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Hi there. Here I am again!
In the meantime a lot of time has passed for me again. At least that's
the way I feel because so many things are happening all the time, the whole surroundings change all the time, I always meet
new people etc. The weeks to me feel like eterneties. In the best way.
Well then. The journey from Bariloche to Puerto
Montt across the Chilen border was without problems and was very awsome. Mountains covered with snow, endless views, snowcovered
volcanos, green grass, cows, just a very pretty scenery. In Chile I also felt super fine. After arriving in Puerto Montt I
quickly found a place to stay, spent the evening with a german girl and the next day in the morning checked in for the boat.
While checking in I met Obelix and Yannick (French) and Alex (German). We passed the time till the embarquement by buying
heaps of booze (not me, them! :-) lunch and Internet. At 15.30 we embarqued. It is difficult to describe the beds. Just imagine
a hall full of dormitories, separated by several ailes and the beds had curtains because the light was on all night long.
I actually felt like in a coffin the first night because the beds were so narrow but one gets used to very much after a while
and already the second night I slept like an angel.
The three days on the boat I mainly spent with those three colleagues
plus Enrique, Alejandro and Marco, three really nice Italians. It was a very funny time. We had a wonderful sunset at the
beginning and there were a lot of fjords. At the end came the absolutely most scenic landscape. Snowcovered mountains (again
:-) Fjords and mirrorlike waters. I also saw lots of animals during this trip. Sealions, dolphins, Condores, Albatros only
to mention a few. It is absolutely fascinating to see and meet all these animals in their real surroundings.
In Puerto Natales we said good bye to Yannick and right afterwards caught the bus to El Calafate. It
was a 5 hour bustrip which was absolutely beautiful. The endlessness of the stepp (don't know if this is the right word) of
Argentina is very difficult to describe. For us Europeans it's just something to keep your mouth open all the time. When we
suddenly drove over a hill and right behind it opened a spectacular scenery with a shimmering lake of turquoise and bright
blue colors and right behind it snowcovered mountains. It was absolutely breathtaking.
Arriving in Calafate I felt that
I could not really find this little tourist town, in the middle of dusty roads very attractive and did not plan to stay very
long. Of course this changed again as things usually do and in the meantime I already know the little place quite well and
feel quite homely. :-)
For the day after we booked all a tour to Perito Moreno Glaciar. This for me was one of the most
beautiful experiences here in Argentina so far. I was very fascinated of the icy blue colors of this huge glaciar. The most
spectacular thing of this glaciar is that you can always see parts of it breaking off accompanied by an incredible pounding
when falling in to the water. Unfortunately the weather was not so good. The first few hours were rainy but after the weather
cleared up. They say that the colors are more impressive when the sun is not shinging. Well, I don't know. I wonder if they
say this probably because they want to also keep the tourists happy when it is raining.
The day after or the day after
that the three italians went back to Puerto Natales to meet again with Yannick and get on the Tores del Paine track. Fortunately
I did not go with them. I just met Yannick a couple of days ago here in Calafate and he told me that they had a lot of rain
during these 5 days. It must have been quite uncomfortable to walk during the day, getting wet again and again and in the
night sleep in a tent which gets wet aswell........ That would possibly have put me off totally from trekking.
The day
the Italians left Adi, a Swiss colleague, arrived. We finally managed meeting eachother. The next days we started organizing,
packing, buying food and the day after got on the bus for a 5 hour journey to El Chalten. We were going to hike a few days
there.
When we arrived in El Chalten I rented a tent (Adi already has his own) and then we got on the way. For me this
whole hiking was a bit much and after two days and two nights I decided to walk back to El Chalten the third day. Still, I
must admit that it was worth all the sweat, pain and effort. It was a special experience to sleep in a tent in the middle
of the mountains, at night the tramendous noise of the patagonian winds. It is always present.
Back in El Chalten I felt
like in a movie. El Chalten for me is THE town at the end of the world and the heavy blowing wind makes everything even more
unreal. The natural streets are so dusty that you have to close your eyes to prevent them from getting full of dust.
