Blogs from Chiloé Island, Los Lagos, Chile, South America
April 30th 2012
It was quite a week leading up to this great trip. The adventure began Monday morning when I was informed that Sayuri was going to be out for the whole week sick. While I am not obligated to sub, I was happy to fill in for her. Unfortunately, my body did not fully support this decision, and it gave up on Thursday. I woke that morning with a sore throat, headache, and just feeling sick. As it was so close to my trip, I opted to stay home and try to sleep it off until my departure later that day. The original plan had been to go to Talca on Friday, but Wednesday, I found out that I had to be in Talca on Thursday to complete some visa paperwork (one signature come to find out...). ... read more
The Stars' Tennis Balls, Chepu, Chiloe
Published: March 17th 2012South America » Chile » Los Lagos » Chiloé Island » Islotes de Puñihuil
March 15th 2012
So, Yann and I get to the bus station this morning (weds) with bags packed. It's a glorious sunny day. We thought '# this', and went to the counter cashed in our tickets. Going to stick around and go fishing. I love this place. The is a pace of life here I have not found anywhere. The Chiloe people are in no rush and ergo nor should I be.Am sat in the garden of my hostel looking down at the sea with a coffee, cigarette and CD of a local jazz infused Chiloen band keeping me companySo yesterday went to the sunken forest in Chepu. (north west). A truely remarkable ... read more
Did the Earth move for you too?
Published: March 17th 2012South America » Chile » Los Lagos » Chiloé Island » Castro
March 15th 2012
The weather has finally closed in and so it's time to head off from my lovely island, Chiloe. Have been tipped off about a fiesta in the wine growing area about 1000kms north of here next weekend (25th) and sounds too good to miss. It's somewhere in the Santa Cruz area. This will also put me close to Santiago, half way through travels and halfway up the country. Good karma all round. So to visit Pucon aswell, need to get a wiggle on. Sat on bus heading towards the ferry and it looks grim outside so made the right decision. When it rains here in Chiloe it #ing humps it down, sometimes for days on end. Been so lucky with the weather since monday, even the locals cannot believe it. All good things must come to ... read more
Chiloe. An island of legends and peace
Published: March 15th 2012South America » Chile » Los Lagos » Chiloé Island » Castro
March 14th 2012
So, it's into Chiloe. An island 250km long and 80km wide. Sitting just of off the coastof Chile it feels like I am heading for the final frontier. I am heading for the principle town of Castro. I haveno room booked and hope to save some cash by a walk in. Leon at La Ruca has also given me some recommendsIIt's funny yesterday I woke up and the time on my chile cell phone was one hour faster than my I-touch. Thought it was an internal error on my mp3 player and set the correct time by the clock on the wall. Into town and when talking to Tom he was an hour late meeting Krista for lunch. ... read more
March 14th 2012
You know music is probably the only art form that can touch every emotion. You hear a tune and sometimes you can recall every little detail in your life at that time. Some radio shows, Desert Island Discs for example, have survived for years in this premise. Songs that make you laugh, that can make you cry, remind you of your first kiss, and the first time you made love, (of the only time if you were put off by the whole messy business).People name their children after their pop idols, cry openly when they pass away and sing their favourite songs in karaoke bars around the world.From early man ... read more
Chile, and yet not Chile...
Published: March 13th 2012South America » Chile » Los Lagos » Chiloé Island
March 13th 2012
A Sky Airline Boeing plucks us from the boondocks of Aysén and drop us in Puerto Montt, capital of Los Lagos region (number X for those of you who have been following). And what a shock it is! For one, there is transport! Buses, real buses...like, every hour! Every 30 minutes even! Like, to everywhere! To use the vernacular: OMG. Will we survive the excitement? On the Carretera Austral, one of the first things you have to do on arriving somewhere is find out - immediately - when the outbound buses leave. It's not unusual for a bus between A and B to leave only on a Monday and a Thursday - making arriving on a Friday something of a pain if place A only has enough to hold your attention for a day, one dingy ... read more
December 26th 2011
It has been while since we last wrote and we have moved along quite swiftly. From Santiago, we went to the surfing town of Pichilemu. We expected a JBay kind of town, with fancy holiday houses and surf shops. What we saw was quite the opposite - a pokey town with run down houses and overgrown verges. Pichilemu is known to have some of the best waves in the world, hosting one of the big surf competitions. Marco hired a board and enjoyed the Pacific water for a day. Unfortunately, his lack of surfing fitness let him down despite the good waves, but he enjoyed the surf in Pichilemu and Los Lobos (while Phillipa read a good book, hence, no photos). We had a nervous laugh at the sign painted on the beach road stating this ... read more
A black glacier, a volcano and a change of plans
Published: December 1st 2011South America » Chile » Los Lagos » Chiloé Island » Castro
December 1st 2011
Day 49 - Monday 28th November Both had a bit of a rough night due to that Chinese meal last night (should have known better), but in a better frame of mind I think it is hard to go from having so much happening to nothing. Slow start to the day and we weren’t out the door till 11, which was bad of us when we initially had things to do. First on the agenda was getting money from the bank followed by chasing up some bus tickets out of town. We are planning on moving onto Puerto Montt in Chile on Wednesday and the woman and a travel agent yesterday said we could only get them from the bus terminal located 3km out of town. Before jumping in a taxi we decided to walk down ... read more
Ancud, Chile – 22-25 May 2011
Published: May 27th 2011South America » Chile » Los Lagos » Chiloé Island » Ancud
May 27th 2011
We arrived in Ancud from Pucon, after a 6 hour bus trip, at about 7.00pm We went to Puerto Montt where we caught a ferry onto the Chiloe Island. Once on the Island, we drove to the NW corner to Ancud. It was cold and we soon learned that it rains frequently, in fact 2,500 mm p.a. Just 100 kms south, it rains 4,500 mm per year!!! We were to stay for 3 nights (2 full days) and it rained on and off for these 2 days. The area is also king of fogs. They come over quickly and so the site of the town disappears quickly. We stayed at Hostal Lluhay, which is near the docks at 458 Lord Cochrane Ave. It sits high from the road to provide wonderful views of the quaint ... read more
If you only go one place in Chile.....
Published: September 23rd 2011South America » Chile » Los Lagos » Chiloé Island » Ancud
April 29th 2011
The bus from Castro was pretty easy, really. We probably could have walked it but, lacking the time or the inclination to do 85ks on foot, we opted for public transport. Once there finding a place to stay presented no major challenge. It seemed we had inadvertently picked the absolute best time to come to Chiloe. There were literally no other tourists, but things were still open as it came onto winter. But Ancud; seriously - best place ever. The moment we got off the bus it felt good. We found a hostel in the LP and wandered a short distance around the town to find it. There was a hill, if I'm honest, but at sea level it presented no great challenge. As we walked up the driveway an excitable Border Collie ran up to ... read more
