FINALLY I have completed my February Journal... so for those of you who have been waiting, I am sorry! I have gotten distracted, traveled more and just plain forgot! It was not easy as I wanted to include as much detail as I could to help share this experience with you, and also so that I can remember it all! It is long, so if you don't read it I don't mind.. this is mostly for my memory anyway. I did make a video with photos and music which I have added to this post, but I warn you the quality is very bad! I included so many pictures that it is 25 minutes long- too long for Youtube, and I haven't felt like trying to break it up into smaller parts- which I might do eventually. So for now this is what I have, I hope you enjoy it!!
Feb 4:
Started out the trip with my backpack pretty full and made a fool of myself in the metro trying to organize my pack and the tent- some guy had to help me put my stuff on before exiting- thank goodness for the kindness of Chilean strangers! Made it to the bus terminal where the other girls were all set and ready to go with their huge backpacks as well. Just a little info about the gals,
-Nikki: fantastically hilarious, she goes to Loyola and is an International Affairs major. She has the most incredible laugh you could imagine which is always contagious. She is a total goofball who loves 80s music and classic rock and is always fun to be around to sing loudly and obnoxiously. She is also very passionate about Fair Trade and hopes to continue to work with Fair Trade in some aspect post college. Also she was my travel buddy for the entire month since for a week the other two gals were in Torres del Paine- will get to that later.
-Maggie: absolute sweetheart who also goes to Loyola and studies Social Work and Spanish. Became somewhat the “mom” of our little family, she also has a ridiculous laugh that is more like a squeak- and when she and Nikki get going it is impossible to contain yourself. She is an experienced hiker/camper as she was a camp counselor, which she will immediately tell you was the best experience of her life.
-Kait: the “responsible” one, who is always prepared for everything which was good because it’s the complete opposite of how I am. She is very sarcastic and always quick to poke fun – which was easy with me around since those of you who know me know that I am apt to do or say something foolish, and by the end of the month we understood each other very well, there was much good banter. She has great taste in music and can talk for hours about it and she is extremely passionate about social work as that is her major as well. Of all of us she is probably most focused on perfecting her Spanish so I think she would get somewhat frustrated when we would go days without a long Spanish conversation- but again by the end of the trip I think she was fine with it.
Once we finally figured out which bus was ours (it can be confusing to get accustomed to the Chilean bus systems) we got on board for our 15 hour trek to Puerto Montt. It was a cloudy day and the view was less than exciting so it was kind of a bummer to start off, but I had some great conversation with Nikki as we started to really get to know each other better. We stopped for lunch at a rest stop that had barely any options and had some very mediocre food. I don’t remember what exactly provoked conversation but Maggie said “Guys I am just having a really bad day” and we asked what possibly could have caused such a mood and she replied “I had to pay for the bathroom with no toilet paper and they gave me too many papas!” to which we burst out laughing. Bathrooms sans toilet paper are quite common here in Chile, but we couldn’t believe she was upset that the plate of potatoes she ordered was too big- as we gladly finished them off for her. She then realized how ridiculous she sounded and this was when we knew that the trip would be full of ridiculous situations.
Back on the bus I was listening to my MP3 and watching the cloudy landscape when “Open Your Eyes” by Snow Patrol started playing and the sun came out. In that moment I knew this trip was going to be amazing and I decided to keep reminding myself to open my eyes to all of the experiences that I would encounter. I had an awful time trying to get a hold of Lily (Judith’s sister-in-law who was letting us stay with her) but eventually was able to tell her that we would be in very late and that we could take a taxi to her house. But, being the sweetheart that she is, Lily picked us up at the Bus station at about midnight and drove us back to her gorgeous brand new house where she fed us and gave us all beds and towels for the shower. We then realized she had to work the next morning and felt awful, but she was totally pleasant about everything! She gave us a key so that we could leave in the morning to explore Puerto Montt and directions for the bus and what not.
Feb 5:
In the morning we took a bus downtown, and it was beautiful- the sea was clear blue. We went to a Feria (artisans market) and of course bought some souvenirs - I bought a wool hat and a lapis lazuli stone (which is the national stone of Chile) which has hung from a string around my neck ever since. We then met a guy named Ivan who wanted to impress the ¨beautiful girls¨ and showed us his shop where he made designs on wood and leather by burning images- we each got a leather bookmark with our names in exchange for a kiss on the cheek. He was hilarious and told us that if we couldn’t find anything to do downtown we should come back that night and have beer with him and his son and the other artisans who apparently have nightly jam sessions. For lunch we went to a great cafe that overlooked the sea and a snow capped mountain. We had a deliciously organic lunch and joked how we should be having serious conversation in such a cafe in southern Chile- but then actually proceeded to discuss our philosophies on life. We all had similar thoughts but expressed in different ways, it was a really good way to understand each other better. We explored some more and came across a giant couple statue at the beach. It was hilarious- a guy sitting with his leg propped up and the girl sitting nicely in his arms, a true testament to Chilean lovers in the streets- of course we took tons of pictures. Walking along the street I saw a little flow of water trickling onto the sidewalk, I decided to see where it was coming from and followed it to a little boy standing on the other side of the fence next to the sidewalk- just taking a little piss. I saved Nikki’s life who didn’t see this little boy and almost walked into the river of urine- quite a shocking moment, but after all- it is Chile! We then went home and hung out with Lily for the evening, we made dinner and split a bottle of red wine and played a card game that was not nearly as fun as Kait tried to make it seem. Then we all took showers and prepared for our long bus ride the next morning. Also I was checking on the election poll as it was Super Tuesday and we excitedly discussed the possible outcomes and candidates that we supported. (Go Obama!)
