Carretera Austral (1/4)

It's 7am on Thursday. The clouds are still hanging to the surrounding mountains. In a valley of the Cordillera, the small village of Futaleufu slowly wakes up. Smoke from the wood stoves is escaping from the small wooden color-washed houses. It is not cold as such; it is just very humid. Leaning over my steaming coffee, I regularly take a look out the window. The rain has not stopped since late yesterday afternoon. Clouds do not know borders; I arrived in Chile but nothing changed. Instead, with the weather coming from the Pacific ocean, I do not expect changes today or in the next days.

It's been two days since I left Bariloche. In Argentina, I hitch-hiked with uneven success, but thanks to Cesar, Carlos and Pedro I managed to reach each of the steps set (Esquel, Argentina and Futaleufu, Chile). It makes me remember when I was hitch-hiking in the Northwest United States, and specially on the wonderful and wild Pacific coast.The climate is probably helping. But the traffic here is even less dense. On the Chilean side, there is a car coming every hour and a half! Fortunately, there is a 95% chance it stops and picks me up. Hence, the average waiting time is just as good.

Click on the map to enlarge

Today's program: join the road No. 7, the famous Carretera Austral (the southern route). From Puerto Montt, the terrain becomes increasingly hostile to human settlements. About 1,600 km (1,000 mi), the Andes ends in a succession of mountains, lakes, fjords, rain forests, glaciers, until Tierra del Fuego. This area is difficult to access. At least it benefited from a "positive" outcome of General Pinochet's dictatorship: a road (sometimes asphalted) going south to Villa O'Higgins. I can not go further and will be forced to return to Argentina, El Chalten.

Between Futaleufú and the Carretera Austral I was led by Walter, happy to present the region, to name lakes and streams, to describe the colors of the water and its incredible transparency also. Not going through the whole way, I then had to walk two hours before joining Villa Santa Lucía, on the Carretera. En route, I crossed a jeep camper. Far, I don't know what intuition convinced me that they were French. The closer they drove, the more I recognized a European plate with a French flag. I stopped them and there we go: Patrice and Véronique, two smiling and enthusiastic Normans, told me about their road-trip throughout South America for two or three years. Having already spent six months doing what I intend to do on foot in one and a half months, I understand they have planned much longer!

Arriving at Villa Santa Lucía, on the Carretera, I thought and hoped there will be more traffic. No. I had to wait an hour, still in the rain, before Lucas stops. As drivers decide to stop or not, when you hitch-hike, you also have a second and a half to decide whether or not to get on board. Twice in the US, I went saying to myself with uncertainty "let's go, it should work!". Lucas had an strong accent that I could only from time to time understand and a strange behavior. Anyway, the incessant rain and the prospect of arriving safely at night made me jump in. He begun by sharing his sandwich with me. NIce. But then he also shared the bottle of Vermouth (Martini kind of)! Here I begun to understand why I couldn't understand everything. With alcohol, articulation was not his best asset anymore. Once driving his van, Lucas was dreaming himself as Sebastien Loeb [the nine-time French rally world champion]. After two days hitch-hiking in the rain and wind, I tried not to see that very nearly bumped into a goat, a public work truck, the back of a cow and a number of potholes. Instead, I even managed to escape my attention and sleep a bit thanks to the heating of the van.

Arrived safely in La Junta, I left the next morning. Patrick and Rose dropped me in Puyuhuapi where I stayed overnight. It is a charming little village on a lake with a small "Danger Tsunami" sign... oh yeah! In fact, the Pacific reaches the bottom of the small fjord. Very remote village which horizon is blocked by clouds, it really looks like the end of the Earth. It is far and wild, but it is beautiful! It is cold and wet, but this is adventure!

Nico el Patagónico

Hey! This is it, you can now call me El Patagónico (the Patagonian in English). Indeed, with a certain emotion, I arrived in Patagonia. San Carlos de Bariloche (or simply Bariloche) is my first step in the Argentinian Patagonia. Emotion and pride also, I admit, to succeed in reaching the Great South from Alaska safely, in time and (almost ...) in the budget. Finally I am there! And that's what moves me from the start: to discover Patagonia was the original idea around which I then built my Pan-American route.

