Torres del Paine

Off i went for a new hike.. 5 days in Torres del Paine..

On top of being mad expensive the refugios had to be booked in advance.. and i just hate booking things in advance!.. so it would be camping.. at least i can take off whenever i want and change my mind at any point.. that's more like me!

Camping is actually pretty easy in this park, especially if you do the most common "W" circuit, as you can just camp on the lower points of the W and do the branches as day hikes, so you don't have to carry your tent most of the time..

Altogether it felt quite easier than the Kepler.. and i was much better prepared too, with a proper ration of pasta for every night!

Anyway.. i won't make you dream with beautiful lights (as some people had sold it to me!) but here's what it looked like..

An old jetty in Puerto Natales, before leaving..

the entrance of the park..
the first hike was the steepest and not the most interesting, but eventually the view on the famous "torres" was nice.. so there i am, posing for the tourist shot..
the second day was much better (eventhough i had to carry my tent this time!) with beautiful walks along the lakes..




third day.. i've left my tent down by the lake and climb up the "valle frances"..



the 360 degrees panorama of sharp peaks at the top of valle frances is hard to render in photo (especially with this weather) but very impressive!


fourth day, i walk up to glacier Grey..

and get to see icebergs! man, i love them! what's more beautiful (and more cold) than icebergs? Women maybe! and yet never so consistently! ;-)

for the return i had an option of taking a boat accross the lake back to the entrance, but my legendary cheapness took over me again and i prefered a nice 5 hours walk in the rain instead!

a model of the park, with the lakes, the glacier on the top left corner, valle frances in the middle, and the torres.. well you still have to know where!
of course only when we were driving out of the park did it start to clear up!

And that'll be it for a quick visit through Chile.. I'm off to Argentina next!..

The last country already.. can you believe this??

La Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego!

Just to say i went accross the Magellan strait, i spent a night in Porvenir, on "the big island" at the end of the world..

Is it the "earth of fire" i see reflecting in the evening skies?

the Selk'nam people.. same old story: first we kill them, then we build monuments..
these people survived for hundreds and hundreds of years, living completely naked in the harshest cold, and it only took a few european pricks to come and make historical monuments out of them...

That's it, now i'm in Puerto Natales, 200 and such kilometers north of Punta Arenas and lauching point for the treks in the most famous Torres del Paine national park.. got my tent, sleeping bag, cooking gear.. but no concentrated milk! shit! what am i gonna do without my concentrated milk??? maybe i just shouldn't go!

the strait "of the ultimate hope" (that's the real name! do you think i'm making this up?)

Wind!

My first day in Punta Arenas and i'm welcomed by a wind tempest! I was thinking this place was extremely windy, but yesterday was just out of control!
After i left you i went downtown, and stopped on the main square.. it was madness! For ten minutes i was hanging on to a pole and couldn't stop laughing!.. Then i refocused and started shooting pictures of people desperately trying to cross the streets, walking with a 45 degrees angle to the ground.. cops tying ropes around the poles to prevent people from being blown under the passing cars, or helping kids and old ladies to walk...
Boy! If there's that much wind when i hike in the mountain i may just fly straight back home without a plane ticket!

The end of the world is near!

...the southern end at least!
I just arrived in Punta Arenas, the southernmost town of mainland Chile, just next to the Terra Del Fuego island..

Like this guy, you can admire the view over the city down to the antarctic ocean..

It's mad windy out here! It sounds like the wind is going to blow away this nice little internet cafe on top of the hill! It even blows under the door and lifts the linoleum off the floor!


Oh, and just so you can't say i haven't showed you Santiago here's the tourist shot.. If you use your imagination a bit you can even notice the Andes in the background.. still the graffitis remain the most interesting aspect in this urban jungle..

Tell'em the tailor tale!

After 9 months of travelling, sitting on messed up bus and train seats, rubbing against my camera bag all day, and going through a bunch of repairs already, my jeans were truly about to surrender..

if you see what i mean..

So i went to the "Paris" store downtown -a Galeries Lafayettes / Macy's type store- asking for the 'mercerià' department, as spelled out in my newly acquired spanish dictionary..

The guy looked at me blank.. "the what?¿"

Now that's where it gets interesting.. anywhere (like in paris to not mention any place in particular) the answer would have been "none of this around here, thank you, ciao!"
But not here! The first salesperson took me to one of his colleagues to whom i tried once more to explain.. "por reparar les vestidos!".. blank again!
The colleague made a few phone calls to find an english speaker, and after a while here comes Morris -my saviour!- and i'm now surrounded by no less than 3 salesperson desperately trying help me!..
I manage to explain to Morris that i need to find the "thread and needles" department for i need pretty badly to repair my jeans!..
Now Morris looks at me just like you would.. "jeans are not that expensive you know!!"
But come on! these have travelled the whole world! They can't give up on me in the last run! I neither can i abandon them; i'm a sensitive man! (at least when it comes to jeans!)
So here are my 3 very comprehensive salespersons making more phone calls to find out where in the world i could find what i need..
I had entered the store a good half hour ago expecting more or less a "yes or no" type of answer.. at this point i'm really starting to feel embarassed!
There's an address. It's in the next street, but Morris will leave his workplace and accompany me all the way to make sure i find what i need!.. The first place is closed but we're directed to the next building.. We enter the building (not a store, just a residencial building) and ask the gardian... "2nd floor, appartment 102", he says.. and we find ourselves knocking at the door of someone's appartment..
Indeed, there lives a tailor!
Morris explains my case, makes sure i'm in good hands and being taken care of, and then only returns to work! Thank you so much Morris!

