Algorrobo, El Quisco and Isla Negra

This weekend we went down to the coast to a group of costal towns between San Antonio and Valparaiso.  It’s a bit like the stretch from Newport Beach to San Clemente; a more or less continuous development of beach communities, shops, hotels, restaurants, etc,.  The idea was to have a little vacation and to look at houses.  One option for when A sells the house here is to buy one on the coast and maintain an apartment in Santiago for visiting family.

We stayed at an interesting 1930s era hostal, Residencia Vera, in Algorrobo.

Not much to look at on the outside, but inside are two rows of rooms with a patio in-between, a pleasant breakfast room and an ocean-front terrace at the end.

One of the best reasons for visiting the coast is to eat seafood and we were not disappointed.  For our first meal on Saturday I had the Chilean classic, congrio frito.  Congrio is an eel like, succulent, white fleshed fish; clearly the best fish in Chilean waters, wonderful fried and firm enough for stews or chowders.   Alejandra had grilled renetta and we shared ensalada chilena y papas fritas.  The restaurant was very crowded and the service was poor, but from then on the crowds thinned out (March is the very end of the tourist season) and things improved greatly.

On Sunday we drove around the area looking at houses.  We want something with an ocean view, preferably within a block or so of the coast, but high enough that tsunamis are not a constant worry.  Algorrobo turned out not to be promising with only houses adjacent to beaches that are crowded in summer or houses on the hills above with only a distant and partial ocean view.  And, of course, Algorrobo is home to hideous apartment towers with the world’s largest swimming pool.

But El Quisco was better.  We saw several houses of interest in the $115,000 to 180,000 US range.   On the map below, #1 is a fishermen’s wharf and #2 is the only house we actually got to tour.  It is high enough to be out of immediate danger from minor tsunamis, has a pretty good view of the wharf area, the beach to the north, and the open sea.  But it is likely to have a lot of tourist traffic in summer.

#2 house – 4 bdrm, 2 bath, $160K US

 

Summer en El Quisco

#3 is immediately on the coast, overlooking a street and rocky beach (below). The penguin murals would have to go and the deck is probably only 20-25 feet above the high tide level…. not great in case of tsunamis. (The Japanese quake caused tsunamis of around 2 m on parts of the Chilean coast, the Chilean tsunami wave height was up to 10 meters, and the Japanese one was up to almost 40 meters…. no where on the coast is actually safe.) But a tremendous view an only about $115K US. 

  

#4 is on the same street as #3 and almost as close to the sea with the same view.  Alejandra liked it much better than #3, but it is still in tsunami range.

 View from 3 & 4

#5 is at the top of the hill and generally out of tsunami range… unless there’s one like they had in Japan. Good view of the wharf area and bay, not much tourist traffic.  $160k.

And finally, Alejandra likes this vacant lot in Mirasol, north of Algorrobo on the cliff above the sea with a good view and only one row of houses in front, on the cliff edge.  The lot, at $120k US, is large enough for two houses and building a house of about 1300 sq feet would cost around $65-70K US, for a total of around $200k US.  The other half lot might be sold later.

Here’s where it is… beach access to the little beach at the north is via a steep 300 m trail.

On Sunday we went to Pablo Neruda’s beach house-museum in Isla Negra.  He had extravagantly romantic taste and filled the house (and his others as well) with ship’s figure heads, statues, and collections of everything from butterflies to whiskey bottles. 

No photos are allowed inside (but here’s one through a window) and there are more at the Pablo Neruda foundation web site. 

There is now an attached restaurant, which turned out to be very good and not excessively expensive.  We had machas (razor clams) a la parmesana followed by caldillo de congrio, perhaps the best dish in the Chilean cuisine, and the subject of one of Neruda’s poems.  You can read it here, and it’s also on the wall behind us.  It was delicious.  (Celina, nice shirt, eh?)

  

And on Monday we visited Las Cruces, south of Isla Negra, where we found this great old hotel where we’ll stay next time, and had lunch… shrimp and cheese empanadas followed by paila marina (Chilean seafood soup/stew) for me and roast chicken for A. 

Hotel Villa Trouville

Almuerzo

  

The view at almuerzo.

All in all, a nice weekend. The next day we had pasta (no seafood) and went to the beach.

Rio Baker Fishing Trip

Rio Baker, some 2000 Km (1250 miles) south of Santiago is Chile’s largest river.  It is know for its world class trout fishing, rafting and kayaking.  Unfortunately it is also know as the proposed site of two dams for Chile’s HydroAsyén dam complex.   We went for the fishing, scenery and cool weather.

