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Round the world!!!
a travel blog by
Pete+Rochelle
4 1/2 months with no work, no keys, no responsibilities- doesn't get better than this!!!
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Finally!! The ocean!!
La Serena
,
Chile
Mon 20th- Wed 22nd Dec
Lets just start off by saying that Pete has way too much time on his hands at present, so even though events are seemingly told through my perspective, this entry is in fact saturated with Peter's rose coloured prose. In fact, it was Peter who has written Rochelle's disclaimer, go figure.
The sixteen hour bus ride went well… to begin with. The buses’ hidden discomforts and demons were a process of discovery. Initially we felt pampered by the seats allowing us to almost rest horizontally, with the bus set to a cool temp, and above all, knowing there was a toilet and yes there was a key for it, and yes the bus company knew its whereabouts. Perfect, we thought, the only hiccup being that we were sitting opposite the toilet, no biggie...To set the scene, picture a Amityville Horror, Chevy Chase-Vaccation movie crossover then you're there. The first problem Pete discovered was the toilet door. It didn’t want to stay closed and kept on swinging open and slamming into his chair, arm or head depending on his state of conscienceness-the door was fucking possessed! A problem he tried to resolve by pushing his big boots against it for resistance, the catch being every time someone went to the bathroom they never put the boots back-the people on the bus were in on it too! Which bought us to our second problem. The smell. Even if you only went for a pee, the smell after flushing was horrendous- It loomed. Pete hardly slept a wink at all because his nostrils complained so much. Between his sensitive nose and the demon door, not to mention the air-con being switched on and off, the ride made a good recipe for sleep depprevation and a good case for paranormal activity. I managed to get a few hours which was good enough for me. The nice thing about the trip though was smooth roads Chile had pathed for us. A luxury that Chile's neighbours sadly couldn't afford.
We arrived in La Serena tired, stiff and hungry. There was a man waiting at the station offering rooms at a reasonable price so of we went. Dumping our stuff and ripping apart our bags, a ritual which we have become accustomed to, we then ventured out into the city to find a café. We found one that served a great bacon eggs and fried tomato. Impressed with the cafe's array of delectables we also got a side of scones with cream and jam then proceeded to roll ourselves back to the hostel to sleep the morning away. Our nap didn't allow for disruptions, we were too tired.
Revitalized we headed back out again to take a look at sea level. La Serena is the second biggest city in Chile (after Santiago of course) and it was full of department stores, business-people, churches and dogs!!! So many dogs that we have made a game of counting them. Its called 'The Slum Dog Game.' It goes like this: two people, in competition with eachother, must battle to spot as many slum dogs as they can. The victor is the person who has counted the most slum dogs that day, and who wins the satisfaction of being the one who had counted the most slum dogs that day. Its harder than it sounds. Over here dogs are sneaky fuckers that could be hiding anywhere-under, on-top-of, in, spaces, places that you wouldn't first suspect. We even found a dog in a cage at a zoo! Apparently, Chile has cleverly adopted a similar notion to ''hang a picture on a wall to make it arte." Perhaps they're on to something. Which begs the question when is a slumdog not a slumdog? When you're in La Serena the answer becames somewhat clear- find it in a zoo, then count on it being exotic.
We walked to a shopping centre which was like another world long forgotten. Back-to-the-future. We ate a Big Mac and then regretted it half an hour later-its true they taste the same the world over-like a rubbery burger impostor. We walked the streets and looked at all sorts of shops, people, bought food and cooked dinner at home which was novel. It is a treat when we get to have a home cooked dinner, as a lot of our hostels and accommodation so far have'nt had, kitchens, kitchettes or even fridges to work with.
Tuesday we decided to walk to the 'playa'. And, no we didn't walk down some seedy ally to meet a tanned pimp wearing a lama fur coat and loafers to score high grade blackmarket corn, instead we walked the longest most boring street to arrive at Le Serena's seemingly most prised possession- its beach. Having not seen the ocean in many moons, since Miraflores in fact, we were hoping for some type of spiritual reunion that only the ebb of the Pacific's waves can provide. After a steady forty minute walk we found guarding the beach Le Serena's second most prised possession their quirky looking lighthouse (see picture) but unfortunately not much else. Only the odd market stall, a slum dog or two and a one massive empty green space framed with tiny grey grainy matter where the beach was ment to be. It was windy and the dark turqueoise sea was swollen and choppy. The final rub came just when the sun block came out and the sun didn't and when we were told we couldn’t even walk along the beach! That the only access to the 'beach' was from whence we came.
From what we saw, or rather didn't see, the Le Serene's public face certainly needed a lift. With no tourist friendly esplanade or even ricketty woodern walkway running parallel to the beach for to exercise your legs or camera, the city's council are really keeping the vail on the bride with this one. Maybe they're doing the world a favor, who knows. Ironically it must be told, for a beachside city, La Serena comes across as remarkably industrial to the passerby. Reducing its promises of golden sands and laidback lifestyles to mere tokenistic smatterings of iconography that glow on walls and shop windows for the locals that frequent its commerial precincts and glow even brighter to the wide-eyed yearning tourist.
We then went to the Japanese garden. It was a very beautiful, peaceful place and we enjoyed the work that had gone into it, but I think we mainly enjoyed how green it was. We were still getting reaquainted with grass, flowers and plants.
Across the road from the gardens was the zoo. We excitedly made our way there and entertained the parking lot attendants/car detailers as we looked for where we needed to pay when in fact we didn't need to. It was pretty small and very dry and again it was funnily to see in the first viewing pen a bitch with a litter of pups. Pete said that I couldn't add the dog to my 'Slum Dog Game' tally because the rusted metal cage domestified the dog and the suckers on its tit. The next rare species to be hunted, captured and displayed were a billy goat, some sheep, a rabbit… we then realised it wasn’t a real, REAL zoo, it was more like a children’s one. A one with training wheels, a zoo to support your shaky reality untill you can grasp the mind altering concept of the giraffe. We did enjoy seeing an Ostrich though, and fair enough the ostrich isn't without its strangeness; its those huge eyes that do it, they stare straight through you. I peace- offered it some grass then we split.