Feb 6:
Got up early and got our sandwiches together for the long haul down to Punta Arenas- a 30+ hour bus ride could not be endured without sufficient snacks! We made it to the station and were pleasantly surprised to find that we were on the top floor of a double decker bus (great views!) Although, we were right next to/in front of the bathroom- not so cool! We got settled in and were able to watch some quality movies dubbed in Spanish- ok well the first one was alright “Inside Man” but it was really hard to understand in Spanish when the speakers barely worked, and then “Perfume” which I had never heard of but is apparently pretty new. It was really strange and ended with a huge orgy which we couldn’t believe since there were a good number of children on the bus! Then we were lucky enough to watch “Cradle 2 the Grave” twice, and some movie with Martin Lawrence. Luckily the scenery going through the Andes was absolutely breathtaking so it was easy to ignore the horrible film choices. We had to cross the border and go south through Argentina because parts of Southern Chile can really only be passed through by boat. We stopped at a little restaurant shortly after crossing the border where it took forever for us to get served. We ordered steaks and wine, which we had about 10 minutes to finish, and it was a pretty big cup of wine- we were REALLY happy when back on the bus. We left the money on the table as we didn’t want to be late, and of course the bus workers came and got us and in front of everyone said that we hadn’t paid. We said that we had and he told us to hurry up and talk to the lady, so we ran back to the restaurant and showed her the money and did the walk of embarrassment back to our seats for the long night ahead.
Feb 7:
Continued our bus voyage, and were first introduced to Marco Antonio Solis- a Mexican singer who they say sings onion songs which are sappy love songs that make you cry. We were lucky enough to watch his DVD of music videos twice; little did we know it was only the beginning with Marco. Later we made more of a spectacle of ourselves when we were stopped at border patrol. Everyone got off the bus and had to turn in their passport and paperwork and all that, well we were standing outside waiting for everyone to finish when all of a sudden the bus workers hop on the bus, the door closes and it starts pulling away. I of course was not about to let the bus leave without us so I ran alongside the bus (for about 10 feet), pounding on the door. We then realized that half of the other passengers were still outside, and that the bus was only moving so that other vehicles could pass. I felt like a total dumbass, and had pretty much established that we are foolish gringas. As we approached Punta Arenas we decided to call a hostal to ensure a bed for the night and chose Backpacker’s paradise which was listed in our Lonely Planet books as being cheap and decent. There were many beds open, and although it wasn’t the NICEST hostal ever, it was comfortable and affordable and by the end of our time there we fell in love with the place! We went to a restaurant called Dino’s Pizza for dinner after the hostal owner suggested it. Had some beers, fantastic pizza and finally spent the night in a real bed.
Feb 8:
Explored Punta Arenas, which doesn’t take too long. We went to the central plaza that has a giant statue of Magellan and some natives sitting below him. It is a tradition to kiss the toe of one of the natives (which is clearly much shinier than the rest of the statue) to ensure that you will return to the Straight of Magellan. We had lunch at place called Quixote where we had tomatoes and avocadoes filled with chicken and ham. Very Chilean and interesting to say the least. Back at the hostal we met Jef from Belgium, who had the most gorgeous green eyes I have ever seen! We chatted with him for awhile, he had been volunteering in Puerto Williams for a year- which is just about as south as you can get before hitting Antarctica. He was planning on traveling some more before eventually returning to Belgium to study to be a Sea man (he pronounced it ‘semen’ and I had a hard time keeping a straight face). He was really interesting to chat with, and he was the first of the people we met on our trip.
*side note: We unfortunately do not have any photos with the people we met on
our travels, which is a bummer, but whenever we met people we were talking so much that a photo never really occurred to us. But that is probably one of my favorite parts of the trip- we met SO MANY people!
We went to the Duty Free Zone that afternoon, which was kind of lame unless you were looking for electronic equipment, but the girls got some stuff for their camping trip. We did see a place called “Africa Store” which was very disappointing, but we had to say we went inside! We had dinner at the Irlandia Café (which means Irish Café… I wanted to go there for obvious reasons) where we got some cerveza and hamburguesas completas, which were the best hamburgers ever! They were HUGE and had cheese, onion, tomato, avocado, mayo, lettuce, ketchup and mustard. FANTASTIC. We came back to find we had new roommates from Israel, 4 of the guys ended up in our room- sleeping above us since we all had chosen bottom bunks our first night. They told us that all Israelis need to spend 3 years in the army after high school (2 years for women) and that after their time they get a year to travel. Many of them come to South America because its cheap for them, although many also go to East Asia. They invited us to join in Shabbat which is the Jewish celebration on Friday nights, we were really excited about participating but they never got around to it which was a bummer, but still cool that they wanted to include us. We also met James and Sam who are from Boston. James had been volunteering in Temuco, Chile for 6 months and was doing some traveling in Argentina and Chile before spending another 5 months in Santiago. Sam was just visiting for a few months before returning to NY to try a career in comedy. Nikki and I ended up going out with the guys to find a bar, while Kait and Maggie were preparing to leave for Torres the next day. We found a Karaoke bar below the Café Irlandia which was full of middle-aged Chileans dancing and drinking, and we decided to stay. Eventually we got the guys to dance, and I am sure we looked like goofy gringos trying to salsa dance, but it was still a ton of fun. We just kept switching partners and acting goofy, it was not a typical scene for 20 something travelers but it was a great time. Back at the hostel we sat up chatting for awhile and then called it a very late night.
