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Published: February 12th 2011
Emily here - I know you all think Si writes the entire blog, whereas in reality it is a joint effort, so thought I would be guest writer for this latest installment of our adventure!
Day 22
Well the journey to Chiloe, via Osorno, wasn't quite as smooth as we had hoped. Basically the bus was 45mins late leaving and then to top it off our coach was stopped at the border and searched (for 2-2 1/2 hours).Quite cute to watch the sniffer dogs in action - the handlers have a rolled up facecloth that they throw to them to encourage them to sniff the bags and after 5 minutes they get to play. After about 10 mins one of the dogs made a clear sign on a French girl's bag, and we thought, 'oh no, now its going to be even longer'... turns out this 'silly' french woman (as I was saying to Simon) had some sort of dried grape vine flowers. Like duh- but more on the frenchies later...
We arrived in Osorno at 10pm, to what can only be described as a seedy bus station. We squeezed in a quick argument (me storming off coz
Si wouldn't make a decision about getting a taxi), started walking to the hostel, got worried, tried to get a cab, no cab would take us... until in a bit of a panic we tried the hostel which was literally next door to the bus station. Luckily it wasn't a 'house of ill repute' selling rooms by the hour, and actually turned out to be quite a nice place with very good hot showers. We put our hoods up to look more 'street' and ventured out to get a quick snack before turning in for the night.
Day 23
After buying our bus tickets out of Osorno, we had 5 hours to kill, so wandered a bit round town. The conclusion being that there is nowt to do in Osorno, except look at their 'controversial' concrete churches...
After a bus and ferry we arrived in Ancud and checked into the pretty hostel Terramar. Ancud is a small town situated in the North of the island Chiloe, (the 2nd largest in Chile). What we had read about Chiloe was that it looked similar to rural England, with lush green hills and that it basically rains all the time
(home from home). So it was a welcome surprise to be greeted by clear blue skies and bright 30 degree sunshee..ine. We then took a walk to the local hill top fort, and decided to pop into a local cafe to have a drink. After some confusion (and our rubbish spanish) we ended up ordering 3 juices, instead of 2 (all of which were about 1 litre, quite watery and very, very tasteless). We forced them down (after all we had paid about £7 for them) and with bellies swishing full of liquid, had a wander round Ancud, before having fish and picante mash potato mountain for tea (the portions here are massive).
Day 24
Our 'rock n roll' host Eduardo (well he has long hair, a pierced tongue, and enjoys 'making party') drove us in his clapped out 4x4 to see the local penguins, driving across another 8km beach to get there. The beach was deserted except for several small groups of fishermen with their 4x4's, waiting until the right moment to go out and collect shellfish. We stopped to stretch our legs, and Eduardo picked up what looked like a crusty rock and said, ' this
is really good to eat' and proceeded to carve slices off the rock and then to pick out bright red squidgy things from it. Amazingly we both had a try of the 'piure' aka 'shellfish viagra' and it tasted like (no, not chicken) - melon! I only had a tiny bit, and Si had, well a whole one (see photo). I only told him after that I declined a whole one because I had a momentary (internal) panic about red tide (how unlike me to worry), a toxic algae which poisons seafood and then the humans that eat it. But we are still here so...
Then off to the penguin beach, where we where helped onto the boat via a special platform with wheels, so we didn't get wet feet! The boat then did a 40 minute tour of the bay. We saw loads of penguins, a massive sealion (which we found out eat penguins, which is why they were staying out of the water), a rock formation which resembled an angry bear and several marine otters. The best bit was when one of the marine otters dived, got a crab, rolled onto its back and proceeded to eat
the crab on its tummy. Unfortunately our camera was not up to the task of capturing this moment (boo).
We drove back across the 8km beach, stopping to check out the DIY diving equipment that the fisherman use, which consists of an empty beer keg, which they fill with pressurised air via a generator and then hose pipes with mouth pieces on the end! An offer was made to do a diving trip with this equipment, which we politely declined.
