Pichil-emu get it!?!? ha!

It is May 20th 2010 and Jess and I have just taken a 3 hour ride aboard an old bus from Santiago through the Chilean countryside to the fishing village of Pichilemu….

There is something unsettling about the very earth you stand upon shaking! A sort of uneasy fear knowing there’s little you can do other than stand in awe of the great force of nature. The first few times we felt the tremors I convinced Jess someone was just doing some earth moving with a dump truck, I was 50% right.

Pichilemu after the quakes:

Yup the Concepcion, 50km south, earthquakes still cause small daily tremors in Pichilemu. The people are busy rebuilding homes and places destroyed by the second 7.2 earthquake or the tsunami that followed. Even with all the destruction, Pichilemu is an amazingly special place. It has an aura of relaxation, a place where time doesn’t matter unless it’s breakfast time, time to go surfing, time for bed, time for a beer etc etc.

It’s not a modern or pretty town by any means. Perched on a high peninsula stretching out into the Pacific wrapping itself into a long bay and a small river. It is very picturesque yet most roads are dirt, the curb-side is lined with rubbish, houses are in need of repair and a smell of dog shit fills the air due to the high number of the roaming dog population. The public areas are nice, neat, well groomed and have mass potential. But if it ever made good on that potential it would lose its charm.

View from Beauna Vista Cabanas over Pichilemu

View of la puntilla on a flat day

Arriving in low season has the advantage of really getting your feet wet with the local culture and people. It’s easier to bite through the tourist crust of a town and get to the gooey goodness inside. Like the friendly family man selling dulce de lecce(caramel) filled buns in a cart outside the local and only supermarket every night. He chatted to us in broken English and fluent Spanish then ordered us a taxi home each night. We never really understood what he said but he knew us, said Ola(Hello), smiled, introduced his children and helped us on our way.

Just out taking my Llama fo a walk

It also has its low points, such as arriving at the surf hostel only to have no staff, no reception, no water and no guests. Just dumped there with a key by the caretaker. You spill out onto the streets to find the restaurants closed, shops closed and holiday homes locked up. “We will stay the night then leave” you say to each other.
The only other inhabitants this day were pelicans:

Cabana Puntilla

During the day our routine would involve a long slow breakfast of scrambled eggs on toast, corn flakes, a coffee and listening to the nightlife with Tony Delroy.

The daily grind

You can take the man out of the computer but you cant take the computer out of the man:

When the quiz was done we’d get ready for the afternoon. I’d walk Jesse to her Spanish school and whilst Jesse advanced her Spanish, with her fantastic teacher Connie, I strolled up the point along the shore to a local surf shack. The shack was run by a stocky bloke Rodriguez who also ran most of the towns home building so business was booming for him. Rodriguez would have laid out ready for me a new Billabong wetsuit (the only one they had for anyone over 5’6), booties and a 6’6 quad-fin fish every day. Most of the time they were working on the building sites so I’d just pick it up and pay him whenever I felt like it, it was that sort of place.

I’d then walk the rest of the way up the point to where you paddled out behind the protection of the seaweed covered rocks. This was the break I surfed the most as it was a 10minute walk from the cabanas right in front of town called La Puntilla. The break is capable of producing 800m rides on the right day and most day’s I spent the first few hours of the afternoon surfing La Puntilla with just me, a couple of others and the seals and the penguins popping up to see what these odd creatures were doing in their backyard.

La Puntilla

On average the waves never dropped below head high making nice 50-75 metre lefts, occasionally there’d be days with a fresh swell travelling up the coast producing waves in the double over head region. These new swells would make rides over 150-200m possible and you’d be too tired after 2 waves to paddle all the way back out. Too quote Endless Summer II “As a surfer, you’re stoked! No one’s out!”
I’d spend a few hours sharing the waves with a few others calling them into waves, having them call me in, them talking to me in Spanish and me replying in English. No one knew what the other was saying only that watching countless lefts peel through unridden was pure joy.

