Fundo el Gringo, Vilcun: 10 - 11 Mar
Mar 10:
Well in the morning, Christina, Kevin, and I caught a lift with Michael going to work in Puerto Montt to see the town and his Semillas Marinas offices. Their offices do S. Africa proud---tasteful,. modern, overlooking the pretty harbour/bay, and right next to the high-tec underground parking. Just perfect.
The Puerto Montt fish market however, was not. Although it was very interesting with tonnes of fish, shellfish, and some other seafood, but it did rank high on the rank scale (sorry about those puns). There were some nice resturants/kitchens, but on Mike's advice (one PhD. in intestinal bacteria), and hearing about the annual death toll there from food poisoning, we decided not to eat there (last outbreak traced to here had 136,000 cases, and about 9 deaths).
The Artesanals (craft) market on the way back was interesting, since there is a very strong Mapuche indian influence, and they specialised in silver jewelery, alpaca and sheep´s wool knitting and weaving, and apparently postcards.
The copper church was, well, plated in copper.
Even the school kids get a three hour 'siesta' period for lunch, so they all go to the pier to smoke various substances and vry.
Then, after another hectic day's work (not for me), Mike and drove back to his house, met his colleagues (also South Africans), Ray and Debbie, with baby Jaden (the official Mad Scientists support team), and left for the Volcano, Temacu and the Chilean orienteering championships.
1,000,000 Toll roads later along the Panamerican highway, we turn off just after Temacu, and headed east for about 60km to and though the little town of Vilcún. We were staying on Mike´s German friend´s farm Fundo Del Gringo (Farm of the gringo) who has lived in this beautiful green countryside overlooked by Llaima Volcano for some 20 years. Along with being a dairy,and now beef farmer, Dietrich? has also been a multiple World Champion Orienteer, during his many years as a professional. So that´s how Mike met him in Chile.
Anyway, one day I´ll put a photo here of our little log cabaña overlooking the misty green fields, fading into the SMOKING!!! volcano Llaima, and being woken by only the sound of cows´s swiss bells.
Mar 11:
But alas, there was no time to enjoy the peace and quiet, we had to defend South Africa's honour at the Chilean National Orienteering Championships. Well, at least Mike had to. Back to the town, turn right, and into the National park really on the slopes of the Volcano. The mapped area is very varied as it is where the stone fields (extending down from the ice-cap) meets the scrub, meets the impenetrable (fight!) Araucanía forest.
On another day, I´ll put a photo here of just how vicious the Araucanía trees are (something between monkey puzzles [Norwegian pines], Joshua Trees, and a little bit of sisal cactus.)
The parking lot was filled with busses and trucks from various army barracks---the army realising the sports potential in helping to take out the evil Argentiniana Empire (and the Sinister Bolivian Axis, and the Peruvian Tyrants), provided a sympathetic base for Dietrich to start O events in Chile.
Today was the short course---no more than 1 hour (normally). The map was a tiny 1:15,000 with more squiggles than Rocklands in the Cederberg. I could go on for hours about how insane the terrain (terminal moraine---ha ha) was (5m contour interval means nothing if all the volcanic debris has erroded into adjacent furrows of 2 - 10 m). Suffice to say Mike fell twice and hurt his bad shoulder, and withdrew from the Elite race (there were about 10 other easier categories), and I had extreme difficulty finding 2 controls which cost 50 minutes, and so finished in 2:03. The winner (an Austrian did it it 1:01). Mike did later redeem us to easily win the Sub-Vets (35-40) category.
Mar 12:
Packed up all my stuff since I wasn't coming back to the farm, my own bedroom, private bathroom, clean kitchen,.... where was I. We caught a ride with Dietrich for the much earlier start today. 09h00 Instead of 12h00, but the Chilean organisers had been well over an hour late yesterday, and last night was the end of daylight savings time in Chile, so we were expecting another highly efficient smooth running operation (And they wonder why they lose so many wars!).
[If you don't do AR or O, you can skip this paragraph.]
Today was the long course (8km as the crow flys, about 20 km as Colin shuffles), and I had nothing to lose. After coming about 7 th yesterday, I now knew to respect the terrain, navigate properly, and longer events are more my forté. Got the fifth start and easier found one 1.3m high rock in the middle of the inpenetrable jungle, and, yes, it went well. One minor/pretty major mistake saw me arrive at control 5 only to find it was 7 (if I hadn´t found it, I´d still be out there). But then then the 'back nine' was all kloofs in open landscape, which is much more what I'm used to. So, I finished in a very respectable 2:01 (quicker than the short course). I think I was 4th (discounting the Swiss and Ukraine guys who helped setup the course) and 6th overall in the Elite main category. Mike did his age-group first, and again cleaned up. Then I met him having fun doing some of the elite controls closer to home. Since he has a residency permit, he is now the sub-vet Chilean champion. All in all, a successful and very educational racing weekend.