We walked back through town, eyeing the shop posters promoting something the city couldn't provide. We stopped for a beer and went back to the hostel to get ready for our seven hour bus ride to Santiago in the morning.
written by
Pete+Rochelle
on December 27, 2010
from
La Serena
,
Chile
from the travel blog:
Round the world!!!
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Merry Christmas!!!
Santiago
,
Chile
Wed 22nd-Wed 29th Dec
After a non eventful six hour bus ride from La Serena, we arrived in Santiago, where we were to meet with an old school friend of Pete’s and his wife and new baby- Karim, Gigi and Renzo. Karim had supplied us with detailed instructions on how to use the metro before we left La Serena, so we were keen to see if it was as easy as he made out on the phone. It was thankfully!
Gigi and Karim
We got to Karim's place and met Gigi and Renzo. They have a lovely apartment and were offered our own room, the use of their swimming pool (which is great as it is pretty hot here), and a fantastic view of the Andes. I was pretty excited about that, as I didn’t realise that Santiago was so close to them and I didn’t think I would get to see them. They are big and grand, when they are not covered in smog.
Pizza cone
We spent the first few days doing nothing really. We went to a supermarket before Christmas which was insane!! The Chilians have NO trolley skills and have no qualms about cuttingh you off in the aisles. I learnt to close my eyes and let my trolley do the navigating. It’s the quick or the dead round these parts.
Chilean Chile dog
We went shopping one afternoon and Karim introduced us to Chilean hot dogs. No holds barred on these babies. The Chileans love to put avocado and mayonnaise on their traditional hot dog, we even had one with gherkins on it. They aren’t skimpy with the toppings either, as we bit into it all the filling fell out onto the plate. We think that the Chilian hotdog is so much better than its New York cousin, though its a tad confusing that call their so called 'traditional' hotdog the Italian. Go figure.
christmas breakfast
christmas day
Christmas was a quiet affair. We woke in the morning and had champagne with orange juice and ate chocolates for breakfast (can’t break with tradition) and received presents from Karim and Gigi- Chilean themed aprons. I don’t know if Pete knows how to use his. We spent the afternoon in and around the pool, then spent dinner with Gigi‘s family at her sisters place. It was a great evening with laughs all round. Gigi’s dad wasn’t shy taking the piss out of Pete, which I always love.
Everything seems to be done late here in Chile. They have daylight savings you see, and it doesn’t start to get dark here till 9:25pm. Therefore the Chilians don’t eat till 8 or 9. Christmas night it was ten pm then the turkey came out! Well it was actually steak but we didn't complain. The whole time shift was hard to get used to at first, but now we're comfortably waking up around midday, eating lunch at 3pm and having little snacks to keep us untill dinner. What we found amazing is that Karim doesn’t get to bed until midnight, and he must wake up at 6.30! This kind of lifestyle would kill us if we had to employ jobs into our routine as well!
Boxing day we went for lunch at a restaurant which serves lamb cooked over open flames. Its like a spit roast, but the meat has a rod through it and is resting to the side of the flame, not rotated over the top like I’m used to seeing. The restaurant was a bit smoky, but well worth smoke inhalation to see inventive cooking styles. When our lamb was served we were in awe of the two huge pieces sitting on our plates. We started off using cutlery but you had to revert to using primative techniques and rip the meat off the bone with our fingers. The meat was so tasty and more succulent then we ever expected. When I was feasting I kept thinking of my mum, and how much she would have been in heaven there. After licking our fingers we helped Karim with the rest of the meat left on the table, which was the best we have had in South America.
Pete and I finished the day by checking out the local shopping mall (dumb idea on boxing day) and cooling down at the local movie theatre.
On Monday we decided to venture downtown which is made easy as the Metro here is great, really easy to use and is essentially like Paris and London's. We thought we would go for a walk around the city starting with Palacio de la Moneda- the presidential palace which hoists the largest national flag we have ever seen.
We walked to the Plaza de Armas, the capitals main square where we had a sun screen stop. There was honestly not a cloud in the sky, and a themometer told us it was 36 degrees celsius. We hadn’t been in that type of heat for ages! We then walked to the arty district of Satiago where we stopped for some lunch, with cans of coke and loads of ICE on the menu!!!! Oh the joy and happiness frozen water can bring.
We carried on to Cerro Santa Lucia, a hill in the city that has a wonderful walk that allowed us to walk to the top and have a look at the city at 630 metres. The beautiful structure built around the hill used to serve as a convent and then a military station and still houses the most beautiful fountain and archway!! The restoration and care for the park is amazing and it was a truly lovely place to stumble across. We then went to go to the fine art museum, however it was closed on Mondays, so we opted for lying under a shady tree and read in a nearby park.
We had such sore feet from our day of walking. They were also dirty due to Chilie's pollution sticking to the sunscreen we applied to our feet. Pete’s feet looked like they belonged to a homeless person!
passed out on doggie snacks
Tuesday we went downtown again. This time we walked around trying to find a travel agent. Pete had looked up several the night before on the internet, but as we found the addresses we also found that the agencies no longer existed. We got the feeling that once you got into Santiago, you never could leave! We did find one travel agent that only dealt with flights so we got a little information there, but not what we were looking for as our budget at this late stage only allows for us to afford buses, trains, and peddy cabs.