5 o’clock would roll by, you knew it was 5pm because all the local workers would start paddling out. I’d tell them that they missed it, the tide changed and it was better earlier. They’d just laugh then hoot as they took the next wave. Most of the hoots and yeee haaawws came from a bloke named Mitch. A Christian missionary from the good ole US of A who has been here for 22 years. He’s now fixing up his gym and pool as well as rebuilding people’s homes that were lost in the tsunami or earthquakes. On top of all that do-gooding he was judge of the Big Wave Competition being held at Punta Del Lobos. He explained that he wanted to get all the competing surfers to come and help build a house. He’d then shoot a documentary on the process and the family. He asked me to help but unfortunately I don’t think he managed to get this organised.

Quicksilver Big Wave Competition

The crowd:

Punta Del Lobos was another amazing place to surf, 1 of 3 within 5 minutes drive of each other. Lobos is the most famous break but not the best, I’ll keep that one quiet, it’s power is hard to get used to. Even on a small head high day thanks to how deep the break is the waves push you along at a fair rate before barrelling over an inside section and continuing their path wrapping around the point.
It’s an intimidating place at first, the paddle out, the currents, the power and the size of the waves all make it a challenging spot to surf. The first time I arrived at Lobos I had no idea how to get out to the break besides a good 1km paddle from the beach. Luckily a friendly French guy, he spent time overseas to be de-frenched, took pity and explained the paddle out.
“First you climb down the cliff over here” running over and pointing down the 30ft goat trail to the bottom.
“Then you get up on that rock platform, be careful not to get swept off so time it well. Then after a wave has come through you jump and paddle like a mad man to the big nipples before the next wave comes else you’ll end up on the rocks.”
“Nipples?” I questioned.
“Yes those two big rocks with the bird shit on them they look like two big tits.”
“Ok” I said.
“So once your there you’ve done the hard part, walk around the back and wait in between sets and paddle like a mad man into the channel.”
His instructions were spot on and after making it down the goat track, across the channel and off the tits I understood exactly why he mentioned “mad man” so many times.

Aforementioned nipples with me ducking behind them:

Punta Del Lobos

Ripping the curl

Cut back

X2

Setting up…

The day before the first time we left Pichilemu we sat on the rocky cliff and watched the mad men perform an intrinsic dance across the face of watery mountains. 15-20ft+ waves broke in front of the sharp rocks. The surfers riding big guns rode the drop and out in the channel to the cheers of the crowd. Those unfortunate to come unstuck got pounded by the surf, 2-3 waves in a row and were swept across the rocks too be picked up by a jet ski zooming to their rescue.

Pichilemu was one of the best places we discovered on our trip around South America. It’s chilled out vibe, friendly people and unforgettably great waves were so good after we left the first time we travelled all the way back from northern Argentina just to surf, learn Spanish and sit in our cabana sipping red wine.

Hutch

P.S Dont go there you’ll hate it.

P.P.S For those who didnt see the video i whacked together on the Big Wave Comp:

Related posts:

1. La where the hell?
2. Deserted – San Pedro de Atacama
3. Pucon ya face!

So this blog isn’t up to date…we do apologise but we’ve been busy travelling ten’s of thousands of kilometres. We should be able to update it more often now however. Excited, i am!

It’s May 22nd 2010, Autumn in the southern hemisphere and a spectacular one at that. We have just left the coast of Chile and are heading across the mighty Andes mountain range once more to the wine capital of Argentina Mendoza.

Unfortunately with us, are hundreds upon hundreds of buses coming both ways to and from Chile and Argentina. When travelling,  you easily lose track of public holidays especially Chilean and Argentinian public holidays. Both Chile and Argentina share a public holiday, we believe it to be their national day and  (like Australia Day without Yothu Yindi and John Farnham). Making it a long 4 day party. It seems, to us that everyone in Chile goes to Argentina and everyone in Argentina heads to Chile.

