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Written by Neon
We were able to catch a bus back out to Puente Ingles to continue north along the Greater Patagonia Trail route. It is helpful that many people in the campos don’t have roads to their houses, much less cars, so the buses go deep into the backcountry towns/communities of Chile. As we walked along debating which route to take out of Puente Ingles- horse path or road- we came upon some locals and they (as forcefully as a Chilean can) urged us to take the road, because the horse path was more dangerous.
They told us a story of how a man had died recently, and said we should be careful. We took their advice, as we have learned over time and a lot of practice to listen to the locals.
We didn’t get far before night fall, though we were able to get the road walk out of the way during the cool morning hours the next day. Nearly right when we turned off the road to a horse trail, the temperatures seemed to be heating up for another hot day in Chile. It has been warm all summer, and the temperatures for the forseeable future were in the 30s Celsius, or the 90s Fahrenheit. So, hot. As we pressed on into the afternoon, we came upon a lovely shade tree and stopped to have lunch. The tree was in front of a puesto, and as we settled in to eat, some Caribeneros and a young woman came out and the policemen asked us a string of questions before being satisfied enough to get on their horses and ride away to continue patrolling. The woman came up and talked with us after they had left, being excited to speak with some women, as it’s mostly men who pass through. So as we ate, we also talked. Well, Fidgit did most of the talking, because I’m still working on my Spanish language skills and also prefer to listen. We both enjoyed our chat with Paola, but had to get going to get some more kilometers in before camp time, so we packed up and moved on, thanking her profusely for the use of her tree’s shade.
As we ascended towards Laguna Dial and were making our way around the beast (lake) the next day, I was wistfully remembering the shade of that tree. It was intensely hot, and the lack of shade and sun’s reflection off the pristine waters of the lake were not helping. If I were to guess, I would say it reached at least 98*F that day. We would try and cool ourselves by dipping our hats and bananas in water before placing them back on. By mid-morning, my shirt was soaked with sweat, not a cloud in the sky. We were grateful when the sun set and we were left in the cooling evening air. A breeze even came up and cooled us off more.
The next day, we made it the last few kilometers around Laguna Dial and started down the valley towards Carrizales, a tiny community at the other end. As the day again grew warmer, we began seeing a cluster of trees in the distance. They were tall, and proffering shade like only the first trees we had seen in 2 dayscould. As we walked up to them, we realized that there was a Caribeneros station nestled into the center of the trees with about 6 police officers sitting at a table outside. We didn’t care, though we did politely ask if we could eat our lunch there. They kindly said yes, and we talked about where we had come from, where we were going, who else had passed through recently, and how it is to be a policeman at a remote station. After eating, photos, and goodbyes, we made our way down the valley following an old road. This led us to a woman named Irma and her family, who also generously shared their shade with us. We were basically trying to shade hop as much as possible because of the oppressive heat, and luckily we were encountering kind people with shade to spare.
As we broke camp the next morning, I was hoping for a cooler day with a light breeze and more shade. We ended up getting slightly more shade and were able to walk past a few abandoned estancias with fruit trees and shade trees, so I got to enjoy even more than I had hoped for. Fresh off the tree plums and cherries! There were also pear trees; unfortunately those weren’t yet ripe. It is not often we get fresh fruit out here, and I was very grateful we were able to find some. We walked along a dirt road that turned to horsepath that turned to road again, and we made it into Carrizales by evening. We sat on the porch of the kiosko owner’s house and talked with them for some time. We ended up camping in one of their fields, fenced in from their goat herd.
We packed up the next morning and headed on our way, road walking the entire day – a first in a long time. It was a lesser-used dirt road mostly, so it stayed quiet until we got closer to the main road and cars began passing us with more frequency. As we were looking for a camp spot, we saw two hikers coming toward us. It was Buck-30 and Skittles, 2 thru-hikers from the U.S. we had been in contact with about planning their hike along the Greater Patagonia Trail! We made camp together and stayed up late exchanging information and stories. I was glad we were able to finally meet these guys in person and have a conversation, and we parted ways amicably in the morning, us pushing toward town and them off to complete Section 2 of the GPT.
