Chile Forum

The village of Palena is 30 miles S of Futaleufu (straight line per google earth). Nearly on the Argentine border. Rio Palena Comes in from Arg. at Palena. (Its called Corcovado there.) La Junta is 60 miles to the south south west of Futaleufu. Do you still think Palena far enough south not to be affected?

Well the Azul valley near Futa seems to be in fairly good shape, and that is more North.

To give you an idea, here is a news report with the Espolon valley that was in the direct line and only about 15 km outside of Futa. Bad, but not as bad as expected.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P33g-6xpVqo#

From what we can tell from all the videos, reports, and photos are that the town of Futa got hit harder with ash. The more south you go the lighter the ash coverage. We have not had any reports of what is happening North of Futa as that is where the Ash cloud has been all week.

Well, Monday morning update. Not sure I will remember everything.

1. we have word the town of Palena is fine. In fact the president is considering making it the new capital of Palena. To wich the locals presented her a whole list of problems such as not even having a cell phone tower, and all kinds of missing infrastructure. The president was a bit dumb founded. I think she is only now starting to get a grip on how badly that part of Chile has been neglected in terms of roads, schools, and everything else.

2. Almost everyone is now in agreement that Chaiten will have to be moved.

3. The land issues. There is all kinds of proposals floating around, and all of them so far seem to be a bit out of touch with reality. Among them a 2 year freeze on new property sales, the government buying up property, and various things in between. For our part, and the conversations we are having with the local community, no one likes the idea of the government meddling because not many at this point are trusting the government to do it without doing more damage than good. What they are proposing might make sense if we where talking about somewhere around Pucon, or down town Santiago, but the Palena has such a unique set of property problems, issues, and international market that the government could end up collapsing the land prices more than the volcano. Some of the proposals may work around Chaiten, but Chaiten is not the Futa. They have a completely different situation.

We are going to try and get in touch with those writing the laws, before this turns in to generations of law suits for everyone concerned.

Perhaps later I will get in to some of the problems in detail that the proposals on the table could cause.

4. We hear there is some new ash fall in Futa. We have not confirmed this yet. We will make our rounds of calls today and see how things are going.

5. Well animal rights activist have managed to push the government to do something about all the animals wondering the streets of Chaiten.

Hey, here is what is going on here in the Futa area that I see. Greg
and I went out yesterday to the Azul area. The Rio Espolon looks a
little clearer, but still a little milky. Lago Lanconoa is really
milky looking. The Azul looks awesomely clear! Ash fall out there is
minimal, no more than a light dusting.

Back towards Futa, just a couple of k's outside of town, cattle are
being corralled and feed is delivered. Back in town I was passing out
dog food and was joined by THE head of the Carabineros who told me
they were providing food for the domestic animals (and probably
thought I was a little nuts cooing the dogs out for a bite of Pedagree
on the street corner).

The geese were happy to see me, but they are greedy little freaks
anyway, so I don't know if they are really hungry or not. The
neighbor is not back so the remaining chickens were happy for feed
and water, so much that two escaped and I had to enlist Greg for a
rescue.

Something must have happened in the night because we had another good
dusting. So either an eruption, or wind. We have a mist right now
which is good for keeping the dust down.

I always say I will upload, and then never quite get to it. I will
try it now.

The water provided tastes like hell. Like water from a garden hose
that has laid in the hot sun for three months. I'm avoiding doing
laundry for fear of ruining my new washing machine. Water pressure
for the purpose of showering and toilet is minimal. But, as I said,
random acts of humor, compassion and determination are rampant. A box
of cheap wine, or a six pack doesn't hurt either!

Vicki

This morning: another very small dusting of ash. Water trucks have filled free-standing tanks in several locations around town - much better tasting than the plastic bladder laying in the plaza.

This was passed along by friend that recently returned from the Futa area. I have clipped it a bit.

She said that our pastor was in La Junta when the volcano blew. His wife and children (including twins that are under a year old) were in Chaiten and his wife was very scared. He went to get his family in Chaiten.

He said the visibility was near zero due to falling ash, cinders and small rocks. He passed 5 cars with dead engines due to the ash. (and packed the occupants into his truck) It took him 6 hours to make the trip. When he arrived in Chaiten, his tires were melted down to the fiber under the tread due to the heat from the cinders.

The people he picked up along the way asked him. How come your car didn't die? He said that he just kept praying the whole way.


Wow!