Feb 9:
Woke up a few hours later for our Breakfast Bon Voyage for the girls- Nikki loves scrambled eggs and cream cheese and wanted to prepare a feast! It was tasty and we said a quick little send off prayer and said goodbye to Maggie and Kait for a week or so. Went back to bed and slept in late, made a pasta lunch with Nikki and Sam eventually woke up and joined us. Nik and I went to the Cemetery which was absolutely beautiful. It was full of mausoleums that were decorated beautifully. We chatted a lot about life and death and family, it was hard for her because her grandfather was in the hospital and wasn’t doing so well- she was getting pretty concerned about her family, but she was alright and we went off to our next excursion to Isla Magdalena- an island in the middle of the straight of Magellan that is home to thousands of penguins! Unfortunately the weather was not so pleasant but it was SO COOL to see all of these penguins in their natural habitats. They were mating so they kept making this horrible screeching noise with their throats, and the males would poop everywhere to keep people and penguins away from their mates who were nesting in holes in the ground. Definitely saw a penguin projectile shit in front of one hole to keep people away from his lover. Nik and I went to dinner for at a popular diner and were pleased to see Escudo available (our favorite cheap Chilean beer!) That night we went out with Israelis who took us to this lame club which was full of teenagers- so full that it was impossible to move. It was not really what we were in the mood for that night and she and I decided to leave in search of a more chill bar. We came upon a place called Celebrity where there was a cover band playing songs from Pink Floyd, Stone Temple Pilots, Pearl Jam, etc. We met a Chilean named Mauricio who was about our age and lived in Punta Arenas where he worked and went to school. We had some really interesting conversations about Chile and cultural differences. At one point a woman came up and asked if I had a light for her cigarette and was hitting on me. After she left Mauricio and I had a good laugh and he was telling me that there is a high gay population in Punta Arenas, who would have guessed? He walked us back to our hostel at about 4am and we called it a night!
Feb 10:
slept in, talked with James in the morning before Nik and Sam were awake. We exchanged e-mails because he was going to be living in Santiago full time starting in March and we hoped to meet up for a drink or something. When Nik finally got up we bought our tickets for Puerto Natales for the following morning and shopped for trail mix stuff as we planned on going on a hike that afternoon. When we returned to the hostel we met a couple from WI who were traveling until their money ran out. It was nice to meet some people from home, and I was impressed with their drive to explore the world. We then said BYE to the Boston boys who were leaving for Puerto Natales that afternoon as we took a cab to Nacional Reserva Forestal, which is a forest reserve to the west of the city. It was a fantastic experience, absolutely gorgeous! It was overcast as we started, but soon the clouds broke a bit and we had a perfect day for hiking and reflecting on our trip and on life in general. We thoroughly enjoyed our trail mix and seriously discussed starting a trail mix company :-P. When we got to the top of the second trail we could see all of Punta Arenas and the Straight of Magellan as we were on top of a beautiful canyon covered in pine trees. As we looked over the city we saw a magnificent rainbow arching over it all- it was a magical experience, and we were so glad that we made the trip to the park! When we got back to the hostel we met Daniel, who had studied at Berkeley and had been volunteering in Santiago for a year. We ended up chatting with him for about an hour about Santiago and life and his experiences etc. For dinner we decided to go all out at La Luna- where we split a bottle of white wine and got some awesome seafood. It was a great end to our time in Punta Arenas as we really had gotten to know each other, met some really cool people, and seen some great things! When we got back Nikki found out her grandfather passed away and broke down- I am glad I was able to be there for her, even if I wasn’t sure what to do. I know it was hard for her not to be with her family, but I think she handled it really well. It turns out he passed while we were in the cemetery and had been talking about her grandfather- its kind of strange how things like that happen.
Feb 11:
Got up and took a bus to Puerto Natales, which only took a few hours. Something that was really convenient in our travels was that at every bus stop there are always people trying to get you to stay at their hostel. It sounds shady, but it really is helpful when you don’t know where you are going to stay and want a feel for prices and location. We were lucky enough to run into a woman with a flyer for a place that sounded like a decent price (6,000 pesos a night which at that time was about 12 US dollars). It was called Hostel Nancy and it was adorable, private room with really comfy beds, breakfast included, and travel arrangements. We were able to book a bus to Parque Nacional Torres del Paine for the next day- and the woman who worked at the hostel gave us a lot of great advice about what trails to take and what not. She told us not to take water because we would be able to drink water from the streams (score!) We explored city a bit, had lunch at El Living which was a vegetarian café and cool music haven, and was full of tourists from England and Germany (as many places in the south were). We shopped for food for trail mix and sandwiches, pasta for dinner that night. It was the windiest day EVER, I have never felt wind that strong before, and it came from nowhere. The clouds were moving around like crazy- it was like a different world down there- which it practically is (especially in Torres del Paine). Then we crashed and took a nap, woke up to make a huge spaghetti dinner and prepared for the hike the next day.
