Chile: Northwards to San Pedro de Atacama
The journey from Valdivia to Santiago would be approximately 800km, but we chose to stop a little under 200 km before Santiago. Once again, we were worried about finding a hotel in the early evening, so we phoned a couple of hotels the previous night to check availability. The first was in the Santa Helena winery, but was fully booked already, so we called the Hacienda los Lingues who had vacancies so we made a reservation.
The drive from Valdivia was completely uneventful, however it was the first and last time that it rained on our trip! The journey probably took around 8 hours including a couple of quick stops for fuel and food etc.
Reception at Hacienda los Lingues
We arrived at the Hacienda and checked in. It looked beautiful and lovely place to stay and there were a lot of cars in the car park. After being shown to our room and ordering dinner (we had to pre-order), we went on an exploratory walk around the grounds and discovered that the vehicles belonged to a film crew shooting a pilot/preview for Chile’s next novella (soap opera). Perhaps we met Chile’s most famous actors, but didn’t know… We then met the manager and one of the owners of the farm. It is owned by the original family who still live there and run the hotel.
The unkempt vegetable garden at Hacienda los Lingues
After seeing more, we realised that the hotel wasn’t quite as nice as first appearances and various parts were a little neglected. The price was very for a luxury hotel, but the service didn’t really come up to this level. The dinner was ok, but my order was different from the menu. All in all, not a place I would recommend and the price they were charging.
Our room in Hacienda los Lingues
The next day we had to get to Santiago before midday to return the hire car and check-in for our flight to Calama (the nearest airport to San Pedro de Atacama and the city that supports Chile’s largest and one of the the world’s largest copper mines – Chuquicamata). We had pre-booked flights on Sky airlines, Chile’s second biggest airline after Lan Chile. The prices of Sky were much much cheaper than Lan. The only problem with them was that don’t except foreign credit cards on their website, so booking involved phone calls and emails. It all worked out well and I’d thoroughly recommend that others consider making the effort to do this.
The flight to Calama was about two and a half ours with one stop (different cities in each direction). Once again, this was uneventful and we were met by someone that was going to provide the 75 minute transfer from Calama to San Pedro. We had pre-booked this transfer, but I don’t think it was necessary with hindsight.
A typical shot of terrain around San Pedro de Atacama
The journey was through the desert on a good road. You leave Calama and go over a mountain range which takes you to height of around 3,400 metres before dropping down into the valley between these mountains and the Andes. San Pedro is at the foot of the Andes on the far side of the valley across the salt lake (more next post). It is a town based around a natural oasis whose water source is in the Andes mountains.
Chile: Puerto Varas and Valdivia
We arrived at Puerto Varas, avoiding Puerto Montt as guide books were not very flattering about the other city in the region, in mid-afternoon. In many ways Puerto Varas is similar to Pucon: it has volcanos (3 or 4 visible on a clear day), it is on the edge of a lake and it is also a popular tourist destination. However, I would describe Pucon as being a little more ‘up-market’, but Puerto Varas is a larger city and probably has more to offer. We had decided to spend 2 nights there.
We checked in to the Licarayen hotel. Once again we were concerned about finding vacancies and this hotel had had good reviews so were pleased to find availability. However, we found it a little simple and nothing special. Breakfast was again particularly uninspiring with instant coffee and a very limited selection. I think we could have found something better, but it was close to a beach and the town centre.
A view of Llanquihue lake with Osorno (left) and Calbuco volcanos at sunset
On the day we arrived, there was beautiful sunshine which allowed for some good shots of the Osorno volcano (the closest to the city). The above was taken on our first night. The next morning, however, we awoke to fog with extremely limited visibility and no volcanos to be seen! We were a little tired anyway, so took it easy in the hotel in the morning, but when the cloud started to lift we decided to drive around the lake to get closer to the mountains as Puerto Varas itself is quite flat and not terribly beautiful.
Salto del Petrohue with Calbuco volcano in the distance
The drive to Petrohue from the centre of the town was only about 50 km. The first half is flat and fairly unspectacular, but the last section is beautiful. Fortunately, as we drove the clouds continued to lift. About 5 km short of Petrohue the paved road runs out at Salto del Petrohue. Here there are a number of cataracts and falls, even though they are not particularly high the volume and proximity to the water makes them impressive.
The lake at Petrohue
If you carry on along the road you come to Petrohue where you can catch a ferry to take you to Peulla and cross the Andes to Bariloche in Argentina. This would be a beautiful trip, and one I would like to do, but we didn’t have time this trip. Maybe one day we will make it in the reverse direction from Bariloche. Despite not being able to make the crossing, we still found Petrohue to be very beautiful being on the edge of lake, close to Osorno volcano and the source of the Petrohue river that flows over the falls mentioned above. There are places to stay if you want. It is also possible to take a day trip to Peulla by boat from Petrohue, but as we arrived in the afternoon, it was also too late to do this.
