Chile

---

Chiloe, just as all the books will tell you, is really quite different from the rest of Chile in terms of culture, cuisine, topography, etc. If you ever find yourself in the south of Chile, Chiloe is definitely worth a few days...

---

Photos

Castro
The seafood in Chiloe does, in fact, live up to all the hype...

Castro
Iglesia San Francisco de Castro

Tenaun
We drove for a couple of hours on some really bad dirt roads looking for this place. When we finally got there, the church wasn't open...

Tenaun
This is basically the entire town. There couldn't be more than a hundred people living there and most, it seemed, were taking a siesta...

Achao
Iglesia Santa Maria de Loreto

Achao
Iglesia Santa Maria de Loreto interior

Achao
I had the privilege of making the acquaintance of this sweet little pup on the porch of Iglesia Santa Maria de Loreto...

Parque Nacional Chiloe
If you ever get the chance, go...

Parque Nacional Chiloe
Beautiful desolation...

Trouble on the road to Puerto Montt
On our way back from Chiloe, we had quite a weird and trying day. We started out early, headed for Valdivia, because we were supposed to take Lorena's Dad to a doctor's appointment. We were making pretty good time initially but then I got pulled over by a Carabinero on a motorcycle who claimed I had passed a car illegally (I hadn't). After he figured out that my Spanish was shit and that he was probably wasting his time with me, he let me go with a friendly "no hard feelings" smile and we were on our way again. Next, we made it onto the ferry where the only good thing that was to happen to us all day happened: We saw penguins. Lots and lots of penguins...
After the ferry crossing, we were making good time again when as I was passing another car, all hell broke loose: BAM!!! WHAP-WHAP-WHAP!!!!! Total loss of power and every light in the dashboard flashing. I pulled over to the side of the road next to a house whose owner luckily knew a thing or two about cars. He took a look and immediately noticed that a spark plug wire was unattached and the corresponding sparkplug was missing. Apparently at the car's last servicing, the plug was cross-threaded and wasn't seated properly so when I went to pass that car, I put on the power and POP!!!!------out came the sparkplug. We're all standing there looking at each other, thinking we're screwed when I happen to look and see the aforementioned sparkplug sitting on top of the radiator!!! When it popped out, instead of falling down onto the road it somehow miraculously landed there!!! The nice fellow was able to screw the plug back in well enough to get us to Puerto Montt where the rental company (AutoVald-----I have but a few words to say about Auto Vald: Hertz, Thrifty, Budget. Next time I will use anybody but friggin' AutoVald!!!) had an office. We get to Puerto Montt and call the rental office, they give us directions to their place and we end up spending at least an hour driving around looking for it. When we finally find it, we're told "Everybody's on siesta, come back in a little while." Needless to say, we're starting to get in a bit of a foul mood by this point, but we do as they say and come back in a little while. When we come back, the real fun starts: "We have to call the boss." "Now we have to call the Big Boss." "We have to call the office in Valdivia." "We're just going to give you a new car." "No, the Boss says we're going to fix the car." WELCOME TO CHILE!!!!!!! Finally, we just say "whatever" and take a nap in the car while they start working on it. A couple of hours later, the mechanic knocks on the window to wake us up and says "All done. Its fixed." We thank him and head for the highway after spending the entire afternoon in lovely Puerto Montt. Then, we're getting close to Valdivia, its dusk and we're driving along when suddenly WHAMMO!!!!-----some kind of really big bird flys into the windshield and manages to fry the last bit of nerves we have left. Luckily, no damage to the car but I unfortunately can't say the same for the poor bird... Finally, we get to Valdivia and we can't find a room------ANYWHERE! Seems there's some kind of conference in town and everything's booked solid. We finally found a place in Niebla at about 10 p.m. after looking for a couple of hours. It really was a long day...

Comments

[ShyTraveller]

On the Road to Puerto Montt
What?? No photos of the penguins??

[Code99]

Sorry, no. They moved so fast all I got were some blurry blob photos...