Christmas in Pumalin

Volcano in sight from campground, El Volcan, Parque Pumalin, Chile.

We had finally made it to Patagonia, to Chaiten, it was a good day after a long night mostly spent on a ferry crossing the Gulfo Corcovado. Chaiten is just over 3,000 miles from Arica, where I really started my Chilean adventure. It was raining, still, but whatever, water on one side, mountains and volcanoes on the other side, I was in Patagonia, this counts as a good day. Ok, a good day, but not great, it was raining, and I lacked the enthusiasm to camp, so wandered around Chaiten, looking for a place to crash for the night. After a mostly sleepless night, first waiting for the ferry, then riding the ferry, I was tired, hungry, and of course, thirsty. Now Chaiten is not big, and parts of the town have yet to be rebuilt after the volcanic eruption in 2008 which caused the town to be evacuated. There was even a question as to whether the government would let people return, but they did, and Chaiten is slower rebuilding and growing, the gateway to the Carretera Austral and Patagonia, at least for me. I think the famous Carretera Austral actually officially starts in Puerto Montt, but that route requires three ferry rides, and I did want to check out Chiloe, so for me, the road started in Chaiten. 

I ended up at a wonderful little place, selected mostly because of the price, the homey look of the place, and the owner, great guy. Place, Hospedaje Don Carlos (an exception to the norm for hospedajes), cheap with shared bath, think it was $15000 pesos, hot water, great WiFi, and Don Carlos, the owner. I checked in, shower immediately, and logged on, trying to catch up with the blog, a nearly impossible task. I worked all afternoon, then wandered around town, bought some supplies and tried to find a place to eat, a struggle, but found a great little pizza place, had a monstrous hamburger, then to bed early. It had been a long day. It was the 23rd of December, almost Christmas, looked like it would be Christmas in Parque Pumalin.

Parque Pumalin is considered by some to be the largest, privately owned nature reserve in the world, with an area of about 715,000 acres. The park, which eventually (if not soon), will be given to the Chilean government, was the first major conservation project of Doug Tompkins, US citizen and founder of The North Face, and co-founder of Espirit. We will hear more about Doug Tompkins later, amazing man, and conservationist, along with his wife Kris. The park is important as one of the last refuges for temperate rainforests in Chile, and home to a number of threatened plant species, including alerces and araucaria. This area might be one of the most diverse temperate rainforests in the world. Alerce trees are especially important, as few old-growth stands exist, anywhere, and this amazing tree species can live to be up to 4,000 years old; only bristlecone pine trees, and maybe some redwoods, live longer. I stayed at the El Volcan campground, 29 km north of Chaiten, beautiful place. There are 12 sites, each with a small shelter and picnic table, and each also has a gravel pad for parking a vehicle, perfect for my van. The sites are also well spaced, you do not have noisy neighbors right next to you. And all around, mountains, even a glimpse of a glacier, and an active volcano, or two, a wonderful place. A total bonus for me, was fact that there was a small stream not 15 m from my site, stream channel lined with ferns and other low plants, a stream just filled with little trout. The morning bite was amazing, every cast, got a hit, and often a fish. Had not had this much fun fly fishing in a long time, maybe ever, just a blast. 

I biked a bit, hiked a bit, and fished while I was in Pumalin, but unfortunately, the weather did not cooperate, it rained, a lot. There are a number of good hikes in the park (check out www.parquepumalin.cl/en/), but only one which started from the El Volcan campground, up to a small glacier. Although the weather was not great, still very much enjoyed my time in Pumalin, a great place to spend Christmas. And, Christmas eve turned out to be lots of fun, as Nick, a fellow American, from Colorado, had seen me and my van, with Maine plates, and he stopped by for a chat. Nick was hiking, backpacking and mostly hitchhiking around Patagonia and I guess, other parts of Chile. As a result, he was not hauling around lots of ice cold beer, like I was. So, we chatted, and drank beer, snacked on whatever we had (he seemed to really enjoy my horse meat jerky), the rest of the afternoon and well into the evening. It rained most of the time, even poured, but the shelter was great, even if things got very chilly later in the evening. Though it did rain most of the afternoon, there was a short period later in the afternoon when the rain stopped, and I think the sun even tried tried to make a brief appearance. It was then that Nick and I were treated with our first of two Christmas presents. We were sitting at the picnic table in the shelter when I noticed some movement out of the corner of my eye, two small animals slowly grazing their way right at us. We were sitting in the shelter as though in a blind, so they obviously had no idea we were there. I was not immediately sure what the animal was, though thought it must be a pudu, not many other small mammals which look nothing like animals up north are in Chile, mammal diversity is pretty low. My camera, with zoom telephoto, was sitting on the table beside me, so it was easy to slowly and quietly grab my camera and start shooting. It was obviously a doe and her fawn, fawn still had spots along its back, very cool. They wandered to within 15 m of the shelter before I think she sensed something, and they quickly moved off, just as it began to rain again. I have since talked to many Chileans who have never seen a pudu. This species is the world's smallest species of deer, and they are threatened, and they are small, even tiny, especially compared to deer species common in the United States such as white-tailed and mule deer. It was a great time, hanging with Nick, drinking beer and talking, and seeing a very rare animal, unique in some ways, wander right up to us sitting in our shelter. A great early Christmas present for both of us, Christmas in Pumalin.

I awoke late on Christmas Day, 2016, and a bit hungover, was a long afternoon, evening drinking with Nick, though definitely worth it. It was not raining, though there was little blue to be found in the sky, and the wind was still blowing as I would quickly learn is often the norm in Patagonia. Nick was heading north to catch the ferry, while I was thinking about staying night, hoping that the weather might clear and I could finish the hike I had started a couple of days earlier, up to a small glacier which you could actually see from the campground. Nick stopped by on his way out, have a cup of late-morning coffee before he hit the road. We were sitting in the shelter, drinking coffee and chatting when it happen, slowly at first, before things really started to rock. The ground started to move, an earthquake. We jumped up and out of the shelter, and first checked the nearby volcano to make sure there was not an eruption in progress, that would be bad. No eruption, just an earthquake, and quickly we both realized, this was a big one. It is just amazing to stand there while the ground shakes back-and-forth, and I mean, shake, almost enough to knock you off balance. And you should have seen my van, shaking violently on the old suspension and new shocks, it was wild. We both figured it was a big one, much more powerful than the 4.8 I experienced one night in La Punta, Peru, this was a serious quake, and oh so cool. It seemed like it lasted for at least a minute, if not more, and there were definitely at least a few aftershocks, all of which could be easily felt. I was so glad to be outdoors, in nature, surrounded by mountains and natural vegetation, and not in some city. I think when in such a setting, experiencing a quake is something you really feel, head to toe, it is more than just an simple experience, much more existential. To feel the Earth shake under foot, violently, suggests forces almost beyond human description. Floods, tornadoes, hurricanes, wildfires, are all examples of the potential furry and wrath of Mother Nature. But a powerful earthquake, seems different to me, deep, powerful, unpredictable, though very cool, at least as long as I am not staying in some dive, three-story hotel made of bricks and clay when it happens. Pudus, then earthquake, Merry Christmas in Pumalin. 

​Note. I would later learn that the quake was indeed a big one, 7.6 to 7.7, centered not far from Quellon on Isla Grande de Chiloe, and thus not far from Parque Pumalin.

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