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Published: February 7th 2018
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Lovely day with the penguins and a very sweet and enthusiastic German Jamielowe lookalike volunteer who spoke English and came on the boat with us to help us with our Spanish translation. Good job too! There were Magellanic and Humboldt Penguins together and this is of course the only place in the world where they are found in the same place. For anyone who may not know this, its the southern most edge of Humboldt habitat and the northern most edge of magellanic habitat (or maybe its the other way around (Pat to confirm please)). Magellanic have 2 black stripes, Humboldt have one (of course) but v difficult to see the difference!
All photos look like blobs on rocks so I have substituted a picture of not a penguin but Pete during a lovely walk after the boat and a picnic under an enormous rhubarb plant. Slightly less blob-like than the penguins. Amazing view of Pacific coast.
Back at the beach Pete was super brave and we hitched a ride with a family from Chile who took us halfway back to our hostel. Sadly then left us in the middle of the road but THE FIRST vehicle stopped and
we had a wild and very fast ride back to town with a Chilean man and his son with Mexican music blaring. Pete said that it was like a notch on the bedpost for hitchers to get the first vehicle to stop I think this is like scoring a goal in hockey during county trials. He was v chuffed as you would know but I knew it was my winning smile that had made the man pick us up. Will not tell what we had for supper as there have been complaints about too much food detail from some loyal readers. Pete cannot comprehend how there can be too much food detail.
Bus back onto mainland Chile and a sad farewell to Chiloe and onto Puerto Varas where the people running the hostel thought we had arrived a day too nearly but it turned out they were even more out to lunch than we were. Found a great cafe to watch the world go by in before setting off to the volcano Orsono today with our German guide. Climbed in the tufa and pumice trying to remember volcanic tuition at school. Mr Mowbray and Mr Green would have not
been impressed at how little we could remember but as our minds are now chock-full of Spanish words we can't really be expected to remember geography as well. Then went on a weird walk through the forest and were fed up that it had cost us 45,000 pesos each. Had to go back to our cafe to cheer up! Amazing nosh at a tiny restaurant in the old fish market Donde something. THREE amazing waitresses all about 65 with such smiling faces you were instantly captivated. I ordered trout and was faced with two and Pete ordered fish soup and had a mountain of shellfish in a black bowl – enormous! Everyone wrote a message to the staff on their napkins and pinned them to the curtains using tiny pegs. Wild Italians to our right and a great atmosphere.
The next day we went to the waterfalls at Petrohue they were amazing and Pete spent some time working out how he would canoe down. Concluded that he wouldn’t! Took a photo to challenge Geoff, Pete's brother. Got on the bus again to the Lake of all Saints. Started the Paseo de Desolacion but it was so sandy and desolate
that we abandoned it and had our picnic under a tree and returned via the beach and a stuck oil tanker to find the bus waiting. YIPPEE. 4500 pesos back to town where we adjourned to our café on the beach for the third time in three days.
Back to Puerto Montte tomorrow to board our cattle freighter that will take us down the coast of Chile to Puerto Natales near the dreaded/can't wait (depending on who you ask) Torres del Paine. Oh heck.
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paul sheppard
non-member comment
penguins
When I hear 'penguin' I think chocolate biscuit.