venerdì 27 marzo 2009

Ren and the big climbers

23rd march, middle of nowhere close to a bridge on the rio Palena, sunny, waiting for a lift together with an aussie couple

Sun is shining, setting is nice, sky is blue, river is green…all is missing is a car picking us up driving us to the next town!! But we have faith, someone will pass by, by the end of the day. And if not…there’s a house just in front of where we are, they are not gonna leave us in the middle of the road, right??

Anyway, my story has to go on, back to the 12th march, for another hitchhiking day. I had to go from Puerto natales to El Chalten. I could have taken a bus at 8am to Calafate, then wait 4 hours there for another bus, arriving in Chalten at 9.30/10pm. Too much of a hassle…let’s go hitching! Yency was with me, and Yency set the starting time to 10am, maybe a bit too late. We went out of town, and waited…many cars passing but all going just around the corner. It’s so funny to see the signs people does to tell you where they go…either pointing right or left, or turning the finger around meaning they just go a bit further and come back. But each of them has different ways of doing, it’s something you learn after the 1st day. Anyway, a guy on a small truck picked us up, only for 5km out of town, then waiting more, walking a bit, trying to get to the junction with the road to Rio Turbio, the border crossing. Nothing, by that time we had spent there 2 hours and moved 5kms! An Argentinean family stopped, they were going to Punta Arenas, so passing by the famous crossroad, iuppi! They were on holidays, 2 weeks around south of Chile, good for them! More waiting at the crossroad, but the 2nd car passing picked up. They lived in Dorotea, the town before the border crossing. This town is so small that there are no shops there, so all shopping has to be done down in Natales, what a life, every week having to travel 30km to get your shopping. They had lots of things but still made place for us. I asked what Dorotea lives on….farming and people working in the mines on the other side of the border, that’s it. Not the place for me! We had to cross the border walking, then decided it wasn’t worth waiting just after the border, we’d better walk to the other border, it’s only 3k away. Argh…it was all uphill! But it was nice thinking we were walking on no men land: we were wandering how it is to live in this place, would you feel Chileanteanian ot Argenteno??!!Finally we reached the top, and then it was downhill to reach the next border and the town. On the way we saw a shrine, there are plenty in Argentina and Chile. There are those for the Gauchito Gil, and other which are small shrines and loads of plastic bottles around, very very strange. I was so curious knowing the reason for it. So when I was passing in front of one, and there was a guy walking the other direction, I stopped him asking what was it! All those shrines with plastic bottles are dedicated to a woman (can’t remember the name..). She had a husband who went to war, and she decided to follow him to support him. They went to the desert and they died there because they had no water…she became a saint (for following her husband!) and to pay respect to her they place plastic bottles with water or even without… I’m not so fully convinced this is the right explanation…but I still have 1 month to find out!!! Back at the border we got all our papers stamped easily, as we weren’t on a bus with lots of people. That’s one of the reasons I prefer crossing hitching, it’s just quicker! The worst one is going into Chile. They do not allow any fruit/diary product into the country. In Argentina there are farm diseases which are not in Chile so they want to prevent them to get in. This means they check every single backpack, small or big. And if you bring something in, they may give you a fine of more than 100USD! Actually if you cross by car or truck, it’s much easier, they check much less, I think they are bothered more by the tourists! Yency had a good story! Coming into Chile from Ushuaia. He had bought an apple to have his healthy day, he doesn’t even like apples that much. He didn’t know about this law. He was caught at the border, they put him on the side, they called him into an office and kicked his ass. Then he had to fill in 3 forms: one to acknowledge he had taken in a prohibited item, the second that states the item would be destroyed and the 3rd to say sorry for having done such a bad act! Finally the employee gave him the mail address of her boss and asked Yency to write him to apologize. Argh!! We kept saying Yency that if he wouldn’t write this mail, he would not be allowed into Chile anymore!!! Anyway, isn’t it a nice story?? Back to Rio Turbio, we walked maybe 7km, a long way, before we got the next ride, a couple from Natales driving to Rio Turbio to get fuel and some other shopping, it’s cheaper there they say! They left us at the famous crossroad I had been before. We headed for some food and then back to waiting. Many trucks passing but not much luck. Until a nice truck stopped, this guy was nice and talkative. Yency’s Spanish isn’t that good yet, but he managed some conversation, I did more anyway. This guy spends most of his time on the road. That day he was going to meet his son in Rio Gallegos for a coffee, then he would head north and his son south. He often spends X-Mas, NYE out of home, sometimes his wife or his daughter are with him. He even told us that his daughter was born on the road, the wife was 7 months pregnant when they set off for him to work up and down. Luckily when she was due they were close to a town, and there they had the baby. He drove us to Esperanza, a crossroad in the middle of nowhere (but how many middle of nowhere there are in this story???), with a gas station, a restaurant, an hospedaje and a night