After a feed of sushi that I had been hanging out for, we went up Cerro San Cristobal, a mountain that sits to the side of Santiago city. The mountain holds a tram and gondolas, which were unfortunately closed, museums and parks and a zoo- we had to keep with tradition and go there. It was a bit different than New York zoo as we got to see: monkeys, elephants, giraffes, lions, flamingos, emus, even llamas and kangaroos!! The zoo winds up the side of the mountain, and it seems that the animals there have the best real estate in the city, the view was pretty spectacular. The most exciting part was Pete finally being able to see a brown grizzly bear. The bear was quite social and was out of his cage having a nosey.
After climbing the hill to look around we hopped on the very steep tram to get us to the top of the mountain. Up the top not only was it a great view, but there was a church up their too- Ya soy La immaculate concepcion. A great monument of the virgin Mary was erected right up the top, and looks over the city and the open church below it. It took some faith getting to the top I don't mind saying.
We took the tram back down to the bottom of the mountain and walked to the metro, stopping along the way for a beer with all the trendy uni students in one of the bars that lined the street. And by a beer I mean a huge 1 litre size bottle.
At home that evening Karim was telling us little bits about the city while looking at our photos. He pointed out the telecommunications building and the fact that it looks just like a big old Motorola mobile phone. We didn't notice. He said it used to be the tallest building in Santiago, not by today's standards, and that it was since voted the city's ugliest. I personally think its great and a brilliant icon to have. It makes me laugh that it so obviously looks like a mobile phone and we didn't recognise. See if you can spot it.
Wednesday we got ourselves ready to leave for Vine del Mar, a city on the coast where we would all be spending new years eve and then a couple more days relaxing. Pete didn’t get up till almost 11am that morning. We're not counting sheep over here, we're counting lamas and it seems there are more to count. We went out for a coffee which was ordinary of course, yet they had the yummiest home made chocolates. After having an early dinner for a change we were off to Vina del Mar and 2011!!
written by
Pete+Rochelle
on December 31, 2010
from
Santiago
,
Chile
from the travel blog:
Round the world!!!
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Our New years trip
Vina del Mar
,
Chile
Wed 29th Dec- Mon 3rd Jan
Count the dogs!! 1,2,3..
Wednesday night Karim drove us the two and a half hours to the sea side city of Vina del Mar. As we approached the twin cities their luminescent glow was overwhelming, with hundreds of thousands of lights welcoming us, making our first impression a memorable one. On one stretch of the coastline sat our destination of Vina del Mar, and to the cities left was its older neighbour -Valapriso. Karim had organised for us to stay at a Bed and Breakfast near the beach so we could easily attend the New Year’s celebrations and witness the fireworks extravaganza, which was to be the biggest in all of Chile apparently. He dropped us off, and we called it a night.
Thursday we went for a walk around the Vina del Mar. Karim was exacting, our hostel was only a couple of streets away from the beach! We walked along the cities esplanade to look for somewhere to get some breakfast as our Hostel only served cold toast with a side of bitter coffee. Hailing from Hervey Bay where you can’t walk along its esplanade without tripping over a café or some type of eatery, we were surprised that there wasn’t a single shop, café, kiosk to take our tourist dollars and feed our gringo bellies. We walked along the beach front, counting dogs and trying to read bible revelations that were written on the rocks. They were written in Spanish of course and ironically floated betwixt the ungodly sight of the rubbish that littered the otherwise picturesque scenery. It made us feel pretty proud to come from Australia and New Zealand. We may get some rubbish on our beaches, but nothing like what we have seen here. Not to ‘trash talk’ Vina del Mar exclusively on this enviro-eyesore either, for most of the communities, towns, cities that we have visited in ‘all’ countries in South America have taken their waste management out- with- the- trash so to say, with literally piles of rubbish and discarded material which aim to challenge the senses upon confrontation. I was surprised to hear that even Santiago doesn’t have domestic recycling bins in the scheme of things either.
We walked past a restaurant that looked like some kind of ship that had crashed into the shore, the cities casino, a floral clock and a bunch of Christians that were on some type of rally. One of them even ran up to us to give us a hug and told us that God loved us! We should have told him that cleanliness is next to Godliness and to clean up the fucking beach and to hose down the bums that have be it prime real estate, but again communications were down.
We ended up in the town centre with all the shops and finally found something to chew on there. We had a little walk around the centre, then ended up back on the beachfront. The esplanade took us past a market, military buildings, cannons that lined the boardwalk and finally to where guys and gals were doing tricks on bikes and rollerblades. From what we saw, although Vina del Mar’s beach isn’t well kept its well used, and as the afternoon wore on more and more people arrived to soak up the afternoon/evening sol.
One of these folks was a young guy practising his ‘free-walking’, moves on the beach. We saw him doing back flips off a high wall onto the beach. We asked to take some photos which he happily agreed to. He was using objects surrounding him as props for his flips. He was amazing to watch. We also saw some great sand art and a man that did spray paint art, but on the cover of books. A big day for artistic inspiration!
New Years Eve!! Our day was spent looking around Vina del Mar a little more. Pete then had an afternoon nap, while I wrote postcards and had a vaso of wine at a nearby corner café. Not realising what time the shops closed we almost missed them, lucky we found one with its door half closed so we could get some drinks and supplies for the evening. After having our last meal for 2010, a Chilean hot dog, we stayed at home until we joined the masses down the beach a bit before midnight. There were thousands of people crowding the promenade, covering the beach and filling the beachside apartment balconies. All ages were out and there was a real buzz of celebration in the air. As midnight approached the vibe got electric and the people started chanting and screaming, the energy was contagious. Congenially no fights broke out and we didn’t see any drunk people falling over themselves or slum dogs- something unfortunately we think we would have seen in our home countries in great supply. There was not a big police presence either, which was interesting to see due to the size of the crowd.