We departed at 6pm scheduled to cross the border into Argentina and arrive by about midnight. At midnight we are stuck in a large queue of buses, not the first and it wont be the last, waiting to cross the border high in the Andes. I’m further stuck in a small semi-cama seat (a seat reclines as much as a K.D Lang did – don’t get it? well you know who the Beatles are? Ah just Google it.), Jess is asleep and god thank the creators of the Playstation and Fifa 2010 because at least i had entertainment. We eventually get out of the bus with the 40 other chickens, dogs, babies and occasionally a toothless adult and line up in a queue for immigration and customs. I must tell you, the Argentinians and Chileans are extremely efficient, there is one bloke for Chile who stamps you to leave and right next to him is the Argentinian authority who lets you in. The whole process takes under a minute, except the queue which takes a couple of hours and several group bribes (throwing coins into a cup to get to the front of the line quicker).

Finally we get through and roll into Mendoza in the early dark hours of the morning. Arriving at our hostel, which is incredibly expensive at least $50 a night each for a private room due to the holiday. The place is old, dusty but it will do. I’m knackered and the PlayStation died a long while ago, i need sleep.

Please click the following link to read more:

We wake. So what’s in Mendoza we ask ourselves? Lonely Planet and FootPrints rave about it’s food and wine so we head to macca’s. Yup indulge in the culture!! Unfortunately it’s exactly the same as home, go figure. The books speak of a lovely town, a new city due to the Earthquake destroying the town in 1861. It is nestled in from the mountains on a plain that is cultivated for it’s rich soils to grow some fantastic wine. If you’ve ever had a Malbec and enjoyed it, this is the place to visit.

So eat, drink and be merry. Doesn’t sound too hard! We stroll the streets, stopping by the squares, markets and cafes. For dinner we decide to taste a recommended restaurant Anna Bistro. The place is a large spread out layout with floor to ceiling windows with views of the, what we are told is a beautiful landscaped garden, I find this odd, since it’s dark, night time, there’s no lights and the place is closed until dinner. The food, beer and cocktails are fantastic! Exactly what the doctor ordered after being sick.

Jager beer anyone?

Dessert:

The next day we’re booked on a wine tour, due to the long weekend we’re told most tours are closed but we manage to find one that starts at 2pm. Which is great after a few too many jagers.

Ring, buzz, knock, prod, kathump, whisper “Jess i thinks there’s someone at the door”.
“What?!” – Jess removes ear plugs.
“The door” – whispering a scream.
Thud thod thud -”WHAT!?”
“Ahh you tour buz iz ut de fwont” our Spanish speaking french man tells us.
“Nah mate, 2 o’clock not 6:30am” – Jess tell him.
“Noh it iz nuw”
I peer out the window to see 15 or so people peering back.
“Shhhhiiiiiittttt!” we say in harmony.

A quick English shower and we run out the door to join a wine tour at 6:30 in the morning without breakfast. Jess thinks this is bad, i call it a head start.

7am first wine of the day, delightful. Unlike back home this tour seems to be about wine appreciation rather than wine consumption.The teach us how to gaze, sniff and sip the wine and i thought you just drank the stuff.

The oldest winery in Mendoza

Also the biggest barrels of wine in Mendoza

Onto the next winery. After several tastings photos of the “wine process” become interesting, perhaps only in the way that if you say yess hmm yess and make friends with the person who’s pouring said wine you seem to get a lot more of it.

Jess looking far to spritely for 9am:

The vines, what’s interesting about this vineyard is that all the water is provided by a small river which is irrigated the “old way” by a system of channels dug out weaving through the vineyards and back into the river.

Wine crusher-up-er-rer

After too many tasting we hear that the next stop is an olive oil factory with tastings. I’ve never been so excited about olives! Olive oil tastings means bread! Bread is almost filling and we’re starving. It’s 1 o’clock and we haven’t eaten anything but aged grape juice.

That said i still have time to snap this fantastic tour companies name:

Olive oil being made, don’t ask me what stage in the process this paying more attention to the fruit trees outside:

Some lovely art on the walls of the olive oil factory

There are no further photos of that day. Primarily due to that fact we were too busy eating trays of bread and olive oil.

The next day, we decided to head back to the place we love on the southern Chilean coast – Pichilemu. This time we went “full cama” – think first class full flat beds, steak, champagne, wireless internet oh yeah! All for the princely sum of $30 each. This is the point where we discovered this was the way to travel South America. At night time, after 9pm, on a bus in full cama. You sleep right through the 10 hour journey and wake up at your destination.