Feb 12:
Woke up early, got dressed and ready for Torres, ate an awkward breakfast with an Argentinean couple, downed all the bread, cheese and ham they gave us, hopped on the bus and headed out for the park- which was GORGEOUS. We got lost at first because the bus just dropped us off at one point and didn’t really tell anyone how to start the trail. We ended up wandering around, asking some people and eventually hopped a fence into the horse area, and then finally found the trail. It was rough getting started, with tons of uphill climbing that seemed to get us nowhere in relation to the mountains we were surrounded by! Ran into a German or some sort of euro guy from Backpacker’s paradise, we chatted for a few minutes- mostly about how rough the incline was. Eventually Nikki and I made it to the first rest stop (the end of the first trail) had a bite, pit stop and then headed toward the Torres. At one point we had to use a rope to get down a rock wall- we endearingly called it the ropes course, and poor Nikki lost her Nalgene water bottle to the river- better the bottle than her though! The trail got easier (or else we got more used to it) and it was full of gorgeous contrasts between mountain sides of pure rock, to practically untouched forest, to raging rivers and streams (which we used to refill our water bottles, and I dare say it was the best water I have ever tasted in my entire life!). As we got closer we would run into people who said it wasn’t much farther, they lied. They didn’t tell us that we had to climb a GIANT wall of boulders to get to the Torres. It didn’t seem quite as high as we approached it, but it was- hard as hell climbing boulders for 45 minutes, but when we made it the view was sooo worth it. We were across a gorgeous aquamarine lagoon from the base of the Torres- which are huge rock formations that look like towers- the highlight of the park. It was so perfect and we ate some lunch and took photos and then 15 mins later the weather completely changed, dark clouds formed and it started snowing/raining. Torres really is like a different world- I could not get over how quickly the sky changed, and the clouds there were unreal. It got cold, and since we needed to be back to where to bus dropped us off at 7:30 we decided to book it down the trail. Climbing down the boulders was hard enough but it didn’t help that it was slippery with the rain, and I got a nice little scar on the back of my leg. It didn’t really hurt but I guess there was a decent amount of blood because Nikki kept asking me if I wanted to clean it up and put on a band-aid- but I felt kind of like a badass and since it didn’t hurt I refused. We made it in 3 hours which is really good time, considering it took us about 4 and a half hours to get to the Torres! Got there early, hung out, enjoyed scenery, and when we got back to Puerto Natales we found a restaurant open and had sea bass and mashed potatoes, and slept very well! It was probably one of my favorite days ever. The park was absolutely incredible (although it was filled with tons of tourists which took away from some of the magic), and it was a challenge as I don’t hike too much at home. It also was really great to experience with Nikki- especially because she was still dealing with the loss of her grandfather. It was just special, bottom line.
Feb 13:
got up and got our stuff together, hoping to leave for El Calafate in Argentina after trying desperately to find ways to Coyhaique and other places in Chile (we decided to take our time and stop places on the way back to Puerto Montt rather than just take the long bus again). Met Nell and Peter and Dan for a drink at El Living- soo good to see them and hear about their trip in Torres- apparently when they were there a body of someone who had fallen a year ago was found, and we heard other horror stories of how dangerous it is- good we found out after the hike! Its crazy how unsafe the park really is- there are rangers only in certain areas- and even so they cannot do too much if something tragic happens! Nikki and I went to a few shops and hopped bus to El Calafate. Like most of southern Argentina, the journey was barren desert and gravel roads- very uneventful. We arrived at around 11pm and were lucky enough to find a guy at the bus station with rooms in his hostel. It wasn’t hard to figure out why he wanted people to stay there; it was probably the nastiest hostel ever! But since it was so late and rainy we took our chances. We felt a little more comfortable because 4 Israeli girls from our bus also came to the hostel and they invited us to eat dinner with them. Somehow we found enough pots in the dilapidated kitchen to make some pasta which turned out to be surprisingly good! As we were enjoying our late night dinner the two guys who worked the hostel asked us if we wanted to go to a party at a bar nearby, they had passes for free beer (which of course we would never turn down). So we got ready and at about 1:30 headed out to a bar which was nothing special, but they were playing great 80s and 90s music so we were on the dance floor most of the time! Nikki and I had arranged with one of the guys who ran our hostel to go to the glacier the next day (which is THE thing to do from El Calafate) and had to wake up at 7am the next morning. Well as it got later and later we decided that we would have to postpone the glacier trip and enjoyed the beer and the dancing AND free pizza at 4am (since it was the bar’s birthday) until about 5:30am. We eventually convinced the hostel guy to take us back where we tried to sleep although the walls were paper thin and there were people partying until 8am. Nikki and I decided to get up somewhat early so that we could find another hostel ASAP since neither of us even wanted to shower in that place.
Feb 14:
We got up and there was a woman sweeping the floor in the hallway and asked if we were checking out- we didn’t want to say YES in case there were no other hostels so we told her we were going to the bus station to see when we could leave El Calafate and then would let her know. It wasn’t a complete lie because we did go to the bus station and said that we needed to get North because we wanted to be in Castro, Chiloe by Tuesday to meet the other girls. Basically our only option with the time that we had was to take the Route 40 bus- which goes up Highway 40 along the western coast of Argentina. We had to leave on Friday because the bus made an overnight stop in Perito Moreno which is a town in the middle of nowhere- everyone was put into a hotel there for the night before heading toward Bariloche the next day. This was a bummer because it meant we wouldn’t be able to do the glacier at all since the bus was to leave at 8am on Friday, but it was our only choice so we booked it. Then we searched for hostels for an hour- to find almost all of them full or really expensive, but were lucky enough to find a place closer to the bus station that cost the same as the nasty one we were at the night before. It was much cleaner, the kitchen seemed sanitary and the woman was wonderful. We went back to El Guererro and didn’t see anyone around and were really tempted to just leave, considering we had only actually used their facilities for 4 hours by sleeping in our sleeping bags on top of their hard mattresses, but our consciences got the better of us and we found the lady and paid the 60 pesos (20 dollars) for the both of us. We then lugged our stuff all the way back up to the other hostel where we just sat and relaxed for a few minutes. We were really hungry by now and went to find steak for lunch, but since it was after 3pm nothing was open, but finally we found a place where we ordered a steak meal for 10 dollars. Little did we know that all the servers had left, so there was one waiter for the whole restaurant, and he was a tool and took forever to do everything, including bring out the rest of our meal and the check. Eventually we had to track him down and then he gave us the wrong change so we tracked him down again. A lunch that should have taken an hour or less took at least 2 hours if not more. It was RIDICULOUS. But we were still in good moods and decided to look at the artisan shops around town- of where there were TONS. Long story short, we stopped at the ATM at least 3 times that day and spent way too much money on gifts for people- but it was so hard not to when they were all handmade and unique and cheap (Argentina woo hoo!). We stopped by the grocery store to grab food for our travels and pasta for dinner. Went back to the hostel to the very CLEAN hostel and made some fantastic pasta and relaxed a little before going out a bit. We briefly met our roommates for the night, a couple from Colombia who is doing service work all over the world. They were on a bit of a vacation before heading to Africa. It was great to practice our Spanish with them, because Colombians have the best Spanish ever, and they were really interesting to talk with. They had to wake up at 3am to catch a bus, so we didn’t talk to them too much before they went to bed. Nikki and I went to town to find the festival that we could hear all the way from our hostel, and it turned out to be a big concert surrounded by tents full of artisans and their crafts. Of course we got sucked in again and spent even more money, watched fireworks and bought a giant stick of cotton candy. We met a woman and boy from Uruguay who made really cool jewelry out of metal and told us all about Uruguay and how we should visit. They were wonderful so I bought a hairclip because I wanted to support them (and also because it was really cool). When a ridiculous pop band started playing and confetti was being strewn from stage we decided to look for a bar, and found a little one that also served as a book exchange where we bought girly drinks before heading back to the hostel to get a few hours of sleep in before the bus.