The countdown was a little vague as there was no loud speaker or radio to keep time. We got the hint that we were in the future when people up the beach started screaming, hugging and kissing. Then the fireworks began. There was about six different points where the fireworks were set off over the water, and we had picked the perfect spot as one of those points was right in front of us. The fireworks lasted for about twenty minutes and didn’t disappoint. When it finished we made our way back up the beach with the masses of others to our hostel and called it a night watching TV. Talk about party animals!!
Saturday.
After a sleep in to recover from our ’big night’ we walked into town and went to Quinta Vergara, a beautiful park that had huge roses of every colour and even had trees from New Zealand. On site is Palacio Vergara, an old palace and in the grounds there is also a huge newly erected open- air amphitheatre that would be amazing to listen to music in. We had a look around, went up to a lookout that didn’t really show us as much as we expected, then headed back to the hostel.
Karim picked us up that evening to take us to dinner. He had a special restaurant in mind which was located in Concon, another little costal town not far from Vina del Mar, usually only fifteen minutes drive away. We had forgotten about it being New Year’s day and therefore it took us over an hour to get there. To add hunger to car-cabin-fever there was a great big line up out the door of the restaurant! Two and a half very hungry hours later we arrived back in Vina, only to end up going to a restaurant two blocks away from where we were staying!! We did get to have an English speaking tour and did see the sunset sink into the ocean, so it wasn’t all bad. Pretty funny though-thanks Karim.
Sunday.
We hopped on a bus to get us to Valparaiso, the city down further on the coast surrounded by hills- Vina’s more worldly and slightly stern older sibling. We looked at the its port and walked its streets at sea level, which were tattooed with uninspired graffiti. It struck us that every direction seemed dull and grey and there were an insane amount of low hanging overhead powerlines that make the phrase ‘watch your head‘ seem more urgent.
Walking up the city’s steep sprawling hills the scenery started to change with more vibrant colours appearing. The greatest part for me were discovering the decorative murals that were to be found around almost every corner: garage, door, wall.
The houses higher up into the hills were famously colourful with a lot of character and as we walked we would get a great view of the harbour. There were cool little shops and stalls scattered around the place too. We walked so much that day and were happy to put our feet up when we got back to the hostel!
We drove back to Santiago on Monday after Pete and I had to yet again walk around for ages to find breakfast. This time we found a McDonalds where we ate cheese burgers. Back at Karim and GiGi’s place we had a lot of washing and organising to do as we had booked an overnight bus to Pucon- Karim’s home town- middle Chile.
Until next time we write, take care of yourself and we both hope that 2011 brings you all health, happiness, laughter and adventure xx
written by
Pete+Rochelle
on January 9, 2011
from
Vina del Mar
,
Chile
from the travel blog:
Round the world!!!
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Action packed adventure.
Pucon
,
Chile
Wed 5th-Sat 8th Jan
Tuesday night we caught, you guessed it, another overnight bus! This time it was a comfortable ten hours only to the picturesque town of Puno. We must have appeased the bus God some how. The toilet worked, we weren’t next to the toilet door, we were given blankets and pillows and the seats went back quite far. Hugging those Christians must have payed off……we thought. The realities of bus travel again came back to kick us in the rear when around 7.30am, after the bus stopped at some small town to let people off, it decided that it didn’t want to start again. The bus had broken down!! After trying to sacrifice a small yet hugely annoying child in order to get our motor running, we excepted our fate. We had to wait in the stuffy fart-ridden bus for three hours while bus driver/mechanic tried to bring the bus back to life. Not a child tantrum too soon, finally the bus company brought in another bus to replace the smelly broken one so we could be on our way. Problem solved? Not really. The bus they brought in was smaller then the original one, so, Pete and I and another couple had to stand in the aisles as there were not enough seats! About half an hour into it, some lovely people all decided to squish together in their seats so we could sit down. After so much bus travel and so many uncomfortable incidences, were hoping that we have our fair share of bus scares to remedy the next potential bout of travel hiccups.
When we did finally make it to Pucon we were four hours over schedule, but still five hours under slept. We did our usual routine and found ourselves a bed and went out to scavenge for a bite. We were starving since we had planned to be in Pucon for breakfast. We then went into one of many travel agencies that organise tours for the many adventurous trips they have on offer in and around Pucon. This is the place to be if you want adrenaline pumping adventure, just don’t forget your wallet. Absolutely free on the other hand and perhaps Pucon’s best attraction is its green fields, flora, lakes and snow capped volcano. The volcano is spectacular. We were fortunate enough to have its beauty staring at us even when we showered. A perfect view of Volcan Villarrica as we looked out of the our bathroom window!
Thursday.
In the afternoon we were booked to do Hydro-Speed. For you people in the dark, its a newly evolved German water-sport which sees its victim hanging on to dear life and a small dolphin-nose shaped piece of foam as they plummet down grade three white-washed rapids! Sounds like fun-we thought so too. On our way to the tour company we anxiously walked around Pucon, had a look at the beach and dipped our toes in the lake. We made it to the tour company and were whisked off in a van to head to a river a bit out of town. There we changed into wetsuits and slipped into our flippers, helmets and piece of foam, which didn’t exactly inspire much confidence. Then flop, we were in the water to get instructions on how to navigate the rapids and how to consume oxygen in the likely event of capsizing. The water was freezing! After practising the moves and getting used to kicking with the flippers, we were off, or should I say the current took us.
There were ten of us in the Hydro-Speed posse in total, of all nationalities. Three brave women and seven giddy men being watched by four guides- three in the water and one in a life raft. Having someone watching us from all angles was reassuring, as was the option to abandon the rapids to retreat to the raft when you felt distressed. In fact the instructors insisted on the policy that if they thought you would drown or that you looked like you weren’t having fun they would pull you out of the water breathing or not.
