Chile
Santiago de Chile valley with the Andes in the background. Smog is a continuing problem here, sometimes so thick you can't see the mountains.
Warming up for folk festival. Santiago
With Gretel, Javier, Andrea, James & Escudos in Cabo Frio, Providencia.
A really relaxed small oasis town. San Pedro de Atacama.
El Tatio geysers. A pre-dawn start out of San Pedro and it was literally freezing when we got up there with a driver who was probably still drunk. We'd seen him partying hard not so long before this and hadn't been to bed. It was a hairy and speedy trip racing up ascending dirt roads. Luckily it was pitch black or it would have been brown pants time all-round seeing the sheer drops.
El Tatio geyser field, highest in the world at 4300m. North of Chile.
Stomping around El Tatio geyser field. With the sun rising and the light changing there is always a new perspective. Cool stuff.
And the sun is now up on the mud pools on El Tatio.
El Tatio hot springs
Doesn't look like much here but this spot was gorgeous. Atacama Desert lake.
As I later discovered there's a whole lotta eating in a llama.
Still fairly primitive (traditional if you prefer) in remoter parts of Chile. Atacama Desert hamlet.
Northerly desertscape
En route to the towers. I lucked out with the weather as huge chunks of the park had been dangerously flooded and cut off all the previous week. Valle Ascencio, Torres del Paine. Another makeshift bridge. Sketchy with full pack and two cameras in hand. Torres del Paine The Torres del Paine: Sheer granite towers of 2600
msnm. Those dodgy crossings are well worth it when you hit vistas like these. At the highlight
Ridiculously still Lago Grey, Parque Nacional Torres del Paine
Grazing wild guanacos. They were slaughtered almost to extinction in the 20th century but are now protected and have the whole park to roam.
Eerily tranquil. Parque Nacional Torres del Paine
Lago Pehoe. Torres del Paine
Storm brewing over Parque Nacional Torres del Paine
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Volcan Villaricca. Active volcano in Pucon, an adventure sports mecca. It has an icy, snowy peak area but the summit is a smouldering volcano.
Ascent of Villaricca.
Peak of Villaricca looking over the steaming core of the volcano.
View from Villaricca across the border to Lanin volcano (3774m) in Argentina. Descent of Volcan Villaricca... glissade down on your butt. Till you hit a big rock and bust your shin.
Joined a freight ship hauling cattle, trucks & people like me out of Puerto Natales heading north to Puerto Montt for some days. The skill of the crew in navigating these very tight channels and making 120° turns is something to admire. Not much to do except take in the pristine islet and ocean views. This was an early morning with low mist. Patagonian Channels. Sunset through the Patagonian Channels of southern Chile. Patagonian Channels. Many of these islands remain uninhabited. From the back deck. This Golfo de Penas crossing is notorious for testing sea legs but it was absolutely glass flat.
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