Feb 15:
8am we made it to the bus station and got on board for two days of traveling. The bus was far from the nicest bus I have ever been on, and there was no bathroom on it so we had to stop every two hours or so at rest stops for bathroom breaks- which got really old after awhile! At one of the first rest stops we were waiting in line in the women’s bathroom when a man walked out of one of the stalls. He looked around, assessed the situation, looked embarrassed as hell and quickly tried to nonchalantly leave. We all started laughing, not sure if that really had just happened! Then, Nikki and I were outside enjoying the scenery when I saw a girl in the distance taking photos of the landscape, when two small llamas (or animals in the llama family) started running up to her. I thought she was going to feed them or something so I watched, impressed that she was able to get so close, when all of a sudden one of the llamas kicked her right in the chest. BOOM she was down. At first we didn’t know what to do- and when it was obvious that she was alive we yelled “are you alright?”; we didn’t want to get much closer and risk getting kicked ourselves! She was still on the ground trying to slowly get away from the llamas as they were standing around her, and we couldn’t tell if she was waving us away or toward her. We just stood by the bus, optimistically assuming that she was not in need of our help. Eventually a group of people started walking toward her and a dog was with them that scared the llamas away so that they could help her up. When we knew she was okay Nikki and I had a good laugh about how ridiculous it was. Call us insensitive, but we saw a girl get kicked by a llama, not exactly something you see every day! The rest of that day was pretty uneventful, hot and uncomfortable 12 hours in a bus before we finally arrived in the Perito Moreno, the town with nothing. They dropped us off at the hotel which had a small restaurant/bar and literally the only other business on the street was another hotel/bar across the street. We settled into our room, which was nothing spectacular, and headed across the street where we saw pool tables. Unfortunately the pool tables only took coins, which are rarely used in Argentina since they are worth so little. But we enjoyed some Quilmes which is the cheap Argentinean brand of beer. We then thought maybe we could get change at the bar in our hotel and asked but with no luck, we decided to stay there for another beer since it was cheaper and I went over to ask a group of guys who had been on our bus if they had any change. They turned out to be Australian- Alex and Chris who we joined for another beer before inviting them to a game of pool. We ended up having great conversation until 3am about our travels, and about homosexuality and slurs. Chris told us that his mother was a lesbian and how hurtful words like “fag” are. We were also taught the word “poof” that took us forever to pronounce (much to their amusement) which is a non-offensive term for a gay person. It was really interesting to hear their perspective, coming from Australia, and we had some good laughs as well. We went back to the hotel for a few hours to sleep before our next bus was to leave.
Feb 16:
Back on the bus, and stuck sitting next to the man with the nastiest, dirtiest feet ever, and he kept taking his shoes off and putting them on the armrest in front of him! It was miserable, but it was so bad that it was almost funny and Nikki and I had some good laughs about it- even tried to “accidentally” knock his foot off the armrest a few times. At one point the bus attendant asked if we would like him to book a hostel for us since apparently the city was basically full.
Hostel booked for us turned out to be a cabana far from city that we had to share with two Swedish girls who were also on our bus and were pretty bitchy! We were frustrated about the situation, but didn’t let it bring us down so we went out. Nik and I found a great little pizza place where we got a delicious order of spinach and cheese empanadas, an amazing pizza and a bottle of Argentinean white wine all for less than 20 bucks! Later we asked some people where a good dance club was and they told us to go to Wilkenny’s, an Irish pub. When we got there it was literally packed with tourists, which really wasn’t our scene, but we decided to stay for one drink and if it didn’t get better we would look for somewhere more low key. Well we got a beer, and then dancing started and we met an Argentinean and a guy from the Netherlands (Stefan). We chatted them up for quite awhile, danced awhile and had a few more beers. Apparently he had been a professional poker player, got really rich, got bored so is spending his fortune traveling the world. It was really interesting talking with the guys and we had a great time and ended up staying out until about 6:15.
Feb 17:
Late start, booked bus to Puerto Montt, booked tour of Isla Victoria for next day. Nap and stir fry dinner made by Nikki
Feb 18:
Tour of Isla Victoria, and the Bosque on Lake ?? Met an American couple who discussed all of their many travels with us. In the Bosque Nikki and I went off the path that everyone else was on since it was so crowded with everyone from our boat. We had only been given a half hour to explore the forest- which was really frustrating and one of the reasons we opted not to do many set “tours” because we wanted to explore on our own watches. The forest was gorgeous, full of these really cool trees that I had never seen before, and at one point a bunch of wild horses game galloping out of the woods and ran past us toward the water- it was AMAZING!! When we got to Isla Victoria we started with lunch (really good black bean and rice salad, and delicious fruit!) We started trekking around, and got some amazing views of the lakes and the surrounding Andes Mountains. We got some great fotos and were just enjoying the scenery when we climbed up a hill and sat around for awhile and discussed religion and life, then I asked if she wanted to swordfight me since I had found a big stick- we dueled it out and her big stick was destroyed! The couple offered us a ride back to the city, we discussed American football and the guys surgeries (he said his most important part was still there ;-P ) they were cute and funny. They were so inspiring because they had seen much of the world and were not letting age or illness get in their way! When we arrived back at the Cabana we headed to a Chinese buffet, split a bottle of white wine and gorged ourselves on food. Afterwards we picked up some chocolate at the only chocolateria that was still open, saw a street performer and danced in the moonlight of the plaza after he was done. Went back to Wilkenny’s but it was boring, so we called it an early night.
