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Images From A Long Thin Country
Travelling with a group of enthusiastic Scottish botanists seemed like a good idea to this photographer and as it turned out it was. Botanists like to potter and get into remote and wild places and photographers like to take time to compose. Our travels took us from Santiago to Punta Arenas and back with many adventures in between. Flying into Santiago over the Andes we could catch glimpses of snow-capped peaks, glaciers and the gentle breathing of the occasional volcano. We landed in mid summer (30c) and spent a while in the fertile valley around Santiago, vineyards, and fruit of all sorts including plenty of avocados, which was very enjoyable. The methods of agriculture and rural transport are rather different from our own but the end product is food and wine for export. The horse is the preferred means of transporting people and produce in the countryside and the bullock team in the more remote areas, is used for the plough. Our first Hotel was a truly Chilean affair set in its own grounds on the edge of a small rural town and frequented by the locals. During a visit to La Campana National park we saw the Chilean Palm, Jubaea chilensis, which was almost wiped out by harvesting for it’s sweet sap, it is now a protected species and the sap can only be removed by limited tapping. A truly delicious breakfast accompaniment for those with a sweet tooth.
From here we flew to Punta Arenas, a city at the ends of the earth. This is the stuff adventures are made of and staying in the ‘Cabo De Hornos’ made you feel you were right there. From my window I could see the statue of the national hero Bernard O’Higgins and the two Indians in the central square. Incidentally every town seemed to have a street dedicated to him. The long drive from here to the national park ‘Torres Del Paine’ was an adventure in it’s self, with the occasional glimpse of Rhea running through the Pampa. This is the area of the Patagonian Steppe home to guanaco and not much else, just miles of unpaved road and billowing dust following the occasional vehicle. The approach to the national park ‘Torres Del Paine’ was very dramatic, as we were able to see the Massif of the ‘Towers’ long before we reached them and had tantalising glimpses of a glacier to wet our appetite. Entry to the area was equally dramatic, the bus that we were on could not complete the journey so the final stage had to be undertaken in a smaller four-wheeled vehicle, which could negotiate the very narrow bridge and rough terrain. But, it was well worth it, our accommodation was log cabin style and very comfortable. Imagine waking up in the morning to find Buff-necked Ibis, Southern Lapwing and horses wandering around with the clear blue sky and snow tipped crags outside your window.
Time in the area went all too quickly and we soon found ourselves moving on to Puerto Montt and the 'Lake District’, much bigger and grander than our own. Here was our first encounter with the ‘Auracaria’ or Monkey-Puzzle, a whole forest of these strange trees, which only occur naturally at high altitude. Follow this with an amazingly scary drive to a private reserve to see the oldest ‘Alerce’ tree in Chile, a form of cupresses, which was incredibly tall and had an enormous girth, it was all quite overwhelming. We traveled for a time on the Pan-American Highway finding it very hard to believe that it went all the way to Alaska as it was only single carriageway with not much traffic except the huge timber lorries. This took us to Temuco the strong hold of the Mapuche Indians where we visited the local craft market on the only souvenir stop that we had found. Chile is not geared for foreign tourists and even post cards were hard to find. The Mapuche Indians had fiercely defended their territory against the Spanish but eventually signed a peace treaty in 18.. and we visited the official site where we found some interesting wooden statues and the sacred tree, ‘Drymiss Winterii’. More travelling, stopping at Los Angeles (Chile) for the night then on to Conception where we visited a reserve right next to an oil refinery. The highlight here was watching ‘Skimmers’ at work. They are amazing birds with the lower mandible larger than the upper. It acts as a scoop as they fly just above the surface of the water. From Conception we flew back to Santiago and the realisation that this wonderful experience would soon be at an end.
With all this flying I had been worried that my film was suffering a great deal of exposure to xray machines but I stuck to the simple rule of always carrying it in my hand luggage and making sure that it went through the machine solo and not in a log jam. Also I prefer to use Fuji Velvia which being a slower film is less likely to be affected. I was lucky the films are fine and I am reasonably happy with the results. Equipment used: 2 Canon EOS series bodies and a variety of lenses including 100mm macro and 2 zooms, 28-70 and 75-300 plus extension tubes and 2x converter all of which I carried in my Lowepro trekker as hand luggage. I would have liked a tripod but had decided against it considering the company I was keeping. How to get there: Mine was a private expedition organised with the Friends of the St. Andrew’s Botanic gardens using university contacts but you will find that many of the reputable firms for longhaul travel have itineraries for Chile. Companies such as Explore, Kouni etc. The FSC (field Studies Council) have a very good trip which they will no doubt repeat. It all depends what you want to do, I would recommend that you find one that gives plenty of time in ‘Torres del Paine’ (the most beautiful place on earth.). Remember that there is no through road in Chile so you have to be prepared to fly Puerto Mont to Punta Arenas. Also expect to find Aussies trekking here, practically on their doorstep, so it is worth checking how they do it. Books to read and inspire you ‘Travels in a thin Country’ by Sara Wheeler and ‘Between Extremes’ by Brian Keenan and John McCarthy.
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