The next morning, we left Puerto Varas to start the long (~1000 km) drive back to Santiago. We decided to stop twice en-route. The first would ideally have been around half-way, but we couldn’t find anything that looked interesting in our guide book so elected to stay in the city of Valdivia which is described as ‘cosmopolitan’.
A view of the river from our hotel
It was a relatively short drive of just over 200 km up the main highway with a 50km turning to the left (west) towards the coast. We mistakenly thought we would see the Pacific Ocean and a proper beach, but alas no! As for cosmopolitan, the only evidence we discovered for this was a Macdonalds and a Chinese restaurant. To say we were disappointed is a total understatement. The pictures may paint a pretty picture, but most of the town was very very different.
We stayed at the Naguilan hotel. The hotel was again clean and comfortable with a slightly better breakfast than a lot of the other hotels, but it was a 20 minute walk from the town centre and located in a poor neighbourhood with a dock for fishing boats a short distance away. Whilst I wouldn’t say don’t stay here as the grounds and hotel are pretty, there is a modern and what appears from the outside to be a much better located hotel in the city centre.
Elephant seal or Sea lion basking in the sun
The only other thing apart from an old submarine of indeterminate age and origin that I found interesting in Valdivia was a group of Elephant seals/Sea lions (I don’t know which) that played in the river close to a fish market and hauled themselves out of the river to bask in the sunshine.
Our trip to Chile (part 1)
Having some time off and some air miles that were about to expire, we asked ourselves “Where shall we go?” Answer: Chile.
The next question was where, specifically. We decided that we would like to visit Santiago, the wine region including some wineries, the south for the scenery and the Atacama for its uniqueness.
Our first night, the night of 29th December, was spent in the Holiday Inn hotel adjacent to the terminal building of the airport having arrived at around 2 a.m.. The next morning, having picked up our reserved hire car (thankfully it was pre-booked as none of the companies had cars left), we drove around 200 km south to the town of Santa Cruz, the main city in the Colchagua Valley – one of Chile’s premium wine production districts.
We had decided to spend about 2 days here. The hotel we chose was Hotel Casa del Campo, a small family run hotel with lots of charm. The owners were incredibly friendly, even driving us to a restaurant as taxis were hard to come by. The only drawback with this hotel was that it was on the outskirts of town and you needed to drive everywhere which wasn’t so convenient for New Year’s Eve given the dearth of local taxis!
The town of Santa Cruz itself is quite small and doesn’t have a huge amount to do. But it does have wineries which are probably some of the best in Chile. Time only allowed us to visit three: Viu Manent, Montes and Clos Apalta, but they were all of differing character.
A horse pulled carriage ride through the vineyards of Viu Manent
The first, Viña Viu Manent, is one of the oldest producers of wine in the valley and has some of the oldest vines – its speciality being Malbec with vines dating back around 100 years. Formerly, its product was for private/personal consumption of the estates owners, but it now sells internationally as well as domestically. It is one of the smaller wineries, but probably my favourite. The tour encompasses the vineyards, history, a horse pulled carriage ride to the production facility through some vineyards and terminates with the wine tasting.
A view over Viña Montes winery and its vineyards
Our second stop was at Viña Montes on the morning of New Year’s Eve. This was the largest of the wineries we visited and was described by our guide as a medium size Chilean winery. Our impression was that it is more of a factory than a family winery. However, the wine produced here was excellent including an excellent Carmenere. The tour consisted of a van drive up onto a hill overlooking the valley and in particular their vineyards. The tour was followed by a trip around the winery itself including the underground facility where they play music to the wine ageing in oak barrels. As always, the tour concluded in the shop with wine tasting.
A view of the fermentation vats at Clos Apalta
The final winery was Clos Apalta. This is one of the newest wineries, but perhaps produces the highest quality wines which have received awards. Here the tour consisted only of a tour of the winery itself followed by tasting. The winery is built over a number of floors and the whole production process is done by gravity with the grapes entering at the top, being put into the oak fermentation vats, before being piped down into the cellars into French oak barrels. The entire emphasis here is on the quality of the wine produced. We finished this tour early afternoon of New Year’s Eve.
So, hot to celebrate the arrival of the new year. There were basically 2 options: the main hotel in the centre of town, or the casino a couple of blocks away. We didn’t fancy an expensive set meal in the hotel so elected for the casino, also having spent the previous New Year’s at a less than marvellous party in a hotel in Egypt. However, on this occassion, I think the hotel may have been a better option as the casino was totally empty. The party only started after midnight but we had to leave soon after the clock struck 00:00 as there was a long drive to Pucon facing us the next morning!
Steve
For more pictures, please see our gallery.
For Eneida’s account of the trip, please see the Portuguese version!
London’s Public Transport
One of the questions I’m often asked is “What is the metro like in London?”
First, there are several public transport systems in London, most of which are now managed by the city council. There is the London Underground, which Londoners call the “The Tube”, and it has 12 separate lines. The tube network is mainly in the north half of the city because of London’s geology. This system starts operating at around 5:30am and runs until about 12:30am seven days a week. The trains depart central London stations at about 2-3 minute intervals during peak times, and 7-8 minute intervals in off-peak times. Contrary to general opinion, much of the Tube is above ground, particularly away from the central zones. See the tube map.
