Blogs from Chillan, Biobío, Chile, South America
Chillán - the earth did not move for me - la tierra no se movía para mí
Published: April 24th 2011South America » Chile » Biobío » Chillan
April 24th 2011
In Chillán I was quite lucky to get a room as some were even reduced to living on the porches over doorways (see first picture). I tried to speak to these less fortunate tourists but they seemed strangely taciturn. However, they seemed to be making the best of their lot by growing some flowers to cheer themselves up. The housing situation was not just confined to my species and even the dogs were reduced to sleeping in the streets (see second picture). Chillán is well known as: the site of a devestating earthquake in 1939; the birthplace of Bernard O'Higgings (1778-1842), the founder of the republic of Chile; and the birthplace of the world-famous pianist Claudio Arrau Leon (1903‑1991). Whilst being shown round the Claudio Arrau Leon museum my telling the guide that I had once ... read more
December 17th 2010
The next morning I had to cover the last 500km of my trip, to finish it where I started it (my parents’ house). I left Valdivia early in the morning, not before removing a huge nail stuck to my rear tire. Again, I didn’t stop at all on my way to Chillan. I arrived around lunch time, which surprised my parents that were expecting me to arrive in the evening. My mom didn't even recongnize me when I arrived! According to her, I look different in my motorcycle outfit. I didn’t know how to feel when I finish my roundtrip through South America: I didn’t if to feel happy for finishing in one piece such a long trip, or to feel sad because the trip was over and I had to go back to Canada. Instead, ... read more
August 4th 2010
The second half of our winter break we decided to visit the Biobio region. This included Concepcion, Chillan, and termas de chillan. Our first stop was Concepcion. When we arrived it was late and raining., which the rain is very common. It was difficult for us to find a hostel because all of the hostels are expensive. We ended up settling for a much to expensive hostel but had no other choice. We slept and woke up to a beautiful sunny day. We walked around the city and explored the park. The park felt like Oregon because it was wet, green, and beautiful. It was just like home. In the park there were some good view points where we could really see the destruction of the earthquake. After we spend a couple hours wondering in the ... read more
September 19th 2009
We left for Chillan Thursday night. Not a real exciting drive. I was kind of tired and I slept a little bit. We saw a rainbow while we were driving so that was kind of cool. Of course, when we arrived in Chillan we chatted for a little bit and then we ate a little dinner. After that I watched T.V. and chatted with everyone. An aunt and uncle and their two girls were here as well. I would tell you their names but it is too hard to remember who everyone is, kind of like meeting the Hundt family for the first time. You basically won't remember until you've met them a few times. I stayed up until about midnight. I wasn't sure what time we were leaving in the morning but Jorge had already ... read more
September 21st 2008
Hello Again! I have just returned to Conce from my week long adventure. The week started out very simple. We hopped on a bus saturday the 13th for Chillan, to snowboard, hike, and hopefully find some hot springs. We arrived in the City of Chillan a bit lost, but quickly found our bearings. We then began walking to the Escuela Mexico, which houses murals by David Alfaro Siqueiros. Unfortunately for us the murals are being restored which is going to take about a year. After this we went to the Feria de Chillan which is a huge market inlcuding artisans and fresh produce. I bought a scarf and some mittens for the snow in the Andes as well as a bag full of vegies and fruits YUM! We then found out that no buses ran from ... read more
September 6th 2008
After deciding there was nothing else to do in Pucon we headed out on an early bus to Temuco to catch the train (an apparently very scenic route) to chillan where we would try and do some skiing, though finding a hostal cheap and near the slopes was proving dificult. However, so was the train. It was still not running since a failure in 2007 and this meant going back to the bus station and getting another bus at 4pm to get to Chillan around 8. We pre-occupied ourselves in Temuco, a fairly ordinary small city and then pretty soon were in Chillan, found an awesome hostel (Hospidajae Sonia), which looked like nobody had stayed there for a few years, and settled in quickly before going to the supermarket to stock up on food we could ... read more
March 13th 2008
Only an overnight stop but still got a flavour for the quieter life in Chile. No backpackers to be seen so it´s hard not to be noticed especially by the local hombres......young & old. Like most Chilean towns there is always a plaza (square) that is like the centre-piece of the town. Didn´t get up to much here, wandered the town & the market. We stayed in a small hostel, us 2 being the only guests with our own room & TV. That´s what we love about the less touristy places....we usually have our own space which is always welcome afer doing dorms for a while!! Apart from dogs roaming the street, there was a nice buzz around the place with street music making it feel very South American.......it´s very European in it´s feel too. Panaderias ... read more
Drove my chevy to the volcano.....
Published: February 5th 2008South America » Chile » Biobío » Chillan
January 30th 2008
We crossed back into Chile from Argentina and went straight to the town of Villarrica to relax for a few days before moving on. This was a good place to rest as it was so hot there was nothing else we could do - 36 degrees celsius, ouch! But soon we had itchy feet and were on the move again. In a very roundabout way (via the town of Chillan to pick up our Chevy hire car) we made it to the areas slightly north of Villarrica, which according to our guidebook comprise part of Chile´s "Central Valley". First stop was the slightly unimpressive Salto del Laja waterfalls. The falls themselves are nice, but the whole set up is a bit strange. The falls seem to be sponsored by Coca-Cola giving quite a surreal commercial edge ... read more
September 3rd 2007
HELLO EVERYONE!!!!! Boy do i miss you guys but not much could beat this weekend!! Friday morning in class it was decided that I was going along to Chillan to go snowboardingin the ANDES MOUNTAINS!!! We left around 5:00 on our first weekend trip. Little did we know what was instore for us!! The bus was only about an hour, was very comfy, and cost all of $2. Our arrangements had been made but we didnt know what to expect when we arrived. Well we ended up staying in the dorms of a college in town... well it was a christian school, they were a vegatarians, and it was a very important week of prayer and celebration. After putting our bags in our rooms we went to their caffeteria where we learned that this Friday ... read more
June 23rd 2007
My last morning in Santiago, I woke early and decided to walk down to the bus terminal with my friends from Quebec who were headed to Pucon that morning. My reason for going was so I would get myself out of the city and finally heading in the right direction, which is south. I am sure my friends thought I would probably stay longer in Santiago, but I noticed a promotion to go to Chillan for 2.000 pesos, so I jumped on this opportunity and bought a ticket for lunch hour which means that I was leaving Santiago! As a little side note here, we walked to the bus station during the morning rush hour and now I recognize the problems with the number of people who take the subway now as they were waiting ... read more
