On the Road is a weekday feature spotlighting reader photo submissions.
From the exotic to the familiar, whether you’re traveling or in your own backyard, we would love to see the world through your eyes.
I need to pose some questions to the On The Road peeps:
- How would you feel about moving After Dark from 10pm to midnight?
- Would that work just as well for most of you?
- Work better for some of you?
- Would it eliminate After Dark as something you read at the end of the day?
- Would you only see the midnight After Dark in the morning along with the regular On The Road?
- Anything else I should be asking related to a time change?
Please answer in the comments. Thank you! ~WaterGirl
lashonharangue in Chile
Continuing south from Ventisquero Yelcho we took a short detour off the Carretera Austral to Futaleufú. This is a small town that has become an adventure destination for white water thrill seekers from around the world. Since we didn’t fit that demographic, after a night stay in a cabaña we headed back to the Carretera Austral and made our way to the tiny port town of Raúl Marín Balmaceda.
Unfortunately that involved a ferry crossing in the smallest vessel of our trip. Unlike the others it was not roll on roll off. It had only one ramp. The ferry had room for just one other truck and our SUV. There was no place to turn the car around near the ferry ramp. I had to turn around about 200 feet up the hill, and back down onto the ferry using the side mirrors (the back was filled with our gear). I managed after several attempts that included some jerky stalls trying to work the clutch.
When we didn’t want to camp we usually found a hotel or cabaña using the internet and Bookings.com. We have a neat wifi hotspot device that we pay a flat fee for cellular based internet access regardless of carrier or country we are in.
We arrived in Raúl Marín Balmaceda and it was pouring rain. The village is built on a sand bluff above the surrounding water. It had about four streets and none seemed more than about three blocks long. Unfortunately there is no cell service there and we had no reservation. We started driving around looking for a lodging sign and saw a man walking down the street. In our broken Spanish we asked about where to stay. It turned out he had a lovely cabaña available next door to his house. Yay!
The next day the weather had cleared. We and another couple took a nature tour in a small boat with a local guide. His English was very limited but my understanding was he had been mostly living off the land until the road and tourism had recently arrived. The boat drove around the estuary and we spotted lots of animals.
These critters seemed curious about us too.
This one seemed to want more personal space and had their own rock.
The next morning we caught the ferry back (the ramp was much easier on this side) and headed down the Carretera Austral to a private campground in Puyuhuapi just outside Parque Nacional Queulat.
The main attraction of the park is the hanging glacier Ventisquero Colgante. This is from the start of the trail.
By the time we had hiked to an overlook the clouds had moved in and there was intermittent drizzle. This was the best photo I could manage. It was a wonderfully fun three hour hike, but crowded with other people.
Paying for things could at times be an interesting challenge. Sometimes we could use our plastic. Sometimes we needed cash but didn’t want to carry too much so periodically got Chilean pesos out of ATMs. The banks in these remote towns are resupplied with cash brought in by boats that don’t come every day. We were getting low on cash but discovered the ATM at the one bank in Puyuhuapi was out of cash. So we drove over a low coastal range to Puerto Cisnos where the ATM at the one bank there was sitting in the middle of the closed lobby being repaired.
So we turned around and drove back over the mountains (pretty drive though – the tops of the mountains still had snow). We headed south to Coyhaique where we found a campground in someone’s backyard. After two nights in town and resupplied with cash we drove to Villa Cerro Castillo.
We arrived on a late windy afternoon. This is the view of Parque Cerro Castillo from the private campground where we pitched our tent.
View along the trail up to Cerro Castillo the next morning.
We hiked part of the way up. The guide book said the trail above here was a bit of a scramble over loose rock. So we made our way back to the village and ate dinner at a great little BnB overlooking the river just down the road from our campsite.
Lapassionara
These are wonderful! Thank you.
As for WaterGirl’s question about the time for posting, I am not a young person, so I prefer the schedule in place now. If the time is moved, I would try to find it in the morning, but I often miss some posts that way.
Just my two cents.
Wag
Excellent photos. The photo of the braided waterfall through the rain (#5) is amazing
Yutsano
Sea doggos!!!
Re: timing: I do prefer the time now. Even if it bigfoots another post.
Ceci n est pas mon nym
Beautiful photos.