To begin with the current carried us down stream in its steady, gentle flow. The scenery was gorgeous and it was so peaceful…. then we hit the first rapid. The idea to conquer the rapids was easy, we all had to try and stay in line with the first guide as the currents were trying to pull us in different directions and try to aim for the highest waves which are normally caused by two currents coming together. We had to go head first in to the waves and come out the other side. Easier instructed then done. Trying to see anything with water in your eyes and stealing a breathe before the next wave crashes on your head is tricky. Especially when you’re meant to be making sure your were on the right side of the river and not going to plough head first into a half submerged boulder. We thought ‘what have we signed up for?‘ The river had shallow sections of water which meant your legs would cop a battering. Pete often complained that he had hit a rock or three. After being battered by the first couple of rapids the other two girls and one of guys were out. They were only halfway through the course! As our guides were prepping us for the last rapid, I thought that I wanted out too. The last rapid was a class three, that’s mild in Merrill Streep- River Wild terms, but bigger than any of the ones we had already done. I told one of the instructors that I wanted out, he said, ‘No you’ll be fine!’ He held onto my foam dolphin and rode through the first wave with me. That’s when shit went wrong. I must have breathed in a litre water and spent the next minute choking it back up, while trying to breath in between other waves offering me a drink. Just say I panicked a bit. I finally calmed down towards the end of the rapid, when I caught my breath, then we had a gingerly ride down river to meet up with the tour bus. When we hopped out our toes were so numb we couldn’t feel them, but once out of the water we warmed up pretty quick. We were in a bit of shock but we couldn’t wipe the smiles off our faces. It was an experience we will never forget, but after a deep review perhaps not one we are willing to repeat. If you want see the video of my near death experience or pictures of Pete looking more of a dick then usual then check us out on this link:
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=614946412#
!/pages/pucontours/174387067363
Photo section on the left hand side, click on ‘see all’ and find 06 de enero de 2011 for our photos. You’ll see Pete’s face, can’t miss it. Underneath the photo section is where you can find the video, look for 6 enero,noon [HQ] in the ‘see all’ section. It doesn’t last very long, the music is pretty loud though so be warned and wait till the end as you’ll see me not looking very impressed being lead through the last rapid.
Friday.
We awoke early to get ready for our next adventure, a 2847 metre walk to the top of the volcano. Our bodies were a little sore form the day before. Pete’s thigh got a bit of a battering and it was sore when he walked, not good when your about to climb for five hours! We arrived at our meeting point and hopped in a van with six others and was driven to the base camp. From there we got a ski lift which would eliminate 40 mins walk, which our legs didn’t disagree with, then started a slow zigzag walk up the side in the snowy mountain. We stopped a few times for water and a nibble on a chocolate bar or two.
The higher we got the more thick and sludgey the snow was. We had ice picks to help us with balance, but it was still really slow going, though quite funny too. Pete thought he was Sir Edmund Hillary for a minute or two.
Once we reached the top we couldn’t really see into the volcano as it was thick with toxic fumes and eye-watering smoke and it hit our throats pretty hard too. The view at the top looking down was needless to say but I’ll say it anyway, remarkable. (See Pic).
The way down was why we endured the climb to the top. Tobogganing!! We had to put on a layer of protective clothing from head-to-foot, then headed to a section of snow where other tourists had crafted arse-made snow chutes. There we hopped on our little seats and slid our way down. I can’t tell you how much fun this was. When we slid down we really picked up some speed. The only problem was that the people in front of us didn’t dare to go fast and a couple of times there would be pile ups. Pete was getting the shits due to one German bird who always ended up in front of him and who would go real slow. The last slope was a long one and at the end both Pete and I spun out, which was a bit freaky. We were wet through and through, cold, but extremely happy. It was a definite delight highlight.
That evening we had booked to go to another one of Pucon’s attractions: the thermal pools. Our bodies were in need of some good R n’ R. We arrived just as night was falling, which was around quarter past nine. The setting was beautiful. We were dropped off at the top of a hill and had to walk down to the bottom where there were several open rock-pools with trees surrounding them and a flowing stream to the side. We walked down the stairs and found ourselves at the first pool which we thought we would try. It was so hot. It was like trying to hop into a really, really hot bath. Pete loved it and was moving around in it. I had to hop out after a little while, I couldn’t cope!
We tried another one that wasn’t as hot, then sat by the creek with a beer. Some english people came by and had a dip in the cold creek before heading back to the hot pools. I had to give it a go. It was freezing, I ran in, sat down, then ran out to hop back into one of the hot pools. It was lovely to lay back and look at the stars while soaking my sore body in hot water, listening to the stream running over the rocks. Bliss!
Saturday we were up early, much to our bodies disagreement, again to catch a six hour bus to Puerta Montt, our gateway stop over to Isla Grande de Chiloe, that is if the bus gets us there. Will write you then!!! xxx
written by
Pete+Rochelle
on January 11, 2011
from
Pucon
,
Chile
from the travel blog:
Round the world!!!
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Our sleepy little stop over.
Puerto Montt
,
Chile
Sat 8th -Mon 10th Jan
We left Pucon early Sat morning with our bodies in even more pain then the previous day and not enough sleep from our late night at the pools. Packing our backpacks was a struggle as my arms hurt from using them while tobogganing down the volcano and Pete’s leg was in even more pain. What a pair we made. We hopped on the bus for our six hour day-bus to Puerto Montt. All good on this bus, except that they played the same Spanish song over and over again, for six hours. It got a bit monotonous.
A picture in our room!
We arrived in Puerto Montt bus station and were immediately offered rooms in hostels, or, should I say, people’s houses they have converted to some faux hostel. We took one lady up on her cheap offer and hopped on a bus with her to her home/hostel. The house smelt like old people and our room was situated right next to the road, a road which we were to discover had buses and trucks and loud cars travelling on it at all hours of the day and night. The little kid in the room next door also liked to play the drums, so trying to relax and watch TV with the sound of the drums and the traffic proved difficult at times, not to mention any kind of a sleep in the next morning. We found the supermarket and as well as getting supplies we also got a hot dog; they keep on getting better those Chilean dogs!
