27feb06
rain complicates camping further and although miraculously we had stayed dry during the night, putting the soaking tent away without drenching the inside was a Great Egg Race challenge. we stood with heads tilted and hand on hips, contemplating a solution as waves of driving rain came down on us. all the gear and no idea… eventually a chilean camping neighbour whose amusement had turned to pity gave us a hand.
a muddy trail off the through virgin forest took us to some 3000 year old alerce trees. the largest of these towering giants had beautiful red bark trunks of over 4 meters in diameter. we squinted upwards into the drizzle and could barely see the canopy 50 meters above. it was amazing to think the modern world as we know it has come and will possibly go in less than the lifetime of one of these ancients. i took a photo of e-j next to some huge leaves in a weak attempt to accentuate their size.
we got back in the car and followed the road down to chaiten, where we stopped to refuel, check email and grab lunch. we had planned to camp but there was little point so we motored on. according to the guidebooks we were supposedly passing some incredible scenery with gravity defying glaciers etc. but all we could make out through the windscreen were different shades of grey clouds. at villa santa lucia we turned off the carretera austral and headed northeast towards futaleufu, where the white water rapids are recognised as being on par with the zambezi and colorado. we camped up in cara del inca, a campsite half way up the mountain. overlooking the fast flowing river and in the field next to ours were a bunch of tents where a nomadic kayaking school called world class were camped up. this group of fourteen mostly american kids spent the academic year in various kayaking locations around the world, and were taught the national curriculum as well as how to kayak. two of them passed by el burrito and motioned unrecognisable hand signals in my direction. “sweet ride”, one grinned.
for dinner, e-j was determined that we make ourselves something other than pasta or brown rice with tomato sauce and tuna. we went for an improvised, rice based clear soup. e-j was in charge of boiling the rice and i was in charge of frying the vegetables. in the pack of assorted peppers i found a couple of cheeky chili peppers. knowing e-j can find a mild masala too hot to handle, i sampled a seed or two to check the spice factor and boy it was hot. i therefore expertly concluded two or three slices would be sufficient to add a gentle zing to what looked like an army-sized amount of soup. dinner was served, body temperature soared and we exchanged feverish glances, e-j’s accusative, mine guilty. eyes and nose joined forces against the clouds outside in a perspiration competition. too tired to make anything else, e-j soldiered on – no blood, but plenty of sweat and tears. a combination of unwillingness to admit error and misplaced reputation for enjoying excessively spicy food meant i forced down a second serving, but e-j went to bed dreaming of a full english breakfast.
