Patagonia forms the southern part of Chile, referred to as 'sur del mondo', south of the world in Spanish. I had the opportunity to spend a week-long vacation there last month. It was last week of June and hence in the middle of the winters. There were not many tourists around.
I started from Santiago and took a flight to Punta Arenas, the second-southernmost city of the world, next only to Ushuaia of Argentina. The flight lasted 5 hours and had two stops in between.
There are regular transfers to the city center, Plaza Muñoz Gamero, via taxis and buses. Several hostels are located around the center and I took a room in the hostel El Calafate. You may like to refer to the Lonely Planet guidebook on Chile/South America for a bigger list and addresses. The room cost me 8000 Pesos (16 US dollars) for a night.
Punta Arenas is a small, delightful town with helpful people and adventure gear shops. Lomit's is a big, happening restaurant. I ordered a chicken burger with 'Shop', a popular local drink of beer mixed with Fanta. I was also intrigued by the number of hair salons in the city; I got a nice haircut at one for 5000 Pesos.
The Plaza Muñoz Gamero features a statue of Ferdinand Magellan, the great Portugese maritime explorer who navigated the channels around southern Chile and Cape Horn. The Straits of Magellan and the Magellan Clouds are named after him. It is customary for sailors to kiss the foot of the 'Patagon', a giant Patagonian inhabitant sitting below Magellan in the statue.
The main attraction of Punta Arenas is the centuries-old cemetary which has the graves of some of the earliest settelers in the region. I can't read Spanish but I've heard the inscriptions are quite heartfelt and touching.
Near the cemetary resides a German family that makes cholocates in-house. They sell from their home under the name 'Norweisser'. These are amazing chocolates in a variety of flavors.
From Punta Arenas, I took a bus to Puerto Natales up north. It was an amazing 3-hour ride on a straight highway running through the infinite, unending, yellow Steppe grasslands. With only our bus on the highway and utter silence all around, it was a transcendental, spiritual experience.
I arrived in Puerto Natales late evening where dense fog, frost and bitter cold welcomed me. I had to take a cruise ship from there, which would navigate through the fjords of Patagonia along Chile's coast, northwards to Puerto Montt. This service is run by Navimag; they also offer southbound and glacier cruises.
I had booked the cheapest ticket - 390 dollars for the 4-night trip, all meals and bed included. Luckily due to the off-season, I got an upgrade to a 1000-dollar cabin with private bath. We were only 20 passengers on a ship with a capacity for 200.
The following 4 days were truly memorable - I get nostalgic even as I write about it. The first two nights went well; the sea was calm and the wind, though strong, was bearable on the deck. On the third day it started getting bad. We had to cross a stretch of the open ocean as the last leg of the course. However the weather gods seemed to have different plans. The captain of the ship told us he had never navigated in such conditions before. We were advised to take sea-sickness pills considering what awaited us in the open ocean. I decided otherwise - I wanted to experience it once at least. We waited before steering into the ocean, but seeing no respite coming, the captain took the plunge. The ship tossed wildly - the panels of cupboards went crazy, doors were banging, it was total chaos. The stomachs were now complaining. Not many came down to the hall for dinner that night. I wanted to climb on the deck, but it was so impossible. The wind would've thrown me into the ocean which would then happily swallow me without leaving a trace. I'm glad I listened to my mind and not my heart that night! The captain, during the rough night, carved out a lovely sculpture out of soft wood, depicting the ship caught in the storm.
The next day we woke up (with body-aches) to a calmer sea. The wind was still strong and we faced a delay of one day before finally docking at the lovely Puerto Montt. The ground was still swaying beneath our feet!
We 20 'voyagers' developed an amazing camaraderie during these 5 days. The gloomy weather outside was forgotten among wine, poker, chess and pictionary games. We exchanged our Facebook contacts and plan to remain in touch.
Puerto Montt is also a lovely, small port city. The main plazas and the bus terminal are built on the waterfront. I took a flight back to Santiago the same day. All included, I'd spent around 800 US dollars on this vacation.
This week-long trip was a lifetime event for me. It felt like I met myself somewhere along the way. Don't remember where.
Sunday, July 6, 2008
Monday, June 9, 2008
Goa (India): December 2007
22-26 December 2007
Four of us friends started from Delhi for a Christmas vacation in Goa. Direct flight to Goa was quite expensive, and direct train was fully booked. So we decided to take a flight to Mumbai, and from there, a train to Goa.