Serenity now

Still occasionally it pays to look out the window:

Mendoza was a nice enough place but i wouldn’t rush back there unless you were a wine enthusiast. We had much better meals elsewhere and much better wine for an eighth of the price. Still it was good to see the festivities of the two nations and enjoy being surrounded by the locals.

**Update**
It’s been a while since we have updated everyone on our movements. The last everyone might know is that we had arrived in Vancouver, Canada. Well, to keep this short, we did and we loved it but things weren’t going so well on many fronts. So on one of our many walks around Vancouver we ducked into a pub for lunch. 8 hours and a lot of beers later, we had met some new fantastic friends from sunny England who raved about Calgary, Alberta and how sunny and pleasant it was. For us that whim was all we needed, two days later we left Vancouver, jumped on a plane and landed in Calgary.

It wasn’t as rash as it sounds. For instance, Jess’ friend Lori met us at the airport having not seen Jess in years and never meeting me. Gave us her house, her cat and her car and made us feel very much at home. For which, we are extremely grateful! We’re now in living in Calgary, enjoying it and praying for the snow.

Wherever you are i hope you are well!
Hutch and Jess

Related posts:

1. Accommodation Top Eleven – Review
2. Vancouver – Week 2-3
3. Hutchae in Bariloche

*Warning this post contains lots of images*

It’s early May 2010 say around the 10th May 2010 actually. We’re in Pucon, Chile, which is 10 hours or so south of Santiago and pushed against the Andes.

We are arriving from a lovely little ski town San Martin De Los Andes by a 4 hour bus ride. Why do bus rides seem to have the same affect on time as doctors surgery’s etc. Anyway, Pucon is a lovely little town on a lake, which is great because it’s part of the lake district…be a bit rubbish if it wasnt, and nestled amongst the hills of the Andes. There’s heaps to do in Pucon, trekking, whitewater rafting, mountain biking, climbing the volcano, hot springs etc. Lots of tasty food and places to have a few quiet ales but your here for the great outdoors.

After arriving in Pucon we drop our bags off at the Hostel Edigio and grab something to eat. We are stoked, scrambled eggs!!

5 hours later.

I don’t feel so good. It’s 6:30pm and we’re trying on the equipment for our trip up the Volcano. The trip is all organised by Borris, the bullet dodger, as in Borris the sneaky f@#$ing Russian, who is the hostel concierge if you will. All set, packed, geared up and ready. Dinner time, we find out it is the owners birthday and her husband as packed on a massive BBQ for us. We sit and eat giant cuts of steak and drink a delightful merlot. During dinner, i start to feel worse…

Pucon Ya Face:

Beautiful:

The top tip of the tip top Volcano we want to climb:

Jesse trying on the soo sexy climbing gear

Up at 5:30am, nope we’re not going up no Volcano today. I’m far too sick and Jesse isnt feeling too good either.

3 days and 361 visits to the bathroom later…

I’m in the local hospital adding to my tour the worlds hospitals. My last, was the sweeping tour of London’s finest medical institutions(three of them and two ambulance rides) in 2005.  The entire family from the hostel was there to help me out, a translator, the mama and Borris’s the bullet dodger’s fiance. As far as hospital’s go it was ok not too run down. The doctor smelt fresh of ciggarettes and the ceiling had fresh blood on it but other than that it was pretty average.

It was very comforting having the help of the guys who own the hostel they went above and beyond to make me feel better. Constantly checking on us, making me jelly and tea. Especially Lydia or Mama Lydia as we got to know her, we are extremely greatful

Mama Lydia

It turned out the antibiotics given to us back in Perth arent the best for me and they were making things a lot worse. Not suprising, here is what wikipedia says:

Norfloxacin is a synthetic chemotherapeutic agent  occasionally used to treat common as well as complicated urinary tract infections.

Hmmm no not that one:

The licensed uses for norfloxacin are quite limited as norfloxacin is to be considered a drug of last resort when all other antibiotics have failed.

Side-effects include: liver failure, pancreatitis and occasionally random tendon snapping. Anyway with new antibiotics and a couple of days later im climbing a 2800m active volcano.

Huh!?

