Arequipa, Peru

Volcano Misti (5822m) 

Well, as I told you, I will make my way to Peru and so I did. I am here in Arequipa in the south Peruvian Andes highlands since almost a week. I left Pucón on the first of April with the bus to Santiago. There I spent two days enjoying the city and its cultural and culinary offer. Unfortunately Inés could not accompany me because she became ill but nevertheless I spent two nice days over there in pleasant anticipation of the journey to come. Finally I left Santiago by plane on the early morning of April 4th. The plane made stopovers   in Antofagasta as well as in Arica, two Chilean cities in the Atacama Desert. That gave me impressive overhead views of this dryest desert on earth which offers awesome but somehow depressing in its aridity landscapes. In Arica which is just 20 km off the Peruvian border we had to leave the plane for customs formalities before we took off again and entered Peruvian Airspace. Soon we landed on Arequipa airport. I took a taxi to the city centre and immediately realized the big difference to Chile. Traffic here is as crazy as you would expect it from any Southamerican country not as organized as in Chile. While individual traffic almost does not exist, streets are full of small yellow taxi cabs and an uncountable variety of minibuses. Apart from this you see motorised three-wheelers, small motorbikes, bicycles, donkeys and various other partly quiet weird vehicles. They all  follow what seems to be the only valid law on Peruvian roads: Might is right!

They permanently sound their horns. Either while standing in the all-time traffic jam where it means: "Whats going on here? Why don´t you move on?" or while horribly fast moving  towards a crossroads when it means: "I for sure WON´T slow down now!" Apart from this sounding the horn is used to greet friends on the other side of the road, to call your fellow passenger´s attention to a beatiful woman standing on the corner, contact the newspaper vendor at the traffic lights (which rarely exist) and many occasions more.

Well, the taxi brought me safely to the city centre where I could change my Chilean Pesos in Peruvian currency because on the airport they just changed US-dollars. Finally he dropped me off at the office of "Expediciones y Aventuras" the tourist agency for which I am going to work the next two months. I was heartly welcomed by Gustavo the owner. He told me that I can stay in his hostel sharing a room with Christian another rafting guide from Chile who is here for the season. So I went there with all my luggage to refresh myself and get rid of my rucksack. That was, when I realised another fact about Arequipa: the city is situated in the Andes on an altitude of more than 2300m above sea level although it is just 75 km off the coast. This means air is already thin and reaching at the hostel I had to catch my breath although it just is  a few blocks away from the agency. But again I was positively surprised by the pleasantness of the place. The hostel is an old colonial building (in which Gustavo himself grew up) made of sillar, the typical white volcanic rock which builduings here are built of. It has a nice courtyard with lawn, cactuses, small bushes and flowers in pots on the walls and a roof top terrace with a great view over the city and its surrounding volcanoes. It was here up on that rooftop when I realized for the first time the impressive massive volcanoes or rather volcanic massifs surrounding the town in their entire gorgeousness. The town is surrounded by the volcanic massifs of Chachani, Misti and Pichu Pichu the first of which reaches 6000 m of altitude and the other two only being a little lower. Although you are at more than 2300 m in the city already those volcanic giants still reach more than 3500m further up towards the permanent blue sky.

The last days I discovered the town and the river. Arequipa´s old town is a lovely ordered, clean colonial city with an awesome main square and full of hotels, hostels, restaurants, bars, tourist agencies and small shops. There´s a permanent traffic jam because the small roads are overloaded with vehicles but that is just part of the flair. Only when you leave the centre you realize that you are in an emerging nation. I am doing this daily going to the rafting base of the company. To get there I have to take a so called "Combi", small minibuses with about fifteen seats but an endless capacity for passengers. They drive around town on fixed routes with a conductor shouting out of the window the direction it goes and people just hop on and off where they have to. For me it is a little torture to take them because their height in the interior is about 1,6m only. Because you rarely get a seat in them I have to stay, not only my head totally ducked but also my knees slightly bent. If I am lucky I reach the grab handles with both hands but always ending up hitting the other passengers with my now totally bended ellbows right in their faces. Otherwise I have to jam my definitely much too tall body, my head pressing to the roof maintaining my feet somehow on the ground. Sometimes I get a seat but this is not that much better either. My legs just do not fit in between the rows of seats so I always have to sit diagonally using at least two seats. On this rides you see the real face of Arequipa. People begging on the streets, children working, herds of cattle being chased through the streets as well as men in suits calling busily on their cellphone, school children in uniforms, mobile vendors of almost everything and surprisingly few street dogs. Somehow so far I managed to survive this rides unharmed but always am quite happy when I can deboard the "combi".