club. There were other 2 hitchhikers, they had been there for 2 hours and nobody stopped. The 3rd truck since I arrived stopped, it wasn’t properly to pick us up, but we asked and he said he would take 2…we let the French go, fairness is important. And luck is even more! 3 minutes later another truck stopped, picked us up, and he was much faster than the first one which we overtook after less than 10 minutes..eh eh eh! This truck was going to Calafate, perfect for Yency, less for me, I wanted to go to Chaiten, another 180km up the road! He left me at the crossroad, wishing me a big good luck, they were a bit scared for me, it was 6.30pm already and the way was still long. But I wasn’t worried, I was there at the crossroad, 45km away from Calafate and the road was pretty busy in that direction. I had decided to wait there till 7.30pm, if nobody I would go to Calafate! But…as soon as I got off the truck a car stopped. A couple, they said they were going to a town half way, perfect for me! Young guys with wool just sheared off some sheep, they were also smoking marijuana and asked me if I had any problem…as long as I don’t have to smoke it, it’s up to you, Finally they didn’t manage to lit up the strange pipe they were using, so they smoked a cigarette…and they drop me off 20km further up in the middle of nowhere…they were turning westwards towards a town 95kms away. I felt a bit desperate. It was 6.50pm, and I was even more in the middle of nowhere, no gas station, no houses, no shelters, I was looking around trying to figure out where I could spend the night in case I couldn’t get a lift. The guys told me to walk a bit, in few kms I would find the house of the viability guys, they would help me. So I started walking, it was windy, it was uphill, I cried…of course because of the wind, not because I felt lonely out there! A car passed, didn’t stop. Another one passed, didn’t stop, I looked at them in despair…they realized I was there, on my own, they stopped and reversed, made space and picked me up. They saved me! They had gone to Calafate to do shopping, pay bills and so on, and now they had to go back to hom, Tres Lagos, a town 30km after the crossroad to Chalten. They didn’t stop at first because they thought it was strange to see a girl in the middle of nowhere, they thought maybe there was a guy hidden somewhere, or things like this. But then they saw my despair, and understood I was just a lonely girl in need of help! Nice guys, they played some nice music, they chatted a bit, and they drive me through wonderful landscape, lots of lakes, hills, I again felt I was on the moon (not that I know how it feels like being on the moon!). Another though life is theirs…living in a small town, working for the government, having to drive 200*2km every 2/3 weeks to do shopping, having to stock for the winter as road condition gets worst with snow…I do not envy this people, but I admire them. Maybe it’s just because you are used to this, so you don’t know what else can be life. Sometimes I feel spoiled…my life is so very easy! I can get everything I want whenever I want! At 8pm they left me at the crossroad. I was sure I would be picked up (I knew the bus leaving Calafate at 6.30pm would pass there sometimes at 8.30/9) but they still suggested me in case I would have to stay there to walk a bit further up, there was a small bridge, those for water to pass under the roads. This bridge is small but enough for a person to shelter in it. This made me a bit more confident. 5/10 minutes later a guy passed by, and picked me up, and drove me all the way to town. He owns a hotel in town, a good one, too expensive for me. He gave me some good suggestions for hikes. He had been to Rio Gallegos for a week, he also had to do some shopping and pay bills, go to the bank and so on… In Chalten there are no banks. Everywhere it is said there are no ATMs and no exchange offices. Actually since few months 1 ATM has reached this town…which is very good as I didn’t have enough money to survive the 3 days I was going to stay there and the bus fare to leave town!! Chalten is a relatively new town, the hotel guy had arrived there 15 years ago and at that time only 40 people lived there, now there are 1200 in summer and 400 in winter. This town was created to give a sign to Chile that this area is Argentinean, there had been some fights and even a small war for the border line, I actually think there are still problems in that area! After the town was created, tourists started arriving, as it is very close to the Fitz Roy, a wonderful peak, one of the most difficult peaks to climb, the biggest challenge for a climber! That’s the reason we all tourists were there..to see this mountain, and the nearby Cerro Torre! The hotel guy drove me to a hostel, Rancho Grande, I got a room there and spend an easy night writing my mail and relaxing. This hostel was so very busy, too many people around, I didn’t like it that much, just didn’t feel comfortable there. Furthermore that night it’s the night in which the Israelis came in the room at 1am switching on the light, talking if I wasn’t there, leaving the room with the light on, and coming back again at 4am chatting and not caring. At that point I said to shut up and switch off the light…it took them another 15 minutes to actually do it. Where is respect for other people?? In the morning I just wanted to leave, I couldn’t stay there a minute more. Even if those guys were leaving as well, I had to leave! It was raining, not the best day to go hiking, so just took it easy and slowly made my way to another hostel, Condor de los Andes, which resulted being very nice with nice people. The girls at reception were also very useful, which made my stay even nicer. There I immediately met this kiwi girl with whom we went to buy the bus ticket to leave town. A nice