We reached Mumbai late in the evening. Two more friends were to join us for the trip from Mumbai; we stayed overnight at their place. Early next morning we boarded the train to Goa. The track is part of the Konkan Railway zone which is famous for its tunnels and scenic landscapes along the way. After a long 8-hour journey we arrived at the Thivim station, which is probably one stop before Vasco da Gama, Goa's main train station. It was around noon.
Once in Goa, we had to decide on a place to stay. We ruled out Panjim as it was far from the main beaches, although cheaper. We decided for Calangute beach which is a hip, crowded beach in north Goa. It took around one hour by taxi from Thivim to Calangute. We got down at Calangute Residency, a hotel run by the Goa Tourism Development Corporation. The hotel was full, so we inquired around and took a single dorm-style hall at a 'shack', small restaurant-cum-hostels built along the beach on sand. Owing to their location right on the beach, these shacks make good business selling food and drinks, in addition to renting out sun umbrellas and beach chairs to the tourists.
After settling down in the hall, we went for a dip in the ocean. The afternoon was quite hot, in contrast to Delhi's cold winters. In the evening we went out for dinner and later hired a car for the next day. It was a red, open air Maruti Gypsy exuding classic charm!
The next day we had breakfast at the shack. This is one of the best things to do in Goa - having breakfast on the beach in the warm sun with waves gently lapping your feet. Fresh fruit juice and omelette were amazing. Cheese sandwich was also good. We also ordered paranthas with butter.
We then took off for south Goa in our Gypsy. We drove almost 70 kms southward to reach the Palolem beach, crossing Panjim in the midway. The Palolem beach is completely different from Calangute. It is curved, with whiter sand, and lined with Palm trees. The beach is dotted with a number of nice restaurants. Palolem is perhaps more popular among foreigners as compared to Calangute. We had a heavy lunch at a beach restaurant and stayed in Palolem till evening. The Gypsy developed a snag and we returned to Calangute by late evening after spending an hour getting it repaired at a petrol station. We went out for dinner at a lovely place in Calangute with candle-lit tables and good service. A great thing about Goa is that even the fancier places offer cheap drinks!
We retained the Gypsy for the next day. It was the day before Christmas and we had heard a lot about Goa's Christmas eve parties on the beaches. After breakfast at the shack, we headed for the Agwada fort (of Dil Chahta Hai fame). We had a great time there photographying. We met my cousin there who had come to Goa with his friends, from Pune. They had hired motorcycles instead of a car. They told us that they had booked a cruise party for the night at Panjim.
We headed to Old Goa after that and saw two churches (right opposite across the road). Then we went to a beach in Panjim which had very coarse sand and a quite unique landscape. We returned to Calangute after enquiring about a few cruise parties that we did not find very interesting. Calangute was a let down as well - the organized indoor parties were very expensive, and the beach parties at the shacks were too crowded and noisy - with all men. We found a quieter bar with a group of people enjoying a nice party. We had a good time there with them.
Later in the night we had dinner at a Punjabi dhaba near the Calangute Residency. It was quite cheap, and the only one serving at that hour (around 12:30 am).
Next day was our last in Goa - we were to take a train back to Mumbai in the evening. So we stayed in Calangute and enjoyed watersports through the day. I liked the banana ride the most - I took that twice. Parasailing was uninteresting. Later we shopped for Goa's specialties - Port wine and rum balls (chocolate balls marinated in rum).
In the evening we hired a black Scorpio for Vasco da Gama train station. The hour long drive was sheer delight with old bollywood disco songs playing all the way.
The overnight train from Vasco da Gama reached Mumbai early next morning from where we took a flight back to Delhi and reached home by afternoon.
Expenses:
Delhi-Mumbai return flight: Rs. 5000
Mumbai-Goa return train ticket: Rs. 500
Taxi from Goa's train station (Thivim) to Calangute beach: Rs. 500
Dorm accommodation at the shack: Rs. 2000 per day for the hall
Car rental: Rs. 1500 per day, petrol extra
Food and drinks: Rs. 1000 per person per day, maybe less
The total cost of the trip was between 10 and 15 thousand rupees per person.