Well in the morning, Christina, Kevin, and I caught a lift with Michael going to work in Puerto Montt to see the town and his Semillas Marinas offices. Their offices do S. Africa proud---tasteful,. modern, overlooking the pretty harbour/bay, and right next to the high-tec underground parking. Just perfect.
The Puerto Montt fish market however, was not. Although it was very interesting with tonnes of fish, shellfish, and some other seafood, but it did rank high on the rank scale (sorry about those puns). There were some nice resturants/kitchens, but on Mike's advice (one PhD. in intestinal bacteria), and hearing about the annual death toll there from food poisoning, we decided not to eat there (last outbreak traced to here had 136,000 cases, and about 9 deaths).
The Artesanals (craft) market on the way back was interesting, since there is a very strong Mapuche indian influence, and they specialised in silver jewelery, alpaca and sheep´s wool knitting and weaving, and apparently postcards.
The copper church was, well, plated in copper.
Even the school kids get a three hour 'siesta' period for lunch, so they all go to the pier to smoke various substances and vry.
Then, after another hectic day's work (not for me), Mike and drove back to his house, met his colleagues (also South Africans), Ray and Debbie, with baby Jaden (the official Mad Scientists support team), and left for the Volcano, Temacu and the Chilean orienteering championships.
1,000,000 Toll roads later along the Panamerican highway, we turn off just after Temacu, and headed east for about 60km to and though the little town of Vilcún. We were staying on Mike´s German friend´s farm Fundo Del Gringo (Farm of the gringo) who has lived in this beautiful green countryside overlooked by Llaima Volcano for some 20 years. Along with being a dairy,and now beef farmer, Dietrich? has also been a multiple World Champion Orienteer, during his many years as a professional. So that´s how Mike met him in Chile.
Anyway, one day I´ll put a photo here of our little log cabaña overlooking the misty green fields, fading into the SMOKING!!! volcano Llaima, and being woken by only the sound of cows´s swiss bells.
Mar 11:
But alas, there was no time to enjoy the peace and quiet, we had to defend South Africa's honour at the Chilean National Orienteering Championships. Well, at least Mike had to. Back to the town, turn right, and into the National park really on the slopes of the Volcano. The mapped area is very varied as it is where the stone fields (extending down from the ice-cap) meets the scrub, meets the impenetrable (fight!) Araucanía forest.
On another day, I´ll put a photo here of just how vicious the Araucanía trees are (something between monkey puzzles [Norwegian pines], Joshua Trees, and a little bit of sisal cactus.)
The parking lot was filled with busses and trucks from various army barracks---the army realising the sports potential in helping to take out the evil Argentiniana Empire (and the Sinister Bolivian Axis, and the Peruvian Tyrants), provided a sympathetic base for Dietrich to start O events in Chile.
Today was the short course---no more than 1 hour (normally). The map was a tiny 1:15,000 with more squiggles than Rocklands in the Cederberg. I could go on for hours about how insane the terrain (terminal moraine---ha ha) was (5m contour interval means nothing if all the volcanic debris has erroded into adjacent furrows of 2 - 10 m). Suffice to say Mike fell twice and hurt his bad shoulder, and withdrew from the Elite race (there were about 10 other easier categories), and I had extreme difficulty finding 2 controls which cost 50 minutes, and so finished in 2:03. The winner (an Austrian did it it 1:01). Mike did later redeem us to easily win the Sub-Vets (35-40) category.
Mar 12:
Packed up all my stuff since I wasn't coming back to the farm, my own bedroom, private bathroom, clean kitchen,.... where was I. We caught a ride with Dietrich for the much earlier start today. 09h00 Instead of 12h00, but the Chilean organisers had been well over an hour late yesterday, and last night was the end of daylight savings time in Chile, so we were expecting another highly efficient smooth running operation (And they wonder why they lose so many wars!).
[If you don't do AR or O, you can skip this paragraph.]
Today was the long course (8km as the crow flys, about 20 km as Colin shuffles), and I had nothing to lose. After coming about 7 th yesterday, I now knew to respect the terrain, navigate properly, and longer events are more my forté. Got the fifth start and easier found one 1.3m high rock in the middle of the inpenetrable jungle, and, yes, it went well. One minor/pretty major mistake saw me arrive at control 5 only to find it was 7 (if I hadn´t found it, I´d still be out there). But then then the 'back nine' was all kloofs in open landscape, which is much more what I'm used to. So, I finished in a very respectable 2:01 (quicker than the short course). I think I was 4th (discounting the Swiss and Ukraine guys who helped setup the course) and 6th overall in the Elite main category. Mike did his age-group first, and again cleaned up. Then I met him having fun doing some of the elite controls closer to home. Since he has a residency permit, he is now the sub-vet Chilean champion. All in all, a successful and very educational racing weekend.
posted by Colin at 12:49 am
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