Feb 23, 2013 - Talca

2/23/2013 Today was a very long day as we drove over 500 K so we can drive through the Capitol City of Santiago tomorrow. The drive all day today was on toll roads. Not interstates but good 4 lane highway all day. No campgrounds so we overnighted in a COPEC fuel station 10 K north of Talca. Some of our friends want to stay longer in Chile and instead of flying to the falls in Argentina and staying more days. There are now 4 couples crossing into Argentina shortly and 3 couples staying on the beaches of Chile for another week. We will all...

Feb 4, 2010 - Forgive us our trespasses...

Midway through my second day of hiking in the Reserva Altos del Lircay, I had covered what felt like quite a bit of ground, but was still nowhere close to the Laguna del Alto, which was supposed to be an easy (distance-wise, anyway) stretch between the Enladrillado and the park headquarters- something to get to relatively quickly, take some pictures, and be back down at the park entrance in time to catch a late-afternoon bus to the crossroads near Colorado, get a second bus toward the tiny hamlet of Amerillo, and show up for a night's stay...

Feb 2, 2010 - And now, we'd like to introduce the Andes

Well, I did one more day of sightseeing in Valparaiso (highlight: Pablo Neruda´s very beautiful and quirky ship-themed house, built on a hill overlooking the harbor and the Pacific beyond) before heading back to Santiago last Sunday. Spent one hot, mosquito-bitten night at a hostel there, then Metro´d back to the bus station to head south, down to the central valley town of Talca. Not much to see in Talca itself, but it´s a good jumping-off point for a couple national parks and reserves, and I thought it time to try out my camping set-up. I...

Feb 3, 2009 - Talca

First solo hike of 9 looong hours. Wonderful to be in the stillness and only hear the wind and view the Andes. I stayed at a beautiful vegetarian, german run hostal, with log cabins overlooking (an albeit rather tiny) river. The pool was a glorious diversion after my hike...as was a bottle of wine, a hammock just enjoying the moon and stars. Couldn´t stay long enough to ride a bike to the vineyards, but will save that for Argentina.

Jan 15, 2008 - Stopover and update in Talca

Left Santiago after a few days and headed for Valparaiso, an old port city approx 120kms from the capital. We arrived early in the afternoon and headed straight for our accommodation at hostel El Rincon Marino which was surprisingly good (US$20 per night each).Valpo, as it is known locally, is about 400 years old and is a World Heritage Listed site. It is built on the side of hills coming straight up out of the ocean and because of this has a series of 15 cable cars which transport the locals up to their homes dotted all over the hillside....

Apr 13, 2006 - Kleines Desaster in Vilches

Wie ich mir beginn letzten Dezembers vorgenommen hatte wollte ich unbedingt zum Basislager des Vólcan Descabezado Grande bei Vilches hintrekken. Da der Autor des Trekkingführers "Adventurehandbook Central Chile" in der Nähe von Vilches, genauergesagt etwas ausserhalb von Talca das "Casa Chueca" aufgebaut hatte wollte ich vor Beginn eine Nacht dort bleiben um mir noch mehr Infos zu bekommen und auch eine Karte des Gebietes zu kaufen. Wie auch immer, es fing eigentlich gut an. Die Anlage ist wunderschön gelegen und ich konnte auch einen...

Feb 24, 2006 - Santiago to Pucon - Chile

Dom: this is going to be a bit sketchy as I cant remember the names of the places we went to. But C wrote them on the photos. Not having much time in Chile and both feeling a little jaded from all the constant organising of hostels and buses, we decided to do a tour. We boarded the Pachamama Bus touring south to the lake district and back up to Santiago every seven days, with the option of getting off at any point and getting back on the next bus a week later. On the second day we had a free afternoon so I had a surf lesson. Never surfed...

Feb 15, 2006 - Pichilemu, Chile

Well we finally made it all the way to Chile, in South America. This continent has always seemed like a far away and exotic place to us, so we weren't quite sure what to expect. But we were pleasantly surprised. Chile is a very easy place to travel; the country has a good infrastructure and the people are mellow, and very friendly. The buses here run on time and most places to stay are pretty clean. Another interesting thing about Chile is that it has a huge middle class, that is something that you don't normally find in developing nations....

Dec 9, 2005 - Drei Tage auf dem Enladrillado Trail

Am Dienstag morgen fuhr ich mit dem einzigen Bus des Tages nach Molina (1'500 $, etwa 2 h Fahrt), um von dort nach Talca weiterzufahren. Auf der etwa einstündigen Fahrt hatte man eine gute Sicht auf die verschneiten Gipfel der Kordilieren - unter anderem sah ich auch zum ersten Mal den Vulkan Decabecado Grande, phantastisch! Bis der Bus der Asociation Buses Rurales nach Vilches fahren sollte hatte ich noch genügend Zeit um Geld abzuheben und meine Lebensmittelvorräte etwas aufzustocken - ich hatte herausgefunden, dass ich für die fünftägige...

Dec 4, 2005 - Von den "sieben Tassen" und einem beinahe herbstlichen Hike

Nachdem ich auf dem letzten Hike in Argentinien keine Probleme mit der in Salta "erfolgreich" reparierten Therm-a-rest geschlafen hatte war ich doch sichtlich enttäuscht feststellen zu müssen, dass zum wiederholten Male die Luft aus der Matte entwichen war. Nach dem Frühstück half mir Jorge und der Fahrer mithilfe einer leeren Proviantbox das Leck zu suchen und tatsächlich wir entdeckten ein weiteres Loch (mittlerweile das Fünfte!). Es war schnell geflickt und die Matte konnte ungestört im kleinen Bus trocknen. Bei der Polizeikontrolle nahe...

Dec 3, 2005 - Curicó

Hallo Zusammen Leider bin ich mit meinen Berichten ein bisschen im Verzug, aber Zeit ist ja ohnehin etwas relatives, und in Südamerika sowieso. Darum hier also erst mal das Mail zu unserer Weiterreise von Santiago Richtung Süden. Zugfahren in Chile ist ganz gemütlich. Kaum waren wir in Santiago eingestiegen wurde schon ein warmes Mittagessen serviert. Leider aber nicht uns, ich weiss auch nicht, was für Spezialbillette diese Leute hatten, für uns gabs nur kalte Sandwiches, und die mussten erst noch bezahlt werden. Aber bequem war's...

Nov 14, 2005 - Chillan

Well one more weekend crossed off the calander, and I was lucky enough to have a blast. Agian I struck out with my adventures amiga Joanne, we went to a small town 7 1/2 hours shouth of Vina, we were luckey enough to get awasome weather the whole time. We were a little dissaponted by the town of Chillan its self, it was small and didn't offer much to the every day traveler. The town is really famouse for being the hopping off point for the very famouse "Thermas de Chillan" and "Eskier Volcan Chillan". So being the crazy guys we are we...