Feb 19:
bus to Puerto Montt, very uneventful. Got in and booked a bus to Castro for a few hours later. Got a hold of Lily who was confused and thought we were staying with her- we felt bad but said we just needed the tent and she drove us back to the bus station just in the knick of time (total sweetheart!)
We had to search for a hostel in Castro, but found one where we had 3 beds (Nikki offered to sleep on the floor) and we met up with Peter, Nell, Dan, Hyder, Chelsea, Maggie and Rachelle for a drink at a restaurant. Maggie and Rachelle had some HILARIOUS stories about their travels and ppl they encountered, and then we got the call from Kait and our Maggie that they were in Castro, we met them and got back to the hostel where we shared stories and crashed.
Feb 20:
Woke up late and we explored the plaza in Castro a bit. I was sick this day and was not in the mood to do too much, but we got to see the church in Castro which was really cool. Chiloe is known for having magnificent wooden churches in all of its towns so we wanted to see a few. That afternoon we took a bus to Achao which is a little town on the island with the oldest church in Chiloe. It is made completely of wood (no nails!) After the church we met up with Peter and Nell who happened to be there as well and had great conversation as usual. We decided to have dinner together so we stopped at the grocery store and picked some stuff up and then P and N came to our hostel and we cooked and hung out together. We went out to a bar for a drink but were all pretty tired so the night was fairly uneventful.
Feb 21:
We four girls decided to name ourselves the Patada family, I cannot explain the name as it is an inside joke- but we really were becoming a family traveling together. We decided to try to find the wetlands that someone had seen a picture of, so we made it there- but it turned out to be basically nothing since it was off season for the birds. We took a few pictures, fake family photos, goofed off a bit before hailing a bus back to Castro. We decided to hop another bus to a little town called Chonchi. We stopped at a little restaurant where we got seafood- Chilean Sea Bass and a typical dish for Chiloe which is a bucket full of clams, muscles, a dumpling, chicken and a sausage. A random mix, but the shellfish was incredible! After lunch we wandered around the shore for awhile, talked to a few artisans from whom we bought a few liquors typical to Chiloe, Maggie held a barracuda with some men who were preparing fresh fish, and Nikki scared a woman to death with her sneeze! As we made our way up a street we heard music coming from one of the buildings. All of a sudden we all started dancing ridiculously as we were walking- it was completely spontaneous and brilliant! We were joking that one song sounded like something from Footloose and continued to dance until an old man across the street yelled/grumbled something that we didn’t understand. It scared us for a minute as we stopped – and then we started laughing at the ridiculousness of the situation. One of my best memories from the trip! We then made our way to the museum, which didn’t look like much, but turned out to be an old restored house. We had a great tour guide who took us through all the rooms that covered decades of history in Chiloe, we learned a LOT about life there, and how much the common natural disasters (earthquakes and floods) have really changed the lifestyles of the people. It was a great experience and I think we were all glad that we stumbled or danced upon it. Later we Met up with Peter and Nell and decided to do Empanadas for dinner at our place before a night out. Got lots of empanadas, drank some of our liqueur and headed to La Cueva- crazy looking bar where we felt like we really were in a cave, there were fake trees and every inch of the place was painted with some sort of trippy design. We all took shots of tequila in honor of Nikki’s grandpa, and cause they were cheap :-P After awhile we went to find another bar where we were coerced into trying pisco sour paltas, which were typical pisco sours blended with avocado, sounds weird but they were actually quite good! We told the waiters that we wanted to go to a dance club and they said that there was dancing downstairs. We went downstairs and were literally in an unfinished basement that had sound equipment and some funky lights. We felt like we were at a high school party! We laughed for awhile, danced a bit and then went in search of a REAL dance club. We walked around Castro for about a half hour with no luck of finding a dance club. We were all getting tired, and realizing that the night was a bust dance-wise we called it a night. Chiloe is great for culture and history- not so great for night life, oh well!
Feb 22:
Went to the Feria which was the biggest one I have seen on my travels. It was blocks long and FULL of artisans selling jewelry and wool products and trinkets. I couldn’t resist and bought some cool stuff (an awesomely unique bag and a wool sweater). Then we hopped a bus to Valdivia, got in late and Carlos (Kait’s host dad’s brother) picked us up. Carlos’s family let us stay with them in their house, free of charge, which was fantastic. When we got there his wife had a light dinner ready for us, and we hung out in their backyard snacking, chatting laughing and watching the music festival in Viña on TV (every year there is a big music festival in Viña del Mar, Chile with artists from all over the world and it is broadcast live). Carlos and his wife have two sons: Pablo who is 18 and going to college this year and who has a fantastic girlfriend named Amparo who is 16 but could have been 20 because she got along with us so well and was a delight! Then there was Carlitos who is 10. He is a goofball, loud and obnoxious and always trying to take up English phrases like “Oh my God!”, somehow since I was talking about beer with the family he got the idea that I am some sort of alcoholic and for the rest of the weekend he kept asking me if I wanted beer and lots of it- kids! Then at one point he was ‘dancing’ for us and started pretending to strip and was grinding on his mom! Obviously this culture is WAY more sexual than the US because I cannot picture a 10 year old in the states doing that! Overall the family was great though, it was really neat to be back in a normal house with a Chilean family again.
