16. Well the other countries on the way kind of consumed more time. When I finally came to Chile, after 8 months of travelling in rugged and slightly typically latino laid back chaotic countries, I was suddenly faced with something completely different. It was sudden welcome back to the modern world by all means. Still in a month so far here, managed to fall in love with Chile, including her capital Santiago at the peak of the summer and pollution (and first I wasn’t even sure if I want to go there)…