Sunday we went for a walk to get to the bottom of what Puerta Montt was all about. We got to the bottom quick. There really wasn’t a lot going on there. Okay, we went out on a Sunday, which means that just about everything was closed, but then again I think that even if the city was on fire there still wouldn’t be much going on. The best part of the look around was being dwarfed by a giant statue of a couple in the middle of light petting. We walked along the promenade and into the town, but there really was nothing to report.
Monday we booked a bus to take us to Isle de Grande Chiloe, an island to the side of Chile. Our bus wasn’t till early afternoon, so we walked down to the port. I’m so glad we did, because the area was Puerta Montt’s saving grace! It was a cute little area with heaps of little shops selling arts and crafts, mainly wooden made trinkets, and seafood caught and bought in from the local fishing boats. The port was old and well used, but defiantly gave some much needed character to a town. After our look around and a great round of Pete’s Dog Game, we were off to get our bags and head to the bus stop once again. Hopefully more adventure awaits. We’ll let you know how we go!
written by
Pete+Rochelle
on January 15, 2011
from
Puerto Montt
,
Chile
from the travel blog:
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Our island getaway.
Ancud
,
Chile
Monday 10th- Wed 12th Jan
Killer hot dog.
Monday afternoon we dragged our stuff to the bus station and waited for the bus to take us to Ancud, a small town on the Isle of Grande Chiloe. While we waited we had the biggest hot dog yet. The thing was massive, filled with tomato, onion, even carrot then smothered in avocado and all the sauces. It was so big we couldn’t even finish them. Pete finally met his match!
We spent the next three hours on a bus, an hour of that on a barge in order to get us on the island. We arrived at our stop and our host from the hostel we were booked into was waiting for us. She had broken english and laughed excessively She took great care of us…a bit too much attention for Pete’s liking. So- much- so that when we asked if there was a kitchen to cook in (money is getting low, we have to eat in now days), Mirta and Peter, our hosts, gave us use of their own kitchen, and said we were a ‘special case’ and since the other guests didn’t have the same privilege we had to keep quiet about it and eat in their dining room. Hmmm…..
from the supermarket
After being shown our room and their kitchen we walked into the town centre for supplies and a look around. It was a little similar to Puerto Montt in that there was not much going on. We cooked dinner and ate with Mirta and her family. All conversations were in very broken english the up side being they organised a tour for us to see the penguins the next day as well as drawing a mud map showing us a walking track to see Ancud. We said goodnight as soon as we were able to and ran as fast as we could.
The saint to help catch fish!
Tuesday.
We took our map and walked around Ancud. We went to the top of a hill and took some photos. Up on the hill we saw the biggest pile of rubbish to date. It was like the town had made it the official dumping ground. Not the best look, but I guess it gave all the stray dogs something to rummage through. We then went down to a beach and walked along the coastline on rocks which was quiet pretty and very quiet. We saw the main square and walked through the streets, and that was Ancud!
That afternoon we were picked up and taken by mini bus with three others to a beach just out of Ancud where the penguins nested. The ride took us a bit over an hour, but we had photo stops along the way and it was beautiful scenery. Very much like New Zealand, rolling green hills with cattle grazing and the pacific ocean in the distance, yup I could be at home!
We made it to the beach and were fitted in our life jackets and jumped on a little wheelie trailer where we were wheeled out to the boat. We were then off around the rocks to spot the penguins. There were a few penguins out and about and we even saw a sea otter popping out of the water for air. But, after looking at the flightless birds shake themselves a few times, waddle a little and generally not do much, we were pretty much over it. They just aren’t as fun as monkeys or sea monkeys for that matter! It was nice on the water though and we can now tick penguin watching off our list.
Wednesday.
We had planned to go for a very big walk to find the open air museum I had heard about and was intrigued with. Instead we ended up packing up our things and moving town as Pete had a very big and painful blister on the back of his heel, one that disallowed him to wear his hiking boots. So we hopped on a hour and a half hour bus to take us down the island further to its capital, Castro, much to Mirta’s disappointment. She wanted us to just take a day trip there, as she kept on assuring us that there was nothing in Castro. There was nothing in Ancud! How could there be LESS in the island’s capital! We left anyway, promising we would be back to stay on our way back up from Castro to see the museum. Mum, you’ll be happy to know she even insisted I wear one of her woolly jackets when I was there as it was a bit cold. Mine weren’t good enough, I had to wear hers. Pete had issues with the whole smothering mothering thing but I kept on assuring him it was just good will, but if we don’t come back you’ll know where to find us……
!!!!!!!!!!
written by
Pete+Rochelle
on January 16, 2011
from
Ancud
,
Chile
from the travel blog:
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Chiloe's capital city
Castro
,
Chile
Wed 12th-Sunday 16th
Castro, Chiloe’s capital, was a quiet escape for us. We spent a couple of days chilling out, looking around the town at its icons and watching too many bad movies on TV as we had a bit of rain over a couple of days. Again, a very small town, but was bigger then Ancud and we even had a view of the harbour from our window!
Some of Castro’s attractions we saw were: Iglesia Francisco de Castro, the towns main church, was nothing to look at from the outside, but once inside you could appreciate its beautiful wooden architecture; the Palafitos, old houses on stilts that line the water front, and of course, there were more markets and dogs than we could count. There was also a port where fishing boats leave from, and charters that take you to several other smaller islands in the area, a main square which really had nothing in it, only an information centre, and the most supermarkets we have seen in Chiloe yet.
