Chile Day 10 - Fjord!

For all my complaining, I am trying to put things into perspective. The reason I'm so frustrated here is that I'm keenly aware of opportunity costs and how the vacation could be going better. (And it could be going a lot better.) But I have to ask myself if I would rather be doing this, or having another undifferentiated week back home. Can I remember what I was doing on any given week in last January? Probably not. Would I remember this week in a year if I had stayed at home? I doubt it. Would I have had the opportunity to see "Gilmore Girls" in spanish? Nope.

That said, this country hates me. This goes beyond mere chance, and must be active malice somewhere. I woke to a tasty blend of hail and sleet, so I cancelled my glacier hike and moved my bus trip south to today. No sooner had the glacier bus left than the skies cleared and the sun flew into the open. So I spent another beautiful day in transit.

The bus south required over 45 minutes of negotiation to fit all 22 passengers in. (Stated bus capacity: 18) I scored a primo solo seat with a carpeted headrest, though that turned out to be irrelevant. The carretera australis is the superhighway (in local terms) through this region, and it's a 1.5-lane gravel track with sharp turns and deep potholes. We were jostled enough that one unfortunate in the front row of seats had heavy gringo packs fall on him three times throughout the trip. Reading was impossible, so I listened to more This American Life and enjoyed the amazing scenery. We spent the entire trip in a valley between mountains, some snowy and others heavily forested. I would love to climb any of these hills, but this region is so underdeveloped that there are no trails at all. Pity, as some high mountain huts would make a multi-day ridge walk unforgettable. My new noise-isolating headphones were a godsend, protecting me from the 45-minute repeating loop of the bus soundtrack. (A bizzare combination of 80's sappy prom themes, Enya, latin-beat fiesta tunes, and post-grunge.) We passed many intrepid travellers on mountain bikes with rain-soaked packs who had obviously seen this road on a map and decided to traverse it from north to south. It's a beautiful road, but I think you'd need a Crotch of Steel to take 1000+ km of bumps and enjoy the experience.

My destination is puyuhuapi, which Let's Go claims has enough german heritage to justify a deutsch newspaper. I don't see it in anything but the Cafe Aleman and certainly don't hear it anywhere. (I had dreamed of lederhosen and at least dared to hope for some folks speaking a language I understand.) It's a nice little town at the end of a nice little fjord. It's not as nifty as any of Norway's, mostly because the mountains aren't all that steep. I like it anyway.

It seems like Bachelet has won the election. Chile's unique geography fits into one time zone, so nobody has to wait for the polls to close in California to report results. At 6pm exactly, the media called it and her supporters stormed the streets with flags waving and horns honking. Her victory isn't the upset I originally thought it would be, since someone told me that her center-left party has been ruling the government for the last 16 years.

I remember when France won the world cup and all the expats in Boston drove around town with french flags on their cars and honking horns in the night. This felt very similar, and I kind of wish that we Americans coud muster this level of excitement about the political process.

This is the first restaurant in days which hasn't had a TV in it and I feel much better. Maybe restauranteurs feel like a TV is a service to the customers, or maybe they just watch during slow times. As alternate entertainment, this restaurant has a cat and a puppy which looks just like a young Kaya might have. She's remarkably tolerant of the ill-behaved children of my fellow travellers (which keep falling on her).

I admire the resolve of any single mother who decides to take her trendily-named child (Dyllonn) to the edge of civilization, then threatens to lock him in the truck if he doesn't start behaving. Good for her that we're far beyond the reach of any child services agencies who might take exception. Because of the election, most of the restaurants in town are closed. Fortunately, I was able to find one that serves both salmon and vegetables. (I've been craving non-meat for a while. Special message to my 15-year-old self: yes, you can get tired of only flank steak after a while)

I'm here as a staging area for tomorrow's hike in PN Quelat. Tonight, I shall dream of hanging glaciers, fjords, and blue skies.