It occurs to me that the title of this blog should really be 'maureen and friends' but when i set it up for the intrepid travellers i didn't really know how it all worked....
Hi from your long-lost OJ. We are in good spirits here at the Northern Lakes in S. Chile despite the almost continuous rainfall at present. This area receives more rain than does the English Lake District. No doubt, though, we'll recall this with fond memories when we're perspiring in the Atacama Desert.
Olwyn manages without the aid of an elbow crutch now, walking using a stick, or nothing at all over short distances. She walked a forest trail recently which was over 1 km and went even further than that on one beach. Trees are Chile's crowning glory. Hills are covered in indigenous species, and on the forest trail I mentioned, alerce trees of up to 2000 years old towered above us.
Pat came to visit SAM from Switzerland and traveled in Womble for nearly 2 weeks before departing to fly to Easter Island - one of her main goals. She emailed us on 7th March to say that we MUST go there. It was good to see Pat again and we hope that when she is back in Switzerland she will be transported in her mind back to Chile, her friends and Easter Island when she is involved in the more tedious dental sessions back in her workplace.
On the day Pat left, and after a session in a hot (non-sulphur!) thermal pool, Maureen drove Olwyn and me the 90 minutes journey up Volcano Puyehue. 2240 metres high, it blew its top in 1960 causing immense damage, but as is the nature of these things, the surface and surrounding areas are richly verdant again. The silence inside the Volcano's crater was absolute - except of course when Olwyn and Maureen were talking.
We are still in touch from time to time with our friends in Marilia and we always think of them with warmth and gratitude. Without their support, Olwyn's heel would not have started the healing process which has brought it to its present state. She still has to work hard to help, by, for example, her discipline in exercising the heel for an hour first thing every morning, but progress there is, albeit slow.
Mickey and Bigfoot are further North in Chile and the largest SAM contingent is now Womble, Kontiki and OJ. Olwyn and I intend to stick with our original plan to leave S. America in July, to reach the UK in August. Research has not yet thrown up any ro-ro ferries direct from the West (Pacific) coast of S. America to Europe, and certainly not ones which transport passengers too. We may therefore feel obliged to use the East coast again, despite the damage/losses OJ experienced coming out here on the Grimaldi ferry.
But, we're enjoying every moment of the present and seeing as much as we can each day. OJ is behaving well. Womble has only needed to tow us out of trouble once, when we ground to a halt on a steep ripio (dirt/gravel) hill. Maureen was also guardian angel to a young couple whose 4 x 4 had been forced off road into a ditch by an oncoming bus. Olwyn's photos are still 90% flowers, and she enjoys birdspotting with Les. The way they talk about 'common' condors etc led me to suggest that they inaugurate a new twitchers' club - the BBC - Blasé Birdwatchers' Club!
Among the many highlights of this trip so far has been our journey along Ruta 7, the Carretera Austral, over 1000kms of ripio which is very precarious in parts. The scenery was astounding. We shared some of the feelings of awe we experienced in 2004, driving along the Karacorum Highway from Pakistan into China.
Blimey O'Reilly we're lucky...
Love from OJ
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