On Friday we took a bus to see the National park, when we arrived there were no maps available so we had to take directions from a ranger who didn’t speak a jot of English, we just hoped we wouldn't end up on the presumed long list of missing persons in the area. As we walked we were attacked by these fucking huge black flies that would try to fly in our face as we were walking and they would bite when they finally got to land on your skin. These things were honestly four times bigger then the biggest March Flies you’re likely to find in Hervey Bay. Needless- to- say I was not impressed and spent most of the walk squealing like a little girl. Pete thought it was hilarious. When I wasn’t battling the flies though, the walk was most enjoyable and serene. We decided on a short walk, the bigger ones being twenty kilometres, and ended up walking through Sendero Interpretivo El Tepual, which took us through fallen trees and moss covered walk ways. Apparently because of the constant water in the soil, the trees ultimately rot in the earth and fall over, leaving a floor covering of wood pulp, which allows other vegetation grew on top of it. It really was different.
We then walked in the opposite direction towards the beach. It was a bit of a hike to get there, and once there the wind was blowing so hard that we were instantly covered in cold black sand and began to freeze. We did the sensible thing and turned around and went to a warm café. Along the way we said hello to some cows in between our dance with the monstrous flies.
On the Sunday we took another bus to the small town of Chonchi, were we were planning to take a ferry over to one of the many islands that dot the coast line of Chiloe. The night before we had gone out for dinner and had a little too much to drink, actually Pete was feeling a bit worst for wear in Chonchi and not happy with me ‘cause I wouldn’t let him sleep. We walked down to the port to find out where the ferry left from, only to discover it leaves from a different port, five kilometres away. The tourist information people in Castro really need to lift their game, we didn’t sign up for a marathon. We had a look at what Chonchi had to offer instead, which was a small smelly beach littered with evil looking dogs, a market, and, the coolest local man that had little shop with a display of accordions to look at, old and new. He even gave us a demonstration. Gosh he was good. So we bought one of his CD’s. That afternoon we packed our bags and planned to head back to Ancud the next day much to Pete’s displeasure.
Monday we were up early to catch a two hour bus back up to Ancud to finally see the museum I wanted to see before leaving the island. But I’ll save that adventure for the next entry. xxx
written by
Pete+Rochelle
on January 21, 2011
from
Castro
,
Chile
from the travel blog:
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Our big adventure!
Ancud
,
Chile
Monday 17th Jan
We left Castro early so we could get to Ancud before eleven that morning. We went back to Mirta and Peter’s hostel and were greeted with smiles, hugs and kisses. “You are home! Welcome home!” said Mirta as she showed us to the same plain room that we where stuffed in previously. This was much to our disappointment as our bed sagged in the middle which made us uncomfortably rendezvous in its sinkhole in the middle of the night. We dropped off our stuff, and armed with the mud map Peter (the host) had drawn up for us and our raincoats, jackets as the weather looked bleak, we were off on our little adventure.
We had to walk into town to catch a bus. On our page of instructions from Peter were the names of the different buses that could take us to our out-of-the-way destination. I asked a man what time the bus was, and he told us that we had about an hour to wait. We sat on a plank of wood that doubled as a seat and a luggage storage unit that was located at the bus stop/back entrance to the adjoined supermarket and waited. The man in the know tried to have a conversation with me in Spanish which is always amusing which seemed to passed the time. We finally got on a little bus, filled with locals and asked the driver to let us know when to get off. Well, in all honesty I asked and he nodded , so we did what we normally do which was to pray and hope for the best mutual understanding there was or wasn’t.
Awhile later I spotted the name of the town that we wanted and waited for recognition from the driver. Just as I was getting a little worried he looked at me in the rear vision mirror and nodded, indicating for us to jump out. It was a miracle! He let us off at exactly the right place, just outside the museum. Okay perhaps miracle is too strong a term. In reality I suspect that he was just used to dropping the Gringos off in strange locations.
The wind was blowing a gale and the sky was grey, so we were forced to put on our layers and walk down a long driveway to get to the house/museum. This place was in the middle of no where. As we walked a man on horse back came past taking two cows to a paddock next to us. It was eerily quiet, with the only noises to be heard were Pete’s offers of “This is fucked, this museum belongs in a fucking museum man”, and the more welcoming, melodious tones of several song birds in the distance.
We arrived at a gate to a house that had all sorts of bones and old machinery in the yard. We thought this had to be the place and as we were reaching the front of a shed, a man came out of the house next to it. I asked him how much and he mumbled something at us. I gave him some money which he seemed happy with. Of course we didn’t receive change. This type of transaction is typical to nearly all South American countries, in fact, it would be fair to say- receiving change is like a Bolivian taking a holiday- it never happens.
We walked into the shed which was the museum and were greeted with old typewriters, bits of glass, crockery, badly stuffed animals, miscellaneous animal remains, shells, starfish and old coins. This place was the size of a one car garage, so it didn’t take us very long at all to look around and feel bemused. We finished off our look outside, in the yard, with a whale skeleton and some chickens. We even saw some pigs running past us up the path! Looking around the museum took us less time then it did to arrive there on the bus. Pete was not impressed with a look that could only be interpreted as ‘I told you so‘. The only thing to do was to take the long walk back to the town that we had passed, to wait for the bus, unfortunately the next one was two and a half hours away. I tried to sweeten the deal for Pete with the promise of a warm restaurant with hot chocolate when we got there.
Pete's loving it!!
We started the walk, and as we did the weather turned nasty. There was a strong wind coming off the adjacent lake and a light rain to boot. It was cold and grey and so desolate. I was actually quite enjoying the walk, we would occasionally be passed by cars, and trudged passed a couple of tents, but besides that there was nothing else to see. With the ominous weather it really made me feel that we were on an adventure. I think this pissed Pete off even more- joyfulness in the face of tedious discomfort. We finally made it to the town, only to discover it was the smallest town ever imagined, and the only two restaurants we passed didn’t make hot chocolate. One of them didn’t even have a menu, the waitress in a foul mood just started rattling off food items in Spanish so we didn’t stand a chance. We decided that instead of waiting the hour and a half that was left until the bus arrived, we would start walking in the direction of Ancud and try to hitch a ride; we had previous been assured by Mirta that this would be of no risk at all to our persons or our person’s personal possessions. We walked along the road and were passed by a couple of cars, then ended up being picked up by the most obliging car of all….a taxi! Not quite hitching-a-ride, but a lift all the same, and it cost the same as the bus.
