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Published: February 22nd 2023
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Week 1 Chiloe Island Here we are again, on our travels, and for those of you new to my blog it will be a combination of things we have done and sometimes reflections on a place or people. We are in Chile till 3
rd March and then fly to Buenos Aires where Chris will join his old school friend for an Antarctic cruise and then we will meet up in Montevideo for 8-9 days.
We started our trio from home and we were glad to get a lift from the village into Mula from our friend Mel. We got the bus to Murcia city then a taxi to the train station. Our first trip on an AVE, the high-speed train, was uneventful. It could have been different when a group of young men arrived with one in an elephant suit and blindfolded. They were on a stag do and “the (groom" didn't know where he was going. Luckily for us they spent the whole journey in the cafe.
At Charmartin we got the short C1 train to Barajas airport T4, check in and security etc was very smooth and we made our way to T4S for our flight
to Santiago de Chile. It's not very well served with seating and food options so we had booked the aena lounge. I knew we had 4 hours but had failed to read that that was calculated back from your departure time. We eventually got in at 7.45 but what a disappointment. The seats were comfy but there weren't enough tables for eating and to be honest the food was pretty poor. Most people seemed to be filling their boots with the alcohol, but we don't usually drink on long haul flights so I had just one glass of cava. We won't use it again. We boarded fairly smoothly and looked like we were ready to go with quite a lot of empty seats when a large group of young people arrived and proceeded to spend half an hour messing about, moving seats etc. This was the beginning of my dissatisfaction with Iberia. The staff did nothing to speed up the process. Ryanair would have had them seated in 5 minutes
We both managed to sleep a reasonable amount, the food we were served, dinner and breakfast were barely edible, there was no offers of drinks of water during the
night nor collecting rubbish. By the end if the flight the toilets were disgusting and hadn't been cleaned on a 13-hour flight. The safety check was still happening as we landed. There were plenty of staff too. Sadly, we have booked our return with them but never again.
Santiago airport was super efficient, a long queue for immigration but plenty of police and someone organising the queue. We got our bags to transfer to the domestic terminal for our flight to Chiloe Island. We were delayed three hours but it was a great flight with Jetsmart and our taxi driver Abner was there to take us to Ancud, a 36-hour journey in total.
It is strange how easy it is to see the surface of a place very quickly, I went out to get some water about 500 metres from the hotel. There was a guy lying asleep in the grass, everyone walking past, in the shop there was more beer for sale than water. Later in town we see lots of drinking on street corners and a lot of troubled souls. We swiftly had a few beers, food and bed but still had time to enjoy the
fabulous setting sun.
Saturday, we had breakfast and went into town to have a wander round, found out there were no blue whales so booked a Sunday trip to see the penguins. We then spent several hours thinking about what next, eventually we decided to head to Port Raul Marin Balmaceda (PRMB). Finding accommodation was relatively easy, we booked a cabana for 3 nights. To begin with we thought about a bus to Puerto Montt, that gets you off the island then hire a car and drive. We booked the bus and a hotel in PM. The options from there, drive east to Argentina and then back into Chile or directly down into Chile using 3 ferries to cross all of the wiggly buts of coastline- 500€ return. Eventually we found a ferry from Quellon (in the south of Chiloe) to PRMB . You need to look at a map of Chile to see how the road system is, the Austral Highway.
A cafe with amazing coffee and cake was a welcome stop, the owner was of German descent and liked Wagnerian style classical music. A bar with real ale, the Social, was a better stop before the
climb home. Our hotel was at the top of a hill and we must have been up and down 2 or 3 times every day. In the evening we had some average food but nice local gin but the service was haphazard. As we left there was a wedding on the deck with the bay in the background, when we got back, we found out the disco was booked till 4am!! We had to close the window and resort to earplugs to get any sleep.
Sunday, we had a leisurely breakfast and then went off to see the Puñihuil penguin colony. It was very well organised, a beautiful day and great to get out on the water. There are two types Magellan and Humboldt. It was a reminder of the South American sun; we got burnt as we forgot the sun cream! Our evening meal was a Chiloen speciality Pichanga, the biggest plate you have seen, homemade chips, cheese, boiled egg, pickled vegetables, beef, sausage. It was way too much and we realised we need to share a meal as portions here are huge.
Monday it was back to town and we booked a second trip to Muelle
de la Luz, a river trip down to the Pacific. Having booked extra nights in PRMB and stop offs in Castro and Quellon we went back to the bus station. We were delighted to be able to swop our tickets and booked for Castro the second bonus when the hotel in Puerto Montt just moved our booking free of charge.
The trip was stunning a 30 minute minibus trip to get on our boat down stream through a sunken forest, caused by salt water killing trees in the 1960 Chilean earthquake. It is still the worst ever , 9.2-9.4 on the Richter scale. Every day at midday they use the tsunami siren to signal the time. Once we got to the Pacific it was stunning, the Muelle was a short wooden walkway above the cliffs, not for the faint hearted. We booked both trips with the same company Cai Cai and they were great. A welcome beer and shared sandwich at the social with the same haphazard service. One lovely girl worked really hard where as two young lads just wandered around aimlessly, instead of a communal tip we gave it to her directly. By law in Chile a
restaurant bill has to have the cost of the food then show a 10% tip which is optional.
Tuesday, we got the bus to Castro, a stop off en-route to the ferry. Its the capital of Chiloe and we had time to see the famous stilt house and the amazing wooden interior of the Church of San Francisco. We ate in a family run restaurant called Marys, spotlessly clean, great friendly service and delicious light food. Grilled salmon with tomato and avocado salad. I had forgotten how gorgeous avocados are in South America, always perfectly ripe. It was pancake day in the UK and there were even pancakes on the menu. Chris had an issue with his credit card but after two calls and 2 trips to an ATM hopefully it is sorted.
Many people reading this might think why don't you just book a trip with a company but we quite enjoy the flexibility and challenge of DIY, I still haven't decided what to do after my 5 days in Buenos Aires and before I meet up with Chris again. Also, it challenges the senses to travel local and buses here are quick and cheap.
We
are now in Quellon a port town, ferries from here go in every direction. Attractive it is not but our ferry leaves at 11am and is a 5-hour crossing and we will be met at the other end by Vanessa. The village has no mobile signal or Wi-Fi and the power is off midnight to 8am. But it looks beautiful and we will have full 4 days to search for blue whales.
Till next time
Norma
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Uwe & Marlene
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Entertaining
It is always fun to read your blog, we wish you both lots of fun and happiness ! Stay healthy.