Condors Over Chile

Norman Handy

Description

This is a story about travelling down the length of the Andes and the search to see condors. From the far north of the continent on the arid Guajira peninsular, the journey passes through hotspots such as Medellin and Bogota and climbing up Mount Purace, an active volcano. There is a break in Quito to stand on the equator. There is a fascinating side trip to the Galapagos and a voyage through the islands that make up the archipelago. There is a huge array of wildlife that is not afraid of humans, so you can get really close to its tortoises and other unique wildlife. Then there is the experience of seeing some of Peru's ancient civilisations and the country of origin of more than 3,500 varieties of potato before continuing down the Andes to the windswept wastelands of Patagonia to Ushuaia at the end of the world.

Informations

• Publié par: Austin Macauley Publishers
• Date de parution: 30 août 2019
• Nombre de lectures: 2
• EAN13: 9781528964555
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

Condors Over Chile
Norman Handy
Austin Macauley Publishers
2019-08-30
Condors Over Chile About the Author About the Cover Dedication Copyright Information © Acknowledgement Introduction Part 1 Colombia Chapter 1 Guajira Peninsular Chapter 2 Tayrona National Park Chapter 3 Santa Marta Chapter 4 Medellín and Zona Cafetera Chapter 5 Bogotá Chapter 6 San Agustín and Puracé National Park Part 2 Ecuador Chapter 7 The Galapagos Islands Chapter 8 Arajuno Lodge Amazon Jungle Experience Chapter 9 Cuenca Part 3 Peru Chapter 10 Waltako Beach Resort Chapter 11 Lima Chapter 12 The Inca Trail Chapter 13 Lake Titicaca Part 4 Bolivia Chapter 14 La Paz and the Most Dangerous Road in the World Chapter 15 Potosí Part 5 Argentina Chapter 16 New Year’s Day in Mendoza Part 6 Chile Chapter 17 Santiago Part 7 Patagonia Chapter 18 Bariloche and the Patagonia Brewery Chapter 19 Torres del Paine and the W Trek Chapter 20 Ushuaia and the End of the World Post Office Epilogue Other Books by the Author The Klondikers K2 – The Savage Mountain. Travels in Northern Pakistan Overlanding the Silk Road Yellow School Bus – Adventures on a Yellow School Bus from Anchorage in Alaska to Panama Crossing Russia on the Trans Siberian Across the Caspian: An Adventure Through the Caucasus to Mt Elbrus
About the Author
Norman Handy was born in Beckenham in the South East of England, was educated at a mixed boarding school in Cranbrook, Kent and studied Law for Accountants, Business Economics and Accountancy at Southampton University. During his studies, he travelled in Europe, Africa and the Middle East and after finishing university worked abroad. He returned to the United Kingdom and worked in a riding school and later in the financial services sector in London and abroad.  He has two children and is a keen horse rider, walker and skier and of course writer! He spends his time between his home in West Sussex and travelling.
About the Cover
This is a story about travelling down the length of the Andes and the search to see condors. From the far north of the continent on the arid Guajira peninsular, the journey passes through hotspots such as Medellin and Bogota and climbing up Mount Puracé, an active volcano.
There is a break in Quito to stand on the equator. There is a fascinating side trip to the Galapagos and a voyage through the islands that make up the archipelago. There is a huge array of wildlife that is not afraid of humans, so you can get really close to its tortoises and other unique wildlife.
Then there is the experience of seeing some of Peru’s ancient civilisations and the country of origin of more than 3,500 varieties of potato before continuing down the Andes to the windswept wastelands of Patagonia to Ushuaia at the end of the world.
Dedication
For Grace and Malcolm
Copyright Information ©
Norman Handy (2019)
The right of Norman Handy to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with section 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publishers.
Any person who commits any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.
A CIP catalogue record for this title is available from the British Library.
ISBN 9781528964555 (ePub e-book)
www.austinmacauley.com
First Published (2019)
Austin Macauley Publishers Ltd
25 Canada Square
Canary Wharf
London
E14 5LQ
Acknowledgement
Many thanks to Kim and Gareth for their skill, expertise and patience. Gareth drove the truck for seven months around South America and we had no accidents or even near misses. On our spare days when most of us might be relaxing or on the tourist trail, Gareth would be tinkering with the engine, changing filters and checking the suspension and whatever other mechanical jobs needed to be done. And whatever the weather and road conditions, the truck was always in tip-top condition. Kim organized all our tours, campsites and hotels. At times it was like herding cats but she made sure that we were always in the right place at the right time and on schedule, quite an achievement when there are more than a dozen independently minded travelers.
Introduction
I planned to travel down the length of the Americas. I had already completed a section from Anchorage in Alaska down the length of North America, through Canada, the United States, Mexico and Central America to Panama, roughly following the Pan American Highway.
There were two issues with trying to continue this particular route. One was the Darién Gap, the border area between Panama and Colombia because it has no roads so overlanding through this area is not possible.
The other issue was that at Santiago, the capital of Chile, the Pan American Highway goes due east across the continent to the major port of Buenos Aires and then follows the east coast down to the bottom of South America. The road gets to the same place, but I wanted to travel down the Andes and see some of the spectacular scenery of the southern Andes and see some condors, the second largest bird in the world.
The central portion of the route would be the same as following the Pan American Highway. In the southern section there are two beautifully scenic roads heading south. These are the Carretera Austral in Chile or Route 40 in Argentina. I was spoilt for choice but I couldn’t do both in their totality.
The northern section presented other problems. The Andes actually stretch right into Venezuela to the centre of the northern coast of the continent. Venezuela had a lot of social, economic and political issues at the time that I wanted to travel. The president was unpopular and there were daily demonstrations. The security forces reacted with brutal force and there was a rising daily toll of demonstrators that have been killed.
There is both an official and a black economy. There are queues for subsidised food stuffs and empty shelves but if you can afford it, you can get whatever you want but at a price. Petrol and diesel are so heavily subsidised that it is virtually free so there is no incentive to economise and so pollution is at epic proportions. There are many large engined gas guzzling American cars from the 1950s and 1960s but when petrol is so cheap, no one cares about miles per gallon. And the cars are large enough to live in them. Cheap petrol also encourages smuggling so there are multiple military and police road blocks checking for petrol, drugs and contraband for at least 150 km within any border which adds to the sense of oppression.
There was an excellent health system, but the hospitals have no money for bandages or drugs. The government has spent both its foreign exchange reserves and its gold reserves and can’t borrow any more money without paying exorbitant interest rates. It has ample oil reserves, so it should be a rich country but unfunded socialist policies have bankrupted the country, inflation is out of control and there is no foreign exchange to get essential spare parts for the oil industry, so output is lower than planned. It didn’t seem a safe place to go to and besides which the border was closed between Venezuela and Colombia.
Therefore, the theme for the journey developed into going down the Andes starting at the northern tip of the continent in Colombia hoping to see condors en route. The end of the trip would be to reach the southern tip of the Andes and the end of the world at Ushuaia.
Part 1

