Flying in my first air taxi

I've never been on a smaller commercial airplane (20 seats). And I loved it; it's like a taxi, except in an hour I'm 450 km to the west of where I started.

The features:

• Hand-written boarding pass.
• General seating - the further back the less noisy.
• On-time departure and arrival.
• Speediest boarding and deplaning ever (7 passengers)
• Watch pilots fly.
• No flight attendants
• No snacks or drinks
• No safety demo (the signage was obvious)
• No bathroom (it's a 1 hour flight)

Bearskin Airlines flies to a bunch of not-so-major cities. I flew from Ottawa to Kitchener-Waterloo.

Trekking in Canada

The view over Cochamo valley, Chile. We are planning a
return visit there in January 2012 to more fully explore
the mountains.

Trekking has fast become my favourite way to experience new places. From the Grand Canyon to mountain ranges across South America I've been loving getting out there with a tent, kitchen and all the things I need in my backpack. Indeed, we are planning on heading back to Cochamo next year.

Yet, I've not seen Canada's wilder places from that perspective. Sure, I've skied out West, and in the East, I've lived on PEI and explored all the Island has to offer, done the drive around the Cabot Trail, day-hiked around Ottawa, navigated the wilds of Toronto :). But when we go 'backcountry', we head to the Adirondack Mountains wilderness in New York State - which is a fantastic place and only 3 hours from Ottawa.

This year, we will discover some of Canada's wilder fringes doning backpacks and hiking boots (and all the other stuff one needs out there).

So here's my question: What are your favourite trekking destinations across the country?What are the off-the-beaten trekking spots in the Northwest Territories and Newfoundland? The ruminating is just beginning and any random hints will be taken into consideration.

Professional hazard ...

I'm putting up a short series of tidbits on random observations on South American advertising, marketing, brands (with pictoral support of course!) on my professional blog at www.strategicmoves.blogspot.com over the next few days; from Santa and Coca-Cola to signage to restaurants, you'll hopefully enjoy ...

Which way does it go?

The beach ...

... is on the Pacific ocean. The waves are amazing here in Viña del Mar, twin city of Valparaiso about 1,5 hours from Santiago. Been enjoying some fine food, well, better anyways in terms of vegetarian options than during much of this voyage when not camping :)

We'll try and get some pics up in the next couple of days so you can appreciate it all for yourself.

Unbelievably, we are supposed to touch down in Ottawa in a few short days. We will spend a day in Buenos Aires on the way home, courtesy of Air Canada's policy-driven ... insanity. More on that later, too  :(

Our private Chilean cooking class was fun today. Looking forward to a tad more beach time before heading north!

Feliz Navidad, Merry Christmas, Joyeux Noel, Frohe Weihnachten

We woke up on this Christmas morning in Puerto Montt, capital of the Lake Region, in Chile - about 41 S. As you would guess by the latitude, there was no snow for snow angels and the Christmas tree by the harbour is more like a ship´s mast than a conifer. Appropriate, however, given that Puerto Montt is one of Chile´s more important harbours.

The other huge difference is that we are far from our family and friends (indeed, this is the first time in my 50 years that I have not been in Ottawa for Christmas -- I hope that there are some of my mom´s awesome shortbread cookies left for when we get back : )

Despite the distance, I hope that our wishes for a warm and memorable Christmas and our good vibes find you all as you make merry.

Bunches of love,

Jan and Inga
P.S. Santa managed to find us!



Christmas Eve dinner ... with Casillero del Diablo´s
Cab Sauv and yummy home-made stir fry with barley!



Heading to Northern Patagonia

It´s Monday. We are back in Puerto Natales - a 3-hour bus ride north of Punta Arenas. We have just checked in to the Navimag ferry to Puerto Montt. Tonight we embark and tomorrow when the tide and winds are right we take off into the choppy Patagonian waters. We will be on the ferry - it´s a large one - for 4 nights and 3 days. On the 24th in the morning we will arrive in Puerto Montt and spend a day or so to see a doc for Jan´s wrist and get ready, if all is well enough, to head to Cochamo to do some more hiking.

Us, Cassilero del Diablo and the beach camp at Grey Glacier

A guide we met in Torres del Paine told us about this gem of a valley. The only way in is a 5-hour hike, after a 2-hour bus ride from Puerto Montt and a 6 km cab ride to the trailhead. I think you can see why this has such appeal to us :)

We could have flown up, but where´s the adventure in that? I look forward to heading up through the fjords of Patagonia, amongst glaciers and ice flows. With a bit of luck we might see some cool aquatic life, like dolphins or whales. Also, we hear they sell some pretty good pills against seasickness on board, as there are some choppy spots along the way. We´ll be sure to let you know how that all goes at the end of the week.

We are also working on finding a spot to stay in Valparaiso or Viña del Mar for a few days over New Year´s for some beach time and more exploring of the Chilean coast.