From our base we have a lovely view over the river Chili which we raft at, the town and the volcanoes. There start all our rafting trips. From there we drive up the river with an amazing old huge Chevrolet Pickup for 6 km where we start the descent. The river Chili is great for rafting. It is quite small, narrow, steep and with lots of rocks forming very technical rapids of grade III to IV. Sometimes the only possible line goes in between two rocks only leaving 10 cm of space in between the boat and the rocks on either side. Right at the moment I am still practicing accompanying other guides on their trips but in a few days more I will be ready to guide myself. This is how my Peruvian adventure started. Could be much worse, so once more I can´t complain. I am happy and looking forward to everything the two next months here will bring.

Moving Around

Season finished as it had started: quite bad. The rafting business was definitely the lowest ever I have seen here. Nevertheless we have to be happy about the success of the cafeteria at the end. People were regularly coming and wha is most important: everybody who had come enjoyed it and liked the place. All together - rafting and cafeteria - I earned the same money as in former years but because we still had to do big investments in the cafeteria nothing of it remained. Anyway we had been quite happy, as always after the nevertheless intense summer seasons here, when March came and everything calmed down, the children went to college again and prices in the village fell. Fortunately March was not worse than normal and so I still had some work to do. If not on the river or in the canyon I prepared for the winter season. I cut fire wood, constructed a roofed terrace for the sauna, cleaned the chimneys and cut the lawn with our brand new lawn mower. So now everything is prepared for my next travel adventure. Because the next two months there will be no business in Pucón I am goint to Peru in April and May to raft over there. I already have my flight booked although I do not know yet where I am going to work. It will be either In Arequipa or in Cuzco. Otherwise I would have to live from my savings this two months. Apart from that once a year I need a family holiday: holiday from the family and also from the Chileans. Besides I am going to know a new river  which I have not done for more than three years and so improve my rafting skills. Because the journey to Peru is much shorter and cheaper than to Austria I decided to go there this year. And travelling in general always was one of my favourites. So soon I will be on the road respectively on the river again and for sure will have to tell you more stories far off daily life. I am definitely looking forward to it and will keep you informed.

Low Season in High Season

But Wolli Keeps on Smiling....

As usual the first week of the new year for me was covered by a dense cloud of euphoria, alcohol hangovers and headaches. After our unscheduled family New Year's Eve dinner the children were picked up by their father to watch the traditional big fireworks at the beach of Pucón. Inés and I stayed at home just with Lucio,her youngest son. We went to the neighbours where from you have a good overview of the fireworks as well and clinked the glasses there. After the kids had come back and brought to bed Inés and I went out in Pucón, ending up at the after hour on the shores of Trancura river right at the same nice place where we end our rafting tours. I have seen several sunsets over there. The same site in the light of the sunrise had been new to me.

For my birthday we had an asado with friends and collegues at my house. Afterwards all went out again. Although we did not see the sunrise this time it had been a good party till early morning.

Then the high season was supposed to come - but never did. There are very little tourists in Pucón this year and those who come do not spend a lot of money in extra activities. I have already heard people say that it is the worst season in 25 years. Reasons for that may be manifold. There are definitely less Argentinians and Europeans which both are struck by economic crisis than normal and even less Chileans. This probably because in the Araucanía exists a partly violent conflict with the native Mapuche population which recently took two lives. This shattering incident is now hyped by the media to a civil war in the south of the countrry. That this conflict consists since decades and is settled violently only in a small area of the province which is more than 200 km away from the touristic centres is never mentioned. So it seems many people decided to avoid the Araucanía as a holiday destination this year. How far the international economic crisis in Chile and bad touristic management add to the problem I can not say but I am quite sure those are more reasons as well. By all means the rafting season is very slow. I have just one trip a day while normally in February I had at least two if not three of them. Besides there are only very little people coming to our cafeteria. It seems we will have to end the season and move on already. Nevertheless hope springs eternal and the last days we had daily customers. Much more important than this is, that we finally got all the permits to run the business legally. This definitely was a big relief. Now we do not have to deal with close-minded paper-shufflers anymore but just pay our bills regularly. Apart from this now we can start an official promotion campaign. So we hope that at least we can rescue something of February and besides are already looking into the future yet preparing for the winter season to come. I have already started to search for contact information of Brasilian travel agencies who normally bring numerous Brasilians for skiing to Pucón. So we do not hang the head but nevertheless enjoy the summer which according to the weather conditions is really great with temperatures around 30 degrees C everyday and one single day of rain in 2013 so far.

What sadly just is sure until now is that I won´t come to Austria this year. That for the flight is just too expensive. If I will have to earn some money in the off-season I will probably go to Peru for some time to raft over there. Because I know some Peruvian guides who come allways to Pucón for the season this should not be a problem and would offer me another opportunity to travel and get to know a new country. So who knows maybe soon I will write to you from the heights of Machu Picchu.

Happy New Year!

