Hipo-Hamster

A combination of night buses got me to Esteros del Ibera, a natural reserve comprised of wetlands. There I took a small boat out with a guide to see capybaras and caimans. The two creatures, one chubby cuteness, the other lean maliciousness, coexist there, along with a variety of bird species, in relative peace. The guide claimed the caimans don't eat the adult capybaras, which can be as big as 80 kgs, but do prey on the young.

Capybaras

Caiman

From the reserve I made tracks towards Puerto Iguazu, and Iguazu Falls. The falls are impressive. Really impressive. I mean god constantly flushing a toilet impressive. I visited both the Brazilian and Argentine side of the falls, and both yielded stellar views. Though the area of the falls is supposed to be teeming with wildlife, the only species that kept popping here and there is the raccoon-like coati.

Coati

Iguazu Falls

From the falls, I took the long ride to Buenos Aires, where I spent five days of sight-seeing and just walking about. Byenos Aires proved to be very different than any other city I've seen in South-America, and I liked it a lot.

From BA it was just a matter of 16 plus hours of air travel to find myself back home, where I am right now. So yeah, I 'm back, and looking forward to seeing everyone again. I just wish you could have done something about the weather though. See you all soon!

And for the last time (for this trip...), all the pics are here.

Adios Chile and last few weeks in Argentina

From Talca I went up north to Santiago, Chile´s capital. Other than taking a walking tour of the city, and watching drunken British folks, I didn{t do much there. I decided to go further north to La Serena, to visit a pinguin colony nearby of the nearly extinct Humboldt Penguins, however the sea was angry that day, like an old man trying to send back soup at a deli. Instead I visited the town museum, where they had a Moai on display.

Moai

From La Serena I continued north to San pedro de Atacama, a dry desert area. There I went stargazing, which was amazing. A French astronomer and his wife, show the sky of the southern hemisphere´s, with great vies of the milky way, and the different constellations. I also got to see Moon Valley, one of those places, which supposedly features a ¨moonish¨ landscape.

Desert

More desert

San Pedro was my last destination in Chile, and I took the bus to Salta, Argentina, through a beautiful road passing through the Andes. From Salta I went visiting Purmamarca, a village around Cerro de los Siete Colores (the hill of seven colors), and Cachi, a pretty village, stopping on the way in Los Cardones national park. Interestingly enough, Cardones, which are the cacti that grace that region of Argentina, are nowhere to be seen in the part of the park that I visited.

Purmamarca and the hill of seven colors

Los Cardones natinal park

Cachi

From Salta I hauled ass to Mendoza, to drink and drive (a bicycle) through the wineries of Maipu. After hitting a few wineries, I was pulled over by a cop, who instead of arresting me for intoxication, mentioned that it´s getting pretty late, and the wineries are beginning to close, so I should head back now. The next day I went to see The highest mountain in the Americas, Mt. Aconcagua. It was pretty high. On the way we also stopped to see Puente del Inca, literally The Inca Bridge. This bridge has nothing really to do with Inca other than being old, just like them. It was actually naturally created by the cohesive force of calcium from the nearby thermal springs.

The south face of Aconcagua

Under Puente del Inca

As always, the rest of the pics are here.

Volcanoes, earthquakes and one mysterious condom

I arrived in Pucon, which is sort of the Chilean Queenstown. The main attraction is scaling Volcan Villarica, an active volcano which looms over the city. The hike up is done in organized tours, since it requires use of crampons and an ice axe. The view from the top is great, and the slide down in toboggans was a lot of fun. Looking down the colorful crater, there´s no lava to be seen, however the occasional rumbling noise is heard, followed by a big puff of white smelly fumes.

Volcan Villarica, as seen from Pucon

View from the top of Volcan Villarica

The fuming crater of Volcan Villarica

After this excursion I had to take a couple of rest days for my sunburned lips to heal (I did put on lip treatment with 15 spf, I get it was too little, too late). Once that happened, I set off to Huerquehue national park. When the weather cleared up a bit, I could enjoy the park´s lakes, following the Las Lagos trail. In the meantime, I had the slightly weird experience of sleeping alone in a refugio/hostel (even the person in charge left).

One of the lakes on the Los Lagos hike

I left Pucon, and headed north, to visit the Malalcahuello-Nalcas national reserve (pronounced MA-LAL-KA-WE-YU). I hiked up Crater Navidad, a volcanic crater formed in a powerful eruption in 1988. The surrounding view was that of a volcanic desert, with some basalt ¨peels¨. Once I finished admiring it, O started up the adjacent Volcan Lomquimay, a much more gruelling task, involving a very steep scree slope. At the top of the volcano I found a metal case containing the ¨Lonquimay Conquest Book¨, which I of course duly signed. The crater of Lonquimay was filled with snow, assuring that here a new eruption was not imminent.

The volcanic desert around Crater Navidad

Volcan Lonquimay

The top of Volcan Lonquimay

My next destination was Talca, a major city, from which I could go to visit the Altos del Lircay national reserve. Against my better judgement, I arrived in Talca after dark. As I was walking from the bus terminal to the address Lonely Planed cited for my choice of hostel, I was a bit worried. The town was dark, the area seemed decrepit, and there weren´t many people around. I finally got to the hostel, only to find an abandoned looking building, with cracked walls, and a graffiti saying something about demolition. I decided to try and catch a cab to go to my second choice of hostels, but after waiting for twenty minutes, I realized this is not a good spot to flag down taxis. I spotted a young man passing by, and asked him if he knows where would be a better place to catch a cab. As we were talking, I also explained my predicament, and he noted that on all probability any other hostel that I´ll try will be closed as well. It seems I forgot to check my map of Chile, otherwise I would have noticed my proximity to Concepcion, the epicenter of the last earthquake. That explained everything. When I noted that this means that I have no place to sleep, he agreed, and suggested to host me for the night. At first I was reluctant, but he seemed like a nice guy, plus it was 22:30 and I really didn´t have any other choice. We grabbed a clectivo (SHERUT) to his house, where we had a very nice conversation, which involved him trying his best to speak slowly, and I trying my best to know Spanish. Turns out 200 people died in the earthquake in Talca. That night he was in a club, and the second floor collapsed, killing 5 people, and wounding him. Then, to my surprise, he said that he knows something similar happened in Israel a while back. In the morning, as I woke up, I felt the bed moving under me. It was a small aftershock. Christian, my host, made me breakfast, and put me on a cab to downtown, to arrange my visit to the national reserve.

The reserve was very dusty, and deserted. As I was setting up the tent, I opened its zipper to find a new condom, in its wrapper, in the tent. I have no idea how it got there. The next day I hiked to Laguna del Alto and Enladrillado. The latter is a flat basalt surface, made up of big stones, carved to smooth perfection. The locals are convinced its for alien landings. I reserve judgement. from there it was possible to see Volcan Descabezado Grande, a volcano that appears to have lost it head (descabezado = beheaded), among other peaks. I got back to my tent, and got ready to leave in the morning, for my next destination: Santiago.

Laguna del Altos

Volcan Descabezado, as seen from Eladrillado

As always, all pics are here.