Eduardo whisked us off to a local market restaurant in Ancud, where we sampled Curanto, a local speciality, which consists of shellfish, pork (sausage), potatos and chicken - tasty. Then off to the local beach where despite Simon's best efforts to build some 'shadow' using 4 sticks and a sarong, my delicate skin could only bear 30minutes vvin the 3pm sun, and we hot-footed it (literally) back to town. Craving tastes of home, we bought a box of muesli for tea, bizarrely not the strangest hostel tea that night. The frenchies from the Osorno bus turned up and cooked boiled potato and carrot (no sauce). We bonded over a cheap bottle of plonk and made plans with Elsa
and Aurélie to catch the 6.30am bus (the only bus of the day) to a wetland reserve called Chepu (created by the 1960 earthquake and subsequent tsunami) the next morning.
Day 25
Bleary-eyed we marched to the bus stop to wait for the '6.30am' bus, which was 40minutes late and absolutely STANK of rotting fish. Le poisson bus sped towards Chepu arriving at 8am. Elsa and Aurélie vcaught a boat and went to do a small hike. We decided to give kayaking a go, but not before Simon insisted we walk about 8km along another dusty road to see another beach (it was rubbish). Anyway on the way back from the beach we picked up some 'friends,' which were about the size of a large bumble bee, black with an orange bottom, and very, very persistent in their buzzing around our heads. Si managed to use his squash skills and killed 4 with a large stick.
At Chepu adventures (eco hostel/kayak place) we had the talk and set off to get into our double kayak. I asked the guy what the flies were, which had been bothering us. Turns out they are horseflies and unfortunately there were
swarms of them everywhere. Naively we thought that once we were on the water, they would 'buzz' off... how wrong we were. The horseflies loved me and as set off, Si said he would paddle from the back of the kayak, so that I could swat them. With just 4 to kill, I thought that this would be an achievable task. I held out my arm for them to land on and then squish... 1... 2...3... It was quite satisfying until I realised that I was fighting a losing battle - as more and more arrived. It is hard to describe how annoying these horseflies are, it isn't just that they can bite, they buzz at you in a way that would drive anyone insane. After 30minutes I flipped out, as about 20 swarmed me in the front of the kayak. With Simon concerned that I would capsize the kayak with my flapping, we bid a hasty retreat back to where we had started. Oh well. Chepu was truly beautiful, but those blinkin flies stopped us getting to experience what it had to offer.
I rustled up fajitas, with guacomole for tea, which was yum and we had a
good ol chat with Elsa and Aurélie over some more wine...
Day 26-27
After a lie in we took the bus to the capital of Chiloe, Castro. With only a few hours to spare, we had a wander and looked at the buildings on stilts, before having a nice lunch of ceviche. Castro seemed nice, and we were sorry that we couldn't spend more time there, as we had a beach party date that evening. Eduardo and his wife Dina drove 15 of us to the 8km beach to watch the sunset and have curanto with local fishermen and their families. The curanto was nice, if a bit gritty (I reckon I had half the playa in my clams - oo er) and like a good night at Brannigans there was 'drinking. dancing and cavorting'. I had a funny conversation with Aurélie where I told her about my first impressions of her and Elsa at the border ('silly' french) to which she replied their first impression of us was ' huh - rost bif' (roast beef said in a beautiful french accent). The party was fun and we headed back to the hostel where I told Elsa and
Aurelie my favourite french joke (as told to me by the lovely Kerrie Gough):
Q: "Why do french people only eat one egg"
A: "Because un oeuf is enough"!
(Luckily this joke didn't put Elsa and Aurélie off, and they accepted my friend requests)
The morining after the night before the weather was a bit cooler so we had a chilled out day - nothing to report. Our slightly fuzzy heads have led to our decision to have a dry spell until Mendoza in early March.
Next stop back to the main land and Puerto Montt...
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Elsa
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Ola
It was so fun to read your article!!! Hihihhi les rosbeef!!!! The silly Elsa