Should be good!

La Marmita dinner No 3

Jan has an appetizer: salad!!!

Oh. My. Goooooooood!

This place is divine.

Best food in 2 months. At the end of the world!

La Marmita. Funky place. Amazing food.

Pisco sour. Berry sour. All YUM!

Salmon and tasty veggies. Sigh.

Jan enjoyed her entree -  like so!

Taste buds rejoice!

Attending to beauty needs

Using a 5-hour layover, Inga gets a manicure at Lima airport

Trekking and the mountain / desert dryness has been hard on hands and feet. We both got a manicure-pedicure in La Paz (great deal!). While waiting at the Lima airport for our next flight yesterday we both got a manicure - and Jan also went for a foot massage!


My hands look better now than they ever do at home. I think I like this manicure thing - except I paid like $10 for them here ... Jan says they are a little pricier back home :(

Salar de Uyuni - trip of a lifetime?

We´ve been seeing and experiencing all kinds of amazing landscapes on this trip. One we were intrigued to explore was Salar de Uyuni. So we took the only viable option: a 3 day, 2 night 4x4 trip plus an overnight bus there and back from La Paz, making for 4 nights in total. The Salar is a bleak desert that is not reasonably accessible any other way.

If you think about this trip, here are some things you might consider:

Our fine travel companions from Norway at Laguna Verde.

All 4x4 share a similar route along a bit of infrastructure.

1. 8 to 10 hours on the bus from La Paz to Uyuni one way. More than half this time is on unpaved roads.  Basically, you gotta be OK with a rough ride. The bus drivers seemed very confident in their skill and vehicles: they motored through anything at roughly the same speed. Note: There is a train that is more comfortable.
2. Do you want Salar de Uyuni only? There is a one day 4x4 excursion you can take, instead of the 3 days. The 3 day trip has 1 day on the Salar and then heads into the mountains to explore lagunas, flamingos and volcanic landscapes.
3. If you go for the 1 day only, then you likely will spend a night or two in Uyuni. Uyuni is rustic, but then again, if you visit the countryside in Bolivia rustic is your thing, right!?
4. Your 4x4 will break down. It´s best to be confident in your driver´s ability to handle such breakdowns. Ours changed tires 2x and then handled the running out of gas situation. Our travel companions were pretty relaxed about this sort of thing, but depending on the tourist´s expectations and driver´s competence that could be really stressful. After all, you are in what you might think of as the "middle of absolutely nowhere" - which is why you came here (but that can be easily forgotten, when things get rough).
5. If the itinerary changes, is that always bad? Well, in our case it was good. The place we stayed at the first night was awesome and brand new. But really, we were supposed to be in a whole different town about 2 hours away that night. Again, the driver (a competent 21-year-old), made it so and it worked out very fine.
6. Chances are you will get sick ... OK: in our sample of 6 people, 2 got very sick (major gastro) and 2 had some lesser gastro trouble and 2 stayed healthy. Again, if Bolivia is your thing, you will be prepared to deal with such sickness, but from what I observed a landcruiser with a driver and cook and 6 tourists is a pretty tight spot to feel sick. 
7. You are booking 3 days in a 4x4. The only stops are for taking pictures, 10 or 20 minutes at a time. Lunch is longer, of course. It´s a ton of landcruiser time. Make sure you are ready for that mentally and physically. Note: the people in the back row are in a tight spot, with no leg room to speak of. So, if your group has large or tall people in it, be aware of the potential for discomfort on that count, too (At least, most people I saw taking this trip were pretty fit looking, adventure type travellers.)
8. You will get up early, one day it was 4:30 am to leave at 5, so we could make it back to Uyuni by about 6 pm. A long day of driving for everyone. One reason for this is to make the transfer to San Pedro de Atacama in Chile for the border-crossers. Pretty surreal to see the seeming randomness of 4x4s and busses meeting in the high sierra at 10 am or so to exchange people.
9. You will be hot, you will be cold. The desert dust could get a bit much; actually that´s why windows get rolled up and no air conditioning is used ... which is why you will get hot.
10. While the Salar is at about 3,600 m, the high point of the 3 day trip is actually at 4,800 m. You´ll spend 2 days between about 4,200 and 4,800 m. Even if you are well acclimatized this can be a challenge due to the extreme aridity here. 4,500 m in Peru´s Cordillera Blanca felt way easier than 4,500 m in this place! So, drink even more water than usual on this trip to at least try to stay hydrated. Of course, this is really hard to do when you are the one with the gastro issues...

Volcanic rock formations are cool ...

And we did see quite a few of them.

Geysers are interesting, even at 6 am.

The $64,000 question is whether given the lived experience of the 3 days, 4 nights would we do this one all over?

My thought is probably not. But then again, I am not sure we would have gone all that way for just a day trip either. And I am happy to have seen these landscapes, especially the Salar.