We flew out of Santiago on Friday morning (Jan. 6) and landed at the Balmacen airport, outside of Colhaique two hours later.   Ellen, who organized the trip, had arranged for a car and driver to take us 275 Km/170 miles south to Puerto Beltrán (or Bertrand) where we were staying at the Cabañas Ràpidos del Rio Baker.  (There is also a bus that leaves Coihaique at 6:00 AM and costs about $25 US [13,000 CLP] to Cochrane; we paid a bit more, but not too much, and we left from the airport at noon.)

 Puerto Beltrán is at 47° south latitude, about the same as the Washington-Oregon border in the US or Bordeaux in France… but upside-down.  The climate is moderate, with average January highs of 62° F, July lows of 28° F, and 24” average precipitation, concentrated in winter. We had highs in the 60s and 70s and a bit of rain. Take a sweater and rain gear.  And shorts.  This week (Jan. 16-22) it’s in the 80s.

Leaving the airport, the drive on the Carretera Austral was spectacular with very little traffic.  The mountain in the background is Cerro Castillo, Castle Peak.

  

The highway is paved for the first 75 Km, to Villa Cero Castillo, where we stopped for lunch.  Ellen, Sid and Alejandra ordered sandwiches… huge sandwiches as it turned out, with meat, cheese and four fried eggs; onions, lettuce and tomatoes optional.  Our driver Alejandro and I had bifsteak, and split fries and salad.

  

  

Alejandra shows off her cholesterol special.

The rest is wrapped in the napkin.  We had it for supper…. split four ways.

Back on the road the pavement turned into gravel--good in some places, rutted and pot holed in others--with lots of dust when we met other vehicles… especially when trapped behind a truck pulling two trailers.

Around every turn was another stunning view.  The color of the lakes ranged from greenish grey to azure depending to the content of glacial melt waters.

We stopped at Puerto Rio Tranquilo, 200 Km south of Balmaceda.  Good restrooms and lots of hitch hiking Israeli ex-soldiers.

And then at about 6:30 we arrived at the cabañas.  It was a long ride but more than worth it for the scenery.

Behind the lodge were six cabins.  This one was ours.  It had two bedrooms and an ample kitchen/living room with a wood stove. 

 

 The next morning Sid and I got ready to go fishing.  Getting into waders is not the easiest part.

 

But we managed, and on the second cast from the bank, I hooked a nice trout.  All you can see is the splash.

 

Then we headed off with our guide.  As you see the boat was a bit small for two to fish from so we either both cast from the shore or one of us cast from shore while the other fished from the boat.

Here’s Sid and our guide Guido, fishing from the shore, and below from the boat with Guido’s son.

  

  

And this is my view from the shore where I was fishing. 

  

After a morning on the water, lunch in the lodge with pisco sours was welcome.

And that evening the ladies enjoyed a chat in the lodge with Ricardo, the owner.  He says that opinion on the dams is divided with the workers, who stand to benefit from new jobs, in favor and most middle class people opposed. 

The next morning we to Puerto Bertrand (or Beltran), population 100 or so.

And went for a boat ride.  Unfortunately, the weather turned rainy and stormy and we came back after about an hour. 

  

On Monday, Alejandra and Ellen went to Puerto Guadal and Cochrane with Ricardo.  Still pretty small and rural, but Guadal has a B&B/pizzeria and there was a supermarket in Cochrane. Fruit and vegetables were a little hard to come by since most everything comes in by truck, but they found apples and oranges.  

 

And Puerto Guadal has a plaza. 

And a church.

Sid and I went fishing again….

And Sid kept a couple for supper.

Of course you can’t fish all the time.

In the afternoon while the fishermen were napping Ellen and Alejandra walked to Puerto Beltran and visited the neighboring Patagonia Baker Lodge.  It caters largely to foreign fishermen and offers luxury accommodations, bilingual guides and gourmet meals prepared by chefs--at about $5,000 US per week, everything included. 

  

  

We had a chef too.  Jorge, on summer break from culinary school, fed us very well, focusing on Chilean classic dishes like pollo arvejada (Chicken with peas),  salmon concato (stuffed with tomato, onion, sausages and cheese) and the first-course corn-stuffed tomatoes at left.

After lunch Ellen, Alejandra and Ricardo visited a local farm where they bought a lamb for the next day’s asado. The owners also had green houses and sold vegetables and home made cheese and jam.

Fortunately, the lamb was already dressed.

 

Tuesday was another fishing morning for Sid and me, while the ladies read and the lamb cooked. 

  Then we waited for dinner. 

  

 

It was worth the wait. The lamb was very young and tender and was cooked just right.

  

The trip back to the airport on Wednesday was uneventful and beautiful.

  With wild lupines and foxglove by the road side.