Ok well a couple of days and a soothing few hours in the hot springs and we’re both feeling capable of climbing a volcano. The volcano in question here is Villarrica which last errupted in 1971 killing two people in another town not Pucon. For those readers who are sharp you may be thinking i never asked a question. Your right, the question is Why and How are we going to climb 2000 odd metres over a glacier and up a volcano after not moving or eating for 5 days?

First off, we decided we were sick of hostels and to make ourselves feel better we checked into some fancy self-contained cottages just outside of the town centre called Cabanas Monte Verde. We also hired a beast of a car, something similar to a 1980′s civic or Puegeot .108, i say .108 because thats about all of me that could fit inside this thing. The important thing was, the cabins immediately made us feel more comfortable. Set on a hillside amongst green lawns and landscaped gardens overlooking the lake.

Our cabin:

Morning cloud rolling across the lake:

View from the top cabin:

Besides the volcano, Pucon is famous for hot springs. There are about 5 or so different hot springs within a few hours drive of Pucon. We went to 3 of them. Our favourite by a long shot was the hot springs at Geometrica Termas(GT) or Termas Geometrica whichever your preference is for order of saying things. The place is one hour drive from Pucon. Unfortunately, as for every adventure we go on, we get lost and spend 1 hour going to a “No Entrar” dirt road leading nowhere and then 2 hours getting back to find the right dirt road to go down.

Now you’re sure we’re going down the right road:

We stopped to ask for directions from the locals:

GT is an amazing place situated in a sharp small valley with a couple of “cold” waterfalls flowing into a stream and the hot springs adding to the mix. The place has no electricity so it’s all lit by candles and fires. In the main reception area we sit by a large fire and take in some home made chicken soup and apple crumble. Tasty! Then venture out into the fog to the baths.

Entrance to Termas Geometrica

Inside the reception area, outside temperature is below 10.

Change rooms on the right:

GT is made up of several ceramic tiled pools of different water temperatures from skin melting to 2nd degree burns

The first pool

The waterfall:

Walking up amongst the trees and ferns to another pool

Anyone for a shower

Relaxed. The next day we decide we should test our lack of fitness and go on one of the many walks in the national parks that surround the area.

From one of the lookouts

This photo is from about half way up, when we were told by the local fishermen that it was getting to late to make it all the way up:

The national parks in Chile are amazing, Australia could learn a lot. Firstly there are, what can be best described as, a heap of them and they all have fantastic services such as guides, well marked and constructed trails, no litter, places to stay overnight and camp and even pubs that take 2 hours to hike too.

Now, the reason most people come to Pucon, to climb Volcano Villarrica! After testing ourselves the day before on a small 2 hour hike to a pub we book our spot on a guided tour up the Volcano. This volcano is active, simply put the earth spits out hot smelly stuff at the top which is part of the attraction, not so attracting is the lack of safety features and we’re told you slip you die. Well! Up at 6am and by 7am we’re fitted out yet again with all the gear and are ready to roll. Only one problem, the Columbian guy on our tour(there’s three of us) isnt here. He rolls in 30mins late, i make jokes about how he had to powder his nose or just checking prices on kidnapbay.com for two Australians.

Our guide Al-someethingorather, we call him Big Al or Big Gay Al(he wasnt but south park quotes are funny) and the Columbian his name is Mario or Big M(like the chocmilk). M calls us team JJ and laughs, probably at the fact that blondes sell for more i dont know. Just kidding, M and BGA are great blokes well M is cracking jokes and speaking better english than our english speaking guide. It worries us “non-spanish speaking people” when they laugh and do pushing signals with their hands then point at the volcano…

Cold, late and budled into a minivan we rally drive our way up to the ski hill piercing the clouds to reveal a spectacular though windy day. We pull up at the bottom of the ski resort, during busier periods the ski lift takes visitors up the first section shortening it by an hour or so.

About 30mins from the base and the temperature is somewhere below f__king freezing

Towards the top of the ski run, burnt buildings destroyed in the the last erruption:

View from the above ruin out over Pucon, you can see the blanket of cloud we drove through:

We stop for breakfast then ascend another hour or so to the next point called Lunch

Lunch is on a spine that extends out from the glacier and yes my hair is awesome:

Big M, Jess and I, yes that’s an ipod i’m listening to. What song? Probably “falling down the mountain” by INXS. Please also note, the only person holding a pick axe is a Columbian!