Colombia
Chapter 1

Guajira Peninsular
I arrived in Cartagena on the Caribbean coast of Colombia by boat. I would not describe it as a cruise or a ferry although it had elements of both. A cruise suggests sometime at sea on a large and luxurious ship and waited on hand and foot, visiting several places en route. A ferry suggests a journey on a functional boat with various cars and trucks on the lower decks to get from point A to point B.
I arrived in Cartagena on an 18m catamaran with cabins for eight passengers. As the boat neared the city, I could see the tops of the skyscrapers at the centre of the city slowly come into view over the horizon. As we progressed towards the harbour we could make out more of the skyscrapers’ lower levels and ultimately a whole host of low buildings that made up the skyline of the city.
It was in stark contrast to the first time that I had arrived in Cartagena. I had flown in and had had the scare of my life. We had descended from our cruising altitude and were skimming along the tops of the waves. From my window seat, all I could see was a large expanse of ocean with nothing but water as far as the eye could see. The runway was positioned just across the beach at an angle to the coast. I was on the seaward side of the aircraft and could see nothing of the coast on the other side of the aircraft. I just thought that we were ditching on the water and we would all be killed when the plane crashed. It was with a huge relieve then that at just a few metres above the water we flew over the beach, over a road and touched down on the tarmac of the runway.
Hence, I had chosen a more sedate approach to Cartagena on this particular trip and had chosen a slow seaward voyage. Despite the small size of the catamaran, it was still neither a cruise nor a ferry ride. There are a host of craft that advertise to take a small group of passengers between Panama and Colombia by sea. Despite the border between the two countries being a narrow bridge of land, there is no road link between the two countries and it is recognised as a major break in the Pan American Highway.
This major road claims to link Prudhoe Bay on the north shores of Alaska on the northern tip of North America to Ushuaia on the southern tip of Argentina on the very southern