There are also plenty of London buses, including the famous red double-deckers. Their routes extend across the whole of London and operate for similar hours to the tube. However, there are also night buses. These night buses run along similar routes to some of the day buses but have a reduced frequency. You can get on a night bus from about midnight in central London and take it to your neighbourhood in the suburbs.
Additionally, there are also river buses in central London, but they aren’t generally used by Londoners.
Finally, and definitely not least importantly, there is the National Rail network or over-ground train system. This is operated by many different companies and the trains depart from many central London terminus stations like Waterloo, King’s Cross, St Pancreas, Victoria and Paddington.
The southern half of London is mainly served by this overland network rather than the Tube. Therefore, if you look at the famous Tube map, don’t be fooled into thinking this is the complete ‘train’ network. There are in fact, probably, twice as many stations with the other 50% appearing on the ‘London Connections’ map.
To use this network, you can buy single tickets to go from place to place, or you can buy daily, weekly or monthly tickets or even an oyster card from any of the stations or other points of sale such as newsagents. The cost of travel depends on how far you travel. The entire network is divided into 6 principal zones. These zones are arranged as concentric ‘circles’ around the centre of London. All you need to do is buy a ticket for the zones you want to travel to and from (and any zones you pass through en-route).
To navigate on the Tube is very easy. Each line is colour coded. On the map, the stations where you can change from one line to another are shown as a circle, the non-interchange stations are shown as a ‘tag’. The direction of travel is shown on the front of each train and on signs on each platform. Additionally, it is important to know your north, south, east and west despite the fact that the platforms are labelled as northbound, southbound, eastbound or westbound. To find your way round, you simple follow the colours of the lines/signs and have a general idea if you need to go north or south.
I hope this brief introduction of getting about in London is helpful.
For further information: Transport for London
Pictures: Wikipedia and Guardian.co.uk
A Brazilian Beach in Winter – Trancoso
What is a beach holiday during winter like in Brazil? Following our 1 week’s trip to Trancoso in the state of Bahia, let me try to explain.
Praia dos Coqueiros looking towards Praia Rio Verde
Firstly, in the state of Bahia at least, the temperature is very very different to the British (oops nearly wrote English!) winter. The temperatures were in the mid to high 20’s during the day and high teens at night much like our summer. The only downside at this time of year is that it can rain and be a little windy. It rained most days, but not for long and it was always possible to spend some time in the sun on the beach.
That is not all, there are something over 33,00 kilometres of beach in Brazil and a population of about 185 million so the beaches are not crowded especially in ‘winter’ holiday. There are of course exceptions to this, but with a little searching it isn’t hard to find some space.
Trancoso church - the nearby city of Porto Seguro is where Europeans first landed in Brazil
However, the deserted sections of beach are lacking an important facility. Here it is customary for bars/restaurants, or private individuals in the case of Rio de Janeiro for example, to layout chairs, tables and parasols for their customers. There is usually a waiter just a ‘moço’ (boy) call away.
The beach also has its entrepreneurs who walk up and down between the bars selling their merchandise such as costume jewellery, suntan lotion, sunglasses. In Rio you can find almost anything on the beach!
With regards Trancoso, it is a smallish community that was once described as a beach for ‘hippies’, more recently as a beach for chic hippies, and now as a beach for the chic. In truth, I would say, as is often the case in Brazil, it is a mix of the poor and the rich.
To get to Trancoso, you either need to fly, as we did, or take a bus. A flight from Belo Horizonte to Porto Seguro is about an hour long. From Porto Seguro, it is an hour’s drive either by road (about 45 miles) or by ferry across the river ? from Porto Seguro to Arraial d’Ajuda and from their a drive of about 25 miles.
The historic town is built around the ‘Quadrado’ with the church at the ocean facing end and shops/restaurants running down either side. The shops mainly sell hand made things from the local artisans. The restaurants serve mainly local Bahian/Brazilian food with lots of seafood. We did however eat at an Australasian restaurant called ‘Masala’ where I had my first curry in Brazil. It was surprisingly very good and well worth a visit.
Craft shops on the side of the Quadrado, Trancoso
The accommodation is mainly ‘pousadas’. They are a bit of a cross between a small hotel and a bed and breakfast. The >one we stayed at was lovely and very close to the centre. The other option is to stay at pousada on the beach which is a 10-15 minute gentle walk downhill. If you feel like something more luxurious, there is a Club Med on the coast between Arraial d’Ajuda and Trancoso.
In summary, Trancoso is a lovely small town with huge amounts of character and a great place to spend a week relaxing on the beach or by a pool. It isn’t a place I’d suggest if you want a lively place. We are already considering a return visit!
If you want to see some more photos from our trip, you can see them here.
With regards the website, it is still very much underdevelopment, but I hope to have the design finalised fairly soon and then I’ll start adding content to the various sections.
20 January, 2010 | Written by Steve | Comments: Add comment