Some of you will already know how the first year after the end of the world feels. I am still preparing but the countdown here has started already as well. Christmas I celebrated very relaxed and quietly with an Indian dinner in our house for just Inés and me. The kids had received all their presents already in the morning. The highlight this year definitely was our old Playmobil castle which my mum had sent for them. Now I am playing with it after 30 years again like a little boy with my Chilean kids. Life is weird! In the afternoon all children went with Nelson, Inés' former husband so the two of us had a very peaceful Christmas Eve. After the dinner we went to Pucón, met Natacha, Inés' oldest daughter in her apartment and finished the evening with a relaxed beer in Mamas and Tapas the fanciest bar in Pucón.

For today we have had planned an Austrian New Year´s Eve dinner in the cafeteria because in Chile families use to dine on New Year´s Eve. Unfortunately no one reserved for it. So we will just make the dinner for ourselves: Pumpkin soup, game stew and Sacher Cake. Thankfully we have so many hungry mouths at home that no food will be wasted. It was a little disappointing that no one came to dine here but nevertheless we will start the new year with the hope for a good season to come.

So I wish a happy and prosperous 2013 to all of you. May all your wishes for it come true.

Season Preparations and Some Short Trips

Lake Neltume

Meanwhile spring has turned into summer and as always Inés and I have not been lazy. The Cafeteria is ready to use, the garden does not look like a construction place anymore but like a real garden and sun is shining on everything with its best smile. What we had to do now is some promotion that people will know about our place and find it as well. So Inés went to Santiago to let some flyers be printed. I stayed at home meanwhile organizing everything here and learning a lot with the kids for their last exams in school which will end in one more week. It seems we have not done this that bad because as it looks like they all will have quite good marks this year. It was good fun being at home with them alone allowing me to train my Spanish skills and learn for example about Chilean history. So it was a kind of win-win situation. Nevertheless I had been quite lucky when Inés finally came back. I definitely needed some rest and relaxation then, which I found in various ways. Once I went as a driver for my rafting company with tourists to some hot springs which is a nice thing because it gives me the opportunity to take a relaxing bath and even get payed for it.

Another day I took a bus and went for two days to the southern side of the Villarrica Volcano to a small village called Conaripe on the shore of Lake Calafquén. It is a nice remote village with a big black beach and  at this time of the year almost deserted. I spent some time on the beach reading (it is still too cold for taking a bath - at least for myself although you can already see some brave Chileans in the water), walked around the village, ate good plain fare and ejoyed the tranquility of the place. The next day I took a bus to the Pellaifa Lake and hot springs. A place which I have not known so far. It was a journey of an hour over a gravel road that led over a small mountain pass into a lovely green valley surrounded by already high peaks of the Andes. The hot springs had just been open because I came there that day. Apart from me there had just been a father with his daughter. So the three of us had the whole termal complex - four pools of different water temperatures - for our own. The only sound apart from the wind and some birds singing in the trees came from the owner of the hot springs who was still constructing a bungalow for the high season. I spent the whole day over there and at the close lake which is embedded in between green hills. Hundreds of dead tree trunks jutting out of the water surface of the lake give it an ancient, mystic touch which was topped by various llamas browsing on the shore. In the evening I took the bus back to Pucón not without it breaking down so that I had to change the bus to finally get home.

Another day I borrowed a motorcycle of a friend to make a day trip to another corner of the country so far unknown to me. Two of our children had been with their school band at a band meeting in the small town of Panguipulli at the lake of the same name. As a surprise for them I went there to watch them. For the band meeting took place in the afternoon I had the whole morning to ride around. I started early morning towards Conaripe and Pellaifa again but then kept on going even deeper into the Andes towards Neltume. It is an amazing gravel road over there, more a cart track than a road at some parts, winding through an even more spectacular landscape. At the end of it you come to the south side of Lake Panguipulli where from a newly built asphalt road meanders in great curves along the lake without any traffic seen on it. It is a real motorcyclist's paradise giving you tremendous views of the lake and the mountains surmounted by the impressing massif of Volcano Choshuenco. What a ride! Finally I came with quite a high level of adrenalin in my blood to Panguipulli on the lakes northern shore right in time to watch Amanda and Adriano defiling with their band. The expression on their faces when they suddenly saw me there within the spectators was quite surprised.

I had lunch in a small restaurant in Panguipulli and then rode back to Pucón over some more unknown roads enjoying countless great views. Someday -better sooner than later - I will have to buy me a motorcycle to be able to start on such trips whenever I want to. There are so many wonderful roads over here and because many of them are still gravel roads it is a unique chance to train ones driving skills.

So I can start into the high season quite relaxed. I am already looking forward to nice times on the river even more because last week came my friend Bernhard from Austria who, like last year, will spend the summer here in Pucón.