The lady looks strangely at me when i insist to have it repaired with pink thread, but hey, when a freak comes in asking you to resurrect his torn jeans, you don't ask too many questions, do you?

so it took a good hour of hard expert work to bring these poor pants back to life..

but now they're just like new!! (kind of..)

Street art, the return!

And to start the year in color, i suggest a small selection amongst Santiago's wonderful wall paintings..

Feliz Año!

Bonne Année!
Happy New Year!
Gutes Jahr!
счастливого нового года!
"Chi'nye how"! (that was supposed to be in Chinese!)

Wishing you all the best and a crazy year 2007!

Bye bye New Zealand..

I know! I'm late again.. but before i continue with new fascinating adventures i wanted to post some last random shots from New Zealand i have in stock..

for instance, even blurred, i had to show this crazy typical newZealandish plant before leaving..

Lake Tekapo and its amazing turquoise color..

how about that funky car found in Christchurch?

Sunset on lake Taupo.. (sunsets always work!)

Walked the famous Tongariro crossing in the worst imaginable weather and even got lost in the fog.. for a while i thought i'd be stuck there waiting for rescue!.. Cold and damp but still pretty!

..and with a bit of imagination you may even see the blue lagoon lost in the fog!

finally the smoking volcanic activity in Roturoa...

That's it!.. It's about time to change country, change continents, change year... wow! you think you can handle all that at once?!

What to do on a rainy afternoon?

How about some funky photo-montages?!

Anyway.. merry christmas to all! :-)

Think of me while i'll be spending christmas in the plane to Chili!.. After 11 hours of flight, i'll reach Santiago 3 hours before departing Auckland.. how's that for a brainteaser?!

Hold on! Gloulbblblblbbl!!

All the way to India, travelling alone was providing most of the excitment, but New Zealand is pretty mellow in comparison.. so to keep you awake they sell you adrenaline by the dose..

Thus, now that i don't have any crazy truck drives accross Tibet, i just go jumping off stupid stuff!
The last one was a 7 meters waterfall on the Kaituna river, near Rotorua..

Hold on!

Gloulbblblblbbl!!

Oops.. we lost Jana!

pretty wet, eh!

(and i also added some pics of the skydive below..)

Three, Two, OAAAAAaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!

After a quick stop to gaze at the turquoise blue waters of lake Tekapo (or was it Tepabo? or Tepakap? or TeKO?.. they just have the most random names anyways!) I left my dear friends in Christchurch, not without a tear in the corner of my eye..

And i hopped back on my long bus journeys to reach lake Taupo in 2 days, and spend the remaining few days before christmas in the center of the north island.

- Do you know were i may possibly ask in order to enquire about the possibility to suggest that i may some day, if it is possible.. do some skydiving.... ? i ask timidly to the reception of my guesthouse..
- Of course here is a good company you should go today because tomorrow is going to be rainy look i'll just call for you it's all good you're signed in they'll come pick you up in two hours.
- er..... ok.
She said everything in one sentence before i had time to breathe and the last part still rings in my head like a death sentence "they'll come pick you up in two hours"!

Indeed, two hours later i'm all dressed up and harnessed, sitting in a plane with an instructor glued to my back and making faces to the camera... (what the hell am i doing??)

As the plane gains altitude i start to feel my stomach going upside down.. and why don't they put toilets in these stupid tiny aircrafts?! but the pityless eye of the camera stares at me and i have to play cool so i can show later in front of my friends!

There we are. 15000 feet above the ground. It never felt so far.

They open the fake plastic sheet that serves as a door and the first person disapears in a split second. Are they dead yet? I'm next.

We move to the door and i barely have time to look down when YYYAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!
At this point it's excitment more than fear.. it's too late for fear anyways!

Completely unconscious that i'm crashing to the ground at over 200km/h i even find the time to smile at the camera!.. i mean, as much as i manage to smile with my cheeks flapping on my teeth! My mouth is completely dry but i don't quite manage to close it..
The feeling is... impossible to describe! I simply scream my guts out!

The 60 seconds of free fall seem like an instant and i'm already pulled by the crotch as the parachute opens. All of a sudden the wind stops and everything goes calm.

Except me, i can't stop screaming my excitment!

A few spins with the parachute to admire the view, the volcanoes, the snowy mountains, the fields, the lake.. beautiful..

And it's already over.. i lift my legs as instructed and we both land smoothly on our bottoms.
The time to back up to my feet and i already can't believe i just did it!
Can we do it again?!!