Too much beer? - Blogabond

Tuesday 18th- Saturday 22nd Jan

A four hour bus ride from Chileo will get you to the lake side holiday town of Puerto Varas, only half an hour above Puerto Montt, but a whole lot more picturesque. We made it to our hostel, which had been lovingly pre-booked for us by Mirta in Ancud. This hostel needs to be seen to be believed. It was an old, slanted, house with a zillion dusty rooms in the spurting vein of Stephen King’s the Shining! We were given one of the less creepy lodgings that owned a particularly mysterious model of sinkhole beds, with the sink only occupying one side of it. But shit it was cheap! We walked along the esplanade, found the information centre and a map, found the supermarket, got our supplies and called it a day.

Wednesday.

We followed a ‘heritage’ walk around the town, which gave us a good look of Puerto Varas, it´s lovely catheral and took us past ye’olde German houses and any other old shite that the town’s maintainers thought to slap a ‘heritage’ sticker on to. We also had the privilege of watching a bitch on-heat being followed and harassed by about five other horny dogs. It was a little surreal, the dogs would gingerly walk down a street and in the middle of the road making cars stop and wait for the dogs to move. There were fights between the males and the female would get the shits and have a go at males that would be trying to mount her as she was walking. All this while avoiding being hit by on-coming traffic. Who said that us bitches can’t multi-task? I think it was the dizzying pinnacle of the Dog Game for us, and perhaps its strange end. We’ve not seen anything like it. Counting dogs is one thing, but being witness to pack rape is another charge.

That afternoon we went out for a beer before dinner. On the way to a pub we saw the exact same dogs again and had a laugh with a Brazilian family over it. They invited us to have a beer with them, next thing Pete was back at the hostel picking up his guitar and we were off to another bar to play music with them out the bar’s balcony. The Mum and Dad didn’t speak any English, but their son and his girlfriend did. All the guys played guitar and sang songs, with the dad even playing his original songs and music. We stayed out for a lot longer then we had thought we would and had a few more beers then intended, but made some new friends and have promised to visit when we go to Brazil. They were a great family and even though trying to have conversation could be funny at times it was interesting and a great night out.

Thursday.

We slept in and hung out in the morning. We were saving ourselves for the afternoon- The national beer festival had arrived in town!! After the night before we really weren’t in the mood for drinking beer, but, duty called and we had to do it. We walked to the tent that had been erected in the main square, and arrived to loud accordion filled music and the smell of hot-dogs. There were about fifteen different beer stalls selling lager and ales. One stall would be selling chocolate ale, the next coffee, one beer was even green! We had a look around and decided on the first beer to share, to ease into it. There were some pretty nice beers there, a couple not so good, but they went perfectly with a hot dog.

After a couple of different beers, we decided to go and try our luck at the Casino. It’s the biggest casino in the area and was either conveniently, or stupidly, right next to the beer tent. We had to pay to get in, something I’m not used to, but it gave a free Pisco Sours- yuck! We aren’t really fans, but I got one to sip on anyway and Pete tried his first (and last) Martini. We looked at the blackjack and roulette tables and decided on the ’safer’ bet of the pokies. We chose only the corniest and funniest to play. We bet $1000 pescos on at a time (about $2AUD) and proceeded to quickly lose about $10. Was the most boring time yet.

We met a funny little character on the way back to the beer tent, who seemed to be Pete’s best friend even though he was speaking slurred Spanish, and who though it would be a good idea to try and kiss me… a lot. We finally pulled him off Pete’s arm and went back to the tent, where there were even more people and the music still pumping. There were even kids running around in the tent, and none of the teenagers seemed to be trying to score a beer- that would never happen back home!! They would all be drunk!

Later on we went our for dinner at Dali restaurant. We had read in our Lonely planet book that it served tapas. Turned out they don’t, and we were the only people there, but we got a couple of starters to share and a bottle of wine which was fantastic. The chef came out to talk to us, and not only did she make all the food they serve (including the free little chilli chocolates at the end of our meal), but most of the jewellery and clothing in the little shop off the side of the restaurant as well. Very talented. So of course we had to purchase gifts from there. After finishing our second (!!!) bottle of wine in the coolest little wine bar they have in the building at around midnight we decided to call it a night. I pulled out the credit card to pay, and they didn’t have eftpos. Cash only, which we didn’t have. The waiter just told us to come and pay the next day!!! We gave him our names and the name of our hostel and I offered to leave my camera as security, but he said he didn’t need it. Fancy that! That wouldn’t happen round our parts either!

Friday
That morning we were feeling extremely sorry for ourselves. Don’t think we needed the second bottle of wine. I walked very slowly back to the restaurant to pay and take some photos, stopped in at the supermarket to get supplies and hopped straight back into bed. That was pretty much our day. I managed to get out of the bedroom later in the evening for a nice walk along the lake, and Pete managed later on with me to get pizza, then it was straight back to bed.

Saturday.

We were booked on an afternoon bus to take us to Valdivia, three hours up Chile. We decided to go to a museum in the morning that I had spotted on my walk the day before. It was a quirky little building, set up by a man of German descent and a wonderful artist who had small trinkets and antiques covering the small three level house. Where there wasn’t things of the old days there were his pictures, so many that some of them were even on the ceiling. After having a look there we headed back to the town centre for a hot chocolate before grabbing our stuff and hopping on the bus. Puerto Varas was a lovely little place, defiantly one that was pleasant on the eyes, ears, but not sure on the head when Beerfest is in town. It was our wettest town yet, with the most rainfall we have been witness to thus far, but that was still menial to what we have be seeing in Queensland! You can exchange sunshine for beer tents and bedridden hangovers quite easily so it seems.

written by

Pete+Rochelle on January 29, 2011 from Puerto Varas, Chile

from the travel blog: Round the world!!!

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