January 2023

In January 2023 we travelled with our humans to South America. After a couple of days in Buenos Aires in Argentina, the primary objective was to explore Chile. We had been to the Atacama Desert and had now arrived Puerto Montt. From here, we would be going further south to explore Torres del Paine. Check out this Google Map to see where we went.

Click each photo to enlarge

We arrived Puerto Montt and went to Puerto Varas for a 2 days stay. Puerto Varas is located in the most foresty area of Chile. It was inhabited by many German immigrants in the 1800s and the German way of doing things can be seen many places.

Puerto Varas, Chile, January 2023

We stayed at the Radisson Hotel while exploring the lush and foresty areas in this part of Chile, called the lake district. We were going to see the two volcanos, the major Osorno volcano and the twin, but smaller volcano, Calbuco.

Before going up the Osorno volcano, we hiked in the park around the Petrohué River. Our photographer put us on top of a rock with the rapid river in the background. Tom was getting nervous.
"This is a bit risky, isn't it? I mean, one of us could be caught by the wind and end up in the river. I feel I'm on a list of endangered species."
"I'd be proud to be on that list," Roger bragged. "It just goes to prove what kind of wild life I live."
"Well, if our lady human gets news of this," McBear pointed out, "it's our photographer who will be on the list of endangered species..."

The volcan Osorno is around 2,600 meters tall and its snow capped. When we started out in the morning, it was shrouded in clouds, however, during the afternoon the sun burnt off the clouds.

Osorno Volcano, Chile, January 2023

Our coach went high up to a car parking so we could get out. There was even a ski lift, however, since January was their summer month, there was hardly any snow.
"If it's a volcano, does that mean we'll get warm feet? asked Chong. "Do we need to wear slippers or anything?
"Naah, Osorno is hardly an active volcano."

Next morning we got up at... 4 am! Ouch. We had to catch our next flight, this time to the very south of Chile.

We arrived the airport in Punta Arenas at 53 degrees south. It was getting colder and colder, brrrr...
"This climate is more suited for a polar bear like Roger," Chong said. "Not a subtropical panda bear like me..."
"Is Roger really a polar bear?" Sniffy asked. "He more looks... eh, like a brown bear to me."
"Well, it's dirt as a result of a dusty life on the road," Tom said.
"Dirt? I beg your pardon. It's tan from living outdoor, nothing else!" Roger believed.

It would be a drive of more than 300 km to our next stop, Puerto Natales in the southern part of Patagonia. We were driving on route 9 named Ruta del Fin del Mundo, meaning the end of the world, almost literally...

On the way we saw several condors flying at low altitude, cruising and scanning the ground for food. Our photgrapher got loads of photos but at a distance or it was blurred or at a weird angle... or a road sign or tree got in between...

Here we are in Puerto Natales, a small town of merely a couple of thousand citizens. We stayed at the Francis Drake Hostal. The town features some well known sculptures, including a stone sculpture showing two men, one with a huge foot. It actually resembles the origin of the name behind Patagonia, pronounced Patahonia - men with large feet.

As we drove through the Torres del Paine National Park, we could see the mountain range named after the towering mountain peaks. We stopped to get out to get a selfie. This however sparked an incident as it was fairly windy and risky for tiny bears. As per usual, negotations ensued, but since we had joined an international tour group, and some of these people now found themselves in the midst of an exchange of reasons and arguments, the situation nearly escalated into an international crisis.
A compromise resolved the issue, thank God: McBear was granted permission to be posing for the selfie. The rest were kept in the bag. While our photographer believed Roger was severely grumpy now for not being on the photo, the opposing party pointed out, that Roger at least was safe...

The spikes are said to be among the yongest mountains on Earth, a mere 12 millions years old, and they are still growing.

The lakes around the mountains have a special blue colour, like turqoise, which is caused by sylt in the water.

Finally, we reached out destination, the valley of the River Grey and River Serrano. Our tour guide had the coach stopped at a viewing spot, so we could get out. He claimed it was the most beautiful view in the entire solar system.
"That's a pretty bold statement," McBear said, "but maybe he's right.
"I like the rivers," said Sniffy.
"Ah!" said Chong, "The mountains are much prettier with the clouds waving over the peaks."
"Phew," said Roger. "I feel grotty after a long day of travelling. I hope our room has a great bath.
"I hope they have a great bar," said Tom.

We were staying at the Hotel del Paine. They had a cosy seating area.

The next morning we were going to the Lago Grey to watch a glacier. Hardly had the coach left the site before our tour guide shouted there was a condor to the right just above the coach. Everybody rushed to the right.
"It's to the left now!" we heard a voice.
"No! It's here!"
"Where? WHERE?"
Emotions ran high, ranging from excitement to frustration, even panick for those who couldn't get their cameras ready fast enough. It also seemed our driver had certain challenges trying to counterbalance the coach every time passengers rushed to one side.

The tour group headed north to Lago Grey. We embarked on a boat which took us out on the lake and close to one of the glaciers. Here's McBear enjoying the views of the glacier and icebergs. He was the only bear to be granted permission to sit at an open window - it was very risky business...

There are many glaciers in this area and they carry ice from a large ice field nearly 400 km long.

As the glacier slowly moves down into the Lago Grey, icebergs break off and start to flow on the lake until they melt completely.

Then our travel to Torres del Paine ended and we started on our returning to Santiago. Here we are checking in at the airport in Punta Arenas. Flying back would take 3 and a half hours and we would be staying one last night at the Panamericana Hotel Providencia.

In Santiago airport, we picked up a rental car and went to Vina del Mar near Valparaiso. We were going to stay 5 nights at the 5 star Sheraton hotel.

We had a lovely room with a wonderful view of the beach.
"It's a reasonably nice view," said Roger.
"It's reasonable, yes." Tom agreed.
"It's reasonable," said Sniffy for he had now experienced many hotels and he had learned the jargon among members of the Travelling Bears.

Since we had a car, we could drive around the central valley. There are lots of great wineries. One of the places we went, was the famous winery Errazuriz north of Santiago.

Our humans enjoyed a wine tasting session. While McBear and Roger were studying the map over the Aconcagua Valley, Tom was sipping some Max wine and studying the label.
"We're in different worlds," Tom noticed. "You two are studying the earthy world, I'm studying the spiritual world."

Unfortunately, our days in Chile were over and we started on our return to Dublin. From Santiago we flew to Buenos Aires and stayed our last night at the Holiday Inn near the airport.
We wanted to see what stuff we had picked up during our travel. There were olive oil from Air France and olive oil from Sheraton in Vina del Mar - including Tom's "black Renault" vinegar also from Sheraton. There were coca leaves from Atacama - and coca sweets. There were coffee from Vina del Mar and finally, there was a set of jugs for tea and coffee, all in copper from the mines in northern Chile.

We left Buenos Aires on an overnight flight to the Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris. Now, we were searching for the gate for our last flight, this time to Dublin in Ireland.
"Do you see our gate number anywhere?" asked Roger.
"No... not yet, but I'm still searching. It's really hard to keep updated on time and place, I mean, this is our 11th flight and 11th boarding card..."

At least we could visit the VIB Lounge. We could take a break after our over night flight. McBear felt tired and wanted something energizing.
"No, McBear," Roger pointed out, "a 13 hour long haul flight is no justification for eating 4 pancakes. There's an excess of calories on that plate..."