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Nick's Chilean Journal
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Salt Lake City - the Altiplano, Bolivia Soundtrack - Boards of Canada, which I was introduced to while I was in Patagonia. Warmly surreal chillout, went perfectly with the warmly surreal surroundings.
‘Salar de Uyuni’ read the sign outside the tour office on the main street of San Pedro. I walked in with D and O, my new friends who I met on my arrival to this desert town.
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Soundtrack: I am heavily indebted to J for introducing me to Fever Ray, whose album I listened to at least 6 times while staying there.
It had been a while since I arrived back from my trip to Patagonia. For two months I hung out in Santiago absorbing the sights and the sunshine, keeping myself entertained and doing some paid work here and there. But at the same time I was getting restless. I wasn’t going to be here forever, and I wanted to see more, go somewhere new. I had already seen the South, so it was time to swim up stream, to go North. My first stop was La Serena, 6 hours North by bus. J, a friend from England, lives there and said that I could stay with her for a few days. Welcome news to my ears because it meant I didn’t have to pay for accommodation, and I was on a tight budget.Published in Nick's Chilean JournalTags -
Soundtrack: Nick Drake and Simon & Garfunkel helped the journey go smoothly.
The good times couldn’t last forever. It was the end of our run: K and X continuing to south Ushuaia, and I was heading back to Santiago - to see a concert that I wasn’t even sure would be on because of the earthquake. But I had the ticket and it was expensive, so it was time to return...Published in Nick's Chilean JournalTags -
Soundtrack of the week: Radiohead, Kid A
When you’ve travelling you can’t stay in one place forever. You have to keep moving, keep your momentum, otherwise you risk getting too comfortable, getting bogged down... getting bored. We’d been in Bariloche for 4 days, maybe 5. Christ, how many was it? It was becoming hard to tell. Whether it was Tuesday or Saturday no one knew - the days slipped easily into one another until we almost forgot that this was just a short stay, a small part of a larger expedition. We had drunk wine, met like-minded souls, swum through waterfalls, cycled round lakes, hiked up hills (dunk beer on top of said hills), learned to hula-hoop on top of hills; played scrabble, played chess, played cards, drunk more beer and more wine... Now, it was time to move on.Published in Nick's Chilean JournalTags -
On 27th February there was an earthquake off the coast of Chile measuring 8.8 on the Richter scale, 500 times stronger than in Haiti. Tremors were felt as far north as Peru, and as far east as Buenos Aires in Argentina. It moved the entire city of Concepcion, one of the closest cities to the epicentre, 3 meters to the west; the capital, Santiago, shifted a full 30cm west. It caused a tsunami wave which travelled along the coast and washed away entire towns. It was not a good day to be in Chile. Published in Nick's Chilean JournalTags
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Soundtrack of the weekend: I played The Chemical Brothers from a portable speaker and it was surprising how much it helped us to work. Energetic, melodic, amazing!
The Chilean earthquake is old news. But to some the effects of the earthquake are still acutely present, even after all this time. It was estimated that around 500,000 homes were destroyed, their inhabitants left literally homeless. It is this situation that the charity Un Techo Para Chile is trying to solve. ‘A roof for Chile’. What a noble spirit of community that simple name evokes. They build houses not only for earthquake victims but also for other people who need homes, in an attempt to get them out of the refugee-style camps that are so common throughout the country. They were given funds by the government to buy materials for new homes, and then they appeal for volunteers to go and build them. Young people, often university students, go in busloads every weekend. I wanted to see more of how Chile had been affected and how people were coping, and I wanted to join in the work that Techo Para Chile was doing for them. So I signed up with them and went to build a house.
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Nick, King's College graduate, has decided to jump on a plane, travel 18 hours and hang loose in Chile. Here, he gives ThirdYearAbroad.com an exclusive personal insight into the country, with food for thought for anyone planning a trip around South America...
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Soundtrack: F*** Buttons - Space Mountain. Epic electronics for an epic landscape.
“Down down down. Just keep going down.” Our philosophy remained steadfast and we continued ever southwards towards the tip of the continent. From Bariloche we took a bus for 5 hours to El Bolson, where we spent several easy-going nights. The best thing about the whole place was the campsite where we stayed, where we built fires and grilled the hell out of massive juicy steaks for dinner. The owner of the place, who I took to calling Esteban but whose name it turned out was really Daniel, sold us locally made beer in unmarked bottles for £1.50 a litre, the best beer we tasted in Argentina, and took pleasure in showing us his collection of wild boar heads mounted on the wall of his cabin.Published in Nick's Chilean JournalTags -
Soundtrack of the week: Zero 7, Yeah Ghost.
Bariloche... what a town! The place where well-off Argentinians go for their summer holiday... None of the people I spoke to there were locals. It has a great reputation for outdoor activities: kayaking, white-water rafting, climbing, zip-lining, trekking, fishing, cycling, even sliding in a rubber-ring down a mountain... all this and more if you’ve got cash on your side. Consequently the place is full of tourists. Not that that’s such a bad thing: the town is thriving, full of shops and restaurants and hostels and life. But it does make it a little expensive; they know they’ve got a captive market, and if you don’t like their price, you can just go off to the next big town - some 200 miles away.Published in Nick's Chilean JournalTags -
Soundtrack: Kelpe, Organic Underwater Beats‘I’m coming to Santiago on Tuesday, and then a few days later heading south to Patagonia. We should meet up.’ Such was the communication from X, a friend from London who was living in Buenos Aires. ‘Sounds good,’ I replied. ‘I’ll be around. In fact I’d love to see the South too. Fancy adding one more to your travelling party?’
It seemed like too good an opportunity to miss. I didn’t know what to expect from the South apart from slightly colder weather, but I was more than ready for a new adventure into unknown terrain.
‘Sure,’ replied X. ‘My friend K is coming too, so it’ll be three of us.’
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