I wish they could develop the area for hiking. It´d be stunning. However, given the harsh and high mountain environment that seems like a very long shot. In part because there seemed to be very few natural water sources left in the area (really, it is bone dry!), so that human habitation is very sparse and only exists on the edges of the Salar.

26 hours in transit ...

Jan and I have just arrived in Punta Arenas in the Chilean part of Patagonia.

We flew from Cusco to Lima, from Lima to Santiago via Antofagasta, from Santiago to Punta Arenas via Puerto Montt. Not exactly a short routing, but we made it safe (and nearly sound - those colds suck) to the most southern city in the world. (Ushuaia is apparently just a "town", so it claims to be "the most southern town in the world" - still the "most southern post office" goes to Puerto Williams across the Beagle Channel ... in any case this is the end of the world as we know it.)
.
Now, we will relax a little, post some stuff from the last week or so, go see some penguins and hopefuly find really tasty food. Jan´s been having some trouble as vegetarianism isn´t so common in Bolivia and Peru. The typical dishes overflow with meat of various sorts - which is perfectly fine with me :)

We spent the night at Santiago´s international airport. Amazingly, while Wi-Fi is everywhere there was no place for internet access via a rented computer! And you couldn´t get your nails done either. But 3 sunglass-stores were open all night. Go figure.

We played cards, drank beer (Inga) and wine (Jan), and watched Santa´s elves who were busy decorating this huge Christmas tree. The airport stays open all night, which was convenient given the layover from 2:30 am to 9:45 am.

More Salar de Uyuni impressions :)

Some of our loyal readers have been wanting more pics of us. Well, here are a few - mostly of Jan since Iamposting this -  from the Salar trip last week.



Jan and our shadow friends from
Norway at Laguna Colorada. Yes,
it´s red.



Some of the funky views we smiled
about.The foreground is the Salt flats.

 


OK. That´s actually Johnny, our driver
through Salar and Lagunas. Relaxing
and having some fun on the Pampa
Colorada as we await help and gas.We broke down about 25 minutes
from Uyuni, our end point.



Flamingos proved inspirational :)

Ah, Jan likes these pink flamingos a lot.

Things we don´t blog about

(Click on images to enlarge)

Important instructions - not to be taken lightly.

 It´s true. We are having awesome experiences, getting to know out there places beyond civilization and meeting interesting people along the way, too.

But really, do we tell all? No! Of course not!

So for the fun of it here´s a list of things we don´t blog about:

1. The specifics of various bathrooms we encounter
2. The physical requirements of bathroom use (depending on number 1 above).
3. How long it takes to break the habit of flushing toilet paper, even though the systems here can´t handle it.
4. And if you throw it in, under what circumstances do you try to remedy the error.
5. Asking your hiking guide to buy feminine hygiene products.
6. The awkwardness of getting  the conjugation of Spanish verbs in both tense and person wrong.
7. Trying to eat the entire Pique de lo Macho plate even though it would feed a family of 4 - or 6! - and what happens afterwards.
 



Bolivian national dish. Pique do lo
macho is basically protein. Tons of protein
and a little bit of potato starch.


8. Generally, the bodily functions that follow food one is not used to eating.
9. Undertaking secret calculations of how much pasta it takes to become seriously allergic to it.
10. The discovery of the intrinsic connection between panty-liners and panties.

Well, there.

Casa Hermanos Manchego -- our fine casita in La Paz

Matte de coca is as common
as Tetley, but a whole bunch
 better in taste and in
medicinal properties (gives you
energy; good for stomach
aches; etc.)

Good morning! Inga prepping
breakfast in our very own dinning
room. How regal.

Trying to find just "the right spot" to call home involves a whole bunch of online research and, in the end, a gut feeling. Our home away from home in La Paz is pure perfection -- it is a fine home (i.e. very unlike a hotel) with a great vibe, fine people, great location (Sopocachi neighbourhood) and interesting history.
 


This fine piece of stained glass is in the sitting room
at the front of the house. It is only one of the many
pieces of stained glass to adorn the house.

    




Inga in the front garden. A very
welcoming entrance.

View into the sitting room from the
dining room.

   

The vastness of 13 weeks

It's Monday. Shortly, we will leave home for the airport and a plane to Peru! Lima tonight and toward Huaraz the day after.

We've got an itinerary; it's kind of loose and kind of awesome. We've seen the Andes before, but spending 3 months along the spine of South America feels like a grand, crazy idea just now.

Life without deadlines is about to start.

House party wrap

Jan and I early on in the evening

What a great night! Jan got to celebrate her 50th in style with friends, family, colleagues and neighbours. 

We feel lucky to have such lovely and interesting people in our lives.

Tulips and maple-catered hors d'oeuvres, platters and desserts were fantastic.

...and there was dancing, too.