Four of us friends started from Delhi for a Christmas vacation in Goa. Direct flight to Goa was quite expensive, and direct train was fully booked. So we decided to take a flight to Mumbai, and from there, a train to Goa.
We reached Mumbai late in the evening. Two more friends were to join us for the trip from Mumbai; we stayed overnight at their place. Early next morning we boarded the train to Goa. The track is part of the Konkan Railway zone which is famous for its tunnels and scenic landscapes along the way. After a long 8-hour journey we arrived at the Thivim station, which is probably one stop before Vasco da Gama, Goa's main train station. It was around noon.
Once in Goa, we had to decide on a place to stay. We ruled out Panjim as it was far from the main beaches, although cheaper. We decided for Calangute beach which is a hip, crowded beach in north Goa. It took around one hour by taxi from Thivim to Calangute. We got down at Calangute Residency, a hotel run by the Goa Tourism Development Corporation. The hotel was full, so we inquired around and took a single dorm-style hall at a 'shack', small restaurant-cum-hostels built along the beach on sand. Owing to their location right on the beach, these shacks make good business selling food and drinks, in addition to renting out sun umbrellas and beach chairs to the tourists.
After settling down in the hall, we went for a dip in the ocean. The afternoon was quite hot, in contrast to Delhi's cold winters. In the evening we went out for dinner and later hired a car for the next day. It was a red, open air Maruti Gypsy exuding classic charm!
The next day we had breakfast at the shack. This is one of the best things to do in Goa - having breakfast on the beach in the warm sun with waves gently lapping your feet. Fresh fruit juice and omelette were amazing. Cheese sandwich was also good. We also ordered paranthas with butter.
We then took off for south Goa in our Gypsy. We drove almost 70 kms southward to reach the Palolem beach, crossing Panjim in the midway. The Palolem beach is completely different from Calangute. It is curved, with whiter sand, and lined with Palm trees. The beach is dotted with a number of nice restaurants. Palolem is perhaps more popular among foreigners as compared to Calangute. We had a heavy lunch at a beach restaurant and stayed in Palolem till evening. The Gypsy developed a snag and we returned to Calangute by late evening after spending an hour getting it repaired at a petrol station. We went out for dinner at a lovely place in Calangute with candle-lit tables and good service. A great thing about Goa is that even the fancier places offer cheap drinks!
We retained the Gypsy for the next day. It was the day before Christmas and we had heard a lot about Goa's Christmas eve parties on the beaches. After breakfast at the shack, we headed for the Agwada fort (of Dil Chahta Hai fame). We had a great time there photographying. We met my cousin there who had come to Goa with his friends, from Pune. They had hired motorcycles instead of a car. They told us that they had booked a cruise party for the night at Panjim.
We headed to Old Goa after that and saw two churches (right opposite across the road). Then we went to a beach in Panjim which had very coarse sand and a quite unique landscape. We returned to Calangute after enquiring about a few cruise parties that we did not find very interesting. Calangute was a let down as well - the organized indoor parties were very expensive, and the beach parties at the shacks were too crowded and noisy - with all men. We found a quieter bar with a group of people enjoying a nice party. We had a good time there with them.
Later in the night we had dinner at a Punjabi dhaba near the Calangute Residency. It was quite cheap, and the only one serving at that hour (around 12:30 am).
Next day was our last in Goa - we were to take a train back to Mumbai in the evening. So we stayed in Calangute and enjoyed watersports through the day. I liked the banana ride the most - I took that twice. Parasailing was uninteresting. Later we shopped for Goa's specialties - Port wine and rum balls (chocolate balls marinated in rum).
In the evening we hired a black Scorpio for Vasco da Gama train station. The hour long drive was sheer delight with old bollywood disco songs playing all the way.
The overnight train from Vasco da Gama reached Mumbai early next morning from where we took a flight back to Delhi and reached home by afternoon.
Expenses:
Delhi-Mumbai return flight: Rs. 5000
Mumbai-Goa return train ticket: Rs. 500
Taxi from Goa's train station (Thivim) to Calangute beach: Rs. 500
Dorm accommodation at the shack: Rs. 2000 per day for the hall
Car rental: Rs. 1500 per day, petrol extra
Food and drinks: Rs. 1000 per person per day, maybe less
The total cost of the trip was between 10 and 15 thousand rupees per person.
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