Feb 23:
We slept in and explored downtown Valdivia, which is really pretty as it lies right next to a gorgeous river. We passed through the fish market, saw the sea lions that hang along the coast and wait for food, and watched some street performers, but there is not much else to see in downtown Valdivia. We did see man and his llama that looked so alike it was ridiculous. We wanted a picture with the llama but the man was going to charge us (everyone has to make a living some way) We took a bus back to the house to have almuerzo con the familia, which was nice and then we went off to the Kuntsmann brewery for the tour. Kuntsmann is the best beer in Chile, really fantastic and we were all pretty excited about it. Well apparently they are remodeling, so there was no tour, but a very german-esque souvenir shop. We sat in the bier garden and got 2 columns of beer, which was tasty- although there is a Honey flavored beer that I cannot even hold down- it is way too sweet for me! Then we joined the family downtown for the festival which was FULL of ppl, not worth all the hype. There were about a thousand candles floating in the river and boats were all lit up like floats which was cool, but it was really crowded and uncomfortable and there was a bitchy lady in front of us who kept getting mad if we ever bumped her on accident. There is a tradition to buy bags of confetti – which basically are like little hole punches that people throw in other people’s faces! We basically all got hit- I got a nice mouthful as we were trying to make our way out of the crowd- and was quite pissed off! We finally made it to Calle Esmerelda, which is a street with a bunch of clubs and went to one that Amparo suggested. It was fun- but REALLY crowded, so we did our own dancing in the “chill” room which had less people and better music. Carlos was nice enough to pick us up so we wouldn’t have to take a cab- but we all felt bad since it was about 3am!!
Feb 24:
Lunch at Guacamole with P and N, the first Mexican restaurant we had seen since coming to Chile. It was obviously the Chilean version of Mexican food- so it really was not all that exciting. Later, we found an amazing exhibit at the art museum; a man had gone to Chilean women’s prisons and had taken black and white portraits of each of the women. It was really cool because at first you just thought you were looking at a bunch of random women, until the end when it is revealed that they are all in prison. They were beautifully done and really powerful and we all really enjoyed it! We made our way to Parque Saval, which is a big park in Valdivia. There was a beautiful sculpture garden where we hung out and just looked over a lagoon covered in lily pads and saw people zip lining over it. There also was a feria that was FULL of people, and Nik and I bought some chocolate. We then stumbled upon the best festival ever! It reminded me of a typical church festival in the states but 10 times cheaper! We all got fair snacks that cost almost nothing (and would have been 10 dollars each in the states) and paid less than a dollar to go on a ride (that had no safety belts) and it was so much fun! Nikki was laughing the whole time, so of course we all were laughing the whole time! We said goodbye to P and N, since they were heading home, and we caught a bus back to Carlos’s house. We had dinner at the casa- and Carlos bought MEAT galore for an asado (which is like a bbq) There were hotdogs, sausages, chicken, pork and steak. It was ridiculous. I don’t know HOW they eat like that! We watched the festival in Viña again and were serenaded once again by Marco Antonio Solis.
Feb 25:
We took a bus to Pucon, hot and uncomfy. When we got there we searched for hostels and finally found one for 3 mil a night (about 6 dollars and the cheapest we had ever heard of)! It was in a big house where these old ladies cooked every day (I think it was a restaurant) and we had a little kitchenette outside that we could use. We Researched tour places and decided to go all out and do everything we possibly could. The theme for our week became EXTREME (complete with making an X sign with our arms). We had lunch in a volcano restaurant, yes it was made to look like a volcano, and grocery shopped for the week- we decided it would save money to just cook for ourselves every day rather than go out to eat. That night we went out to a bar and sat on a ledge to see the parade (Brazilian dancers), which was pretty cool- but slow getting started, like everything in Latin America. We met guys from Canada and Minnesota who lived in Pucon- they were nice, but kind of weird and we saw them sitting at that bar just about every day that week!
Feb 26:
Got up early to go Whitewater rafting (alto- which is the hardest level). We got to wear wet suits, which was fun and we had Hungarian kayakers around to protect us in case we fell in. Luis was our awesome guide, who spoke English so we had a lot of Spanglish conversations. It was AMAZING, so much fun- and really cool that we had control over everything our raft did. At one point the rapids were too dangerous, so we all had to climb out- walk through the woods and dive into the river on the other side of the rapids- it was so fun! We made it all the way without falling in, and near the end Luis told us to get out and let the current carry us in- coolest thing ever! It was really cold, but amazing to be floating down a crystal clear river in the middle of Latin America with a gorgeous Volcano peeking over the trees. When we got back we took a quick nap and had lunch before going canopying (zip lining) in afternoon. We were hit on by each guide, which was entertaining. It was so cool to be flying through the air over canyons and rivers, surrounded by mountains and volcanoes- it really is indescribable- but it was breathtaking. We had some troubles though, mostly I always stopped too soon and Nik running till the end and would almost always run into the trees. It was really fun though, but I wish it would have lasted longer. We treated ourselves to a Kuntsmann afterwards and I made some tasty black beans and rice for dinner.