After lunch it’s time to put on our crampons to ascend the glacier. The temperature somewhere near Absolutely F___king Freezing. We’re given instructions on how to walk with the crampons on and how to position our ice pick so as to stop us falling a few thousand feet if we trip over. This point on the trek is known as sh1tting yourself! The first part is up a 50-60 degree snow/ice incline. This takes 45mins to an hour. At the top, our guide tells us we’re one of the fastest groups he’s had. Probably because the Columbian is on crack cocaine and i’m now listening to some trance music.

The top of the 2nd 3rd, Jesse, Big M and Big Gay Al

The guide leaves his second backpack full of safety gear like ropes and extra crampons etc because it’s too heavy behind a rock.
A panorama from the 2/3 across Pucon:

Ok this photo shows the last 100-150 metres which takes an hour or so. This is steep the exact angle would be above 60 degrees towards “fall-n-death”. The general approach to stop you falling is to have your ice pick on the hill side of you at all times as you zig-zag up the volcano. If you fall you then dig your ice pick into the snow and hold on. Yeah right!

The last section of the climb is too steep, cold and windy to take pictures. The wind is blowing a gale, the temperature officially reaches frostbite, Jess is swearing at herself for even thinking of doing this and i’m sweating and getting rather annoyed because i’ve just been told i cant slide down the volcano because it’s too windy which is the only reason i climbed it in the first place. Yes, on a sunny non-windy slightly safer day you can slide down the top section on a mat! Awesome. We’ve just been told that we’re going to have to walk it!

We make it! The top of the volcano Villarrica. It is amazing! It is the highest peak that you can see. You feel like you’re on top of the world. You’re tired but elated and there’s also a bubbling lava spitting volcano in front of you.

The rim of the volcano, doesnt look safe basically your standing on solidfied molten lava some of which is hollow still emitting smoke. It is difficult to breathe, the sulphur stings your nostrels, throat and eyes. To get away from this we climb along the rim away from where the smoke is blowing.

Top of the world to ya:

Proof, i believe this is the spot where young skywalker fell:

The climb along the rim:

Panorama’s of the volcano:

The climb back down takes FOR E V E R! Slow inching our way back down the ice. By this time my gloves are wet from the snow meaning my hands are frozen and beginning to burn. Luckily our guide takes us down a faster route over some ski runs covered in pebble gravel.

We make it to the bottom utterly exhausted. It has been emotional! But hey i’ve climbed an active volcano have you!?

Hutch

Related posts:

1. San Martin De Los Undies
2. Deserted – San Pedro de Atacama
3. Mendo-zzzzzzzzz-a

After BA Tigre and Iguazu  we were feeling a little tired and wondered what would be the best way to spend Bickies (Ben and Vicky’s) last three days of Vacation before they headed back to the states. After some deliberation we decided to go to the UNESCO World Heritage town of Colonia Uruguay. It is a town where the Portuguese used to smuggle goods over to BA when the areas were still disputed between the colonial powers of Spain and Portugal.

We took the ferry from BA and checked into our lovely B&B/hostel with a balcony and a view to the sea. Unfortunately Bickie didn’t have such luck getting a room where the windows shook violently every time someone turned on hot water (which was frequently). Needless to say they moved to another B&B the next day.

For purely novel reasons we decided to get around town in a golf cart hired from Thrifty car rentals (like you do). It is a really small town so it was an easy way to get on and off sight seeing with the cart, plus it saved Plum strolling which he loathes with a passion. We named him for whatever reason Jorge and became slightly attached to him (as you can see by all his photos) With Ben and Justin the front and me and vix in the back we set off. The only problem was that we took the wrong turn off and ended up on the freeway to the capital city Montevideo. Needless to say we got some strange looks and toots chugging down the freeway at 40km/hour.