My answer to WaterGirl’s survey: I wouldn’t see them at midnight. I’d try to make a point of seeking them out in the morning I guess. Though I do often wake up at 3 am and sometimes check overnight threads when I do.
MoCA Ace
Despite my status as a pre-old (I can see old from my window) I’m still a total night owl. Normal bedtime is never before midnight central time so it makes no difference to me.
Omnes Omnibus
Look, most of the blog people watch their Matlock and then there is that nice Canadian guy on Jeopardy. Then dinner.
My point is don’t mess with the accustomed schedules of the housebound elderly.
VeniceRiley
Shrugging on the schedule as I’ll be 8ish hours different in x number of months. So, I’ll see it regardless in my morning. I want to see that glacier before it recedes!
MoCA Ace
@MoCA Ace: and no need to cater to us night owls… we’ll find it in the middle of the night even if its posted at 10:00.
Dagaetch
Wonderful photos, I really want to visit Chile someday.
I prefer the current schedule, would rather see one thread at night and one in the morning.
Kent
Wonderful photos. My wife has family in Coyhaique but we haven’t had a chance to get down there to visit yet. We try to go back to Chile once or twice a year but on shorter trips it is really hard to get away from the Santiago and Vina del Mar area where most of my wife’s family are because my mother in law plans so many family events. Maybe when we are retired we will have enough time to see the rest of the country.
CaseyL
Gorgeous photos! I’m impressed by your ability to have a lovely time in the remote areas of a country whose language you don’t speak – or at least don’t seem to speak fluently.
WaterGirl, thanks to the 3-hour time difference, either time is fine for me.
lashonharangue
@CaseyL: Google translate is a wonderful thing. We had taken some Spanish lessons before the trip. However, Chilean Spanish is kind of different. Lots of idioms and the accent sounds kind of Italian. In fact they say ciao.
Omnes Omnibus
@lashonharangue: I thought is was the Argentines who were Italians who speak Spanish and think they’re British living in Paris.
Paul in St. Augustine
Traveling to remote places on our planet is wonderful, and I enjoyed viewing your trip.
Change doesn’t matter to me, it’s all part of living. My vote is to do what’s easiest for you, WG.
Amir Khalid
@lashonharangue:
People say ciao! in every language on the planet, just like we all say okay. The Germans, I have learned, spell it Tschau!
frosty
WG: The last thing I read at night is Anne Laurie’s late night open thread, which is usually the last post before the morning COVID post. I don’t know the timing when it’s usually posted. I kind of like OTRAD where / when it is.
Kent
Well, that is sort of true.
Having spent time in both countries I can tell you that both have quirky Spanish but are completely different. Argentines use the form “vos” for example, and Chileans do not. And most of Chilean slang is uniquely Chilean that Argentines do not understand.
Despite sharing an enormously long border, the two countries are quite separate due to the Andes. There are very few mountain passes across the Andes and if you are in Chile and do cross the Andes to Argentina, you still have to go all the way across the entire continent to get to Buenos Aires and most of the populated regions of Argentina which are along the Atlantic. Western Argentina, along the Andes is a vast semi-arid and lightly populated region that reminds one of say….central Nevada.
About the only Argentines who visit Chile on a regular basis are those from Mendoza who drive across the Andes to visit the beaches in Chile which is closer for them than driving across Argentina to get to the Atlantic beaches. The bulk of Argentines who live in the greater Buenos Aires area do their vacationing and have their beach houses in Uruguay or Brazil.
Lynn
@Amir Khalid: I have never heard anyone say ciao here in Mexico, only adios. S
Yutsano
@Kent: There is a rather large Italian immigration contingent in both countries. It doesn’t surprise me that both Argentina and Chile have that influence from the closer root language.
BigJimSlade
Sounds, and looks, like a fantastic trip.
WaterGirl, I’m a partisan for keeping the postings where they are :-)
randy khan
Love the seals. And the first photo, which is beautifully composed.
As for time, if it’s midnight Eastern I probably won’t see it most nights, but would read – well, look – in the morning. As late as 11:00 Eastern, I’d probably see it at night. And I will say I kind of like it then. But if, as I suspect, this is about WG’s schedule, then I’m all in for whatever works for her.
Kent
@Lynn:
My Chilean wife had to learn a whole new Spanish when she moved to the US and started seeing Hispanic immigrant patients from Mexico and Central America.
