One of my boys was doing a semester abroad in Southern Chile (Villaricca), so my other son and I joined him at the end of his semester (Dec 15th). Good to have someone who speaks Spanish fluently and a good knowlege of the country. Byrce was studying Forestry (also my degree background), so it was fun to get more info on the trees of Chile, too. The mountains reminded me of New Zealand a lot as a very similar species of beech (Nothofagus spp.) grows in Chile, also. That and the glaciation the rules the landscape (along with glacier-covered active volcanoes that take out towns occasionally).
Rented a small suv and camped the first week (I brought two tents) on Chiloe Island. We then flew to Punta Arenas in the far south to pick-up a very small van with a four-person tent on top (just fit the 3 of us). We headed north, driving 4400 kms for the next three weeks, a lot of it on isolated gravel roads, thru Argentina and Chile to visit the varioss National Parks (Torres de Paine, Patagonia, etc). I am glad I had 12 years of practise driving bad unpaved roads in the Forest Service. And thankfully the van had a skid plate from front to back -- we scrapped it on rocks for miles.
We camped where it was beautiful, and hopefully with some shelter from the strong winds. A few nights in the National Park campgrounds (expensive) and private campgrounds (showers!), but mostly we camped up some road along a creek, river, lake, or bay. Cooked our dinner usually at the end of the day as the sun set (after 10pm). Bryce was our cook -- vege stews and curries, occasionally burrittos and pasta dishes. Late mornings -- a few eggs, coffee and tea, a wander around where ever we camped, then pack up and on the road around 10am. Meat and cheese sandwiches for lunch if I did not spring for something to eat at a cafe in some small town somewhere (and wifi for the boys). No cell phone coverage, but some plazas in the small towns had wifi.
Some longish day hikes -- trying to keep up with two 21 yr olds! A lot of short hikes, but a lot of time on the road, too. Most time I let the boys trek ahead and I photographed until they returned. But I did have to push myself to make any distance. Finding time and conditions to use the 5x7 was not easy, but I did not sweat it as traveling with the boys was the main purpose with photography riding along as a close second. Got home on Saturday, will order chemicals (pyro developer) tomorrow and start developing when they arrive. The diet and exersice must have agreeded with me -- lost 15 pounds in the month.
Digital Images: The one of the camper has son Alex in the tent and son Bryce cutting veges for dinner. A strong constant wind blowing off the lake (~30 mph which increased that night) stole the heat from pot on the cook stove, and delayed our Christmas Eve dinner. Taken past 9pm along Lago Sofia in southern Chile, just off Hwy 9. Tried to use the rock as a wind break, helped with cooking, though. Too many nails from campfires to drive closer to the rock. Those who like numbers, we were at -51.5 degrees latitude...or the equvilent of a couple hundred miles south of Prince Rubert, Canada.