Patagonia, what is it? where is it? For me, this is a wild land to explore. For geographers, this is the most southern region of the world, except Antarctica. For politicians, it is five Argentinian provinces and five Chilean regions. For some of you, it's only a clothing line. And for nature lovers, these are mountains, glaciers, lakes, trees, condors, penguins and southern summer sun that still shines enough to warm us ... but for how much longer?

I will spend a month and a half going down the 3,000 km (2,000 mi) that separate me yet from Ushuaia, crisscrossing the Argentine-Chilean border from time to time. My first step, accompanied by Aïssata and Jack (two very good friends from France), made me stop in Bariloche on the shores of Lake Nahuel Huapi. And here I fell in love almost instantaneous. I certainly rank the lake among the most beautiful ones in the world. I'll let you discover in the photos.

On-site program: a lot of hiking in the mountains, on the shores of the lake, on a day or for several days, and generally under the sun. Also my first rafting experience (you'll see in the gallery of portraits to the Photos page). Very good restaurants with beef to die for. And good Argentine wine, unsurprisingly never bad. All this bodes well for the rest of my stay in the region!

Buenos Aires

To be honest, I've been stuck on writing this 100th blog-post for two weeks now. I don't have all the pictures I wanted to take for various reasons. And I don't want you to overwhelm you with all kinds of explanations in the city.

So let's do simple, just some pictures. You'll see mainly the popular neighborhood of La Boca, where Italians started to migrate, very colorful: once boats were completely painted, they were happily doing the same on their house with the left-over pots of paint. For soccer fans, Diego Maradona originally from Buenos Aires played a season in the club Boca Juniors. Finally, Buenos Aires is where we traveled directly to Bariloche, the gateway to Patagonia!

Buenos Aires will remain for me a city with very European architecture as I had not seen since the beginning of my journey. It will remain as the city where I welcomed my friends Aïssata and Jacky from France and spend a fortnight with them, and the city where I said goodbye to two of my greatest traveling buddies: Kati is heading North to Brazil where she will fly to Galway, Ireland (via New York) and Henning ends her stay in South America before returning to Cologne, Germany. It was a real pleasure to meet them (in the Costa Rican mountains for the first, in a bus to Cuenca, Ecuador for the other) and travel that much with them.

Uruguay

Brief summary of the previous episodes. After hitch-hiking the north-western Argentina with Fred, I joined Henning, my German traveling friend, in Asunción. We spent a week in Paraguay, then a few days in the South of Brazil to visit the Iguazu Falls, before heading to Uruguay.

Uruguay is a geographical dwarf, sandwiched between Brazil and Argentina (nearly two-thirds of South America). Its level of wealth per capita places it between Chile and Brazil, which is not nothing (especially when trying to travel cheap!) And a nice human development index: second of the continent between Argentina and Chile.

I saw the Atlantic coast for the first time since last September in Cartagena, Colombia. It was full of vacationers coming from southern Brazil and Argentina and pseudo-hippies who don't seem bothered by the high standard of life. After a night in a tent, just behind the Uruguayan border, Henning and I landed in Valizas from southern Brazil. It was carnival week, so holiday for everyone, people from everywhere. We only stayed a short day just to say we did dip in the Atlantic.

And then we went to Montevideo, the capital of the country, on the banks of the Río de la Plata, the same vast estuary that goes along Buenos Aires, 200 km to the west. Relaxation, cooking, great time during two days, hosted by Alejandro, a CouchSurfer, and time to stroll around the city emptied of its inhabitants due to Carnival (public holidays). Montevideo, a strange name: the Spanish settlers had named the place "Monte VI De Este a Oeste" ("the sixth mount from east to west") navigating Río de la Plata from east to west. Regardless if it is true, in any case Montevideo has the distinction of being the southernmost capital city of the Americas. In the world, only Wellington, New Zealand and Canberra, Australia do better.

Henning and I ended our too short week in the charming small Uruguayan town of Colonia. We strolled in the oldest city in the country (1680): a piece of wall, a mini-lighthouse, narrow cobbled streets, charming houses and beautiful flowers. Buenos Aires is in front (well, 50 kms anyway!). We took the boat and arrived in the vast metropolis, four times more populous than the entire Uruguay. The contrast is striking. There I met with Aïssata and Jack, my friends just arrived from France who will spend two weeks discovering Argentina with me.

Iguazú Falls

Well, I'll let you look at the photos of Iguazu Falls. But just before, without flooding you (oh! what a funny wordplay!!) here are some pieces of information ...

