Chile

A year of travels – 14 countries

A year of travels

A year ago today I boarded a plane in London for Madrid, and began a journey that has taken me through fourteen countries in 12 months, culminating back in Spain where I am now. Along the way I have had some amazing high points, and also without doubt some of the most challenging times of my life. The countries I have travelled through are, in this order:

Spain – Guatemala – Honduras – Nicaragua – Costa Rica – Panama – Colombia – Venezuela – Brazil – Ecuador – Peru – Bolivia – Chile – Argentina – Spain

12 months later I am speaking Spanish fairly well (albeit with multi-country accents & vocabulary), I’ve finally learnt some yoga, and I’m in the process of setting up an online English teaching business with an old friend here in Barcelona. You’ll be hearing more about this sooner rather than later as it should be ‘going live’ within the next couple of weeks.

Finally, I just wanted to say a big thank you to all the people I have met along the way. The trip wouldn’t have been the same without you. Special thank-yous to: All at the Cooperative School in San Pedro, Sushi, Francisco, my mother, Paul, Serena, Jameson & Laney, Pete & Heidi, Svayam, Carlos & the Reina Madre crew in Buenos Aires, Rachel, Ben & Marina, Rory/James & Marcela in Spain, and Ana-Maria.

Click here to see some of my trip photo colllections on Flickr.

The pollution is covering Santiago, Chile

Pollution in Santiago
Pollution in Santiago

Santiago, being the capital city of Chile, is a big city. The city was founded and named Santiago de Nueva Estremadura on Feb. 12, 1541, by Pedro de Valdivia. Santiago has spread over a broad valley plain and is today one of the largest cities in South America. Low foothills surround the valley, and the snowcapped Andes, forming a beautiful backdrop, rise in the eastern distance. For most of the year the climate is nice: warm days and cool nights.

Santiago is the political, commercial, and financial heart of the country, although Valparaiso has been the seat of the Chilean congress since 1990. Much of Chile’s industry is distributed among other cities, but Santiago is an active manufacturing center. Textiles, foodstuffs, clothing, footwear, and other goods are produced. There are also large iron and steel foundries in the city, which has a subway and an international airport.

The industries are heavily felt. If you climb up to a view point in the city you will not be able to see very far in certain parts of the year. The smog is so heavy that even the mountains are hidden. So although I actually like Santiago a lot: the Chileans are very nice and the city (apart from the occasional demonstrations) is orderly, courteous and feels pretty safe, I would not like to live there. Having gone through a pollution emergency crisis in Thailand in 2007, I will never again live in a country with such heavy pollution – regardless of the salary – my health is priceless!!

Pucon: A beautiful lake-side village in Chile

Pucon: A beautiful lake-side village in Chile
Pucon: A beautiful lake-side village in Chile

Pucon is a beautiful lake-side village in Chile. It is located 25 km from Villarrica at the east end of lago Villarrica, Rio Pucon in the north and Volcan Villarrica to the south. It is a stunning place to visit during the day.

Pucon is an outdoor activity kind of place. In the summer you can swim in the lake, hike, go rafting or kayaking, and go biking. During the winter it is also a very pleasant place to go for a walk on the beach by the lake and enjoy the very friendly accommodation there.

However, it does get very smoky in the night time (after 6pm in the evening). Most houses are heated with fireplaces and this leaves the city full of smoke. I still liked my time there during the winter – but I am sure I would have loved it in the summer a lot more.

Watch the sea lions in Valdivia, Chile

Valdivia is, at first view, a beautiful city with a breezy riverfront, multiple universities, old architecture and good restaurant. However, a walk down the riverfront changes your opinion a bit. You notice the extremely smoky Celco-Arauco paper mill that sends up constant masses of smoke into the sky. In 2005 some 5000 black-necked swans died from contamination from this factory. This environmental catastrophe drew local and worldwide outrage, but the plant continues to operate unfortunately.

The city is still well-worth a visit though – even if only for a day. Head to the colourful Ferie Fluvial, the riverside fish and vegetable market, where sea lions paddle up for handouts. In this video you will see some of the huge, gorgeous sea lions that were literally 1 meter away from me. They are not in cages. They are swimming freely in the river…bless them and let’s pray that the river is not as polluted as it looked.

San Pedro De Atacama, Chile

The Atacama Desert is a virtually rainless plateau in South America, covering a 1,000 km strip of land on the Pacific coast of South America, west of the Andes mountains. The Atacama desert is, according to NASA, National Geographic and many other publications, the driest place on earth (50 times drier than Death Valley in California). Scientists recently duplicated the tests used by the Viking 1 and Viking 2 Mars landers to detect life, and were unable to detect any signs in Atacama Desert soil. The region may be unique on Earth in this regard and is being used by NASA to test instruments for future Mars missions.

San Pedro De Atacama, Chile

On the final day of our Bolivian Salt Flats Tour, we descended from nearly 5000 metres altitude, to San Pedro at 2,400 metres down one unbelievably straight road that seemed to go on forever. It was wonderful arriving in San Pedro after the Bolivian Altiplano due to the increased breathing ability, and the warm sunny climate.

I used San Pedro de Atacama as a pit-stop, spending a total of 24 hours in Chile before making my way to Salta in Argentina. This was partly due to the fact that there were only two ATMs in the town, one was broken and the other only accepted Mastercard, and partly due to the fact that there were only 2-3 buses a week from San Pedro to Salta in Argentina (with a company called Gem’s), and one happened to be leaving the next day.