There
also was a very amusing occasion for me. Adi and I met two German women on the track who told us that they are staying at
the hostal Argentina. We were very happy about this information because like this we had a place we could meet (since he was
going to stay out in the mountains for an other day and I was heading back into town) or at least leave a message. But actually,
arriving in El Chalten, the hostal Argentina was totally unknown. Firstly I asked at the shop where I rented the tent and
then went to the local information who would have known but no one knew a thing. I stood there laughing for myself and wondering
what would be the best thing to do because in a blink of an eye, the meeting point had disappeared. In the meantime I had
decided not to stay for an other night, as agreed,and to wait for Adi but to go straight back to El Calafate the same night.But
how to leave him a message now? So I decided to leave a note at the tent shop I hoped that he would have the same idea. The
next day at night I went to the bus station in El Calafate to see whether he had arrived and: what a joy :-) he smiled through
the window. So everything was fine. The two German girls are still convinced that they stayed at hostal Argentina. We are
not so convinced anymore and have our doubts........
Two days ago Adi and I said good bye after a delicious dinner. I can
not keep up with his pace in the mountains and he flew on to Ushuaia at Tierra del Fuego to attack the next treck.
Yesterday
I fulfilled myself the maybe biggest dream of this journey. I went on a excursion with horses which lasted 6 hours (including
a long,very nice lunch break at the shore of this beautiful lake with the view of the snowcovered mountains). I was very lucky
because I was the only tourist going on this excursion and so I had my gaucho-guide all to myself. It has always been my biggest
dream of this trip to galopp the patagonian pampa at a breathtaking speed. Wow!!! I find it hard to describe. The way to the
picnic point was very slow and I had time to get familiar with the horse but then, the way back we were galopping for about
an hour with only a few short times walking. There is such a feeling of joy, freedom, endlessness, happyness which I find
very hard to discribe. Imagine yourself in a film, with this scenenery, birds flying, oh I feel that my English is reaching
it's limits here and I would leave this experience to your imagination.....
Back at the place we started off I spent about
3 hours chatting with the gaucho and his brother (who is the owner of the place) drinking mate and just enjoying being there.
I would really love to spend a few days, mybe about a week out with horses and sleeping in tents. Here unfortunately it is
not possible because the price would be skyhigh and I could not even thing about paying it. That night the "gaucho" took me
out for dinner and then to a bar. I got home at 3 in the morning and fell asleep right away.
Actually, my experiences with
dormitories have changed quite a bit. Now I feel quite comfortable and I guess I would feel quite lonely in a room all bymyself.
Here
in South America you also meet a lot of Israelis (no matter if you want to or not...) They are not very well seen because
they often make a lot of trouble and are very noisy. But there are other ones as well.... Today I met a very nice young woman
who is living in Jerusalem. I caught the opportunity to talk with her about the situation of Israel and Palestina and how
everything started and what she thinks about it and how it feels to actually really live in the melting pot. I found it very
interesting to talk to her because during her 2 years of army service she had to deal with Palestinian Affairs and actually
got to know the "face of the ennemy". The thought this for her was a very good experience and she finds it difficult and would
not know either hwo to solve the problem.
For me it was an experience to actually talk to someone who knows what this
is all about, for someone, who was suffering the actual bombing and really got to know the fear and also the other side of
the coin. It is a lot more interesting then the horrifying unpersonal and sterile pictures on tv.
I am still happy on this
journey, I am incredibly lucky with meeting people on this trip and I am so seldom alone as probably never in my life before.
I could not even remember when I was really alone for a longer time during the past weeks. I feel, that I learn a lot by meeting
all these people, by learing how they see their lives, by them telling me their experiences or their dreams and what they
want to do in their lives. Quite often it is also just good to spend time together, to talk, eat, cook, go for walks and be
together and enjoy it. I feel it is a great jou for me to be able to travel and see part of the world this way.
Tomorrow,
December 21 I will fly to Buenos Aires and spend Christmas there. After that I will most probably make my way southwards in
Chile. But this is not sure yet. I have no fixed plans and this is still the plan No. 1 of this trip. Not to have any plans.
This for me is a very special experience I enjoy so much. It happens very rarely in one's life (at least for western people)
that we are not captured in time schedules or other "borders". I feel this way of living is a huge freedom for me and I am
quite aware of the fact that it will not last forever. But I enjoy it as long as I can and for me it is probably one of the
biggest gifts life has to offer me.
Well, I have now reached the end of this travel report again.
I would like to take
this opportunity to wish you all Merry Christmas and a very happy start of the New Year!
Thank you for your news, it is
always a pleasure receiving them and I am looking forward to reading from you again also in 2005.
Take care and only the
best of luck! |