We talk about Falls, or more technically cataracts. In Spanish and Portuguese, they are called also "cataratas". And the name of Iguazú comes from the Guarani (local Amerindian language) "big water". So original!

They are beautiful, powerful and impressive waterfalls. It's a lot of water. I do not know who counted the drops, but it seems that there are 6 million liters of water drop in the falls every second.

So, it gives a beautiful collection of 275 waterfalls (90 meters for the highest), nicely spread over a front of nearly two miles. And the little man that I am, accompanied by hundreds of his peers, can move fairly move around, along or above the impressive water curtains, on the Argentinian side one day, on the Brazilian one the next day.

The falls are located on the Río Iguazú, which materializes the border between Brazil and Argentina. The orientation of the reverse J-shaped system gives technically 80% of the falls to Argentina. On both sides, national parks were created to protect this exceptional natural site and are listed as World Heritage by UNESCO since 1984 (Argentina) and 1987 (Brazil). And it is not very far either the Triple Frontier between Argentina, Paraguay and Brazil.

Finally, for those who want comparison, the Niagara Falls on the border between the United States and Canada are spread over a little more than a mile (320m on the U.S. side and 790m on the Canadian side) for 50m high are therefore less important. In contrast, Victoria Falls (between Zambia and Zimbabwe) are higher than Iguazú: about 110 meters, but only 1700 meters wide.

From Iguazú, Henning and I had planned to rally the Uruguayan coast, via the South of Brazil. We spent two days in Porto Alegre at Betsy and Enderson's. Two very friendly CouchSurfers (she is originally from the US and he is Brazilian) in this quiet town with plenty of parks. Then we reached the border on the coast. Large distances, again we failed at hitch-hiking. That said, we were happy to see again the Atlantic Ocean.

Unexpected Paraguay

Readers of the first hour, I owe you a little explanation. Indeed, Paraguay was not in my list of countries to visit. Worse, I was even condescending enough to consider it as a "useless" country, where there was not much to do or see.

All I knew of Paraguay, was the name of its capital (Asunción or in its longer version: Nuestra Señora Santa María de la Asunción!) and the fact that last June the right-wing opposition had cleverly hidden into a destitution what was in fact a coup to get rid of the former bishop who was elected president four years ago. Obviously, with this level of knowledge, I only had my prejudices on which to base my opinion.

Then I recalled the advice of three cyclists from Normandy, France with whom I had exchanged email when I was in Portland (Oregon, USA) last March. My ex-colleague and friend Antoine also warmly recommended me to go see what's going on on the other side of Río Paraguay. Finally, Nina and Steve with whom I shared a 4x4 to discover South-Lipez and Salar de Uyuni (Bolivia) in December had convinced me that I was missing something if I did not add that country in my list.

Finally, it happens that two very good friends are planning to visit me in Argentina from mid-February. So, between the departure of my parents in Santiago and their arrival to Buenos Aires, I had three weeks to fill in. Thus gradually came to my mind a stay in Uruguay, then a detour by the Iguazú Falls and finally a week in Paraguay. For obvious reasons of geography, I eventually reversed the order.

So I spent a week in Paraguay, where I left Fred with whom I had hitch-hiked the northwest corner of Argentina and I met Henning my traveling companion of November and December (Peru-Bolivia). And finally, like Panama, I was captivated by the Paraguay and promised myself stop being a dumb ass who thinks he knows and can judge without knowing.

And since there was supposedly not so much to do, what have I finally got up to my program? Lots of things! I started by visiting Asuncion. This is a sweet mix of colonial architecture and decrepit buildings straight from the 1960-70 (questionable aesthetics!). It is a gentle atmosphere of tranquility despite the size of the city. It was two nights in a family pension recommended by Nina & Steve and whose manager was very sweet and as talkative as interesting. And finally, we took greedy pleasure without shame or restraint: empanadas de jamón y queso (turnovers stuffed with ham and cheese).

In Asunción, I also met Rosa, an interesting personality recommended by my friend Emilie. Rosa opened the feminist cultural centre called Serafina eight years ago. It is above all a place and an association that helps lesbians (and to a lesser extent gays and transsexuals). But it is also a structure that advocates for the rights of lesbians, whose work was recognized in December 2011 by the French Republic’s Human Rights Prize. Interesting exchange on the situation and the rights of homosexuals in Paraguay, especially when they are put into perspective with the debate in France about same-sex marriage.