I remember being at the zoo in Waco with my upper class Chilean brother in law when we ran into one of my wife’s patients from rural Mexico. They chatted up for a bit in rural Mexican slang. Afterwards my brother in law just stared at her in shock. “What in God’s name was that you were just speaking?” He asked. He had no idea what they were talking about.
Rob
I’m on the East Coast, and in the demographic: AARP member too young to receive Medicare (i.e. older than 50, younger than 65). I normally am heading toward bed around 10 pm, so I save the 10 pm On The Road for the next morning when I am waking up and eating breakfast. Like right now. So whichever time this On The Road is scheduled doesn’t matter to me, as I look at it in the morning.
p.a.
Beautiful photos, thanks.
Ditto Omnes on posting time.
satby
Beautiful pictures lashonharangue!
As to your question WG, I think one OTR per day is plenty. I seldom read the night ones at all, and after midnight would put two within hours of each other. If you’re soliciting contributions it seems you’ve eliminated the backlog that prompted the night postings. The blog has missed discussing some newsworthy items (the travesty that was the refusal to prosecute Breonna’s murder being one) because that day we had too many “special” discussions going on to even note it in a post. Politics sprinkled with a little anarchy is why most of us started reading here, nice as the travel posts are it’s not what I look for daily. Much less twice a day.
There go two miscreants
Love these pictures; what incredible scenery!
I’m indifferent on the posting time; mostly I catch up in the morning.
lashonharangue
I would prefer keeping it at the current time. However, if managing two sets of OTR/day is a burden it is okay with me to drop after dark. Or just do it once in a while, maybe three or four times a year.
KSinMA
What beautiful photos! Thanks!
As to time of day, I think the people doing the work should post at their convenience.
O. Felix Culpa
I love getting the OTR posts once a day, in the morning. They provide a little lift before heading into the political stuff. As Mary Poppins said (in the movie, not sure if it was in the book), “Enough is as good as a feast.”
WaterGirl
On the Road peeps: I very much appreciate your input. I am still checking back, so it’s not too late to share your two cents.
way2blue
Okay! Ventisquero Colgante is stunning. Definitely worth the hike. Thanks for sharing photos of your adventure.
J R in WV
So… the next day afternoon, I’m just now seeing this wonderful travel post. Hanging glacier ~!!~ Woah, that’s wonderful. And looking at the valley below the glacier, it wasn’t always hanging, once it was full to the bottom all the way down to the Pacific, I would guess.
Our only trip south of the US border was a flight to Baha California Sud for a whale watching (and kissing and petting and being splashed by) trip. Baha California is very active geologically, the Sea of Cortez is a rift valley where two crustal plates are separating.
Huge cliffs and gashes into the mountains, volcanic material, lots of serious Sonoran Desert, cactus similar to southern Arizona, though no Saguaros. Nothing like the Andes you have shown us here. These are like the Alps, only sharper and newer looking. We flew over the Alps from Paris to Firenze and back, it was scenic to the max!
Thanks again for sharing your photos and memories. You had a wonderful trip and met wonderful people half a world away — we’re jealous, and have added another impossible dream to our huge and growing bucket list~!!~
Watergirl:
I like the photo shoots After Dark, after dark but not 12 midnight. While I’m always awake then, I’m usually reading in bed, waiting for my body to calm down after the day’s turmoil. 9 or 10 is when I usually try to start to wind down.
If you have enough photo submissions coming in to do 2 a day, that’s great. They are good distractions from the turmoil and tension of the daily news. If we only had one of the myriad giant problems it would be stressful, in real time we have a dozen or more right now, and many of them are existential issues.
Rafael Contreras-Yepez
@Kent:It is a pleasure to read your adventures in my country Chile. About our spanish let me say some words.
There many strangers words because we say Yaa like the Germans for to say OK. And we say Pooh instead original spanish Pues.
But dont be afraid when you need to speak with native tell something in basic spanish and them can give answer with poor words english. It works and will be fun.
All the chilians had study hundred hours of English at school and universities but we dont use…
Now I will say by and that its all
Chao no mas !?
WaterGirl
@Rafael Contreras-Yepez: The first time you comment at Balloon Juice, your comment doesn’t show up for everyone until we have manually approved it.
After that, your comments will show up right away. I have just approved your comment. Welcome!