Israeli girl (respectful, older than the big groups making lots of noise, and travelling alone…so you could actually talk to her!) told us she had been stuck 4 days in that town because she didn’t buy her ticket early enough…this convinced us to quickly buy it, there were only 6 places left when we got our tickets, lucky!!! That day I just chilled out, slept a bit to recover from the lovely Israelis noise, and then in the afternoon headed out to some hills out of town. Weather turned better, sun was out, and these were easy walks to get a nice view of town. Very easy walks, it took me half of the time the rangers predicted, and the view was ok. The second hike was to a nicer place, there was a nice view of the Lake Viedma, I hoped I could see the glacier Viedma but no chance from there. I even walked further out in the bushes but still nothing. On the way back…Carramba…I met again Ellen! We walked together back to the view point and exchanged stories of our trips, nice adventures both of us! Back in town we had a coffee and headed to the Rancho Grande being also an information point, but not being very useful to be honest! There I discovered every night that week there was a movie night, and Slumdog Millionaire was the movie for that night. As I had missed it in the cinemas, I couldn’t miss it there, it was even for free! So back to my hostel for a shower, some advertisement to the people there and off I went. Very very nice movie, enjoyed it a lot. Although the bloody Israelis of the night before were still there not watching the movie and talking loud about whatever just in the middle of the audience of the movie…terrible! After that a beer with Ellen and friends, and another one at the micro-brewery of Chalten. It’s such a small place and they brew their own beer…this is worst than Belgium!! But the place is nice and cozy, and the blond beer not so bad (the dark one is too bitter for me). The next morning weather had changed: SUN!!! From the town we had a wonderful view of both Cerro Torre and Fitz Roy, AMAZING! Felt like you could touch them! Met Ellen again and off we went for the hike to Fitz Roy base. We did hitchhike to a Hosteria and started from there, slightly different from what most people does, a bit shorter, and at least you don’t go up and down on the same path. Nice views, nice glaciers. The mountains are so rocky! We arrived at the base camp before the steep hike to the base of the Fitz Roy and…in the distance…Sara and Jakob, the Danish of the Torres del Paine. We run towards each other shouting of joy, ah ah ah! So funny! They had been camping the night before, getting up there in the rain and even snow, poor them. Now they were going to see the Cerro Torre, we decided to have a beer together that evening in the brewery, to have a quiet chat there. The walk up was very steep and the sun was shining, not easy. This time I didn’t have hiking boots, just my running shoes, which are good but not that strong on the ankle, so I had to pay lots of attention both going up and coming down. But what a reward! Up the last ridge and…THE FITZ ROY, just in front of you, stunning, high, steep, rocky. What a view! A small lake at its feet, I can’t believe there is people climbing it!! It was the perfect setting for lunch, and for a nap, in the sun, with the breeze and with the view. It was so relaxing and enchanting. Uhm, I believe by the end of this trip I will have to learn new words to express feelings of beauty or happiness…it’s all just so amazing! We had no words, we stayed there admiring the mountain, in silence, enjoying the color of the lake, of the glaciers, of the sky. We stayed there 1 hours or so, we had lunch and a nap, in the sun, lying on a rock, enjoying the peace. But it was time to go on, to check out the Laguna Sucia which means “dirty lagoon”, it was just a lake and it looked so clean, I guess the name comes from the fact that this lake is not directly formed by a glacier, so it’s dirty??? Not sure ;-) At that point we were in such a good form and the weather was so good, and the weather for the next day was forecasted as pretty crap, that we decided to add an extra 2 hours hiking for the day, and go to the other side of the park to check out the Cerro Torre. This mountain is like a spike, very thin and high, again a big challenge for all climbers, and very famous within Italians as seems like the first guy climbing it was Italian, but nobody actually knows if he actually reached the top or not, taking into account that the top of the peak is covered in ice, and he never climbed it…those Italians you can never trust them ;-))) Anyway, we happily started this extra leg of circuit to see this Cerro Torre, it was worth it, the hike was wonderful (and easy as it was mostly downhill!!) and the sight was again a prime sight, it’s such an amazing mountain! For this part of the hike I had joined the guys from the hostel, an American, a kiwi and a swiss, chatting most of the time with this swiss/german. Can’t even remember his name, because he had about 3 names and 4 surnames, or better to say his grandpa was a count or something like this, so he is a Von something…we even checked out his passport to make sure he wasn’t saying a lie, there was almost no space in the passport page to write the full name, argh!! But he was a nice guy, nice chat so it was enjoyable. As the view was so good we decided to wait for the sunset, to watch it from a viewpoint. Again so nice, the sun was setting behind the Cerro Torre, giving reddish colors and a nice picture light. Quickly back in town I realized we could see both mountains straight from town…why hike 10 hours when you can have same view from the terrace of a café in town??? Well…because maybe there are no nice café tarrces in town?? Or…well…because hiking in mountains is such a nice thing to do!!!!