With Henning, we decided then to go visit the Mennonite communities of the Paraguayan Chaco, in the great North-West of the country. Mennonites? Yes, it is a religious group from Northern Germany and the Netherlands, following the precepts of a certain Menno Simons (1496-1561). Chaco Mennonites settled there in 1930, after being expelled from Communist Russia (where religious freedom was gone). In this particularly arid and inhospitable, environment, they mainly live on cattle (dairy and beef) and a bit of agriculture (peanuts and sesame). The community is divided into three colonies of fifteen villages each. At first, about 25 families made up a village. Today, they are 18,000 living in the Paraguayan Chaco. They speak a dialect German (the Plattdeutsch) and have their own educational system, German and Spanish, enhanced by the Paraguayan State. The reason for their presence? Mennonites generally look for places where they can be both guaranteed religious freedom and at the same time enjoy a certain autonomy vis-à-vis the welcoming State. Given the isolation of the Chaco, one can easily understand that the region met their criteria. So for years, Mennonites were exempt from military service (now abolished in Paraguay), not paying taxes and obeying no administrative authority from Paraguay. How does one survive in such an environment if it is so inhospitable? You adopt first a motto: "Gemeinnutz vor Eigennutz" ("The general interest before self-interest"). And then more concretely, you create cooperative, you help each other, you are disciplined and you all have the same ideal. And obviously, it works! Again, I'm glad to have dipped a little in this world that I knew by name only. I had some prejudices: people living and dressing as in the eighteenth century, etc.. No, we do not speak of Amish. Mennonites are just white men and women who speak German in the heart of South America!

We managed to hitch-hike back to Asunción, which left us naively believe we could easily hitch-hike to explore the south of Paraguay. Nay! It is a mode of travel that is not so widespread as that. Drivers made back strange signs, like raising the thumb also (saying “thanks, I'm fine!”) when they did not lift another finger! So we ended up in a bus after waiting (too much!) at the roadside.

We visited an old Jesuit mission in Trinidad. Rather than writing too much, I lazily suggest you read the very good Wikipedia article. And finally, we ended up visiting the Itaipú dam (not to be mistaken with Iguazú Falls which are not far away). For 30 years, it was the largest dam in the world before the coming into operation of the Three Gorges Dam in China in 2009. The dam is built on the Paraná River between Paraguay and Brazil. A bilateral treaty signed in 1973 allocates half the 20 turbines to Paraguay, the other half to Brazil. But as two turbines are sufficient to meet 80% of electricity demand in Paraguay, it leases its other eight to Brazil that can thus satisfy a quarter of its electricity needs with 18 turbines. And these are not small turbines! By comparison, all the water from the Iguazú Falls (you'll see pictures soon) would have the capacity to feed only two generators!

What I liked in this country in the end? First, the fact that there are very few tourists or travelers. After that, people are very friendly and very welcoming (except for hitch-hiking). And the country is beautiful: arid and flat in the vast northern region, more hilly and green (with a very red earth) in the south. But let's be honest, the cities are pretty ugly. And last prejudice, Paraguay is not a poor country, not super rich neither, but pretty well developed. The standard of living is quite high and people seem happy to live there. I eventually understood that!

Hitch-hiking in Northwestern Argentina

I left my parents in Santiago and then went to Mendoza, on the Argentinian side of the Andes. I spent two days at Isaías' before hitting the road again, accompanied by Fred, met in the south of Chile. Objective: hitch-hiking four days to reach Asunción, Paraguay, meaning 1,900 km (1,200 mi).

I hear some of you saying: "Only four days for the entire Northwestern quarter of Argentina, what a pity! "But at this pace and with this mean of transport, I crossed more paths than I could have hoped by spending three weeks there. Short but intense cultural exchanges helped me learn a lot and fast on Argentina, its history, its environment, sociology, politics, scenery, ...

Some anecdotes. First, Franco was the first to pick us up. The second who stopped turned out to be his cousin! Nice surprise for us. Then we passed Beto in his truck back and forth at different places. After four times he finally stopped, hilarious, and told us to get on. For the first time on this continent, I'm not the only hitchhiker on the road. This competition is not easy to manage; it is necessary to identify the best spots to start and be sure to be taken. Unlike North America also, truckers stop and pick up hitch-hikers. At the end, the objective was achieved, good average (two days more than 700 km).