We finally took the coast road to the old derelict bull ring where Justin and I simulated a bull fight. I think the bull won that time (it was a big ass bull). While we stopped for Bickie to spend an hour looking at a market for gifts (that was a slight dig to them for looking at the markets all the time ), Plum and I saw some group of school kids celebrating and chanting. We curiously looked on to see what it was about (which we didn’t) and then they started playing “short dick man” on the stereo….it was very odd!!!

Of course that would make you a bit peckish so we stopped at an alien looking street vendor caravan and had the local “Milenesea completo”. It is a whole crumbed veal steak in a roll with (like literally everything else) cheese. Unfortunately there was no banana liquardo’s or empanadas but with full bellies we pottered over to old town.

It is absolutely beautiful with cobbled streets and white washed building surrounded by vibrant coloured bougainvillea. We happily strolled the streets taking loads of photos, finishing on some rocks on the beach to watch the sun set. An amazing day filled with loads of laughs, good food and great scenery. As we dropped of Jorge we became concerned to see armoured guards with large shot guns. We couldn’t help but stop and watch to see what it was all about. It then occured to us that the kombie was an armoured van for transporting money!!! I haven’t seen a kombie used for that before!!! Over all a great place we would recommend to chill out and enjoy the finer things in life with some great friends.. Enjoy! We did.

Related posts:

1. Pucon ya face!
2. Mendo-zzzzzzzzz-a
3. There’s no emu’s in Pichilemu

G’day Guys and Gals

We’re doing some reminicing of our trip so far and came up with a list of our top eleven accommodation’s we have stayed at as of the 5th May 2010:

1. Las Dunas – El Calafate Argentina – Good food, good views, room with wifi, good rooms, good bath, good service, cable tv, bad pillows, more expensive and no liquardo’s! ****½ (4.5/5)
2. Las Lucarnas – San Martin De Los Andes Argentina – Quaint, cosy, great rooms, great beds, good location, bath, wifi in room, fantastic service, good breakfast, great value and cable tv.****~ (4/5)
3. Viajero Bed and Breakfast – Colonia Uruguay – Great rooms with balcony and view, wifi in room, cable tv, ok service, ok food, good value and good location. ***½~ (3.5/5)
4. Hostel Patagonia – El Chalten Argentina – Great new cosy rooms, fantastic service, cosy common areas, no breakfast, no in room wifi and good value. ****~ (4/5)
5.  Buenos Aires Apartment – Buenos Aires Argentina – Self contained, balcony, convenient, good location, wifi and mobile phone, bit small and smelt awful. ***½~ (3.5/5)
6. HI Downtown San Francisco – San Francisco USA – Good room, great location, wifi in room, street noise, ok service and bad breakfast.***~~ (3/5)
7. La Balconada – La Paloma Uruguay – Fantastic staff/owners, personal touch, tiny rooms, expensive, no wifi and shared bath.***~~ (3/5)
8. Marcopolo Iguazu – Iguazu Argentina – Hotel-like, ok service, ok rooms, ok food, wifi in rooms, great bar, pool and ok location.**½~~ (2.5/5)
9. Hostel-Inn Bariloche – Bariloche Argentina – Great common areas, great view, ok service, good cars, smelt like gas, shared bathroom and dinner and breakfast included. **½~~ (2.5/5)
10. Hostel Ritz – Buenos Aires Argentina – Great liquardo de banana, room service, good location, ok rooms, hotel-like, smelt like mould and ok service. **½~~ (2.5/5)
11. Viajero Downtown Montevideo – Montevideo Uruguay – Tiny rooms, overwhelming smell of bleach, stuffy, ok food, good service, pretty building, good location and good common areas. **~~~ (2/5)

We have also found that the Lonley Planet is seriously seriously out of date though if you do find the hostel/hotel is still in business it usually is very good. Hostelworld.com reviews are way way off the mark and as useful as drinking salt water in a drought. HiHostels.com is average, booking has to be done at least 2 days in advance and the reviews are semi-accurate. Tripadvisor seems to be the most accurate but rarely has hostels.

Most of the places we have stayed in cost around US$40-50 per night for a double room with private bathroom and includes a free breakfast.

Any questions, ask away below.
Cheers
Jess and Hutch

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