As said times before, the world is very small, so as soon as I reached town I met the dutch couple of the Torres del Paine, same thing as the dutch, we run to each other, or better after 10 hours hiking I let Mark running towards me ;-) I also invited them to the brewery meeting, and also mentioned I was going to be late…argh it was 8.30pm already and I was supposed to cook pasta for the swiss, I would never make it by 9.30!! Shopping and then a wonderful pasta with zucchini and cream sauce was ready to be eaten…considering the cheap pasta I found, the almost rotten zucchini, the little salt I had…the pasta was delicious…I got lots of compliments…but compliments by swiss/American/kiwi/Israelis maybe are not the most fair. Still I think it wasn’t that bad! After…beer with the guys and again lots of fun and chats! This guys are just so fun, hope we will meet again sometimes. Oh yeah, we decided we will go and meet the American teachers (Liz and Jim) in Jakarta next year, we need to take advantage of them ;-)) The next day was Sunday and we already knew it was going to rain…looks like people in Chalten are the best weather forecasters in the world: if they say it’s gonna be sunny, it’s true, if they say it will rain, it will be true, just trust them and don’t ask questions! So lazy Sunday. Had to wake up by 10am to free the room (why so early??), but stayed around for breakfast (the usual sweets from La Panaderia Nieve, the best in town, trust me!) and for more chats with the guys. Rain stopped a bit and I decided to venture uptown to Rancho Grande for internet and to check out if there was anything going on there. And…Carramba ;-) Jim and Liz where there, preparing their backpack to go hiking…I think they are crazy. Was such an awful day, and they wanna go walking 3.5hrs under the rain in the cold, to reach a camping and stay there hoping for a better weather the next day…I hope they got it, I left town 11.30pm that night and haven’t heard of them since, but I trust they somehow managed…well they had an appointment up there with the dutch couple so should be ok! I then spend the rest of the afternoon there, playing cards with 2 irish and 2 dutch met on the spot, they needed a 4th playes (the 2nd dutch wasn’t there when I joined!) and I was just there. Really nice guys, we had lots of laughs. One of them is an aircraft engineer, he is the one who is flown wherever there is a plan in need of fixing…he is my man, better he do a nice work when they need him, with all the flights I take every year! He is a specialist for 2/3 types of planes, including the Avro Arj, the Brussels airlines aircrafts which I use so often!!! At 5 or 6 I headed back to my hostel for dinner time, the guys cooked me a steak, some salad and we still had pasta leftover, even more tasty than the night before. We still had hours to wait before the 11.30pm bus, this was such a boring day, doing nothing but waiting for a bus, I hated it, like a lost day, not productive at all. I was even so lazy that I didn’t manage to write more than few lines of my mails, what a waste! But this is what I am, if I have lots of time, I will waste it doing nothing…lazy Ren! Anyway, 11.30pm finally arrived…not the bus but…be faithful and you’ll be rewarded. By half past midnight we finally hit the road, the bumpy one of course…we had 14 hours of dirty road ahead of us…to be honest I should say I had about 10 days of dirty road ahead of me, as I was heading towards the Carretera Austral in Chile…didn’t know it was so very unpaved…and I have actually been lucky as they had been paving big bits of it in the last 2/3 weeks!!! Even if I had done nothing the whole day, I could still sleep on the bus, quite a lot I should say. We stopped for breakfast in a town along the road: this town had a gas station, a hotel, a strange toilet guy directing toilet traffic in and out and petting a small dog all the time, a camping and maybe 4 houses…what a town! And 3/ 4 hours from the nearest town who can actually be defined town! Contenti loro! I slept again after breakfast, then chatted with the English guys sitting behind me and finally reached Los Antiguos, the end of my trip on the Ruta 40, the longest unpaved road in Argentina, the dream of many, few gas stations, unpaved road, pampa, the Ande in the distance and not much else. Kind of boring ;-)

And this is also the end of today’s mail, now I am only 10 days behind in my stories, argh, and I did so many kilometers and many adventures…I will succeed in catching back…maybe!

Ruta40LazyRen

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