As much as I loved Santiago, with its charming appeal and its appalling coffee, I'm going rush through it a bit so I can get to my final journey to Bariloche, Argentina.
Charming isn't it?
Actually, the most interesting part about Santiago was its history. To understand more about Chile's struggle to become a democratic power, I would recommend watching the film 'NO!'.
Subtitled in English, the film demonstrates the significance of a huge campaign to vote NO against the then dictator General Pinochet. Having eliminated all his political competition he declared that voters had two choices; to vote YES to keep him or NO to overthrow him. The outcome NO changing the course of Chile's history for years to come.
A visit to the Human Rights museum while I was there also helped me understand more about the effects of this time on the people of Chile, where lists of names of those murdered or disappeared were endless.
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| Finally, some fish. |
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| and plenty of Ice Cream |
Actually, the most interesting part about Santiago was its history. To understand more about Chile's struggle to become a democratic power, I would recommend watching the film 'NO!'.
Subtitled in English, the film demonstrates the significance of a huge campaign to vote NO against the then dictator General Pinochet. Having eliminated all his political competition he declared that voters had two choices; to vote YES to keep him or NO to overthrow him. The outcome NO changing the course of Chile's history for years to come.
A visit to the Human Rights museum while I was there also helped me understand more about the effects of this time on the people of Chile, where lists of names of those murdered or disappeared were endless.
Next I went South by coach to a small town named Pucon, where I stayed for two nights to break up my journey back across the border to Argentina. Once I arrived in the town I quickly decided there was no way I was going to leave without setting foot on this beauty.
El Volcan Villarrica.
And so I did. Here we are walking up it.
And here I am. On it.
And here I am. On it.
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| El Volcan |
As I did, you may be wondering how we made our way back down. We used these of course.
It may have been hell getting up there, but we soon realised it had been well worth it.
Finally, on the 12th of February I reached Bariloche in Argentina. In hindsight I wish I had left myself more time there, but I still managed to squeeze in a 28km cycle ride to explore and get an idea of just how picturesque it was.
Argentina's Lake District:
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| View from the hostel |
El Extremo. Sad to say that this brings me to the end of my travels, aside from the hell of a journey I had getting back to Rio in order to fly home. A flight which involved a strange Indian man on his way to Dubai, who claimed he had been living on the streets of Argentina for months after having all his belongings robbed. After he told me he hadn't eaten in three days, I kindly offered him my plane food to find he did not like beef. Following this I spent the rest of the flight leaning into the isle as he rested his head on my shoulder and began watching the movie I'd started on my tv screen.
India I'm afraid to say will not be my next backpacking destination, not alone anyway.
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