Feb 27:
Maggie, Nikki and I got up way early for volcano climb- Kait opted out and went for a bike ride for the day. Our group consisted of 2 guys from Ireland 1 older and one young and VERY attractive, Jason from Canada, Mike from England and old guy with dreds from England and awkward French guy. Alejandro was our guide, and later we were joined by Felipe. It was hard as hell, the first inclines were rough, and my feet were not used to hiking boots so my feet felt so heavy and awkward. When we got to the icy part we had to use crampons and ice picks- the only thing that would save us if we slipped (they showed us the proper technique for using the pick if we fell). At one point we were blazing our own trail on the ice- which was at a slick 45 degree angle, and we thought we were for sure going to die! When we finally made it, it was amazing at the top, you could see EVERYTHING- other volcanoes, rivers, lakes, mountains, and cities- it was incredible. There was a lot of sulfur in the air at the top- so it was pretty hard to breathe and we didn’t stay up there for too long. Since the pressure was low that day we were not able to see any lava- which was a bummer, but it was still amazing to look into the crater of an active volcano! The way down was fun- we literally were sliding down sections of loose rock- which is not as easy as it sounds, but it was an experience for sure! When we got to the snow we strapped this thing on our butts and got to sled down paths that had been worked out by people who had done the trail earlier that day. At one point I almost broke nose with my ice pick when I slipped, and I even got to use the technique- but I was okay- and I felt like a badass. When we finally got back the tour company gave us a beer! We were really beat so we made dinner, yummy mac and cheese, and this weird Chilean kid came up and was talking to us and asking what we were doing- and then stuck his finger in my bowl- I was not amused. That night we went to the termas (which are hot springs) and met up with Mike and Jason from earlier that day. The termas were sooo wonderful- especially with our sore muscles and we snuck in our own piscolas and relaxed and chatted in the pools under the stars- which were probably the most amazing I had ever seen. It was so dark where we were that it was possible to see just about every star- the sky was glowing! I even saw a shooting star- it was incredible.
Feb 28:
Woke up to Mags and Nik tackling us, but we were ready to relax! We headed to Caburga, which is a little town on Lago Caburga that is somewhat underground to many tourists; it is the most beautiful lake I have ever seen. Surrounded by mountains, water so clean and clear that you could actually see the bottom- no seaweed or anything! We bummed around on the beach for hours, dipping in when we got too hot! On our walk back toward the bus we were impressed by some guys who were way out in the water yet could whistle very loudly, and they did so for quite awhile. Being in South America we are used to being whistled at, but they were very skilled whistlers- I think they impressed us all! We got back to the hostel and had a quick dinner and got all dolled up to go to the CASINO! We started off with a fun girly drink at the bar, I got a Mojito Urbano, which is a Mojito with Grapefruit juice (really good!) and the bartender awkwardly made conversation with us. We then decided to try the slot machines, which took awhile to get the hang of since they were the high tech kind and I have obviously never played before! After a few frustrating experiences I won 2500 pesos on one (5 bucks) and then at the next one I won 18000 pesos (about 40 bucks) Maggie won about the same and we were thrilled! The other girls, however, were quite frustrated, so we decided to use our winnings to buy the girls another fun drink. Afterwards I would have been all set to try my hand again, but I don’t think the ladies wanted to spend any more money, which makes sense. We were lucky enough to fall asleep to the sounds of Marco Antonio Solis playing somewhere in town- we just couldn’t get away from him!
Feb 29:
Got up and ready to go to Parque Nacional Huerquehue, which was about an hour bus ride away. When we got there it was overcast, but nice. The park was gorgeous- full of bamboo and huge trees so that it had the appearance of an Amazonian rainforest. It was spectacular and the smell was indescribable, I would almost call it spicy. The girls will probably tell you that I wouldn’t shut up about the smell, but it really was sensational! We came across a bunch of cows grazing/sleeping on part of the trail. One of them was clearly pregnant, and I am pretty sure she gave birth while we were away- she made a strange sound, and when we came back there was a calf drinking its mother’s milk. But I could be wrong :-P We came across some amazing waterfalls and climbed to the bottom of one to sit on a fallen tree and eat lunch. It was beautiful and tranquil and much less crowded than Torres which was a nice change of pace. We of course made up some family songs/raps which got us through the month, I only wish I could remember them all. It then started pouring on the ride home, so we cooked a quick dinner and headed to bed as we were doing our last extreme activity the next day.
Mar 1:
Woke up early and got to the tourist station to head out for Canyoning. A short cute Chilean guy named Alejandro was our guide, also another guy who looked hung over as hell was a guide- really reassuring. We were in a group with a Chilean couple and a Brazilian guy who is traveling the world. Canyoning consists of walking along and through rivers and rappelling down waterfalls. We got wetsuits, again, and had a blast making fun of Maggie, who is quite thin, but had to wear a large wetsuit- she looked ridiculous and we all made the most of it! It was rough getting started because it was hard to see where rocks were in the river, so there was much slipping! We also got to slide down big rocks and rapids, which was a blast. Rappelling was by far the coolest thing, and at one waterfall I didn’t understand that we had to straddle the actual waterfall- I completely misunderstood and ended up rappelling down with the waterfall falling right onto my head- I thought I lost a contact and everything. The girls tried to tell me what I was doing, but I just nodded because I thought I was doing it right. I made it down in one piece, so it was fine! Then at one point we had to try to make our way down a fallen tree to get down into a deeper canyon. Somehow I ended up straddling the tree, and then doing the splits as I tried to get my foot over the tree while the other one was caught in the soft, decaying roots of the tree. It was an experience. But nothing beat walking through the river at the bottom of a canyon that had been formed from centuries of volcanic eruptions. It was spectacular. On our third waterfall, somehow Nikki ended up sitting vertically on the side of the waterfall- we don’t know how it happened, but it was so typically Nikki and so hilarious! We had a great time overall and made plans to hang out with Alejandro that afternoon before our overnight bus back to Santiago. We headed to a restaurant for huge churascos and beer. We were feeling great when we got to the bus, which was good because I was NOT ready to go back.
Overall this was probably the best month of my life. I experienced so many things that I had never imagined. I challenged myself and learned a lot about the world and myself and traveling and South American culture. This journal cannot fully convey all of my experiences, and it is mostly for my memory and to help you understand somewhat what I got to do. I hope you found it entertaining, if you have any questions let me know!
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