We are now 5 days from Peru: Busy with wrapping up work, my last Spanish class and getting the house ready for our friend who will be living here while we are travelling.

Then we'll do the final packing and make sure all is in place.

By the way, been loving getting to know the Iridium 9555 satellite phone. Easy to learn and easy to use. It's really amazing technology. Have started uploading some important phone numbers "in case of emergency."

House party

Tonight is house party time! It's Jan's 50th birthday and "we've-talked-about-it-long-enough-now-we-are-really-going-on-this-trip" going-away-party. The RSVPs are in, the house is set up, the catering is picked up, the DJ will be here at 7:30 pm, even have thought up a casual party game, and a couple of friends will help us with hosting. There's hoping it'll be a memorable evening.

And in 9 days we are on the plane to Lima! I'm stoked.

Happy birthday, Jan!

Learning continues: Spanish and Iridium 9555

It's two weeks before we're on a plane to Lima, and the learning continues. Got my last few private Spanish lessons underway to finish up Basic level 3 and keep my brain in Spanish mode.

Been reading the Iridium 9555 manual to figure out how the phone works (pretty straightforward in terms of calls and will try out the SMS function) and what we need to do for power while off the grid (solar vs battery pack charger).

The 9555 is pretty amazing technology: Compact, handy and rugged. It looks like a slightly bulky cellphone from a few years ago. Not like the huge box it used to be in the movies (remember that scene from Under Siege?).

I  am about to go for a walk, point the antenna toward the sky and call Jan at home to try it out live.

Iridium 9555 Satellite phone has arrived

Thrilled to have received the 9555. Thanks to Iridium for making that possible!

Now we have a few days to learn how it works. Of course, when I got it home I promptly turned it on and got no reception. Took me a minute or two to realize why it couldn't locate a network ... I was inside my house, ie no sky. First lesson learned!

Fine strokes

We rely on the web for much travel research, user reviews, client testimonials and so forth. Lonely Planet guidebooks are good too: we'll cut out the pages we'll need for the 4 countries we'll visit; these guidebooks will be working hard for us :)

And despite all the tips and tricks and destination knowledge we have gathered, it's the little things that puzzle me: like where are the day time buses from Lima to Huaraz? I mean they are there before we need one but not when we want it! What's up with that? Peru looks to have a very solid bus network, and we're intending to use it a bunch, too. But it'd be great if the supposed day time departures were on your website, Movil Tours and Cruz del Sur!

We need to finalize the big Cordillera Real traverse (near La Paz in Bolivia) which will take 12 or 13 days and may even include a summit above 6,000 along the way (!) I think we've found a guide company I like and they are great with email now, since their not so useful UK rep is out of the picture.

Today, we had brunch at a friend's house and got the lowdown from a health expert on travelling; everything from food safety to water purification to vaccines. We learned that we appear to have done a fine job preparing :)

Our friend  who will live at our house while we're gone has been moving a few things in and getting to know how the house - and most important the cats - work. Jan's finishing the list of our lives, you know: banking info, passport numbers etc, to leave behind just in case.

Onto doing laundry and deciding which 4 T-shirts I'll be bringing along.

3 weeks to lift-off.

Four weeks to the Andes

Ottawa 45 degree North.
Ushuaia 54 degrees South.

Today marks the 4-week countdown: we will be on our way to Parque Nacional de Huascarán  via Lima. It will be the first stop along an epic adventure that will see us travel great distances (from 45 N to 54 S) to explore some of South America's stunning landscapes.

We've spent most of 2010 preparing: backcountry camping, weight-bearing hiking, equipment buying and evaluating, vaccinations, reading guidebooks and online about possible destinations, getting advice from people we know, studying Spanish, finding someone to live at our house for 3 months (thanks Carolyn!). By itself, an uncommon focus.

We will trek in the tropical parts of the Andes (Huascarán lies at latitude: 9 degrees South) at the very beginning of the rainy season and experience the subpolar oceanic climate of Ushuaia where temperatures average 1°C in the coldest month, and 9°C in the warmest month. We will walk through arable mountains and the highest mountain ranges in the tropics, visit Colca canyon which at 4,160m (!) is twice as deep as Grand Canyon and meander around the driest place on earth. Most of these 3 months we expect to be at altitude.

Naturally, we also follow the news from our chosen destinations: from the major flooding during the last rainy season destroying access to Machu Picchu, to the devastating magnitude 8.8 earthquake in Chile, to the joyful news of gay marriage becoming legal in Argentina, to the unexpected discovery of 33 miners alive after being trapped underground and now awaiting a lengthy rescue. There is such a sense of resiliency and tenacity.

With the final preparations underway for our departure, I am feeling excitement mixing with a sense of almost dread. That pit of the stomach feeling in the end is exhilarating: with this journey we are embarking on an entirely different way of being. An adventure.