But first it is up to me now promoting our cafeteria in all the hotels, hostels and tour operators in town that it will be a success as well.

A Breakthrough

New Colours of Spring in Front of the Cafeteria

Spring finally came and I restored my health totally. We used the last eventually warm but still inconstant weeks to create the garden around our cafeteria. During the week Inés and I planted lawn, bushes and flowers, built paths, replanted trees, watered, leveled, shoveled and raked like crazy. On the weekends even the children helped us and all together played mole. It was very funny and everybody slept very well during the nights and long in the mornings. That was really superb! Now the lawn is already springing and in every corner something is blooming.

Then I built a garden terrace out of old timber that was full with nails. It was one of the most terrible works I had ever done, the timber being horribly hard and all the nails, which I had to pull out of it, rusty. I almost despaired of it but roughly speaking I can say that it was worth all the effort. The whole area has a much warmer, more ordenated and more welcoming appearance now. I tend towards saying that it really looks great. At the end we hung the hammocks and so our little paradise is ready to use.

Right in time for this we also found an almost legal way how to achieve an official permit. That for we just have to make a few little adaptions and changes and at the end of November all papers should be ready to gain the municipal permit. Which according to a hint given to us by the municipality itself (!) we will only do in January to avoid paying fees for the whole second half-year of 2012. We will get a permit as a sandwicheria which means we will be allowed to make sandwiches (sic!) and similar small food like salads, toasts, hamburgers, hot dogs and so on. The sauna we will run without any official permission due to the fact that the term 'sauna' simply does not exist in the Chilean law. Our menu nevertheless will exist of more 'exotic' food like soups, lots of vegetables, toasts, Austrian delicacies, cakes and pastries. Many of that not really according to the permission but as the sanitary inspector himself told us, if not someone will make a report nobody will make us any problems.

That we will really get any permission I surely only will believe when I am holding it in my hands.

The cakes which I am making myself meanwhile already have become an unexpected success especially the typical Austrian Sachertorte. People ordered whole cakes to take them home. Because when starting a new business you have to kind of prostitute yourself, I took the order and so started a new unexpected "branch" of my business. So Wolli is even an confectioner now.

The next project will be to make calendula unguent to sell it. I am already looking forward to that.

National Holiday in Late Winter

Typical Banquete With My Family for the  National Holiday

September in Chile always is affected by its national holiday on 18th which usually is solemnised with a week of big celebrations, parties, asados, crapulence and ebriety. This year it was also affected by the return of winter which until than had been much too dry and warm. This for after already having been quite comfortable in August weather turned cold and rainy again and keeps being it. For me already being an old man as I seem to be who apart obviously had kicked over the traces when in Austria this meant and still means a time of instable health. The last three weeks I was assailed by various illnesses like bronchitis, sinusitis, cold which decided to stay with me quite insistently. So I spent most of this time at home if not in bed or in doctor's surgeries taking antibiotics, sleeping and self-pitying. Fortunately Inés as a multiple mother immediately adopted me as ninth child and took care for me and pampered me like only a mother can do it. So today I am definitely much better already only suffering from a simple rhinitis. Nevertheless we celebrated September 18th but just at our house with kids and friends. We had been really lucky for 18th being the only sunny and warm day in between long times of rainfall. So we had an asado at our house with beef which we freshly had received of our neighbour's former cow in a 25 kg piece of its shoulder. We played carrom in our garden, balanced on the slackline and had lots of fun. But Inés and I did not go out in the night for not being quite well both of us.

Being at home so many days gave me a lot of time to work in and for the sauna. Meanwhile it is fully running, this week of the national holiday being a first proof for its success. And we are quite content. For sure  there could be more clients always but we had folks as well in the sauna as in the cafeteria even asking for massages and yoga, services we just intend do offer in summer. And we have a couple of regular guests already as well. Most important of all that everybody who came was quite impressed and really liked the place, the food and the service. So word-of-mouth advertising machinery started working and as commonly known it is the best promotion you can get. Apart from that it is really comfortable and satisfying to work on your own in your proper business where you can arrange and do everything as you like it. Besides I like cooking and baking and offer good food to guests that they feel fine so I mainly just can be myself in the business. What more do I want?

For sure I also spent a lot of time not only with Inés but with the kids. We spent hours playing "Siedler",   cards and Carrom, which is the new common addiction in our house. I learned with them for college and even went to parents-teacher-meetings and participated in a parent's run where I, making a big show for all the kids out of it, came in second (!). Looks that old I am not yet.

On days not being that sick I already had been to the river as well a few times. Another work that really is fun to me. Just due to the dry winter we already have a water level as low as normally at the end of December which means we are going to have a very rocky and technical season. Well, as soon as tourists come and go rafting and canyoning I won't complain.

I just hope that this late winter ends soon and a real spring and summer are going to come shortly.