NPR radio online coverage:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/stor ... d=90366263

Vickie,

Thanks you for your accounts of the Chaiten Volcano eruption disasters in Futa. I read all of it; and I hold the folks of Futa in my prayers. My travels to Futa in Jan.'08 were for recreation, kayak & horse-riding w/ExChile. Prior to that, kayaked in '91. I hope the valley will rebound quickly, although the news does paint a bleak picture. The fish habitat may be effected long-term w/ potential acid-runoff from the ash. I am glad the Chilean President visited Futa. Hope she returns and continues to see what life is like in Patagonia. Continue to where masks, clean your oil & air filters in auto is driving them (St. Helens killed my VW). Your words give me hope for the Futaluefu Valley. Maybe an active volcano will deter the dams & mining activity. Hope Endures. Jill Tip.
CO, USA

There is one thing I want to say that is obvious to us that live in Chile.

THE VOLCANO DID NOT DESTROY ALL OF CHILE!!!!!

It did not effect a large part of Chile, Southern Chile, or even the Patagonia. If anything, it would effect travel in a larger area of Argentina.

Many are going to wonder why I am stating the obvious. Well over the last week I have received dozens of emails and even phone calls from people all over the world that had plans to travel to Chile even just as a tourist this year that some how got the impression from the international media that Chile has been wiped out end to end. It just is not the case in any way.

For those that know where Futa and Chaiten is, you know it is the kind of place you have to work really hard to get to in the first place. That is kind of what is so special about it. For most visitors to Chile, you will never even see the volcano let alone have to somehow plan around it. It effects, relative to the size of Chile, Southern Chile, and the Patagonia a very very narrow and remote strip of Chile.

Essentially, you would have to go looking for the volcano, and at the moment no one is going to let you in to the area.

Ed & all:
oh yes. And Chaiten, Futaleufu and the region will recover from this volcanic event. It is a geologic process, duh, and nature at work.
may all those find ways to be at peace. prayers with you. jt

Really, the first one I got last week, I thought it was a joke. Then I started thinking about it, and how if you really don't know a piece of foreign geography well, the generalizations can overtake reality fairly quickly. Even the president of Chile has been getting some lessons in Chilean geography recently because of the Volcano.

Before the volcano, I once had a guy call me that wanted to look at property around Futa. He insisted that I just stop by the Puerto Montt airport, pick him up, and drive him around Futa and show him several properties we had listed on our site. Like we could do lunch after.

I explained to him very carefully over and over again that it would take at least two days to reach Futa, and another day to reach each property. Many that he wanted to see would include riding horses for a day.

He just insisted that it was possible, and that he had someone that would drive him there for 100,000 pesos (the gas cost more). Obviously, we never seen the guy again. I think his driver took him to another town, and he likely never was aware of what happened.

Update:

Excellent, excellent rains right now. I'm sure they will create runoff of ash into the rivers and streams, but it's got to start sometimes I suppose. Ever hear a glob of wet clay hit the ground? That's what it sounds like off the roof tonight!

The Carabineros made rounds many times today, checking in on those who chose not to leave, passing out fresh masks, updating us on water supply sites and asking how we were doing, if we needed anything.

I stopped to distribute chicken feed a block or so up from our rental. The neighbor showed me a little cabin where the owners had fled and left behind a mixed flock of ducks that she wasn't able to supply food for. That seems to be a situation that will be repeated all over this area. So, that done, we had a little mate and chatted, her in Chilean, me in English. Women always find a way to communicate.

Max, the dog, is absolutely out of his mind at this point. But I suppose he always was. Aside from leash walks outside, his world is a 12 x 12 living room to romp in. He is horribly aggressive with other dogs, and forget about cats. I'll be forever paying penance to Carmen and Rosa across the street for the unfortunate and violent death of one of their cats on Christmas Eve.

Wild boar hunting is going on up behind the rental house here in Futa. I assume it is something that usually occurs during deep winter, but the boar are coming down now because of the ash fall. As appalling to some as it might be, it is just part of what they do here. And, you might be interested to know [DISCLAIMER: DON'T READ ON IF YOU ARE OFFENDED BY HUNTING]


...for the most part, they don't hunt for wild boar with guns here. They hunt with dogs who track and corner the beast, wear it out, and the hunter jumps on it's back and stabs it in the ribs. Also, at El Barranco, where they display a monster mount of a wild boar taken three years ago, they tell me that they take a blood sample and have it run at the hospital to check for disease before they have an asado. I don't know if that is true, but it makes me feel better.

Oh shit! I left the chicken feed bag in the back of the truck. Corn mush now.

A fine clay slip was oozing under the back door of our rental, cabin- I have it stopped now, but the rain keeps coming. I wonder how many homes are empty on the slopes here in Futa and will have that to deal with when they return. Tomorrow we will set out about Futa and Sector Azul, and camera will ( it is now clogged and groggy) I will take some more pictures of the rivers and area.

Thought" Are there any uses for volcanic ash?

Vicki

Photo of Wild Boar Mount at El Barranco in Futa.

http://www.allchile.net/chilephotos/thu ... 07&page=11