Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
Kevin and Joannie on tour
Up on the Argentinian border lies the rarely visited PN Pali Aike. It was about a two and a half drive along the coast of the Magellen straits. The winds were so strong they were making odd noises round the car. We past nodding donkeys in the oil fields and the turn off to the ferry at Punto Delgado. We also past the road off to the park and ended up about to cross the border into Argentina. By the border there were volcanic cones. Joan video'd them but with her movie camera.
By the border were a herd of guanaco grazing who cleared the wire fence with no problem.
After retracing our steps for a few minutes, we drove 30 km inland to the national park. The cones and other volcanic features stood out from the bleak, flat steppe.
On the side of the road we spotted two Nandu or Rhea, which are scruffy emu-like birds which don't fly.
The park was only about £1 to visit. We weren't there to do the long walks, just to see the highlights. Apart from one other car the park was deserted. We parked under one of the craters and walked into its middle. A couple of guanacos were grazing nearby. Whilst on one side of the crater the was shelter, on the other it was so gusty it blew Joannie over! There was a cave near the summit that had been used as shelter in earlier times. There was another walk to another to another crater nearby but we didn't have the hour and a half plus spare to do it, but you could see the lava flows from nearly 10,000 years ago, still barren of life.
Driving to the other end of the park, there was a salt water laguna. Sadly there were no birds there. Joannie got out to try and do a video but could barely stand up. Kevin sat int the cabin of the HiLux and waved!
Joannie took lots of videos but we will upload them later as it needs faster broadband.
Heading back down to the straits we saw a couple of birds nesting and also a fox crossing the road. There's a couple of photos of the fox but it was escaping quickly.
Further down, both sides of the road had, worryingly, signs warning that there were minefields. These originate from the Pinochet era when tensions between Chile and its various neighbours were running high. It is approximated that 120,000 still remain undiscovered. As we drove home, we spotted even more.
Along the coast we passed through Estancia San Gregorio, a sheep farming HQ now disused and derelict rotting on the side of the road. Even some beds were still in situ. On the shore two huge crafts were beached, slowly rotting away. These were the property of Jose Menendez who owned the Estancia and now has the most elaborate grave in Punta Arenas Cemetery (see previous.) It is amazing in Chile how places can just be abandoned such as the nitrate towns we visited in 2008.
By the border were a herd of guanaco grazing who cleared the wire fence with no problem.
After retracing our steps for a few minutes, we drove 30 km inland to the national park. The cones and other volcanic features stood out from the bleak, flat steppe.
On the side of the road we spotted two Nandu or Rhea, which are scruffy emu-like birds which don't fly.
The park was only about £1 to visit. We weren't there to do the long walks, just to see the highlights. Apart from one other car the park was deserted. We parked under one of the craters and walked into its middle. A couple of guanacos were grazing nearby. Whilst on one side of the crater the was shelter, on the other it was so gusty it blew Joannie over! There was a cave near the summit that had been used as shelter in earlier times. There was another walk to another to another crater nearby but we didn't have the hour and a half plus spare to do it, but you could see the lava flows from nearly 10,000 years ago, still barren of life.
Driving to the other end of the park, there was a salt water laguna. Sadly there were no birds there. Joannie got out to try and do a video but could barely stand up. Kevin sat int the cabin of the HiLux and waved!
Joannie took lots of videos but we will upload them later as it needs faster broadband.
Heading back down to the straits we saw a couple of birds nesting and also a fox crossing the road. There's a couple of photos of the fox but it was escaping quickly.
Further down, both sides of the road had, worryingly, signs warning that there were minefields. These originate from the Pinochet era when tensions between Chile and its various neighbours were running high. It is approximated that 120,000 still remain undiscovered. As we drove home, we spotted even more.
Along the coast we passed through Estancia San Gregorio, a sheep farming HQ now disused and derelict rotting on the side of the road. Even some beds were still in situ. On the shore two huge crafts were beached, slowly rotting away. These were the property of Jose Menendez who owned the Estancia and now has the most elaborate grave in Punta Arenas Cemetery (see previous.) It is amazing in Chile how places can just be abandoned such as the nitrate towns we visited in 2008.
- comments