We made it to Ancud and settled for hot soup as even there we couldn’t find hot chocolate. Pete was happy to be there, but happier knowing that we were leaving the next day. At least I got to see the museum, and yes, okay, cough, Pete was right, it was pretty much literally rubbish, but a day we will remember all the same.
Us with Pete and Mirta
The next morning we said goodbye to our new Chiloen family and goodbye to the quaint, sometimes charming, yet sleepy, very sleepy, oh so sleepy izzzzzzzzzzland.
written by
Pete+Rochelle
on January 26, 2011
from
Ancud
,
Chile
from the travel blog:
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Too much beer?
Puerto Varas
,
Chile
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:
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Missed communication
Valdivia
,
Chile
Saturday 22nd- Tuesday 25th Jan
We arrived in Valdivia early afternoon and started our way into its central business district, which was of course to be near the ‘Plaza De Arms‘. Before we could leave the bus terminal we were approached by a lady who promised a room that was ‘comfortably affordable‘; well affordable until the point when she wrote down that the room was to be $60 Aus dollars, about $40 dollars above our budget. So we high-tailed it out of there.
We started walking down the street toward the centre again in slight desperation when from the ether a fashionably-bearded man in a vehicle pulled over. Okay, so he only poked at a brochure and slightly informed us that he had budget apartments available, but we had ‘tango nada’. He told us his apartments were even more affordable than the last hostal we presumed to be affordable, this time we believed the hype and the spanglish. We went along for the ride and were again sold on his proposition after seeing that own kitchen, bathroom and lounge was on offer. Even our pockets agreed.
Sunday.
Being Sunday and South America, everything was closed. Yet we decided to go for a small walk and have a look around the city. While we were walking towards the city’s centre we passed a small roadside market next to an old Spanish tower. The market was about old trinkets, pictures, coins and books. Pete picked up a couple of books. Exciting, intriguing non-fiction on the topics of: How To Develop Your: ESP, and a highly sexually-charged poetry book by John Updike. Oh, and a really cool Spanish comic book too.
The town centre was pretty boring, with the only attractions being a shopping centre and buildings that lined the streets which were covered in graffiti. We made it to the city’s waterfront where the Feria Fluvial (a big fish and veg market), takes place right on the edge of the river. It was quite smelly and full of life with people jostling and yelling out in order to selling their product. We spotted the resident sea-lions too! Valdivia is home to about four of them that get a feed from the off cuts of fish from the markets. These creatures are huge and very cool to watch swim or sun themselves behind the fish stalls. While in the vicinity we were approached numerous times to go on one of the many boats that took tours up the river, but we had decided earlier to go the next day.
We then walked over the bridge to take us to Isla Teja, an island nestled next to Valdivia, which features a wonderful national park, botanical garden, museums and historic buildings. We started riverside and visited Museo Historico y Arqueologico: two museums that is. The first exhibited the history of a German settler who documented a lot of ecological information, animal habits, plants matter and such. All the information about the guy was again written in Spanish so we didn’t really learn too much. The second museum was a beautiful heritage house that was once a home for the early German pioneers of the area. It fashioned its rooms with furnishing of community’s early history. The old furniture was gorgeous, with the antic wooden pieces to die for- a Saint Sebastian painting was also pinned to the wall. We then walked to the botanical gardens and had an afternoon nap under a canopy of trees lying on its soft, moss covered ground. It was peaceful and cool and ever so relaxing. Isla Teja was defiantly worth the look and it was after all, a wonderful day out.
Our mossy bed
Monday.
We had booked a four hour boat tour that afternoon. We sat on the deck of a very full boat and sweated under Chile’s hot sun, with the extra discomfort of a heat enticing life-jacket. After half an hour of waiting we finally left the port with the tour guide explaining the surroundings, drum-roll in Spainish, therefore three quarters of an hour rocking in the boat, we had absolutely no idea what the fuck was going on.
We do know however that we did stop at an old building a way up river to have afternoon tea. The guide came over to see us and coughed up some English, just a little less than the tour-guide had promised the day previous. Therefore we were finally aware that we were on a tour to visit an old house that was erected during the time of Germany’s first tryst with Chile’s coastline. Our new found awareness of what we landed ourselves in made Chile’s historical background even more intriguing.
The settlement was on the edge of a national park which we only got to see for a moment as by the time we had our afternoon tea there was only a half an hour before we had to go back to the boat. Exploring our surroundings was limited to keep it brief, making broken agreements the flavour of the day. What got us on the boat was the understanding that we could enjoy a leisurely walk in the scrub.
On the ride back to port we stopped at the very small village of Punucapa, to see the oldest church in Valdivia. It was beautifully painted, quaint and wooden on a great big paddock with the grandest tree we have seen. This thing was huge and so majestic. We walked around the church then went to do some tree hugging. With a tree like this hugging needed to be done.
We made it back to Valdivia and despite our overall disappointment that we had with sights and lack of action at this late stage, we were impressed with Valdivia and what it had to offer. Isla Teja and Valdiva’s waterfront was quiet pretty, and to be honest we understand that all complaints must fall- on- deaf- ears when the sun shines on holiday makers who moan too much; especially those who have had the comfort of spending lazy afternoons sleeping their lives away on soft beds of moss! Really, despite all our set-backs, who has a comeback for that?
written by
Pete+Rochelle
on January 31, 2011
from
Valdivia
,
Chile
from the travel blog:
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