We made it to Ruta 115 by about lunch time – road walking is much faster than route finding and trail walking, though I prefer trail. We hitch-hiked into San Clemente from a bus stop in case a bus came past, decided the larger town of Talca would better suit our needs, and got on a local bus to take us down the road. We arrived, and it was a bit overwhelming, though we were able to quickly find a place to stay and some food. We then self-sequestered to get work done; thankfully the place we stayed was able to wash our clothes, as it had been about a month since their last proper washing. We left town smelling less bad and rode the bus back out to begin where we had left off along the side of Ruta 115 outside of Hydro Station Cipreses.
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Puente Ingles a Ruta 115 y Talca
Escrito por Neon
Traducción por Henry Tovar
No llegamos mucho antes de caer la noche, aunque pudimos conseguir el camino a pie fuera del camino durante las frescas horas de la mañana al día siguiente. Casi a la derecha cuando salimos de la carretera a un sendero de caballos, las temperaturas parecía calentarse para otro día caluroso en Chile. Ha sido cálido todo el verano, y las temperaturas para el futuro previsible estaban en los años 30 Celsius, o los años 90 Fahrenheit. Mucho calor. A medida que avanzamos en la tarde, nos encontramos con un hermoso árbol de sombra y nos detuvimos para almorzar. El árbol estaba frente a un lugar, y cuando nos instalamos para comer, salieron unos caribeños y una joven, y los policías nos hicieron una serie de preguntas antes de estar lo suficientemente satisfechos como para subir a sus caballos y montar a caballo para seguir patrullando. La mujer se acercó y habló con nosotros después de que se fueron, entusiasmada de hablar con algunas mujeres, ya que son en su mayoría hombres que pasan. Así como comimos, también hablamos. Bueno, Fidgit hizo la mayor parte de la conversación, porque todavía estoy trabajando en mis habilidades de español y también prefiero escuchar. Ambos disfrutamos de nuestra charla con Paola, pero tuvimos que ir a conseguir algunos kilómetros más antes de la hora del campamento, por lo que empacamos y se trasladó, agradeciéndole profusamente por el uso de la sombra de su árbol.
A medida que ascendíamos hacia Laguna Dial y estábamos haciendo nuestro camino alrededor de la bestia (lago) al día siguiente, estaba recordando melancólicamente la sombra de ese árbol. Estaba intensamente caliente, y la falta de sombra y el reflejo del sol en las aguas prístinas del lago no ayudaban. Si tuviera que adivinar, diría que alcanzó por lo menos 98 ° F ese día. Nos gustaría tratar de enfriarnos a nosotros mismos mojando nuestros sombreros y plátanos en agua antes de colocarlos de nuevo. A media mañana, mi camisa estaba empapada de sudor, no una nube en el cielo. Estábamos agradecidos cuando el sol y nos dejaron en el aire refrescante de la noche. Incluso una brisa llegó y nos refrescó más.
Al día siguiente, lo hicimos los últimos kilómetros alrededor de Laguna Dial y comenzamos el valle hacia Carrizales, una pequeña comunidad en el otro extremo. A medida que el día volvía a calentarse, comenzamos a ver un grupo de árboles en la distancia. Eran altos y ofrecían sombra como sólo los primeros árboles que habíamos visto en 2 días. Cuando nos acercamos a ellos, nos dimos cuenta de que había una estación Carabineros enclavado en el centro de los árboles con unos 6 policías sentados en una mesa al aire libre. No nos importó, aunque nos educadamente preguntar si podíamos comer nuestro almuerzo allí. Ellos amablemente dijeron que sí, y hablamos de dónde veníamos, a dónde íbamos, a quién más había pasado recientemente y cómo era ser policía en una estación remota. Después de comer, fotos y despedidas, nos dirigimos al valle siguiendo una vieja carretera. Esto nos llevó a una mujer llamada Irma y su familia, que también generosamente compartían su sombra con nosotros. Estábamos básicamente tratando de sombra hop tanto como sea posible debido al calor opresivo, y por suerte nos encontramos con gente amable con sombra de sobra.
Cuando rompimos el campamento a la mañana siguiente, esperaba un día más fresco con una brisa ligera y más sombra. Terminamos recibiendo un poco más de sombra y pudimos caminar pasado unas estancias abandonadas con árboles frutales y árboles de sombra, así que conseguí disfrutar aún más de lo que esperaba. Fresco de las ciruelas del árbol y cerezas! También había perales; Por desgracia, todavía no estaban maduras. No es frecuente que obtengamos fruta fresca aquí, y estaba muy agradecido de haber podido encontrar algunos. Caminamos a lo largo de un camino de tierra que se volvió a caballo que volvió a la carretera de nuevo, y llegamos a Carrizales por la noche. Nos sentamos en el porche de la casa del dueño del kiosko y hablamos con ellos durante algún tiempo. Acabamos acampando en uno de sus campos, cercados de su rebaño de cabras.
Llegamos a la mañana siguiente y nos dirigimos en nuestro camino, camino caminando todo el día – una primera en mucho tiempo. Era un camino de tierra menos utilizado en su mayoría, por lo que se quedó en silencio hasta que nos acercamos a la carretera principal y los coches comenzaron a pasar con más frecuencia. Como estábamos buscando un lugar de campamento, vimos a dos excursionistas que venían hacia nosotros. Fue Buck-30 y Skittles, 2 de excursionistas de los EE.UU. que habíamos estado en contacto con sobre la planificación de su caminata a lo largo de la Gran Patagonia Trail! Hicimos campamento juntos y nos quedamos hasta tarde intercambiando información e historias. Me alegré de poder finalmente conocer a estos chicos en persona y tener una conversación, y nos separamos las maneras de manera amistosa en la mañana, nosotros empujando hacia la ciudad y ellos para completar la Sección 2 de la GPT.
Llegamos a la Ruta 115 por la hora del almuerzo – caminar por la carretera es mucho más rápido que la ruta de encontrar y caminar a pie, aunque yo prefiero rastro. Hitch-hiked en San Clemente de una parada de autobús en caso de que un autobús pasó, decidimos la ciudad más grande de Talca sería mejor satisfacer nuestras necesidades, y nos subimos en un autobús local para llevarnos por la carretera. Llegamos, y fue un poco abrumador, aunque pudimos encontrar rápidamente un lugar para alojarse y algo de comida. Entonces nos auto-secuestrados para hacer el trabajo; Afortunadamente el lugar en el que nos alojamos fue capaz de lavar nuestra ropa, ya que había sido de un mes desde su último lavado adecuado. Nos fuimos ciudad oliendo menos malo y monté en el autobús hacia fuera para comenzar donde habíamos dejado al lado de la Ruta 115 fuera de estación de agua Cipreses.
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Comments (9)
Hello Figit and Neon! Thank you for the update. I have been enjoying your posts and living vicariously through your journey as i also prepare for a multi-day hike through Navajo land this summer, (think of this as the wussy stick of a beginner hiker). Okay for now and safe hiking!
There is no such thing as a wussy when out on the trails. May your journey be full of lessons and your trails be winding.
Great to know that you are heading north again. Safe travels and keep posting us as you journey along. We are all following with great interest and amazement!
Thank you! Our main objective every day is “don’t die,” and so far we are doing great at it. =)
great post neon, thanks. how lucky to find some fresh fruit…stay cool. enjoy the shade-hopping. love
We love you, Will!
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Thanks for the pictures of your on going adventure. It was great you met up with the fellow hikers ! Be careful of the heat! Keep looking for the shade! How wonderful that you discovered the fruit trees. You are blessed to find local people who are friendly and offer sound advice!
Hi Ladies,
Where was Skittles and Buck – 30 starting point for their thru hike and how far south do they plan to go? Safe travels to you both. May you always have the wind in your back!!!